the doctrine of god

Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Romans 10:16-21. The main subject of the sermon is God's continued efforts to reach the Jewish people.

             

- SERMON TRANSCRIPT  - 

 I. A Different Picture of God... But Not Contradictory

Few stories are as dramatic and tragic as the story of unrequited love. You think about how many operas and works of literature and popular songs and poems and odes are written on that theme of unrequited love. One individual loves another and the other either doesn't know they exist or doesn't share their same level of affection, wants to be just friends, perhaps, or perhaps it's a parent-child relationship in which the children are rebelling and do not love the parents the way that they should. It's a tragic story but I would say of all those stories, there's none as tragic as the story of God and the human race.

Of God and the human race, and it's pictured very dramatically for us and unfolded in the history of God and Israel. But it would have been no different with any other tribe or language, or people or nation because, frankly, all of us are in here. When it says, "I was found by those who did not seek Me. I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me." And so, here is God extending His arms to rebellious and disobedient people. Not just the Jews, although that's what's being quoted here, but all of us, apart from Christ, not wanting Him, not loving Him. Though, He displays His love day after day, though He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, though He loves His enemies in ways we can't even imagine, yet we spurn Him and turn away from Him and do not love Him. It's an unrequited love.

But you know something, God won't stay that way forever. He won't be a jilted lover forever. Because His love is sovereign and powerful, and it creates what it loves, and that's my hope and yours, that God has the power to speak into a cold and dark and hard heart and transform it. Now, as we look at Romans 10:21, look at it again, the very last verse that Allan read. Concerning Israel, he says, "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." What we have here is a very different picture of God than we have had in Romans 9. It's not contradictory, it's just different. In Romans 9, we have the picture of a sovereign emperor of the universe, one who sits on the throne and who is addressing the question: Why are so many Jews rejecting the Gospel? That's what's before us in Romans 9:10-11. Why are so many Jews turning away from their Messiah? And the immediate answer that Paul gives in Romans 9:6, "Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel," he gets into the depths of the doctrine of unconditional and sovereign election. That's his immediate answer to the problem.

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"God has the power to speak into a cold and dark and hard heart and transform it."

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And so we saw the sovereignty of God there as He calls Jacob and not Esau in Romans 9:11-12 "Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purposes in election might stand, not by works but by Him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger," but then later in Romans 9:15-16, it says of God, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion… It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort but on God who has mercy." And then again, in verse 18 of chapter nine, "Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden." Now, this is an incredible picture of God, it's a picture of God sitting on His throne ruling over all things, but specifically ruling over human salvation, ruling over human salvation, but in Romans 10, here in verse 21, we have a different picture.

Look at it again. "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." God here like the father of the prodigal son waiting for his son to return, after he's done with sin, waiting that he would come home. And we have a similar picture in Jesus when Jesus stands over the city of Jerusalem, and says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you were not willing." The grief and the pain there.

Now, I say to you that it is very difficult to reconcile these two. It's hard to get Romans 9 and Romans 10 to kind of coincide in our minds. How do you get the picture of this sovereign God who gets what He wants and nobody can stop Him in Romans 9, and then Romans 10:21, He's standing and holding out His hands to sinners wanting them to come back. There are many popular depictions of a waiting Savior. You've seen perhaps the picture of Jesus standing at a vine-covered door and knocking. Behind that has be Revelation 3:20, "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me," but there He is waiting, knocking, knocking, waiting. And I was troubled by that. I said, "That's not the picture of God I get. He's not passive in salvation." Someone said, "Actually, what He does is, goes around the back, crawls in the window and unlocks the door for Himself."

And frankly if he doesn't do that he'll never get in because the human heart doesn't want Him in. I accept that, I think it's true, but I think there's a theme here. Perhaps you've also seen the hymn, The Savior is Waiting. I remember listening to that and after I started to understand God's sovereignty and salvation, I said, "I'm not likely to sing this hymn again," but now when I see Romans 10:21, I begin to wonder if maybe we should sing it.

"The Savior is waiting, to enter your heart. Why don't you let Him come in? There's nothing in this world to keep you apart. What is your answer to Him? Time after time, He has waited before and now He is waiting again, to see if you're willing to open the door. Oh, how He wants to come in. If you'll take one step toward the Savior, my friend, you'll find His arms open wide. Receive Him, and all of your darkness will end; within your heart, He'll abide."

Now, what I say to you this morning is I think it's a major tragedy for any church to deny one or the other, just 'cause we can't reconcile them. I think it's a major tragedy. It hurts evangelism, it hurts missions to deny one or the other. It's very difficult for us to reconcile these two pictures. People who want to emphasize the sovereignty of God over salvation, they say that God rules over all things, the human heart, they have a hard time with the Savior's waiting. Waiting for what? He moves when He wants, and no one can resist Him. And the Scripture says that.

I was reading a reformed theologian named Dr. Van Buren and he had examples of... He's talking about the doctrine of irresistible grace, which I called sovereign grace rather than irresistible, but at any rate, that God gets who He wants, and He has that power over the human heart. At least, that's an example that he found about 100 years ago of a ballot concerning your salvation. Maybe you've seen it And there's three places to vote; two of them have been taken and there's two ways to vote, yes or no, concerning your salvation. God has voted yes, isn't that good news for you? The devil has voted no. Oh, what a shame. But no big surprise. The deciding vote is going to be cast by whom? Well, whoever gets a little tract, right? And you can get a pen and you can vote yes or you can vote no. Oh, there's all kinds of problems with that.

Are the Devil and Satan really equal in the matter of human salvation? Do we live in that kind of a universe? But even more troubling is the idea that God is waiting for you to make the final determination. It doesn't seem to fit in Romans 9. The question I want to ask this morning is, can we still retain an understanding of God as sovereign over the human heart, able to break a heart of stone, to transform it and make it into a heart of flesh. He's got that kind of power and yet He can say, "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." Is it possible to understand the sovereignty of God and a passionate appeal to sinners that they be converted? I think it is, I think it frankly must be. We've got to hold them together, we've got to keep both of them in front of us. People who have no problem with the Savior's waiting have a problem with the picture of God in Romans 9. They don't understand it, they don't see how it can be.

We've got to keep both of them in front of us. Frankly, we declare our faith in the sovereignty of God over human salvation every time we drop to our knees and ask God to save someone. I mean, a husband, a wife, a parent, child, relative, coworker. What are you asking God to do? What are you asking Him to do when you get down on your knees? Are you not saying, "Oh God, change their heart, oh, God, give them a love for things they have not loved up 'til now. Oh God, work inside them." That's what you're asking them to do, therefore you're testifying that you believe God can do those kind of things.

Or whenever we send out missionaries to seemingly impossible mission fields, unreached people groups, hostile Muslim groups, other groups that seem totally beyond our reach, frankly, any missionary endeavor, are we not stepping out confident in God, and not in ourselves, trusting in Him? But, friends, I think it is just as great a tragedy to deny that we should stand and make passionate, persistent appeals to sinners to be saved, passionate and persistent, that we need in effect to take this stance all day long. "I've held up my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." It's what God does here in Romans 10:21 with Israel. Remember the passion that the Apostle Peter showed on the day of Pentecost.

After preaching all of that incredible Pentecost sermon, it says in Acts 2:40, "With many other words, he warned them and pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.'" We don't know what he said, Luke doesn't tell us. He said a lot of other things that are not recorded in the Book of Acts. But do you see His passion? Do you see His heart? Do you see His warnings, His pleadings, perhaps even His tears, though it's not recorded. Do you see Him yearning for His people to be saved? And I believe both of these are taught in the Scripture. We've got to hold them together.

And probably the passage that teaches them the most plainly together is Matthew 11:25-30. These are the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and He says in Matthew 11:25, "I praise You, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure." Then He said this, "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father, except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." Strong statement of God's sovereignty. The very next thing He says, is, "Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Is some theological counselor going to sit Jesus down and say, "You seem to be theologically confused. You can't both have 'All things have been committed to Me by My Father,' and, 'Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened.'" Yes, you can. And I think this church needs both. We need a strong commitment to the sovereignty of God over human hearts, along with a passionate, tear-stained appeal to sinners to be converted. We need them both.

II. Israel’s Stumbling Block: The Word of Faith vs. Works of the Law

Now, Israel had a stumbling block in coming to Christ. And that's what we're dealing with here in Romans 10. Why didn't they come? Why were they not responding to this kind of appeal, all day long God holding out His hands. Why are they not coming? Well, we already learned there's a stumbling block. Look back in Romans 9:31-33.

It says there, "That Israel who pursued a law of righteousness has not attained it, why not because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, see I lay in Zion, a stone, that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame." So Romans 10, is dealing with the human level. Its not the level of unconditional election, but at the human level as to why the Jews were rejecting Christ. And there it says at the end of Romans 9 that they are rejecting because they stumbled over Christ. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. Now, it says in 10:3-4 that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness. It says, "They did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own therefore did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law for everyone who believes, so there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

They stumbled over Christ, they stumbled over the idea that righteousness could be given simply as a gift, couldn't accept it, and so they refused it. In 10:5-7 that this righteousness is a simple gift, it's not some stunning religious achievement. You don't have to climb the highest mountain or travel to the far side of the sea or go down to the depths of the sea. No, all you have to do is hear this Word of faith and believe it. "The Word is near you, it's in your mouth and in your heart." It's a simple thing, that, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved, for it is with the heart that you believe and are justified and it is with the mouth that you confess and are saved," it's that simple. But the Jews couldn't accept it and neither could they accept verses 11-13, that this righteousness is available for everybody. It's wide open now. "Anyone who trusts in Him [in Christ] will never be put to shame."

Look what it says in verse 12, "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile." Oh, how offensive that was to some Jews. What do you mean there's no difference between Jew and Gentile? We are God's people, we're descendants of Abraham and we're waiting for God to whip up on these Gentiles? Not save them. But what is this statement? "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.'" They couldn't accept it.

Now, the proclamation of the word of faith is essential to salvation. We talked about that last week versus 14-15: "How then can they call on the one they've not believed in, and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them and how can they preach unless they are sent as it is written, 'how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?'" That's the missionary endeavor. There are evangelists and missionaries, going out all over the world taking this word of faith, the gospel and simply preaching it. The Jews didn't want to preach to the Gentiles but Paul did it anyway, against some great opposition he continued to preach. And there he's defending as we talked about last time, he is preaching ministry, to both Jew and Gentile, he's reaching out with the Gospel. And the reason for that is that as we heard in verse 17, "Faith comes by hearing." Look at it, verse 17. I'm going to preach God willing, next time, a whole message on this, the final application in the sermon. I'm not going to get to it till next week. So we're going to talk more about the significance of this statement. "Faith comes by hearing." But just look at it for the first time now.

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"The proclamation of the word of faith is essential to salvation."

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Consequently it says, "Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ." And so what happens is, as the missionaries, as the evangelists, as the apostles go out and they just preach Christ and Him crucified, they just preach this simple message. What happens is, while the ear drum is vibrating with the sounds, while the concepts are going in the brain, all of a sudden faith comes up in the human heart. Ephesians 2 says it's a gift of God. 2 Corinthians 4 says that God speaks light into the heart and that light is focused on the glory of Christ. But as they're listening to the Gospel, faith comes and they are justified. What a beautiful thing. Faith comes by hearing, the problem is, the Jews hardened their hearts, they did not obey the Gospel. Look what it says in verse 16, "But they have not all obeyed the Gospel." That's the ESV. There's other translations, but I think this is a good one. They hadn't heeded it, they didn't obey it. Friends, the Gospel is a command to be obeyed.

Jesus said in Mark 1:15, this is the beginning of His preaching, in Mark's Gospel, He says "The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news," those are the twin commands of the Gospel, you must repent, you must turn away from sin, you must hate it, stop doing it, turn away from it as a principle, repent and believe the good news that Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. And even more, as it unfolds, that He died in our place, on the cross, He shed His blood, that we might have eternal life. Repent and believe, it's a command. We obey the Gospel we also believe it, but we obey it. Well, the Jews did not, they did not obey. Now, the question you may ask, and it's being asked here in Romans 9-11 is well, the Jews are God's people. Does the fact that they did not heed the Gospel and not obey does that mean that God's Word has failed, that God's Word perhaps is ineffective or God's covenants to His people, that His promises have been broken? Oh, absolutely not. It does not mean that. In fact Israel's unbelief, was predicted 700 years before the time of Christ. Isaiah the Prophet predicted it. Look what it says, again, in verse 16, "They have not all obeyed the Gospel for Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he heard from us.'"

Now do you know where that's from? Well, that's the very beginning of Isaiah 53, that's Isaiah 53:1. What does Isaiah 53? Well, any of you who have studied the Old Testament, looking for Christ and find Him, you're going to find Him in Isaiah 53 more clearly than anywhere else in the Old Testament, you're going to find His bloody death on the cross, His substitutionary atonement His death on the cross more clearly depicted there in Isaiah than anywhere else in the Old Testament. This is what Isaiah says, "He grew up before Him. Like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering, like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet, we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted, but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed, we all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

That's the Gospel, friends, that's Jesus suffering and dying for us. And Isaiah introduced this saying, in effect, they're not going to believe it Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

III. God Leaves Israel No Excuse (verses 16-21)

Israel's rejection was predicted centuries before, and so in verses 16-21, I believe the Apostle Paul is basically removing any excuse from Israel concerning that rejection. He takes away the excuses.

Excuse #1: “We’ve never heard”

Excuse number one would be simply we never heard about this, we never heard about Jesus, we never heard the Gospel. The problem is, they had heard. It's interesting that the people who bring this up as a, in some way, proof that the exclusivity of Christ can't be true. Because there's so many people who haven't heard the Gospel are not in that category, they have heard about Christ, and they're raising up this question and I've actually said in witnessing opportunity, saying, "Well I am so grateful that at this early stage, you have such a compassion on the lost. I'm grateful that you are so concerned about those who've never heard but the fact is you've heard."

And so whether they ever hear or not, you have to deal with this Gospel, you have heard, and that's in effect what Paul says here. He says, in verse 18, "But I asked, did they not hear, did they not hear? Of course they did. 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.'" And by the way, that's a remarkable citation of Psalm 19, it's incredible. Psalm 19 is a great Psalm talking about how the heavens are telling the Glory of God, The skies proclaim the work of His hands. It's an amazing thing because it's just talking about natural revelation, how the sun and the moon and the stars talk about, about God. The rising and setting of the sun every day, gives clear testimony to the existence of God, the creator. Now you say, "What does that have to do with the preaching of the Gospel?" Well, it just talks about God's commitment to communicate to the entire human race. He has a commitment to reveal Himself and in a similar way, He is revealing himself in the Gospel as these beautiful feet as the messengers, the evangelists, the apostles cross mountains and rivers and oceans, to bring this Gospel to the ends of the earth. Their testimony has gone out over all the world, God has sent out His messengers. And by the time Paul wrote Romans, progress, astonishing progress had already been made.

At the end of Romans. You can look there or just listen, but in Romans 15:18-24, you could turn there, if you want or just listen. In Romans 15:18-24, Paul says this, "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit. Listen, So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ." Illyricum is Yugoslavia. It's right across from the Italian boot, it's right there. So basically, the entire Northern Region of the Mediterranean Paul says I have fully preached the Gospel everywhere, and he goes beyond that, he keeps going in verse 20, 15:20, he said, "It's always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation, rather as it is written. "Those who were not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand." That's Isaiah 52, right before 53, Paul knows these verses so that I want to preach Isaiah 53 everywhere I go, kings will hear about Him and rise up princes will see and they'll fall down on their faces. Paul says, "I want to see that happen. So it's my ambition to go where Christ has never been known. But I have a problem, there's no more place for me to work in this area. Everybody's heard of Jesus, and I am a trailblazing missionary, so I've got to go on and so I'll be passing through God willing, through Rome on my way to Spain. Because I just can't find any place to work anymore."

That's incredible. The Gospel had super saturated that area. It wasn't just the apostles, it was the churches they planted, and so the Thessalonian Christians were witnessing. Their faith in God had been reported all over the world, it was multiplying and exploding, it was exciting. And so Paul can make this statement in Colossians 1:23, "This is the Gospel that you heard, and that has been proclaimed to every creature under Heaven every creature under Heaven." Well, we know now it's not literally every single solitary human being but he's saying that the Gospel had been so widely preached that it had made this kind of progress and now it's reached you, Colossians, it's gotten to you.

This is the ultimate end of the gospel ministry. Jesus said, in Matthew 24:14, "This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come." So we're going all over the world, just like the sun from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, Jesus's name will be great. So again, I asked Have they not heard?" What's the first thing Paul did in every town he went to the Jewish synagogue, and preached. Oh, they have heard. They have heard of Jesus. There's no excuse.

Excuse #2: “We Did Not Understand”

Secondly, we did not understand, we didn't get it, they told us about Jesus, he told us about Jesus, but we didn't understand. Well how does he deal with this? Verse 19, he says, "Again I asked, did Israel not understand? At first, Moses says, 'I'll make you envious by those who are not a nation, I will make you angry, by a nation that has no understanding.' And Isaiah boldly says, 'I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.'"

This is a very deep answer. In a nutshell. I think what he's saying here is the fact that the Gentiles are turning to Christ shows that not understanding the Gospel is no obstacle, and no excuse you know why, because God can overcome that in anybody. First of all at one level the Gospel is so simple, a child could understand it. God sent His son, He died in our place. Trust in Him and He'll save you. It's really quite straightforward. The depths as we'll see in Romans 11, at the end are so deep none of us can fathom them all. But on the issue of understanding, that was no obstacle for the Gentiles. Now, let's remember the Gentiles… Ephesians 4 describes them in verse 17, and following, Paul says there, "So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the gentiles do in the futility of their thinking, they're darkened in their understanding, and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality, so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more."

Those are the Gentiles. They're not sounding too good. It didn't sound like they understand anything. And frankly, Paul says right here, quoting he says, "I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." And God is saving Gentiles by the thousands. Is that an obstacle I don't understand, I don't get it. Well, it is an obstacle that will damn your soul, if God doesn't save you from it, but He has that kind of power. To speak into a dark heart and into a dark mind He can do that. He can create light where there was darkness before. He can speak to a pagan people who have no interest in a Jewish Messiah, and suddenly they can turn. They woke up that morning a pagan idolater, they went to bed that night a Christian. Hallelujah. God has that kind of power and He can do it for Jews, too. He's going to get to that in chapter 11. God hasn't rejected His people, I'm [Paul] a Jew. He can do it in our hearts, too. And so God has the kind of power to reach out and to create inside the heart of somebody who's running from God, to create a yearning for God inside that heart, He has that power. "I was found by those who did not seek for me, I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." That is powerful.

Excuse #3: “God Has Never Revealed Himself to Us”

The final excuse is God has not revealed Himself to us, is that true? Has God not revealed Himself to Israel? Well, how many prophets did he need to send? How many prophecies about Christ was enough? As one of the Jews said, when watching Jesus, "when the Messiah comes, will He do more miracles than this man?" How much more revelation is needed? God has revealed Himself to the Jews powerfully but they have not turned. Romans 10:21, Israel has no excuse because God has constantly made an appeal to them all day long. I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. Oh how powerful is this. Generation after generation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has been reaching out to the Jewish people. One prophet after another. One messenger after another. Jesus told the parable of the tenant farmers in the vineyard, the landowner rents out his farm or his vineyard to these tenant farmers they are, the Jews. And then he sends messengers to collect a share of the harvest, but they kill them one after another, kill them one after another, killed them finally he says, "Well I'll send my Son. They wi'll respect my son."

They say look, here's the heir, let's kill him and take the inheritance. And so, they kill him, too. What is the point of the parable? Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem you who killed the prophets and stoned those sent to you. I'm standing there, generation after generation. I'm holding out my hands to you. And Jesus in Matthew 23, says, "Therefore I'm sending you prophets and wise men, and teachers, I'm going to send you apostles and you will kill them and you will flog them, in your synagogues, and pursue them, from town to town. That's what you will do all day long I've held out my hands to a disobedient obstinate people. But you know something, even in the midst of this, Romans 10, Do you not see, God's still doing it? Do you not see Him still reaching out, even now, through, the Apostle Paul. Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, come, take my yoke upon you. Trust in me believe in me, I'm still holding out my hands to a rebellious and obstinate people, to a people who murmur against me argue against me who refute the scriptures and show how it can't be Jesus. I've held out my hands and I continue to do so.

IV. Application: Imitating God in Our Evangelism and Missions

What application can we take from this? Well, next week we'll talk about faith comes by hearing. But I just want to zero in on this one thing. I believe that we at First Baptist church, we Christians, we need to imitate God in this. Look at verse 21, Concerning Israel, He says, "All day long. I have held out my hands to a disobedient obstinate people." All day long, all day long, shows perseverance, long-suffering, putting up with the obstacles that have come your way when you try to lead someone to Christ. Putting up with the obstacles that come your way when you try to plant a church in an unreached people. The long suffering, putting up with the obstacles that come when you try to lead a spouse or a child or a friend to Christ, all the flak. The guy who led me to Christ, put up with so many things, I will not want to see a video tape of what I did to him for those 18 months. I was unkind, I was rude. And the Lord reminds me of it often. He says, "Have you done as much for this individual as Steve did for you over those 18 months in bringing you to Christ? "No Lord, I haven't." "Well, hang in there, persevere, be long-suffering, don't give up easily."

So all day long I see that patience there I also see initiative. I have held out my hands. It starts with God and moves out and reaching out to you. There's an initiative. We don't wait for the sinners to come here, then they won't. Why would they come here? We go from here out. We take the initiative and find out where they are. In passion, I've held out My hands. This is tough for me. I can witness on an airplane in a kind of a cold "oh, by the way, this is an interesting thing" sort of way without risking much. But if they start to see some tears coming down my face, like "Whoa, you getting a little heavy on me here, this is too intense back off." And they don't want that. There's an intensity there, but then Acts 2:40, "With many other words, He warned them and pleaded with them. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Where is that warning and pleading in our evangelism where is the holding out your hands to a disobedient obstinate people. Be willing to be counted a fool for Christ's sake. See the passion, and see the persuasion. I've held out my hands Come now, let us reason together. Let's talk about these scriptures let's talk about the predictions about Christ. Let's reason.

And let's be willing to suffer. Look what He says to a disobedient and obstinate people. You know something, the more I go on in my Christian life, and as a pastor, the more I realize how overwhelmingly powerful, a force is sin. I mean it's just there, it's in my face all the time, not just my own sin, but the sins of others. It is tough to change a human heart, isn't it? This is a supernatural work of God, and if we are going to be fruitful, as a church, if we're going to see a lot of people baptized if we're going to see a lot of people discipled through our ministry, we will have to be willing to suffer their disobedience and obstinance while they wrestle with the Gospel. We go to be willing to put up with it. And I believe that our fruitfulness will be in direct proportion to our willingness to pay that price. The more we're willing to suffer what it takes to take the Gospel, the more fruitful it will be. And I think that's exactly what God's calling on us to do. Would you close with me in prayer?

I. Introduction: The Quest for the Holy Grail

Isn't it great to be a Christian? Isn't it great to be saved by grace? Aren't you glad that you are saved by a free gift and not by some great achievement you have to earn? And the text talks about that today, a righteousness that is by law, contrasted with the righteousness that is by faith. And I started thinking about the great things that people would be willing to achieve to save their souls. What great thing would you be willing to do to save your soul? I was thinking about that when I came across a story found in the New York Times, November 2001, and I was just amazed by this, listen to this, the story goes like this,

"The snows had scarcely melted last June, when 24-year-old Joama and her three male cousins, yak herders in the remote mountains of Northern Tibet, embarked on the most sublime journey of their lives. Their departure was not marked by any ceremony. "We just started out," she recalled. The four began mumbling mantras and raised their hands to heaven. They dropped to their knees and flung their bodies forward, fully prone against the damp earth, then they stood up, took three small steps forward, and repeated the entire sequence."

"For more than five months now, they have prostrated themselves this way, all day every day, inch-worming their way to Lhasa and its holy sites. They slowly made their way through more than 100 miles of some of the world's harshest terrain, starting from above 14,000 feet, and then followed a highway 200 more miles into Lhasa. They reached the city in early November. These days, they are inching their way along busy sidewalks in the city as they follow the three hallowed circuits around the Jokhang Temple, the holiest site in Tibetan Buddhism, in advance of praying at its inner shrines. Only here, it seems safe to say, could such a roadside spectacle attract little notice. Thousands of Tibetans undertake similar pilgrimages each year, not to mention the far greater numbers who reach holy sites by bus, tractor or ordinary treks of weeks or months."

What great thing would you do to save your soul? These people are willing to throw themselves on the ground for months and months, inching their way forward to save their souls. Religions around the world have an amazing, an astonishing array of answers to this question. Frankly, the more costly, the more fascinating, the more difficult and the more bizarre, the better. In Islam, Muslims are commanded, once in their lifetime to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and many do so at great cost. In Hinduism, people make extraordinary efforts to travel to the River Ganges, one of the holy rivers of Hinduism, to wash in its supposedly holy waters. We had a testimony a couple of Sunday evenings ago from Timothy, who told us a heartbreaking story of a Hindu woman who drowned her infant to atone for her sins. She came to faith in Christ and then wept and said, "Why couldn't you have come here a day earlier?" Because it was the day before she had done that.

Medieval Europeans, under the superstitious system of medieval Catholicism, made long pilgrimages to Rome and crawled up the staircase of Pilate on their knees, uttering prayers on every step, in an effort to save their souls. Also, during this time, the dark ages of Europe, a legend arose concerning the Holy Grail, which was the cup that Jesus supposedly drank from at the Last Supper. And the Knights of the Round Table went out on a quest to find this Holy Grail, because if you drank from it, you could have eternal life. And they were willing to basically spend their entire lives in this quest for the Holy Grail. What great thing would you be willing to do to save your soul?

Now, this theme is touched on in 2 Kings, interestingly, when a pagan military commander named Naaman desired to be healed from leprosy. He was urged by his Jewish slave girl to go see the prophet Elisha, Elisha told him to wash seven times in the Jordan River and he would be healed. At this point Naaman became irate. He said, "The rivers back in my home country are better than this one," and then his helpers came and said this interesting thing to him. "If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, you would have done it." That's the aspect of the human soul I'm latching on to here today. If we could save our souls by doing some great thing, we would do it.

Suppose salvation were a scavenger hunt of incredible achievement. Suppose immortality awaited anyone who did each of the following tasks: Suppose you had to climb a sacred mount in Tibet and pick a pink and white flower that blossomed there once every seven years, and then after that, you had to go and gather a vile of water from the Nile River and bring it to an Aborigine in the Australian Outback for him to drink, and then you had to rescue an orphan from the street of Calcutta and get them enrolled in a private school, and then you had to earn $10,000 by making something with your own hands and giving it to the poor, and then, finally, you had to go up to the Arctic and cut a block of ice from a glacier and transport it, without melting, down to the South Pole. Would you do it?

Aren't you glad you don't have to? Praise God that salvation is not a scavenger hunt of astonishing achievements that God looks to see on your resume at the end of life, and sees if you are righteous enough to enter. But instead, we have a righteousness that is ours simply by faith, and that's exactly what Paul is talking about here in Romans 10:5-10. "Moses describes in this way, the righteousness that is by law: 'the man who does these things will live by them.' But the righteousness that is by faith says, 'Do not say in your heart, "who will ascend into the heavens?" That is, to bring Christ down, or, "Who will descend into the deep?" That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.' But what does it say? 'The Word is near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart,' the word of faith that we are proclaiming: that if you confess 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 the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with the mouth that you confess and are saved."

II. Righteousness By Law: What Seems Possible is Impossible (verse 5)

And so we have two different kinds of righteousness here in the text. We have a righteousness that is by law and we have a righteousness that is by faith. Now first, this righteousness that is by law, I describe it this way: What seems possible is actually impossible. Look what Moses said in verse five, "Moses describes in this way, the righteousness that is by law, 'the man who does these things will live by them.'" Well, what are these things? They're precepts of the law, the rules and regulations that God gave through Moses. If you do these things, you live by them. Well, live by them doesn't just mean live your life by them, it doesn't just mean pattern your lifestyle or organize your life by means of these laws. What does it mean? It means you will live eternally by them, you will go to heaven by them eternally. Leviticus 18:5, the Lord said, through Moses, "Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them; I am the Lord." But history proved that no human being, other than Christ, no human being could fully obey the law. Peter, in the council in Jerusalem, in Acts 15, said, "Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?" None of them could bear the yoke of the law. They couldn't do it, and so it seemed possible, but it actually was impossible.

First Problem: Obedience Must be Perfect

Why? Well, the first problem is, your obedience must be perfect, must be comprehensive and perfect. God intends that all of his law be kept. In James 2:10-11 says, "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point, is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you've become a law breaker." So you have to keep the whole law.

Well, how often do you have to keep the whole law? Well, you have to keep it all the time. That's the second aspect of this problem. You have to keep all of the law, all of the time. It says in Galatians 3:10, "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone [listen] who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law." So you can't have your good days and your bad days under the law, it's impossible. Not and be saved by it. God intends heart obedience to the law, so you have to keep all the law, you have to keep it all the time, and you have to keep it from the heart, not just external regulations and ceremonies, you have to keep it from the heart.

It says in Deuteronomy 6:5-6, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength," and then he says, "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts." It's a heart obedience. For example, in the 10 Commandments, he required that the Israelites not covet. He said, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, or his property, or his manservant or maidservant, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Now, one of the things about making a law is, that it has to be enforceable. I'm telling you, No Congress, no state legislature, no parliament will ever make a law against coveting. You know why? Because they can't enforce it. "Oh, you were coveting, I saw it right there. 30 days in jail." How can we read hearts and minds? But God can, and so he put it in his law. It's invasive, it invades your heart and your mind. It says, "You shall not think these thoughts, you shall not set your desire on it," says in Deuteronomy, "Anything that belongs to your neighbor." Only God can enforce that law. It's a heart obedience.

Second Problem: Extra Credit Impossible

The second problem, as we've mentioned before, is that extra credit is impossible and unavailable. You can't get a 105% on the test and then take that 5% and put it toward your bad day. Is it possible, on any given day, to do more than this? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Can you do more than that on any given day? So there is no extra credit possible.

Third Problem: No Atonement for Past Sins

And thirdly, there's no therefore atonement for past sins, you can't use present righteousness to atone for past sins. Imagine a criminal standing in front of a judge, saying, "I know I committed murder, I admit it, but from now on, I won't murder anybody." "Oh, well, great! Go home. I am so glad to hear that, from now on, you will not break the law." No judge will say that. We can't use future obedience to pay for past disobedience. We are stuck, and therefore, there can be no salvation by the law.

Now Jewish legalists, like the scribes of Pharisees, set up a system of human traditions, and they lowered the standards of the law, and they figured that God would be gracious to cover the rest, and figured that, by the law, they had righteousness. This is the very problem that Jesus had with them. And what ends up happening when you do that, is it leads you to either hypocrisy or despair. Hypocrisy, in that you lower the standard and think you've met it, and then put up the front that you really are righteous and you don't need a savior. That's what the Pharisees did.

Or it leads to despair. Or, along the road to despair, insecurity, perhaps? Like the rich, young ruler, remember him? Rich, young ruler comes to Jesus and says, you remember the question he asked at the... Upfront? "What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?" That's the question before, it's right at the beginning of this sermon. "What good thing must I achieve to inherit eternal life?"

Do you remember what Jesus did with him? He handed him the law first. He said, "What do you read? What about the commandments? Have you obeyed the commandments?" He said "Yes," and he listed, Jesus listed five of them, and two of them were, "Honor your father and mother," and "love your neighbor as yourself." I tell you that positive commands are harder than negative ones. It's harder to honor than not to dishonor. It is harder to love than not hate. You have to be active, you have to be out doing things, it's an energetic life. And do you remember what the rich young ruler said? He said, "All these I have kept from my childhood," and yet he came to Jesus, didn't he? You know why he came to Jesus? Beause he's insecure. He's not sure he's going to heaven. He's insecure, and so he says, "What good thing must I do to get eternal life?" Because he's not sure yet. And so, that whole life does not work. The insecurity. And it's built into the system.

Recently, we saw a movie about the 1980th Olympic hockey team, and it's called Miracle, it's a great movie, we enjoyed watching it. And the coach in it, Herb Brooks, a true story, Herb Brooks was a tough, tough man, tough coach, he was a whip-cracker. And after the initial tryout, he already had knew the players that he wanted for his first 25. He sat them down and he said "I'll be your coach, but I won't be your friend." Whoa! Alright. Well, decidedly, he's not going to be their friend, and he said, "There are 25 of you sitting here, 20 of you will go to the Olympics. If you give 99%, you'll make my job very easy." And what is he doing? He's holding the ultimate prize over them as a motivator, so that he's driving them by it. That is the righteousness that is by the law.

Another illustration is a story that Christie and I have enjoyed, is Anne of Green Gables. And this young orphan girl comes to live with a family that didn't want her there, hoping to get a boy to help with the chores and then, instead, they get a girl. And she's a handful, to say the least. And so she lives there under probation, she's on trial. Not really adopted. Maybe someday she'll be adopted, but she's on trial, and she just can't seem to ever do the right thing, she just goes from one trouble to the next. Do you wanna live before God like that? Maybe some day you'll be adopted, if you're good enough? That's the righteousness that is by the law. And thanks be to God, I don't stand before you today and none of you Christians who have trusted in Christ stand before God in that kind of righteousness. Amen. We stand before God in a righteousness that is a gift, a righteousness that is by faith.

III. Righteousness By Faith: What Seems Impossible Has Been Accomplished Already (verses 6-7)

That's the second part, and this is what Paul says in verses 6 and 7, "The righteousness that is by faith says, 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" That is, to bring Christ down. Or, "Who will descend into the deep?" That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.'" Now, the righteousness that is by faith is exactly the opposite. What seems impossible has actually already been achieved. Now these two commands, these two kinds of life are contrasted. You've got the life of righteousness by works, or by law, and then that is by faith, by grace, by gift. They're contrasted here. And there are two key verses that support them in the Old Testament. Leviticus 18:5, "The man who obeys them will live by them." That's Leviticus 18:5. Then you've got Habakkuk 2:4, "The righteous will live by faith." The two are mutually exclusive, you can't have both. They're at odds with each other, they're opposite. It says in Galatians 3:12, "The law is not based on faith. On the contrary, the man who does these things will live by them." They're two different ways of approaching salvation.

From the very beginning of Romans, Paul has been commending the righteousness that comes by faith. He says "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is from faith, for faith. Just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith." There's a righteousness that is by faith. It's a simple gift of God, that's what he's been preaching all through the Book of Romans. Now, Paul decides to talk about what's impossible for man. He says, "Do not say in your heart, "Go up the heavens, go up to the heavens and get it."" Or, "Go down to the depths," these are impossible things, it's the language of impossibility.

Now he's reaching for Deuteronomy 30, in which Moses was talking about the law, and there in the law, in Deuteronomy 30, it says this, verse 11 and following, "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It's not up in the heavens, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascended into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us, so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it." Now, Moses was saying, "You Jews didn't have to go up to heaven, scaling heavenly Olympus to get the 10 Commandments, to get the law, God has come down to where you are and has given you the law. You didn't have to go any great distance, God brought it right to you."

But notice what Paul is doing here; he takes this Deuteronomy verse and he applies it to Christ. You see, the law came down and was right there, but it was in their face, it wasn't in their heart, it hadn't transformed them, it couldn't save them, it gave them no life. So actually, though the written code was near them, it wasn't in them. But Paul is talking about a word from God, that is Christ, the Living Word, who is more than just near you, he is in you. And so he takes it and mixes in Christ into the Deuteronomy quote. "The righteousness that is by faith says, 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?" That is, to bring Christ down. Or, "Who will descend into deep?" That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.'" You see how he mixes in the Gospel with the law. These were impossible things, but what is impossible for us has actually been achieved by Jesus.

Christ has done it. Christ has given us a perfect achievement. Now listen, if you wanted to try to persuade Jesus to come to the earth, first of all, you couldn't get where he lives. He says, "I live in a high and holy place, a high and lofty place." You can't get there. Man tried by building a tower of Babel to scale to the heavens, couldn't make it. You can't get there, and if he were not inclined to come to the earth, you could not have persuaded him to do it. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. You couldn't have done it.

Two Central Doctrines: Incarnation and Resurrection

It was impossible for you, but what was impossible for you, Christ has done. He has come down from Heaven to Earth, that's the doctrine of the incarnation. In the fullness of time. He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man, he came down from Heaven to Earth. He says this again and again, "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me, and this is the will of whom he sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day." That's why Jesus came down, he came down.

And the second doctrine that is to bring Christ up from the dead is the resurrection. We could not have made Christ be incarnate and we could not have made him rise from the dead. What is impossible for us, however, Christ has achieved.

By the way, these are the very two doctrines that Paul says are essential to your salvation, that if we confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead we will be saved. When you confess with your mouth Jesus that is Jesus of Nazareth, the human being, he's actually Lord, he is God, you're confessing the incarnation. That Jesus is God will talk more about this next time I preach on Romans. It's the doctrine of the incarnation, you must believe it that Jesus is God, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. These are the two doctrines, that he gives to us. And therefore Christian salvation, is essentially simple.

IV. The Simplicity of Salvation

Look what he says in verse 8 and 9. He says you don't have to ascend into the heavens, you don't have to go down to the depths. "What does it say? 'The word is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart,' that is the word of faith that we are proclaiming. That if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." The simplicity of salvation. Now listen our salvation was immensely difficult for Jesus. Immensely costly to him. Don't ever say that salvation was free. It's free for you but for him it was costly. But he's paid that price so that we wouldn't have to. Our salvation cost him everything he had.

He stood day after day under the full weight of the devil's temptations. And under the full weight of the Law of Moses and bore it all perfectly never sinned, and even more on the cross, when he was nailed to the cross and He shed His blood, He bore our sins in His body on the tree, so salvation was immensely difficult for Christ. But for us, it is simple. We're not on a scavenger hunt of righteousness where you have to go day after day and seek your own justification day after day, seeking to do something that will be righteous enough for you to go to heaven. You don't have to do that, you don't have to go on a pilgrimage kneeling up the stairs of Pilate muttering a prayer every step. You don't have to do what they're doing in Lhasa. So, taking months and months to travel, inches at a time to some shrine. You don't have to go to some filthy river in India and bathe in it, so that you can be cleansed and reduce your karma or whatever it is they believe.

No single righteous work or deed or action is justifiable in God's sight, it is not our righteousness. Now, many good works flow from saving faith. We'll talk about that, God willing, next time. And so there's a whole righteous life that flows but none of those justify us. We stand in Christ's achievement and therefore for us justification is simple. You believe in Christ and that's all. Paul is stressing here, therefore the incredible simplicity of salvation, just as Jesus did. There's a day in Matthew 18, it's recorded a day when the disciples came to him and they were arguing about which was the greatest in the kingdom. I'm always amazed at what the disciples had done to think they were even in the running. Do you ever wonder that?

I mean they're arguing about which of them was the greatest. They were just fishermen and tax collectors and other things, they were just ordinary people. But after a couple of years with Jesus, they started thinking very highly of themselves. And so they're having an argument about which was the greatest. And Jesus, it says, calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly I say to you, [unless you are converted] unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." That's incredible, the astounding range of the Gospel. We just got done with what I would think is one of the hardest chapters in the entire Bible to understand, Romans 9. The depths of it is so amazing that Paul himself says in Romans 11, "O the depth of the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor," the deep things of God, and they are deep.

But here, we have the simplicity of God. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved. It's a simple Gospel that we preach with incomprehensible depths behind it. It is so simple a child could understand it, frankly, it's so simple Jesus said that unless you become like a child, you'll never accept it. It is that simple. The Word is near you, that's what he says. God is bringing salvation right to you. Right to where you live, right to your heart, right to your mouth. He's come down from Heaven to do it. That's what he is doing. Right to where you live, right to this room today, he's bringing it right to you.

You don't have to travel to him, he's seeking you and he's bringing the Word right to where you live. Now later in this chapter, he will advocate, why preachers need to go because they're going to fulfill that very thing. The preacher will go to bring the Word of God, right to where those folks live but he's bringing it right to where you live. Emmanuel, it means God with us. John's version of this is so beautiful. John 1:1, it says "In the beginning was... " What? "The Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Verse 14, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we beheld his glory, glory, the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus took on a human body and just brought the word salvation, right to us. God is proclaiming a word of faith to the human race and that Word is Jesus, that is the word he's saying, he is Hebrews 1, God's final Word to the human race, it is Jesus Christ, the word of faith that we are proclaiming.

V. Why God Made Salvation Simple

Now, why did God make salvation simple? Next time we're going to talk God willing, about these great verses, verses 9-10, "If you confess 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 confess and are saved." There's a lot in there friends, and God willing when I get back from vacation, we'll talk some more about it. It's going to be an incredible time. Saving faith is deep and these verses are deep, we're going to talk more about it. But there's an essential simplicity here. And I want to ask a question, why did God make it so simple? I think there are two reasons I want to consider with you. First to destroy all human pride. Suppose God had given you that scavenger hunt of righteousness.

God Made Salvation Simple to Destroy Human Pride

Suppose you had gone to the ends of the earth for righteousness. And suppose you'd achieved it. Do you know what you'd spend eternity doing? Boasting in your achievement or comparing stories. "How did you get that block of ice from the North Pole to the South Pole?" "Well, this is what I did, wasn't I clever?" "How did you get that vile of Nile River water down to the aborigine in the Outback?" And we'd be boasting at each other. God doesn't want it, he doesn't want it. And so to cut the root out of all human boasting, to destroy pride in knowing deep thoughts. To destroy pride in achieving great achievements. Instead, he made a salvation like this in which he does all the impossible things and we do the simple thing. We just believe in Him, and we just trust in Him. The message of the cross destroys all boasting, it says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." And again, it says in 1 Corinthians 1:29-31, "So that no one may boast before Him, therefore, as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

God Made Salvation Simple to Save All Kinds of Sinners

The second reason he made salvation simple is to save all kinds of sinners. To save all kinds of sinners. Friends, most of the people in the world are simple people. Most of the people in the world are basic thinkers. Simple people. God knows that they're not going to spend lots and lots of hours doing the deepest theological pondering. They will live simply, they will eat simply they will love simply, they will work simply and they will die simply and they'll be buried simply and within three generations, no one will know where they are buried or what that marker is except God. And so God wanted to save simple people. As a matter of fact, God delights in saving simple people.

And so it says in 1 Corinthians 1, the fuller passage, it says, "Brothers think of what you were when you were called not many of you were wise, not many were influential, not many were of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, he chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus." Ponder that. "It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us, wisdom from God, that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore as it is written, 'Let him who boast, boast in the Lord.'"

Having chosen many simple, humble, folk to be his own, he crafted a saving message they could understand just as they are and then published it abroad to the ends of the earth, that's what he's doing.

VI. Application

Now, application for us. First of all, friends, your quest for self-righteousness ends here, drop it. God doesn't honor it, it's not possible. It seems possible but it isn't, so drop it, rather simply humbly come to the cross of Jesus Christ, simply humbly say that is my righteousness. His death atoned for all of my transgressions, his righteous life has become my righteousness simply by faith. Don't despise the simplicity of the Gospel. It's right here, in two verses, don't despise it. He's made it so simple a child can understand it. Don't despise that. And along with that may I urge you, preach the Gospel to children, share the gospel with your own young children, and if you're grown share them with somebody else's young children.

Little children, you don't have to work to get them to be like little children, older people, you have to work on them. Like Jesus' disciples. He said, "Unless you turn and convert and become like little children," the little children are already there. They're teachable, they're leadable, they're ready to believe. Share the gospel with children. Conversely, don't despise the complexity of Christianity because this very same one who gave us a simple Gospel gave us a deep Gospel and you'll be the rest of your life pondering it's depths. Ponder away, but realize you are saved the moment you believe this simple message that Jesus died for me. Close with me in prayer.

Introduction: Functioning in a World of Mystery

In Romans 10:1-4 we come to the connection between Romans 9 and Romans 10. We come immediately at verse 1, to a mystery in the Christian life, and we should be used to that. We live in a world filled with mysteries that we just accept everyday. Most cell phone users don't have the first idea what happens to their voice when they speak into it, and it's heard by somebody on the other side of the world, but that doesn't stop them from using cell phones. I can assure you it doesn't stop them. And most people who try to reheat a meal using a microwave aren't troubled by the fact that they do not fully understand microwave technology, they push the start button and they eat the meal a couple of minutes later, it's not a problem for them.

Have you ever stopped to ponder the remote on the TV and say, "I'm not going to use this until I understand fully what's happening with this and with the TV as well, and until I understand it I'm not watching." Now that might be a good pledge for some of you to make, because there's not a lot worth watching. But we are surrounded by mysteries that we just accept. Those are all technological mysteries, but there have been mysteries all along. Most people do not fully understand what happens when a seed is stuck into the ground. Jesus said, "Day and night, it grows so the farmer doesn't know how." He can't give an explanation, a full explanation of how it goes from seed to harvest. Only God knows that and yet he's not hindered from putting the seed in the ground, and he's not hindered from harvesting when the time comes. And so it is when we come to chapter 10 and meet right away a mystery, we realize we cannot be hindered by the fact that we can't fully comprehend how these two things go together. What are they?

Romans 9 has been portraying a picture of salvation that it comes from the sovereign will of God, that our God is a king. He rules over all things. And so, we've been wrestling with very deep statements in Romans Chapter 9, things that talk about unconditional election, Jacob and Esau, "before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand…" We had already learned that it was before the foundation of the world, this election, this predestination. We've seen that salvation does not depend ultimately on man, a man's desire effort, but on God who has mercy, Romans 9:16. We've seen that God in Romans 9:18 has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

And yet, here we go, in chapter 10:1 and we get Paul saying, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved."

Now, hold on a minute, Paul. If it's all been set before the foundation of the world, then why pray for it? I don't understand, this is a mystery. And so, we have eternal predestination, and energetic prayer, and they're side by side in the very one who taught it. Later in Romans 10, we're going to get eternal predestination and energetic preaching around the world. How can they believe in the one that they've not heard of? "And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Again a mystery, but to Paul, you see in his life energetic prayer for the lost, and we see also this energetic preaching to the ends of the earth that the lost may be saved. Now, this is mystery and I cannot explain it fully, too, because I don't understand it myself. I don't know that the apostle Paul could have plumbed all the depths and fully understood it all, but he knew this, God was sovereign over salvation and we need to pray for the lost.

God was sovereign over salvation and we need to preach to the lost that they may be saved, and he knew that.

I. Paul’s Heart-felt Prayer for Israel

And so we come here in verse 1, To Paul's heartfelt prayer for Israel. Look at it verse 1, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." Now, here we have Paul's amazing and astonishing love for his persecutors. The Jews were constantly opposing him at every turn. They would listen for a while and then at some point, he would say something that would offend them, and they would turn on him, and eventually in many places at least, start a riot. When was the last time you started a riot? Wouldn't that have made you feel bad? Wouldn't you say, "This was not one of my best days? I didn't wake up this morning hoping to start a riot." Well, Paul started at least three of them. This was a man who stirred up deep passions, and it was the Christ-rejecting Jews that were at the heart of all of them. They would pursue Paul from place to place. They weren't content just to hear him and let him go, drive him out of their town. They'd find out where he was going next and they chased him there and they'd start trouble there.

Now, Christ had predicted this aggressive Jewish persecution of the gospel when he said in Matthew 23:34, "Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues, [listen] and pursue from town to town." Isn't that what happened with Paul?

And Jesus had predicted it in Matthew 23, and yet here we have in verse 1 tremendous compassion by the apostle Paul for the sake of his persecutors, "brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." We see here a Christlike compassion don't we. Just like Jesus when he says in Matthew 5:44, "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Oh, is that hard to do. I mean, genuinely to love your enemies, to yearn for the best for them while they're beating on you, to yearn that they might be saved, to pray for those who persecute you, that's what Jesus commanded, and yet Paul is actually doing it. It's the very thing that Jesus did on the cross. In Luke 23:34, Jesus said, "Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing."

And so we see Paul's astonishing love for his persecutors. And we see Paul's response, his heartfelt prayer: "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." It's a genuine yearning he has for their salvation. He wants to see them saved. Thomas Brooks a puritan pastor said this, he said, "Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven." That's a heartless prayer, a prayer that you pray and you have no interest in the outcome. John Bunyan put it this way, "When you pray, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words be without a heart." Sometimes, you can pray without words, you... I don't know what to say. The Lord is reading your heart, he knows what to do in that situation.

Another Puritan pastor said, "Many a mute beggar stood at the gate mute and got what he needed from God." So, it's not ornate words, it's the heart, it's the passion behind the prayer. He says, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is their salvation." I believe part of the purpose of prayer is to turn us from the kind of people who really don't care about our neighbor, who really don't care what's happening with those around us, to people who really do care. As we've talked about many times before, that attitude of Cain saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Well, Paul didn't feel that way. He felt that he needed to intercede for people who are persecuting him, and so he prayed for them, my heart's desire and prayer. Now, there are serious theological and spiritual implications. As I've already pointed out, Romans 9, I believe, is the greatest chapter in all the Bible on the absolute sovereignty of God over human salvation.

I think it really leaves us no wiggle room. I think ultimately it's very clear as you follow the verses you say, "God is the ultimate end of salvation." It comes down to the will of God, ultimately. But then, here in Romans 10, you have these two aspects of a clear teaching on human responsibility toward the lost. We should pray for them, we should preach to them, we should do missions. Later on we're going to commission the Kazakh mission team, you got another team that's going out on a short-term mission trip. I am so excited by the development, the flowering of short-term missions in this church, one of the greatest things that's happened since I've been here, it's a delight to see.

And so, we are commanded in Romans 10, we'll get to it later on in the preaching as God permits, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to be those feet, the beautiful feet that travel across the mountains and rivers to bring the message to those who haven't heard. And so we have these mysteries, the absolute sovereignty of God and the human responsibility toward the lost. How do you put it together?

Putting Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility Together

Well, in history, in church history, some have put it together wrongly, some have emphasized the one and denied the other. For example, some called Hyper-Calvinists, they call them, were said to William Carey, "Look, if God wants to save the heathen, he can do it in his own time, in his own way without any help from us." And William Carey, who believed in the absolute sovereignty of God in Romans 9 said, "I think God's ordained that I go as the means to the end." And he went, but the naysayers had that extreme view, they had denied chapter 10, that we need to go and preach and that we need to be praying. But then others flip it around saying, clearly we need to witness, clearly we need to be praying for the lost. And so the truths that are there in Romans 9 just can't be true. Whatever it is you are saying about them, they can't be true. Well, it's right there, what we're saying. God is absolutely sovereign, does not depend on man's desire effort.

Can we put these things finally together? I don't think so, but I know this, I want to pray for the lost the way Paul does here in verse 1. I want to pray for them, I want to have a heart of compassion for lost people around me and pray for them that they may be saved. There are so many incredible examples of people who poured out their heart in prayer for the lost and saw them saved. One of the great examples is that of Monica, Saint Augustine's mother, who prayed and wept for her errant son for years before he finally came to Christ and became one of the greatest fountains of theological truth the Lord ever raised up in church history. But it took a long time, he was an immoral young man, he was leading the life of the prodigal son. Wine, women, and song all the time, and then eventually when he started getting awakened to the need for more, he turned to human philosophy, into religious cults, not to Christ. And all along, there is Monica dying a thousand deaths in prayer every day, praying and praying, and he, Augustine told the story about his mother's intercessory prayer life on his behalf in his great book confessions. Confession's like a long testimony of how he came to faith in Christ. But it's written in the second person written to God. "And then you, Lord did this and then you taught me that."

And here he talks to God directly about Monica's prayer for him. This is what he says,

"And now, you did stretch forth your hand from above and drew up my soul out of that profound darkness, because my mother, your faithful one wept to you on my behalf more than mothers are accustomed to weep for the bodily deaths of their children. For by the light of the faith and spirit which she received from you, she saw that I was dead, and you heard her, o Lord, you heard her and despised not her tears, when pouring down, they watered the earth under her eyes in every place where she prayed. You did truly hear her. Nearly nine years passed in which I wallowed in the mud of that deep pit and in the darkness of falsehood striving off and arise, but being all the more heavily dashed down. But all that time, this chaste, pious, and sober widow such as you love was now more buoyed up with hope though no less zealous in her weeping and mourning, and she did not cease to bewail my case before you. In all the hours of her supplication, her prayers entered your presence and yet you allowed me still to tumble and toss around in that darkness."

Well, Monica became so discouraged as she saw Augustine finally turning away somewhat from the immorality at least at one level, to turning to deeper thoughts, but then he gets involved in Manichaeism which was a cult, a pseudo-christian cult, and she'd about had it.

She'd been praying for the son all of these years, she goes to this bishop and she talks to the bishop about the fact that Augustine was now wrapped up in this false doctrine and he said, "Well, God will lead him out of it, we've seen God leads so many out," she's not satisfied by that at all. She won't leave the bishop's office. She's not satisfied. Augustine wrote about it like this.

"When he had said this, she was still not satisfied but repeated more earnestly her entreaties and shed copious tears still besieging him to see and talk with me. Finally, the bishop a little vexed at her persistence exclaimed, "Go your way, as you live. It cannot be that the son of such tears should perish."

When she heard that, she took it as a prophecy from heaven that Augustine would in fact be saved. Augustine wrote this, "As she often told me afterwards, she accepted this answer as though it was a voice from on high." When at last, Augustine was converted to the true faith, Monica felt that her purpose in life was now finished and she died eight days later. It's an incredible story of persistent love in prayer.

There are others, there's Hudson Taylor, who poured out his heart day after day for the inland regions of China where he knew that there were no Christians at all. As far as he knew, totally unreached, the teeming millions of the inland regions of China. Yes, the coast line, there were missionaries, but they weren't doing that great a work either. And he just began burden and burden to pray and he prayed until China inland mission came to be.

And then there's John Hyde, the Presbyterian missionary to India, in the 19th century, he was nicknamed Praying Hyde. And with periods of outright persecution by Indian natives and few, if any conversions, Hyde began leading his fellow missionaries to pray to intercessory prayer for Indians so deep was it was called a prayer that in 1899, he began spending entire nights, face down before God. And he wrote a letter to his college, he wrote this, "Have felt led to pray for others this winter as never before. I never before knew what it was to work all day and then pray all night before God for another…In college or at parties at home, I used to keep such hours for myself for pleasure. And can I not do as much for God and for souls?"

So he began praying, By 1908, John Hyde dared to pray, what was to many at the missionary convention that met every year, an impossible goal. That during the upcoming year in India, one soul would be saved every day. 365 people converted, baptized, and publicly confessing Jesus as their savior. Impossible they said, yet it happened. He saw it happen through prayer. Before the next convention of missionaries, John Hyde had prayed more than 400 people into God's kingdom, and when the prayer union gathered again, he doubled his goal to two souls a day. Do not stop him. 800 conversions were recorded in the following year, and still Hyde showed an unquenchable passion for souls. At the 1910 convention, those around Hyde marveled at his faith, as they witnessed his near violent supplications, "Give me souls, oh God, or I die!" That's the way he would pray. Imagine praying with a man like that, it's going to be convicting, but it might heat you up a bit to just be in his presence.

"Give me souls or I die." Before the meeting ended, John Hyde revealed that he was again doubling his goal for the coming year, four souls a day and nothing less. And during the next 12 months, he traveled all over, that's when they gave him the nickname Praying Hyde. He led revival after revival. And one day, he didn't know of four people that were converted, he would spend the night in prayer for them. And the number of converts multiplied and the goal was met that year. Incredible, faithful prayer.

And then there's George Muller, one of my favorites, who had in his Prussian discipline this list of unconverted people that he prayed for every single day without an intermission. He prayed for some of them for one year, for two years, for six years, 10 years, some of them for over 20 years, some of them he prayed for until he died, and still the answer had not been given concerning them. I know of one case A. T. Pierson, his biography wrote of one case of somebody who converted after he died, two weeks after he died. He'd prayed for this guy for 40 years, every day, every day for 40 years, prayed for this lost person.

And Muller said this, "I have not a doubt that I shall meet them both in heaven for my heavenly father would not lay upon my heart a burden of prayer for them for over three score years if he had not concerning them the purposes of mercy." Now, that's the best I can do to put them together.

Is it natural for a human being to care that much about another human being that they would pray that long every day? I say it's not, I say it's super natural. And so, Muller said, they must be elect. God is working, he believed in predestination. God has called on me to pray and I'm not going to stop praying until it happens. Therefore, it is in some way, a means to an end. I cannot fully understand that but I know I want to be like this. I want to pray like praying Hyde, I want to pray like George Muller, I want to pray like Monica. Let me just stop right here in the middle of the message and just do some application.

Are You Praying for the Lost?

Do you have some lost relatives? And are you beseeching Lord daily for their salvation? Parents, do you have some lost children who are wandering from the fold? They could be fully grown, they might be teenagers or perhaps they're still little and they haven't yet come into a full understanding of the Gospel. Are you praying for them every day the way that Monica prayed for her son, Augustine? Spouses, do you have a lost husband, a lost wife?

Are you praying for them every day, that they would be converted? Romans 10:1, "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." Neighbors, are you constantly lifting lost neighbors up? Do you know the names of some neighbors that are not saved, and you're praying for them? Coworkers? When I worked as an engineer, I made a list of all the people in my immediate department and I prayed for them daily, and I prayed also that I would personally have an opportunity to share the gospel in the four-part outline, God man Christ response the full Gospel, at least some time while I was there. I saw God answer those prayers again and again. It wasn't 100%, but I had over 90%. I had a little list, woe to me if they ever found it. But I kept it hidden, and I was praying that I would have an opportunity to witness to each one of them. To witness, it was up to the Lord to convert them, but I wanted to pray for them, and to witness for them. Are you praying for your coworkers?

Recently, I was speaking to the pastor at Providence Baptist Church, David Horner, and they have a three by three program in which basically just groups of three covenant together to pray each of them for three lost people and to pray for their partners, lost people as well. So you'd be praying daily for nine lost people, every day for nine lost people.

And along with the prayer comes a kind of a subtle pressure I guess. "Hey, did you get a chance to invite him to church? Did you get a chance to say anything about the Lord to them?" that kind of thing, or even some have been more aggressive and say the three of us, let's go to each of the nine. And they would set up times and say what we do is we want to talk to you about the Lord. And they would be very intentional about witnessing to these nine folks. And when all nine had heard the Gospel, maybe they would get some new ones, and when they converted, they would start all over again. So you've got in your bulletin a little pamphlet about what we'd like to do here, three by three, and you're going to hear about it more. I don't have the time to go into it right now, but you understand the concept, find two others and do it. You don't need the ministerial staff to do any more than what you've just heard in the last six minutes. You understand, go find two other faith-filled people, and start praying for nine people. Pray for them that they would be saved.

There's a lot of things you can do. You can also adopt an unreached people group and pray for them until you see them come to faith in Christ. The Joshua project on the internet has lists of unreached people groups, you can just adopt one. Just because we don't understand how eternal sovereignty and human responsibility fits together, we can't reject it. Let's be like Paul. Let's trust in a sovereign God. And by the way, we're always trusting a sovereign God when we go to Him in prayer, aren't we? Are we going to somebody to God saying, "You think you can do something about this?" We believe that God is sovereign over salvation so we go. And do you think the Lord is going to say, "Don't come to me, that's not my department, I don't save people." Of course he saves people. That's what he's doing, so we go into the throne room and say, "Save him, save her." We keep praying for them. So let's be faith-filled and be like the apostle Paul in prayer.

II. Israel’s Ignorant Zeal

Now Paul prayed for the Israelites. He says, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." In Verse Two, he says, "For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." Now I'm not quite sure the connection between verse one and two, I think it's... He's thinking, they are so zealous, they're so powerful in their lives, think what they could be for Christ if they would be converted. Look what the Apostle Paul was, he was zealous for the traditions of the fathers, then he became zealous for the Gospel. "Wouldn't it be incredible," he's thinking, I think, "if they would be converted, for I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge."

Now, what is zeal? It's a burning desire, a relentless drive to accomplish something. We're surrounded by zealous people. There are people that are zealous for their business. Their secular zeal is to establish their business and be successful. You can get zealous day traders on Wall Street that spend basically every waking hour and many hours they should be asleep awake looking after stocks and bonds and other things. They're zealous to make money. Olympic athletes, zealous every day disciplining themselves so that they can compete in the Olympics. I've always said it's interesting, the American race walkers, the 50K race walking, do you know a single American race walker? I don't. But these folks every day are training and preparing themselves so they can just compete and finish 23rd place at the next Olympics, but they're totally zealous for their sport. They're dedicated so that they might achieve the best they can. There are political activists that are zealous for their view of politics. They are making phone calls, they're writing letters, they're down where they need to be every day, pursuing their goals, whatever they are. That's secular zeal.

There's also religious zeal, friends. We're seeing it just about every day in fundamentalist Islam, aren't we? Radical Islam, some of these people are willing to strap a bomb on their bodies and blow themselves up for their ends. But can I tell you something? Zeal does not save souls. This zeal that Paul's mentioning here, didn't save them, didn't save the Israelites. There is a zeal without knowledge, and that's what we've been talking about. Paul's own life was an avid witness, he was, as I mentioned, zealous for the traditions of the Elders. He was willing to travel long journeys to fight heresy. He was willing to harden his heart against the cries of wives and husbands and children as he broke apart families and arrested Christians. Paul's zeal for Israel and for the traditions of the Rabbis was like a raging furnace. He knew what this was about. The Jews as a nation burned for zeal, burned with zeal for God.

Pontius Pilate had a belly full of this. When he brought the legions in and the Legions established their little icons of Caesar and put them in the walls of the temple, the Jews went crazy, they rioted and they would rather die than have those Roman idols in the temple. They were willing, all of them, to die that day. A generation after Christ, what was left of the Jewish Zealots gathered at a place called Masada, and all of them died rather than give in to the Romans. Their zeal was unmatched. That same zeal led them to scream for Christ's crucifixion. They were willing both to be killed and to kill for their view of the glory of God.

Christ testified to this zeal for the law that they had. Matthew 23:15, he said, "Woe to you teachers of law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You travel over land and sea to win a single convert and then when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." He's talking about zeal there, but it's a zeal, as Paul says, without knowledge.

Now, what do I mean by that? What did Paul mean by "zeal without knowledge"? Well I think, in context, it's without knowing the righteousness that comes from God. But let's start with this. They didn't know God. So if they didn't know God, how could they know the righteousness that comes from God? They did not know the God they professed to serve and worship. Jesus said this again and again in John 16:2-3, he said this, "They will put you out of the synagogue. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that he is rendering service to God. They will do such things, [listen] "because they have not known the Father or me." That's zeal without knowledge, friends. They didn't know God the Father, and they didn't know Christ.

And Jesus said this again and again, in John 8:19, "They asked him, 'Where is your father?' Jesus answered, 'You do not know me or my father. If you knew me, you would know my Father, as well.'" He said later in that same chapter, Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My father, whom you claim as your God is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not know him, I would be a liar like you." So the Jews didn't know God. Isn't that amazing? The Jews burned with a zeal for a God they did not know, therefore the God they were serving was actually an idol of their own making, was not the true God of the Bible. And so in rejecting Christ, they rejected any possibility of a true knowledge of God.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:27, "No one knows the son except the Father, and no one knows the Father, except the son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." So in rejecting Christ, they rejected any possibility of knowing the true God. Now, if they had known God, Jesus said, they would have welcomed Christ because Christ came from God. Instead, they sought to kill him. So therefore, any zeal the Jews displayed was zeal without knowledge because they did not know God. Now that made them ignorant. They were ignorant of the true God. They were ignorant of God's way of salvation. They were ignorant of the Gospel.

Peter spoke of that ignorance in Acts 3, it says, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified His Servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed. You disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one, and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your leaders." You didn't know what you were doing. They didn't know it was Christ, they didn't know he was God in the flesh.

Paul said the same was true of himself. He didn't know. 1 Timothy 1:13, "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor, and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted, [listen] in ignorance and unbelief." I didn't know. Well, one morning on the road to Damascus, Jesus introduced himself to Paul for the first time in His resurrection glory. Well, that's who you are. "Who are you, Lord?" He said. That's ignorance, but he knew he was the Lord, it was Jesus. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." They have a zeal, Paul says, but it's a zeal without knowledge.

Now, there is a zeal that saves souls. There is a zeal that saves souls. But it's not our zeal, it's Christ's zeal. In John 2 Jesus made a whip. You remember the story? Wove together a whip and took that whip and cleaned the temple, drove out all the cattle and sheep and doves, overturned the tables of the money changers, "Get these out of here. How dare you turn my Father's house into a market?" Did Jesus not know that Annas, the high priest, in his whole click there was connected financially to these? He knew. Did he not know that they would take it personally, especially when he does it twice? Oh, he knew. Did he not know that Annas would be motivated to kill him for what he had done? Oh, he knew. But his zeal for his father's house burned him from within. And so it said in John 2:17, "His disciples remembered that is written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'"

Now, the word consume there in John 2:17, is literally "eat me alive", "Eat me up." Christ's zeal for the glory of God, his zeal that the temple of God be pure, his zeal for God's holiness was so strong it led to the cross. So also his zeal for your salvation, his zeal for your righteousness, his zeal to bring you and God together, to be the mediator between sinners and a holy God, his zeal brought him to the cross, and that is a zeal with knowledge, a zeal that saves our souls. Isn't that magnificent? And Christ's zeal for you has not reduced at all from the moment he saved you. It still burns as brightly as the sun and he's never going to stop until you are done being saved. That's the zeal that saves.

III. Israel’s Central Failure: Rejecting God’s Righteousness

But the zeal that doesn't save is in verse 3. It is a zeal to establish your own righteousness. And that's what the Jews had every day. Look at verse 3, "Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." They didn't know the righteousness of God. This could mean they didn't know how righteous God is, and I think that's true. They think that God kind of grades on the curve, you know what I'm saying? That God can kind of coexist with pseudo-righteous people. He can't. His eyes are too pure to look on evil. You have to have a perfect righteousness. And so they underestimated how holy and righteous God is.

But I don't think that's what Paul's meaning here. They didn't know the righteousness that God gives as a gift. That's what they didn't know. They didn't know that Christ came to give you a righteousness you can survive in on judgement day. They didn't know that. It's what Paul's been talking about over and over in Romans. Look what he says, you don't have to look but listen, in Romans 1:16-17, it says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; for in the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The righteous will live by faith,'" There is a given righteousness, a gift of righteousness that comes by simply believing the Gospel message. They didn't know it. They didn't know it and they didn't submit to it once they heard about it.

Paul spoke later about that same righteousness in Romans 3:21 and following. It says, "But now, a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace, by the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Jesus died on the cross to take your sins and mine on himself and to extinguish the wrath of God, the penalty against us. He also gives to us the perfect righteousness that he lived in at every moment. It is in that righteousness that we'd stand on Judgment Day.

But Israel did not know that righteousness. They didn't submit to it and they sought to establish their own. That means that every day they were seeking to make a building of self-righteousness. They would wake up in the morning and try to establish their own righteousness through good works, through achievements, through religious actions. Everything they did, their sacrifices that they offered, the animal sacrifices, their ritual washings, the way they carried on their business according to the Rabbinic traditions, the way that they did every little thing in life down to giving a tithe of their spices, every little part of their life was for righteousness sake, that they would be able to establish their own righteousness.

It's like they were building some kind of tower of righteousness, or maybe a stairway of righteousness through which they hoped to ascend to heaven. And every brick was a good deed, and the mortar that held every brick together was pride. And it stunk to high heavens. As a matter of fact, just like the Tower of Babel, God thought or was as displeased with the spiritual tower of self-righteousness the Jews were building every day as he was with the pagan tower that the Gentiles had sought to build to make a name for themselves. It says in Genesis 11, they built the tower of Babel to make a name for themselves. So also the Jews are trying to establish their own righteousness. And God would not accept it. On judgment day, He would humble them.

IV. Christ is the End of the Law for Believers

And so in verse 4 it says, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Israel misunderstood the role of the law. The law was not to save anybody, the law didn't save sinners, it couldn't. As we mentioned last week, the law is like a CAT scan or an MRI to tell you that you have a tumor. It does not do anything about the tumor, it doesn't heal you at all. Instead, it says, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

What does it mean, "Christ is the end of the law"? Well, the Greek word end, "telos", has three possible meanings, all three of them are poignant. First, Christ is the end of the final stage of the ceremonial law. You don't need circumcision anymore, you don't need the ritual life of Moses anymore, you don't need animal sacrifice anymore. All of that's finished because Christ has come and He is our righteousness. And so we're not under the law anymore, in that way. But better, secondly, Christ is the end goal of the law. When you get on a train station, a local train, get on a train at a train station, there's a local train with a lot of stops. And you ask what is the terminal stop? What's the final one?

I took a train when I was a missionary in Japan from Kobe to Osaka, Osaka was the final stop. I will never forget that train ride as long as I live. When I got on, I thought the train was full. We had ten more stops to go, and the same number of people got on at each stop. I've never seen anything like it in all my life. I survived but I don't know how, the breathing got tough. I got well acquainted with people I'd never met before in my life. The terminal stop was Osaka, that was it, everybody off. Praise God! And so we got off at Osaka, all of us did.

The terminal stop of the law was Christ. The law was bringing people to Christ. It was a tutor, it says in the Book of Galatians, to bring you to Christ. How so? Because you would learn through the law, you could never establish your own righteousness, you can't do it. You can't love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You can't love your neighbor as yourself. So Christ is the terminal stop of the law. Or you could look at it the ultimate goal of the law, that's why the law was given, to bring you to Christ, so that you would find in Christ, your righteousness, the end of the law.

But finally, and perhaps best, Christ is the "telos", the perfection of the law. He's the perfect embodiment of the law. The law reveals the righteousness of God, Christ reveals God's righteousness even better. Christ kept every jot and tittle of the law perfectly in his life. Christ is the perfection of a law abiding life. And thanks be to God, that perfect robe of righteousness Jesus wove every day of his law-abiding life, he gives to you as a simple gift. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for believers, for all of us who believe.

V. Application

Now, what application can we take from these verses that we've looked at? Well, let's go back to the one I made earlier. Will you please do that three by three? Will you just find two other people you want to pray with and start praying for some lost people? Romans 10:1, will you start praying for your lost neighbors, and coworkers and fellow students, if you're a student? Some people you may know that come to church, even that don't know Christ yet. Will you get together with two other people and pray for those nine folks? Pray for the lost that they would have a heart for truth, that God would send witnesses, (that's a tricky prayer, you know). "Oh Lord, please send a witness to this person that they might hear the gospel." You know what's going to happen if you pray that enough.

"Here am I, send me," you're going to say. After a while, you'll say, "Why not me? Why can't I go?" And you will. And so, you might lead somebody to Christ this year, wouldn't that be incredible. Pray that those folks would have a conviction of sin, that they would see in Christ the righteousness that they need. And the final application before we go to the Lord's table is this, just understand that Christ is the goal, the end of the law. We're not under law, we're children of God. We're not standing in a legal righteousness every day, we don't crank it out every day. That's not Christianity, friends. We're already perfect in Christ's righteousness and we're just called to live in the righteousness that Christ came to give us. Christ is the end of the law so that there's no legalism anymore. We're not going to be like the Jews building a stairway to heaven brick by brick. Neither is Christ the end of the law so that there may be license. Rather Christ fulfills the law and writes it in your heart and your mind so that you can live it by the Spirit. Close with me, if you would, in prayer.

Introduction: A Recipe for Excellence

We're looking this morning at Romans 9:19-23. We've already seen some things in verses 19:23. And as I was thinking about this message, I was just remembering my own upbringing. Both of my parents were chemists, and I think... I don't know if the reason that I can't stand chemistry today is that we just talked about it so much at the dinner table or something like that, I never really loved it. I liked other forms of science, but not so much chemistry.

I'll never forget, my dad was a chemist and he used to wear this white lab coat, and he would cook that way. He was a chef in the kitchen and he was just... And he told me that chemistry is just really like cooking, it's finding a recipe. And I know I've eaten at the homes of a number of you, and you have some secret recipes that your relatives have passed on, and you won't give them to us, but we do enjoy eating those things when we're at your house. So that's a special thing. But I began thinking about this theme of secret recipes, and something amazing hit me. And it had never occurred to me before, but that is that two of the greatest empires in world history were strengthened and established and made their advance because of secret recipes done by chemists.

The Byzantine Empire

The first one I have in mind is the Byzantine Empire, which was the Eastern form of the Roman Empire, lasted a 1,000 years after the fall of Rome, at least in part because of a secret concoction mixed by a Jewish refugee named Callisto, who came to Byzantine and invented this concoction in the year 670 AD. It became the most dreaded weapon of the Byzantine Empire for 800 years. It extended the life of the empire for eight centuries. It first made its appearance at a battle that the Byzantine Navy had with the Muslim Saracens who were trying to destroy Constantinople, and add the Byzantine empire to the ever growing size of Muslim conquests at that time in world history. And it looked for all the world that they were going to do it, they were very powerful, until the Byzantine Navy came and engaged the Saracen, the Muslim Navy.

And out of these wooden dragons there were these tubes coming out of the mouths of the Byzantine ships, and this fire just spewed out of these wooden dragon heads and ignited the Muslim ships. That's nothing new in naval warfare to use fire. The problem was that this great fire, you couldn't put it out. The more water they poured on it, all that did was spread the fire more. It couldn't be extinguished. And so all of these Muslim ships sank, there was no remedy. And so it was from generation to generation that the Byzantine Empire was upheld by this strange Greek fire, and nobody could understand what it was. Three centuries later, a little less than three centuries later, a Russian fleet of 10,000 ships came to conquer Constantinople, Byzantine. All 10,000, the record has, sank with the Greek fire. All 10,000. Now obviously, something that powerful and potent, the recipe, the concoction for how it's to be mixed would be guarded like no other state secret. So, it was so much so that no historian today knows what's in it. There's some chemists that can guess, but nobody can get exactly the same recipe. And so that's one empire.

The Coca-Cola Empire

The other Empire, a little bit different, but the secret recipe was concocted in the lab of an Atlanta pharmacist named John Pemberton. He developed a sticky black fluid that would in some sense conquer the world. I think if he had known just how powerful the sticky black fluid would be, he would never have sold it to another Atlanta pharmacist, named as Asa Candler, for $2,300, in 1890. But over the next 10 years, the production of it went from 9,000 gallons to 370,000 gallons. Now the empire based on that sticky fluid is worth countless billions, and there's nowhere you can go where you can't drink it, mixed with carbonated water, it's called Coca-Cola. And you can't find the secret, although, on the internet there's somebody who thinks they have it. Don't you believe it, it's locked up in a safe somewhere and we'll never get it. And so these two empires advanced with a secret recipe.

I was thinking, God's empire, His kingdom has advanced because He knows the secret to your heart and mind to bring us to faith in Christ, to preserve us through this dangerous world, to prepare our hearts in advance for glory, until we are ready for Heaven, God knows how to do that. And the amazing thing is, it's different for each individual person. Not radically different, all of us have similar things, but God knows how to attract you into His kingdom. He knows how to work in your heart. He is, and another whole other way of looking at it, He is the potter, you're the clay. He knows how to shape you, and how to prepare you for glory. Isn't that marvelous? He knows the secret recipe to your heart. You don't even know it, but He does. And He knows how to prepare you for glory.

I. Review

Now, this is what we're talking about today. Vessels of wrath and also vessels of mercy. The context in Romans 9 is, Paul is seeking to address a very great problem. The problem is, why the Jews, the promised people, the chosen people, were at his time and are even to this point, almost universally rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if God made all these incredible promises to them, and if He's not keeping those promises, what does that say for the promises that came earlier in Romans 8? One promise after another of incredible blessing that God is going to give us. Are they worth the paper they're printed on? If God hasn't kept His promise to the Jews, then how will He keep His promise to us?

But Paul answers emphatically in Romans 9:6, saying, "It is not as though God's Word has failed." Why not Paul? Well, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. There are the physical descendants of Abraham, what we call the Jews, physically, but then there are the elect, the chosen, the remnant. There are different Biblical words for that, within to whom God had made His promises. And God's Word to them has not failed, indeed it cannot fail. And so, Paul brings us into the deep waters of unconditional election. He gives us the example of Jacob and Esau, twins in their same mother's womb, who had radically different destinies. And "before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, not by works but by Him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger."

And so He deals with this issue of Jacob and Esau. And so He says, concerning the justice of God, you know, "Is God unjust?" He deals with the question of justice, it seems that unconditional election is unjust for God to not deal with this on the basis of our achievements and our works and our choices, it seems unjust to us from the human perspective. He says God is not unjust. For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. Then he brings up the case of Pharaoh, and he talks about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and the summation in verse 18 he gives, is that God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. And the insight we had is that God does one or the other with every single person on the face of the earth, there's no third category. It's not like there's some other mass of people that God's not doing one or the other with. He's either showing mercy, or He's hardening. And that is the work.

So we come now to verse 19, "But one of you will say to me, 'Then why does God still find fault for who resists His will?'" If God is so sovereign, so powerful, He can do anything He wants, then why does God judge anybody? How can we actually be held responsible for this? That's what he's dealing with. And we started to see the answer.

Review: God’s Rebuke

First of all, God rebukes a kind of questioning, we saw God's rebuke last time. This is just review. "Who are you oh man, who answers back to God, who talks back to God?" That's what we're dealing with there. It's not just asking questions, "Oh Lord, I want to know, tell me the truth." That's not it. There's an arguing back, and God rebukes it. So we saw God's rebuke. God is not on trial. We're not a back room, back court lawyers firing questions like a district attorney, and God, He's got to answer. It doesn't work that way, He's God, He's the king. We're created beings. So we saw that, God's rebuke.

Review: God’s Role

Secondly, we saw God's role. God is the potter, we're the clay. He is the one who forms, we are that which is formed. That is God's role. And God crafts these vessels. And the insight there was that not all vessels are crafted for honor and glory. Some are crafted as vessels of honor, some are hardened as vessels of dishonor. Some are vessels of mercy whom He prepares in advance for glory, and some vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction. We talked also last time about God's rights. Does not the potter have the right to do this? Doesn't He have the right as the creator to deal with this this way? It speaks of the rights of ownership. He is the sovereign king. And out of the same lump of clay He can make one or the other. Oh, is that humbling?

You'd like to think you're somehow out of some different stuff originally than Hitler or some of these other great evil people, but same lump of clay is greatly humbling to the human race, isn't it? It's not like He finds some pocket of good clay and makes a good vessel out of it. No, it's the same lump.

Review: God’s Rights

And God has the right to do what He wants with that simple lump, He has the right to do what He wants. That's all review, we covered that last time.

II. God’s Reason

Now today, what I'd like to do is try to understand God's reason in all this. Why? Why does He do this? What is He doing? What are His reasons for all this? And we see in verse 22-23, God giving an answer, a reason. It says, "What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction. What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of mercy whom He prepared in advance for glory?" Verses 22-23. Now, first of all, I just want you to notice God's grace in giving us this explanation. He could have just said, "Who are you, o man?" End of story. "You do not have security clearance to go through that door. You're not going in." He doesn't need to tell you any more, but He does. Isn't that remarkable? And you know what that says to me? Let's read verses 22 and 23. Let's try to understand what He says there. If He has deemed to tell us, we should try to understand what He said. It bothers me when people cut off this discussion, and say, "I don't want to talk about that. It's too deep."

Well, God didn't think so. He told you. And so we need to try to understand verse 22 and 23 of Romans 9. Amen? So let's try and understand. I don't know that we're going to perfectly get there, I actually know that you can't. Paul, who wrote it said, "Oh the depths of the riches." You're never going to get it all. Let's try to understand. He has given us grace.

God’s Reason for Everything: A Display of His Glory

Now, what are His reasons for doing this? What is His reason? Well, I think His reason for everything is to display His own glory. He does it for a display of His glory. And we're going to see display language here in this account. I'll talk to you in a minute about that. But by display, I think about my days as a mechanical engineer. I used to go to trade shows. And these trade shows would be at huge convention centers, huge rooms, and you would just wander and see all of the displays that the companies had. And the companies would spend tens of thousands of dollars for those few seconds when you'd be strolling by their part of the exhibit hall. And they knew they only had a few seconds to grab your attention, and so they would do the most incredible displays. Some of them look just like a vertical carpet, but others were state-of-the-art, flat plasma screen TVs before anyone else had them, or marbleized covers, or it looked like fine mahogany, or polished brass, or something to grab your attention. They would spare no expense.

Now, if a company is that zealous to display their products or their information to get it out, if they're that zealous for that, how much more is God zealous to put His glory on display? That's what this is about. What is God's reason for all of this? That He may be glorified, that His glory may be on display, both in the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy. Friends, if you don't get anything else out, get that out. God does all things for the display and for the praise of His glory. That's the reason. Well, let's try to understand it a little bit more. God's glory has been on display since the moment He created the Heavens and the Earth. From the moment that He said, "Let there be light," He has been in the process of displaying or putting out His glory. Light makes all things visible, it displays His glory.

God’s Glory is Put on Display in Christ’s Redemptive Work

But the greatest display of glory, the greatest display of the glory of God in history, has been through the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of his being, Hebrews 1:3. He is the image of the invisible God, and He came down to Earth so that He could say to His disciples who asked Him and said, "Show us the Father." He said, "Don't you know me, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father." You want to know the Father? Look at Jesus, He's a display of the Father's glory. But even there, there's gradients of glory, and the pinnacle of Christ's display of the glory of God was at the cross and the empty tomb. The display of His glory.

So it says in Romans 3:21-26, which we did study in this church a while ago, years ago. Yes, this is an expositional sermon on Romans and it's been years. But go back and look it up, and you'll see in Romans 3:21-26, what I called at the time, the glowing heart of the Gospel. You could just sense of like the energy center of the Gospel, Romans 3:21-26. And there the Apostle Paul says this, "We are justified," that's forgiven of our sins and made righteous before God, "we are justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God... Now listen, displayed publicly as a propitiation, as an atoning sacrifice. God displayed Christ publicly as a propitiation, in His blood through faith." Listen again, "This was to demonstrate His righteousness or justice, because in the forbearance of God, He had passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration, I say, of His justice at the present time, so that He would be just, and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ Jesus."

What do all those words say? Well, God had passed over David's sin with Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet said, "You shall not die." What? How does a guy like that get into Heaven? God had to display His justice at the cross, He had to display His righteousness. So He put His commitment to justice and righteousness on display when Jesus died. A display. It says it three times, displayed publicly, demonstrated, and demonstration. Also, it says that God displays His love in Christ at the cross. Romans 5:8, it says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we're still sinners, Christ died for us." Do you see all this display or demonstration language? It's a display.

So also we had the same thing in that Christ's resurrection displayed His power. Listen to this in Romans 1:4, it says "and Christ, through the Spirit of holiness, was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord." So there's all this display, demonstration of God's justice, His righteousness, His love, and His power. We also see His patience put on display when sinners get saved. The Apostle Paul talks about this in 1 Timothy 1:16. He said, "For that very reason, I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life." So God put his patience on display by saving Paul. Do you see all this display language? Justice, righteousness, holiness, love, wrath, power, kindness, and patience, all put on display through Jesus Christ, the cross, and the resurrection.

God’s Glory is Put on Display in Both Types of Vessels

Now, God's glory is put on display also in both types of vessels. The vessel of wrath puts God's glory on display, the vessel of mercy puts God's glory on display. Both of them are for the display or the showing of God's glory. That's what it's for, that's the reason why God does this. Now, they're different, but both of them are for the same purpose ultimately, the display of God's glory. Now, when we use this language; a vessel, a vessel of mercy or a vessel of wrath, what do we mean by that? Well, the Greek word has two senses, one is, it could be a tool or an implement, sometimes the word is translated that way. A tool of God's glory. Another more common is something that... Like a container. You can imagine like a pot or a bowl or something, a vessel of oil, or a vessel of wine, or some other thing in the New Testament that would hold. It was a container of something, a vessel.

Now, a vessel of honor, it speaks of in verse 21, and also a vessel of dishonor. Now, the vessel of honor, the word honor usually refers to that which is accorded to God. Praise and honor and glory. Well, this is something that holds honor, it's a container of honor. If you're going to have something really honorable, you need a great container for it. I remember when I bought Christie's engagement ring, I went to the finest jeweler in Boston, and they knew how to put a ring like that in a wonderful box. I'll never forget that box, it was made in Thailand. I don't know what it was made out of, some kind of gray leather with a snap on it, but I was almost more interested in the box than I was in the ring. I don't know, I thought it was the most incredible box I'd ever seen. But if you're going to have something that honorable you're not going to put it in a plastic bag. Alright? Amen, right.

Maybe some of you men did, and your wives accepted the ring anyway, that's wonderful. It just shows their grace, doesn't it? I mean they're just so kind to us. But you want to display it well. It needs to be presented well. So this is the vessel of honor. Also in this verse, verse 21, there's the vessel of dishonor, and that's the literal translation although the NIV gives us this sense of common use, and that's possible, something that's commonly used, but either way, may I say to you, the focus is not so much on the vessels, but on the potter who can make either one? He can do either one. He knows how to do either one, he knows the recipe for a vessel of honor, he knows the recipe for a vessel of dishonor, he can do either one. He has that kind of power. He has that kind of ability.

And also verse 22-23, we have vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. So we have vessel of honor, vessel of dishonor. Verse 21, vessel of wrath, vessel of mercy, verses 22 and 23. Well, God does all of this to display His glory.

III. God is Glorified in the Vessels of Wrath

Now, God is glorified in the vessels of wrath. That's what he's saying here in verse 22. Paul begins with a kind of a fragmented question. None of the translations really bring it across, the translators frequently try to help the Greek and I understand that, but it makes it kind of a question. What if God chooses me? But it's not what it says, although the meaning is fine, but it just says, "If God, desiring to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience." NASB gives us a kind of a concessive thing, almost like indicating "If God, even though he really would like to show His wrath and make His power known, yet held himself back, bore with great patients the objects of wrath." That's the sense, but I want you to notice the "then" is never finished. "If God," then what? He never finishes it and Paul actually frequently does this, begins thoughts and doesn't finish, but you get the idea.

One pastor I heard preaching on Romans 9 reached back for Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, one of the greatest speeches ever given by a President. It's almost at the very, very end of the bloody Civil War, and he's trying to make sense of it, and he reaches for depths theologically, that we don't really see in presidents these days. And it's an amazing thing, as he's ruminating on the Civil War and he says that, he uses this if again. He says, "If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God must needs come." Oh, is that deep?

 "But which having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove." This is Abraham Lincoln giving an inaugural address. I think nowadays the ACLU would arrest the president if he talked like this. But listen what he says, "If he now wills to remove slavery and that he gives both to North and South, this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came." Here's the key answer, the second half. "Shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him?" Let me put it in simple language. If God has willed this war, should we then say He's any less worthy of being worshiped? If God wills to make out of a sinful lump a vessel of dishonor, does that mean he's any less loving, any less powerful, any less compassionate, any less gracious, any less worthy of worship? The answer is no.

Our God is worthy of worship, no matter what He wills and chooses to do. That's what Paul does in Verse 22, "If God... Is he any less worthy of worship?" Now, what does God display in vessels of wrath? Well, first he displays his wrath. Puts his wrath on display. If there were no vessels of wrath there would have been no flood of Noah. There would have been no fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. There would have been no handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feasts the very night that Babylon fell under the judgment of God. There would be no Book of Revelation as it was written, no bowls of wrath and there'd be no Hell. All of these things were displays of God's character and His nature, and you know what it teaches us? That God's eyes are too pure to look on evil, He cannot tolerate wrong, He has an aggressive and passionate response to evil. That's what it teaches me about God.

What else is put on display? Well, His power. God uses the wickedness of men to bring Him ultimate praise. He used the wickedness of Pontius Pilate and Annas and Caiaphas to put Jesus to death so that we could have a Savior. Isn't that incredible what God can do with wickedness? That's amazing. And so we see His power also. We saw it in the 10 plagues with Pharaoh, God has an amazing power. Nothing stops God and so in His will up come immense obstacles to the gospel, and he overcomes them one after another, generation after generation, His church is faced with obstacles that seem insurmountable and we keep getting over it. How? By the power of God. And so God shows His power.

Christ hating Roman Empire did not stop the advance of the Gospel. Neither did the Barbarian hordes who swept across, or the Viking invasions, that didn't stop the gospel either. Even in our present time, Christ hating Nazi regime did not stop the gospel of Jesus Christ, and nor will aggressive militant Islam, either. God shows His power in this way. He also shows his longsuffering patience. He puts up with a lot. He puts up with more sin than you can imagine. He sees every heart, He knows the inclination of every heart. He sees it all. And He puts up with so much. Look what it says in verse 22, "what if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience…" There's an extra Greek word in here to help it, already it's patient but it's great patience. If you don't think God needs great patience to put up with sin, you don't understand the holiness of God and none of us do, but that's the amazing patience of God. God put up with the sin of the Amorites for about... In my estimation, about 500 years after he made the promise in Genesis 15. That's a long time and He said, "The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." so the Amorites were given time to fill up the measure of the sin of their forefathers. God is so patient. How patient was He with the Jews as they just disobeyed the law of Moses generation after generation? Finally, He brings the Babylonians. He's so patient.

I've told this story before, but it fits here, of a 19th century debate between a godly Scottish pastor and a renown atheist. The atheist was filled with all kinds of sassy and provocative speech, and everybody just loved listening to this guy speak, he was very entertaining as these types of folks frequently are, but he ended by taking a watch out of his vest pocket, back in the 19th century, they had those, they didn't have wristwatches, and he would dangle the thing over the pulpit, just dangle and said, "I will give God, if He exists, three minutes to strike me dead for all the blasphemies I've spoken today." So he'll time three minutes. Oh, that's pretty suspenseful, three minutes.

You can imagine the effect. And after those electric three minutes were done and he walks off the podium, says, "Your turn," to the godly pastor to come and give his presentation. And he began by saying, "And did my esteemed friend really think he could exhaust the patience of the Almighty God in a mere three minutes? But do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked." You can't mock God any more than you can take a wet stick and marble or steel. You can't mock God, you're just mocking your own soul. But God is patient, isn't He? He doesn't bring our judgment down immediately, He is patient. Another display that's not mentioned here is His love for His enemies because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. He is so good to people who hate Him, so good to them.

Now, how does He deal with vessels of wrath? What does He do with them? Well, first He creates them. Let's keep that in mind. There's nobody here on earth that wasn't created by God. There's nobody here that wasn't actively knit together in their mother's womb by God. That includes the vessels of wrath. That includes, friends, Judas Iscariot. You remember Judas? Jesus said, "The Son of Man will go just as it has been written about Him, but woe to the man by whom He goes, who betrays him." Listen. Jesus said, "It would have been better for him if he had never been born." Now, think about that for a while. Then why was he born? Because God knit him together in his mother's womb. You mean that God chose something for Judas that was not better for Judas? Yes, He did. And why? Because that was the will of God, that Judas be knit together. The depths of the wisdom of God are beyond us. But this is true, God knit Judas together in his mother's womb knowing full well what he would do.

What else does God do? Well, He lavishes goodness on them, as I've already mentioned. Paul says the pagan idol worshipers in Derby in Acts 14:17 it says, "He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." God does that for people who hate Him? Who worship His rivals? Who worship idols? Yes, that's the kind of God we love and serve. He withholds just punishment for a season, but he records every careless word that they have spoken, every single deed. Romans 9:18 says that He hardens their hearts, as we've already learned. He does limit the damage that they do while they're here on earth, controls it in some way. And in the end He justly takes their lives from them, it is the death penalty for sin. He judges them with a perfect judgment on Judgment Day, and then destroys them eternally in hell. This is the teaching of the word of God.

But one thing He does not do, He does not regenerate them by His sovereign grace. He does not take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. In all of this, God is glorified. That's the teaching of Romans 9.

IV. God is Glorified in the Vessels of Mercy

Can I say to you at this moment? Thanks be to God that that's not the end of the story. It could have been, you know? It could have been only vessels of wrath, but instead there is verse 23. "What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory. Even us…" it says in verse 24. Thanks be to God that there is the second category. That didn't have to be, there's not for the devil and his angels, they don't get a second chance, there's no gospel for them, but there is one for us. There is a savior for us, thanks be to God. And God does all of these things, this display, for us.

He is patient with the vessels of wrath so that he gives the vessels of mercy time to repent. God is not slow in keeping His promise. Second Peter Three, "He is patient with us not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." And so he is waiting and waiting. Aren't you glad that God didn't end it 500 years ago? Aren't you glad you were born? Aren't you glad that you came to faith in Christ? Aren't you glad you're going to get to see God and His glory? Aren't you glad God is so patient? I'm glad that He is navigating history, navigating redemption, so that I could get born and so could you and we could love Christ and see Him for ever. Now what a beautiful thing that is. And so we are, in effect, the audience of His glory. Remember I was talking about all the display? God puts his display on, He does it for us, so that the vessels of his mercy might see all of His glory.

God has much to show us, He has much to show us. I look forward to it. Do you realize that God has infinite glory to show us, and you can, even in heaven, you'll only be able to take in so much at a time? Did you ever wonder what you're going to do in Heaven forever and ever? Maybe you're saying, "I'm not really into strumming a harp. Alright? I mean, I could do it for a few hours, but eternity? Forever strumming a harp, sitting on a cloud with other harp strummers? I'm not into that. And frankly, I don't think there's anything here on earth that I'd want to do forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever." Well, you're thinking like the present world. There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth, and constant displays of God's glory.

Ephesians 2:6-7 says this, "And God raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages, He might show," there's that display language, "He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Oh, is that incredible. So what's going to happen is, they're just going to be kind of new waves of God's glory, and He'll be like, "Hey, did you see that?" Course I saw it, I'm watching, I can see it. And there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth to explore. You'll all be like the Lewis and Clark Expedition. You're going to go find what there is to see. And you're going to go over the next hill and look down at some incredible valley that God has recreated by His power and glory and your jaw is just going to drop open, and you're going to say, "Praise God, praise God, to God be the glory."

And because "eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man" listen, "what God has prepared in advance for us who love Him." So we don't know when it's coming, but it's coming and it's going to be incredible. And what's going to be put on display? Well, the riches of His glory. Wealthy people like to put their riches on display in many cases, okay? They like to have extravagant displays, like you look at Louis the 16th and the Sun King, and he's got Versailles and all the artwork, and it's just a lavish display, and his wealth was in land and gold and artwork and all that kind of thing. If you go to Bill Gates' house, you can see the world's number one collection of electronic reproductions of great works of art, isn't that interesting? You're going to stand and look at a flat screen, and see the MonaLisa. And he has exclusive rights to that, okay, I guess at least at that transmission level. So at any rate, that's what you'll see at Bill Gates' house, that's the display of his wealth.

What is God's riches? What are our riches and not in stocks, not in bonds, not in real estate holdings, not in gold or silver or rare objects of art. Our riches are in God's kindness and glory in Christ Jesus, that's our riches, that's what we're rich with. Is that enough for you? It's enough for me. And frankly, all the other stuff, it's just dust in the wind. You are richer than all of them combined if they don't know Christ. We are rich people. He's going to be putting the display of His riches and His glory on forever. Our commodity is glory, that's what we get. And we are called here vessels of glory. Actually, the phrase is literally vessels of mercy. But what kind of mercy are we talking about? The mercy that He showed to Moses on the mountain. Remember Moses said, "Now show me your glory," and He said, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy." The mercy that He's showing us is His glory.

We don't deserve it, we can't demand it, but he's going to give it to you anyway, if you're in Christ. Isn't that beautiful? Vessels of mercy. And the vessel is going to be like, you're going to be like a... A vessel, a pitcher just filled up with the glory of God and then refilled again and again. You'll be like a sponge saturated, so much will you be filled with glory. You know, Moses, his face shone just being in a little presence of the glory of God. No, we're not going to just have a temporarily fading shining face. We're going to be so saturated with the glory of God that it says in, Jesus said in Matthew 13, "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Oh, you can't even imagine how God's glory will fill you and saturate you if you're a vessel of glory. Well, what does He do with these vessels of glory? Well, He prepares them, it says, in advance for glory. That's incredible.

Do you realize that God is working on you every moment of your life, if you're a Christian, preparing you in advance for glory? "What if He did this," verse 23, "to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory?" Paul puts a little prefix in there on something that didn't need it. Isn't prepare always done in advance? I mean, woe to the student that prepares for a test after the test is over. Okay? That's generally unwise. Or to the homemaker, or host or hostess that prepares for the party the next day. Okay, when the guests come, they look around and say, "Was it tonight?" Alright. We don't prepare except in advance, but Paul strengthens it by saying, "Prepares in advance for glory." He is working on you right now to get you ready for glory, if you are a Christian. He's getting you ready and there is nothing wasted, nothing is wasted. The pieces of bread and fish at the feeding of the 5000, Jesus said, "Let nothing be wasted." Collected it all. Well, then how much less events in your life that come to you filtered through the hands of a sovereign and loving God who knows what He's doing in your life, He's preparing you in advance for glory. Now He is not preparing your bodies in advance for glory. No offense. I'm not saying that you don't look wonderful, you do, but I can tell you right now, you need to be rescued from your bodies. Again, no offense, don't misunderstand me. Pastors have to be so careful.

I'm not saying you look terrible, I'm just saying you need to be rescued from your bodies. Paul says in Romans 7:25, "What a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body of death?" We need to be rescued, you know why? Because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor can the perishable be clothed with the imperishable. We got to be changed, we got to be transformed, and we will be, and therefore, even as we're dying, God is preparing us for glory. Isn't that marvelous? Because these bodies can't come with us. Outwardly we are wasting away, but inwardly, we're being renewed day by day. So the preparation in advance for glory is something inside you, it's in your heart, it's in your soul. He's getting you ready for glory, He's giving you a taste for glory. He's preparing you. And isn't it beautiful that Jesus said, "I go and prepare a place for you." "Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me, in my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not, so I would have told you for I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus said there He is preparing a place for us, but this text says He is preparing us for the place. He's working both ends, He's preparing the place for us, He's preparing us for the place. He's going to get everything ready, and when everything is ready, then comes the wedding day. Then comes the wedding day. And so it says in Revelation 21:1-2, it says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there's no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband." Christ is getting His bride ready. He's getting her beautiful, He's dressing her in fine linen, which stands for the righteous deeds of the saints. She's going to be spectacular, she's going to be glorious, she's going to be attractive to Him and He will marry her and He will live with her forever and ever. And if you're a Christian, you're part of that. He's preparing you for the wedding day.

And in the meantime, everything's according to the recipe. He knows what He's doing, He knows how to get you ready for that day, He knows how to mix in certain ingredients of suffering and sadness along with joy and satisfaction, moments of comfort, moments of sorrow, all of it wisely mixed together for this purpose, that you would be prepared in advance for glory.

V. Application

Now what application can we take from this sermon that was originally 18 pages, and then got reduced. So much in here, so much in here. I just want to focus on you, speaking first to Christians, feel the potter's hands all over your life. Feel Him working in you and preparing you in advance for glory. This is the meaning of Romans 8:28 when it says, "God causes all things to work together for good. For those who love God and are called according to His purpose." What is His purpose? To conform us to the image of Christ.

And so everything that's happening to you is preparing you for glory, it's getting you ready. And so when you hear a sermon, God is preparing you in advance for glory. When you read a missionary biography, God is preparing you in advance for glory. When you have a great conversation with a Christian friend, when you have a quiet time, when you get down on your knees and pray, God is preparing you in advance for glory. When you go on vacation and you go to the Grand Canyon or the mountains or the ocean, and you say, "Wow, look at that," God is preparing in advance for glory. And when you sin and God disciplines you, and you are convicted by the Holy Spirit and you confess it and you renounce it, and with sadness you yearn in your heart, never to do that sin again, God is preparing you for glory.

Furthermore, God is using you to prepare other people in advance for glory, "for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in them." So what does that mean? Means when you speak a word of encouragement, when you use your spiritual gift of administration or financial generosity or prayer or teaching, you are helping others to be prepared in advance for glory. When you go on a mission trip, you're helping other people, you're preparing them in advance for glory. When you invite a friend to church, you were an instrument in the hand of God to prepare them in advance for glory. It's incredible how God uses us to shape and mold His church, so that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called to coordinate His purpose. You are called to a life of significance. What is your ministry? Are you walking in the good works that God is going to use in your life to prepare somebody else in advance for glory? Oh, do them all the more, store up treasure in Heaven for glory.

Now, to the non-Christian friend, don't you want this? Aren't you hungry for it? Don't you yearn to have the potter's hand all over your life? Don't you yearn to have the blood of Jesus Christ atone for all of your sin, so that the record book is thrown away and God embraces you as a son or daughter of God? Don't you yearn for Christ? Then come to Him today, trust in Him as your personal savior, love Him, believe in Him, trust in Him, and then watch what He does to prepare you in advance for glory. We who are already Christians, now we've been at it for a while and sometimes it's wonderful and sometimes it's not. But in all things God is working to get us ready for that glorious, glorious wedding day. Close with me in prayer.

Introduction

Turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 9. We'll be looking this morning at verses 17-18. We come in these verses to one of the deepest and hardest mysteries of doctrine that we're going to ever face in the Bible. And so I prayed for a measure of God's grace, and for Him to pour out His spirit on us, both in the speaking and the hearing of the word.

In the last over 100 years, many mysteries have been solved by human ingenuity, heavier than air flight, for example, by Orville and Wilbur right here in this state. Enrico Fermi, was able to look into metaphorically at least, but also physically to look into the nucleus of the atom and split what the Greek said was un-splittable. Watson and Crick, looked into the nucleus of the cell and found a double helix, the DNA, and unlocked, at least some of the secrets of life.

But you know, for all of our ingenuity and our cleverness, our ability to probe into mysteries and solve them, we will never fully solve this one. We will never fully understand how it is that God sovereignly deals with human hearts, in such a way that he makes his unconditional election certain, while at the same time holding human hearts responsible for their sin, calling it sin, whatever the inclinations of their heart that they are responsible for them. We'll never be able to solve that ultimately. It's the ultimate mystery. But it is important for us as believers, to embrace the word of God, and to go as far as the word goes, to understand what it says. The basic lesson of Romans 9, is that God is totally sovereign over human salvation, from beginning to end. And that means that God is totally sovereign also over the human heart.

We're coming here this morning to one of the deepest themes of the Bible, the hardening of the human heart by the sovereign hand of God. Look at verses 17-18 again, "For the scripture says to Pharaoh, 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' Therefore, God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom He wants to harden." So it all comes down to this one mysterious encounter, between the sovereign God of the universe and a wicked Emperor who sat on a human throne, Pharaoh. And the simple command from that emperor of the universe to that human emperor, "Let my people go." There's nothing in there too complicated, and Pharaoh knew exactly what God was commanding him to do, but what did Pharaoh say? "Who is the Lord that I should obey Him? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."

So God gave him a clear command, and yet the scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not obey the very command that He had given him. And the scripture also says that Pharaoh sinned in not obeying that command. Can you put all that together? It seems to make no sense that God would command one thing, harden against it, then hold the person accountable. And that's why I say to you we'll never fully understand it, but that's precisely what's going on here.

I. Understanding and Preparing our Hearts

Now, before we understand this, it might be helpful for us to stop and try to understand a little about ourselves, try to understand our own hearts. John Calvin, at the beginning of the institution of the Christian religion said, "Nearly all the wisdom that we possess that is good, true and noble wisdom, consist in two parts, the knowledge of God and of ourselves."

Well, I think it's good for us to try to understand both, and this is a good text to do it, to try to understand God and ourselves. Let's try to understand ourselves for a moment. What are our natural tendencies? Well, there's a desire for autonomy, self-rule. You know it's mother's Day. These children almost immediately are going to begin to exert their own will in the house. You know what I'm talking about. And so there's a struggle right on through parenthood in there. A desire for autonomy. I want to rule my world, and I want to rule yours too if I can. So there's that desire for autonomy and a desire for reason over faith. If I understand it, I'll believe it. If I don't understand it, I'm not going to believe it. That kind of thing, so my reason becomes the rule of everything.

There's also that pride and there's a love for evil, and we see it, we call it sin, but we have a taste for it which God does not have an either do the holy angels in heaven. That's who we are. What is our proper position before God? We are finite created beings. We are mortal as sinners and we love sin, and as a result we stand before God and try to understand these eternal truths. We also have to understand the Bible's depictions of God. There's not just one portrait of God in the Bible, is there? There's the picture, for example, of the father of the prodigal son, and what's he like? Patiently waiting, at the end of the driveway it seems, for the son to come to his senses and come back home, and when he does, he embraces him and he welcomes him, and he kills the fattened calf, and they have a party and a celebration. That's a picture of God that is valid and accurate, but it's incomplete. Why? Because there are other pictures of God.

For example, there's a picture of God as a good shepherd, who goes and leaves the 99 on the hills and goes to look for the one that wanders off. It's not contradictory. It's complimentary. They go together. The one I think represents how the father is when the prodigal son comes back, the other how the father is before he comes back, what he does to go get him to come back. But then there's a dread picture of God sitting on the throne of the universe pouring out fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. Also a biblical picture of God. All of them are true. Just as it seems that lion and lamb in revelation is contradictory, but it's not, it's complimentary. Jesus is both lion and lamb. And so, we have to come as we're trying to understand not just ourselves, but understand this eternal God that we want to love and worship. We have only one source and that is revelation.

We will know God as far as He reveals Himself to us and no further. And His greatest revelation is in the Bible. And so we must accept what God says in the Bible about Himself. A. W. Tozer said this, "If you have never faced mystery in your study of God, I doubt whether you've ever heard a single word from God at all." God speaks mystery to us, doesn't he? This doctrine sores above us and we'll never reconcile all of it's details. Whilst understanding ourselves in our own context, let's try to understand Paul's context.

II. Understanding Paul’s Context

You've heard Romans 9:14-18 read, we're zeroing in on verses 17-18. What is the context in Romans? Well, Paul gives an incredible picture of the greatness of God's Mercy in eight chapters of doctrine, culminating in Romans 8 with incredible promises of mercy and grace. But then immediately deals in Romans 9 with the problem. If God has promised all of these things to us in Christ, what about the promises He made in the Old Testament to the Jews, who are it seems almost universally rejecting the Gospel of Christ? Has God's Word failed concerning the Jews? He answers, no. In Verse 6, God's Word has not failed. "It is not as though God's Word has failed." why? Because "not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." So we have this group of physical descendants of Abraham and within them a true Israel, the elect of God.

He brings up the example of Isaac and Ishmael, and then again the second example of Jacob and Esau, and in that he's dealing with how God shows mercy unconditionally. Verse 11-13, "Before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.'" Well that immediately brings up the issue of the Justice of God in unconditionally showing mercy to Jacob. How can that be just. Is God unjust in showing mercy to Jacob unconditionally, and so we deal with that whole issue of, "I will be merciful to who I will be merciful." And the issue of Moses up there in the mountain. God has mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy. He doesn't owe anybody a revelation of Himself, and so it is just and right for Him to be free in giving mercy to sinners.

But now we come to the other side of it. What about the Justice of God in hardening the Esau's of the world. We have the mercy side and He deals with that. Now we turn to the hardening side. It's not just "Jacob I loved," but it's also "Esau I hated." And so we're dealing now with the issue of Esau, and so Paul is reaching for Pharaoh and God's encounter with Pharaoh. And just as he said plainly in verse 16, "It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's Mercy." That's the Jacob's side. But then the balance, the full picture in Verse 18, "Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden."

Now, in order to prove this, he reaches for this encounter between God and Pharaoh, and he's seeking the answer to deeper question of why? And so it says in verse 17, "the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" So that's the context in Paul.

What about the context in Exodus. Well, put a pen or something here in Romans 9 and go back to Exodus Chapter 9. We're going to be working a little bit in Exodus, to try to understand why Paul chose this quote. Now the issue is the hardening of the human heart. That's what Paul is going to talk about, that's what he is talking about. Paul could have chosen, by my account I think, 16 different verses to talk about hardening in the Exodus account. Remember that Moses had been sent by God to Pharaoh to give that command, "Let My people go." And so there was the issue of the hardening of the heart that comes up in the text.

Now, God states the burning bush in Exodus 4:21, before he ever sets foot back in Egypt. God says to Moses, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." Very important statement, Exodus 4:21. Then God unfolds 10 plagues culminating in the dreadful plague on the first born, and then after that, the amazing passage through the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army chasing and then destroyed in the Red Sea. That's the whole account and you know it well. Now, already by the time the statement comes, six plagues have occurred. The water has turned into blood, there's been frogs, there's been gnats, there's been flies, there have been plagues on cattle, there have been boils on man and beast. Six plagues. And after that there's going to be four more plagues. They're going to get hail, they're going to get locust, they're going to get three-days of thick darkness. And then finally the plague on the first born, in which all the first born of Egypt are slain. That's 10 plagues altogether.

Now, in between plague six and seven, in Exodus 9:13-16, God makes this incredible statement to Pharaoh, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrew says, 'Let My people go, so that they may worship Me, or this time I will send the full force of My plagues against you, and against your officials, and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth, for by now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose. That I might show you my power and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'''"

Now in his book, The Pleasures of God, John Piper has an interesting subsection of a chapter entitled; Why didn't God make short work of Pharaoh? Why didn't God make short work of Pharaoh? It was certainly no lack of power. God says, directly, "I could have stretched out my hand and wiped you from the face of the earth." Instead, what we see in the plagues is really the equivalent of a surgical strike here, a reduction of a full display of God's power, each one to achieve a certain purpose. God could have taken the Israelites out of Egypt, a number of ways. I thought of some of them, He could have paralyzed all the Egyptians, so they just watch them as they go, they're all just watching, what can they do? He could have done that. God, anything is at His disposal, why this? Why the 10 plagues, culminating the dreadful plague on the first born, and in the Red Sea passage? Why?

The text seems to indicate that Pharaoh would have relented if God had not hardened his heart, I think at some point, don't you think enlightened self-interest is going to kick in and you're going to look around and say, "Wow this is not going well. I'm losing, and just go." And I think that's exactly what happens, except that God hardens Pharaoh's heart to get through the last plagues, because his counselors, even tell them, "How long is this man going to be a sneer to us? …Do you not realize that Egypt is ruined?" His counselors are saying, "Let them go, or there's going to be nothing left." At some point he would have given in. Well, why did God do it? Well, that's what the text is dealing with. So that He might display His power on Pharaoh and that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth, He hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now, the most common escape from the force of this text is that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and then God in response and afterwards then just judicially hardens Pharaoh's heart.

John Wesley makes much of this. I won't read any of his comments, but this is a very common theme not just with Wesley but with many. Now in one sense I'm telling you it's absolutely true, that Pharaoh did hardened his heart, there's no doubt about it. We'll talk more about that in a minute. There's no question about it. However, if what we're saying is that God is passively waiting to see what ultimate self-determination man is going to make about his own case, and then based on that ultimate self-determination, He's going to act or respond, that the text utterly repudiates. The emphasis in Romans 9 is on God's sovereignty. "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will harden whom I harden." And the most important thing, I think if we look into the actual account in Exodus, you're going to see it doesn't really stand up.

First of all, the most important statement concerning this is in Exodus 4:21, if you're there in Romans, or Exodus just look back a few chapters, Exodus 4:21, "The Lord said to Moses, 'When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh [Listen] all the wonders I have given you the power to do.'" God wanted all 10 plagues and the Red Sea crossing. He wanted the whole thing, "See that you perform before Pharaoh all of the wonders I have given you power to do. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go." That is a vital, vital statement. Now, what Wesley and others say is that Pharaoh first hardened his own heart, and then God at plague seven or eight hardens Pharaoh's heart afterwards. But if you look at the first hardening, look at Exodus 7:13, After Aaron's staff became a snake, it says there, "Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened and He would not listen to them as the Lord had said."

Now, I looked in the Hebrew. I'm not a Hebrew expert scholar, but I know this much. The text doesn't say who does the hardening at all, in 7:13, it just says Pharaoh's heart was hardened. It's not passive in the Hebrew, it's just left out who the active agent is. And so for those who say, "First Pharaoh hardened his heart then afterwards... It's not absolutely clear who does the hardening, but what's interesting is 7:13 says, "Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them." Listen, "As the Lord had said." Now I want to tell you something, God never mentioned anything about Pharaoh hardening his own heart, never said a word about it. What he says in Exodus 4:21 is, "I will harden his heart." So if it doesn't say he will harden his heart, why are we assuming that Pharaoh did it first and then later God did it?

The fact of the matter is there are three different types of statements about hardening in Exodus. There's one in which it clearly says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, no question about it. There's one in which it clearly says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, no question about that. And then there's a third category in which it doesn't say either way. But what you do notice is that six times it says, "As the Lord had said," "as the Lord had said," "as the Lord had said." And that statement, "As Lord had said," attaches to all three of the types of the accounts. Pharaoh hardened his own heart, as the Lord had said, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, as the Lord had said, God hardened Pharaoh's heart, as the Lord had said. The account in Exodus is clearly putting it on God, on His word, His will concerning Pharaoh's hardening. The fact of the matter is, Pharaoh's heart was hard long before the first encounter with Moses occurred, wouldn't you agree with that? He'd been trained years before he met Moses, trained from infancy and being the mightiest Emperor on earth. He knew how to be a hard guy. We'll get to that more in a moment. But the hardening went on long before Moses ever showed up. He was used to giving commands and being obeyed. He was used to having people's lives in his hand, he was used to all that, that was all part of who Pharaoh was. He was trained in arrogance, power, control and tyranny.

Secondly, second problem is this idea of God or Pharaoh first hardening his heart, and then God comes afterwards and just gives him over to what He wants. It doesn't escape the problem, God still does something to the human heart. It cannot be denied, that at plague eight, God commanded Pharaoh, "Let My people go," and then hardens so that Pharaoh will not let the people go. There's no escaping that. Everybody sees it, people wrestle with it. But there it is, the command is given and God hardens against the command. Now the strange thing about that is, as we look at it, we think it makes no sense at all. You would think that God would exert a command, and then exert all influence to try to make the command come true, but that's exactly the opposite of what's happening here.

Also, as we mentioned, Pharaoh says, that it's sin. After God hardened Pharaoh's heart, it says in Exodus 9:27, "Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, 'This time I have sinned, the Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong.'" And then again in verses 34-35 of Exodus 9, after the next plague is announced, he hardened his own heart and the text calls it sin. And again, ascribes it to the statement of the Lord, verses 34-35, "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again. He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh's heart was hard, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses." So here you have the three parts of the mystery. The simple command is given, God hardens Pharaoh's heart, so that he will not obey the command.  And then he calls it sin and condemns him for it. And that's where we're at, folks. And it doesn't really matter whether earlier than that, Pharaoh had hardened his heart and all that. The fact is God still exerts influence contrary to the command that He gives.

And then finally in Romans 9:18, "Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden." Bottom line is, in the same way that God unconditionally has mercy, there's a parallelism to the issue of hardening. That's what the text plainly says. And so, in one sense, you might think it's an out or an escape to say, "Well, Pharaoh hardens his own heart and then God judicially hardens it." I think, A. W. Pink put it best this way, "That Pharaoh did harden his own heart the Scriptures expressly affirm, but they also declare that the Lord hardened his heart too. And clearly this is not one and the same thing, or the two different expressions would not have been employed. Our duty is to believe both statements, but to attempt to show the philosophy of their reconciliation is probably to attempt to fathom infinity." So the ultimate self- determination, of Pharaoh is denied, in Romans 9. God is the one ultimately who chooses.

III. Understanding the Text: Romans 9:17

Now go back, if you would, to Romans 9:17, and let's try to understand it phrase by phrase. Romans 9:17, begins with an interesting expression. It says, "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh…" First of all the word "for" connects it back to verse 16, in which it says, "It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." So we're going along that same line. And then he zeroes in and says this statement, "Scripture says to Pharaoh." Now I find this fascinating. You know why? Because Scripture hadn't even been written yet. Think about it. When was the Exodus account written? When was the Genesis account written? I believe Moses wrote it, when he had those 40 years to wander in the desert. Certainly this account itself hadn't been written yet beause it was going on at that moment. It's really God that says to Pharaoh. But Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit uses this interesting phrase, "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh," personifying Scripture, and you know why? Because frankly, this doctrine, the doctrine that Paul's laying down is so contrary to human reason and inclination, that we would never have come up with it if the Scripture didn't teach it. So Paul, by this phrase is highlighting, the role of the written word of God, in our understanding of difficult doctrines. It is Scripture talking to Pharaoh now.

And as Augustine said, "What scripture says, God says." We're not wrestling with something that the Apostle Paul thought and he may be wrong, we're dealing with something that God has said. Ultimately, it is God that speaks to Pharaoh but Paul says Scripture speaks to Pharaoh.

Four Implications of "I raised you up…"

Secondly, note the phrase, "I raised you up." This speaks of God's sovereignty over Pharaoh's position. And I want to talk about various aspects of this phrase, "I raised you up." First we can say it this way, when God says, "I raised you up for this very purpose," we would look at it this way, that God put him in his throne. I raised you up to be Pharaoh, I raised you up at this time for this purpose. You would not be Pharaoh, if it weren't for My sovereign power. This is constantly taught in the Bible. No one can be a king, except from the sovereign power and rule of God. This is a very big theme in the Book of Daniel.

In Daniel Chapter 4, the lesson that Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty tyrant had to learn, concerning that dream in which this huge tree which represented his sovereign power as a king was chopped down, the lesson was in Daniel 4:17, "That the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men. He sets over them, the kingdoms, the lowliest of men." What does that mean? That God can take somebody from any family, He can take a Abraham Lincoln from a log cabin in Kentucky, and raise him up to the White House. He can do that, God has the power to take anybody, even the lowliest of men, and raise them up to a position of incredible power. Says in Psalm 75:6-7, "No one from the east or the west, or from the desert can exalt a man, but it is God who judges, He brings one down and He exalts another." In other words, nobody can put someone in power except ultimately God. You know what that means? It means that our God is in fact King of kings and Lord of lords, they would not be king, if he hadn't said so, they would not be Lord if he hadn't put them in that place. I raised you up, He says, for this very purpose.

Secondly, "I raised you up" also, I think, implies, I shaped and molded you like a potter does to clay. This is the exact same image that's going to be used in verses 19-23. The potter shapes the clay. So through my sovereign control of influences, circumstances, and things that came into your life, you were ultimately made to be the kind of man that you are. Now throughout history there have been really weak Kings, I mean, wilting pansy type kings. I was reading about in England, King Edward II. He was King in the 14th century, had absolutely no interest in affairs of state. What he liked to do is play on a little play farm, and he'd pretend to be a peasant. And he had peasant girls and all kinds of things. That's what he liked to do, he liked to play farmer. Meanwhile, there are wars going on and there were other things and his counselors, were looking for some... And they ultimately just made the decision in the vacuum of leadership. That was King Edward II.

Let me tell you something, Pharaoh was not that kind of man. He delighted in being Pharaoh, and he wanted the slaves there to build the cities for him, He was that kind of a king, not the King Edward II, type. You get another example of a weak leader, even in the pages of the New Testament. I'm thinking of Pontius Pilate. Do you remember how Pilate three times declared, "I find no fault in Christ." Three times he declares "I find no fault in him," but one time he says "I find no fault in them, but I'm going to scourge him." Why, what did he do? Show some backbone, if you think he's innocent, then set him free. The culmination, I never forget John McArthur's preaching a sermon on Jesus' trial before Pilate, and the culmination comes when Jesus standing in front of them will not say a word to Pilate. It reached that point where Jesus isn't saying a word. Pilate gets incensed, and he says, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Don't you realize I have the power to free you, and the power to crucify you?" And McArthur said, "and the courage to do neither."

Couldn't do either one. He was a weak and vacillating guy, he was like a ping pong going from the Jews back to Jesus and back to the Jews, he couldn't make up his mind. Weak and vacillating, but ultimately, he valued his position, and his neck more than he valued Christ's life. And so he did what he also was set to do. And so, "I raised you up" means you're the type of man that you are, because only that kind of man is going to give me 10 plagues and a red sea crossing.

Thirdly, "I raised you up" meant: "I have kept you alive up to this point. By now, I could have unleashed the full power of my plagues and you'd be dead, but I kept you alive to serve a purpose. I kept you alive for this very purpose." Do you realize that in God we live and move and have our being, whether we love him or not, whether we believe in him or not, whether we respect him or not, he holds our lives in his very hand, and I think this is the plainest meaning in context of Exodus, "I kept you alive right to this very point for this very purpose."

And the fourth is, "I raised you up," meaning "I have hardened your heart so that you would stand up to me, though your arm is too short to box with God, you're going to think you can, you're going to think, even after the 10th plague, you're going to think you can take me on, and you're going to chase me with your whole army." I raised you up for this very purpose.

The Purposes

God’s Purpose #1: “That I May Display My Power in You”

Now, the next thing we notice, and this is for this very purpose. God is a purposeful being, He raised Pharaoh up for a purpose. Everything God does is for a purpose. You know, God made the universe out of little things called atoms. You know what that means? Little things mean a lot. Tiny, tiny little things mean a lot to God, He can take lots and lots of little, little things and make incredible things out of those lots and lots of little things. And you know the same thing that works in the physical universe, works in history too, doesn't it? Little events, little encounters, little conversations mean something. For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost. God knows that better than any of us, He knows the connection between the nail all the way to the kingdom, He knows how that works. And therefore, history is this tapestry made up of all these tiny little threads that God alone fully understands.

And so, a sparrow doesn't fall to the ground apart from the will of our God. It says in Ephesians 1:11, it speaks of the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. No man becomes a king or Pharaoh or an emperor apart from His will. And every conversation Pharaoh had, every encounter with his mother, everything that happened when he was seven years old, all of it swirling around to accomplish something in the end. None of us is smart enough to figure it all out, we can't. It's too complex. Now what was God's purpose? Well, purpose number one, "That I might display my power in you." The terrifying power of God's wrath is on display in Egypt. Is it not? And you know why, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God can control the fresh water of a whole nation, even the mighty Nile River, so that it all turns to blood, even the water on the pitcher in the table you got yesterday, turned into blood. That's scary, a God that can do that. God can control all the living creatures, He can control the birds. Aren't you glad the birds don't attack us every day? Alfred Hitchcock made a movie about that. We would stand no chance, that's scary. He controls the bugs, He controls everything.

He can make 153 big fish swim into a net so big that it can't be pulled in the boat, John 21. We started at this morning. He can do that. He controls nature, He controls storms, He can make it hail, He can make the sky turned black, He can do all these things, that is scary and he means for us to feel the force of His power, to put His power on display, so that we would fear Him. And not only that, but the king's heart is like a water of course in the hands of Lord, Proverbs 21:1, He directs it whichever way He chooses. He has that kind of power. God can make a pathway through the Red Sea, so that the water walls up on the right and the left, and two million people, perhaps, pass through it. And then the army comes through and it gets stuck in the mud and the water crashes down and they're all dead. He can do that, and that is scary.

Now why does God want to display his power in Pharaoh? Well, ultimately, I think it's the power to save He wants to put on display, with the backdrop of the power to condemn and bring wrath. If God wanted not just to wipe out the Egyptians, if He wanted to wipe out, us, we descendants of Adam, we sinners, he could have wiped us out already. That's not what He's doing, that's not why He sent His son into the world. That's why I'm against that group that stood out in front of us because they missed that. If God wanted to pour out wrath, he had done that. What is He doing? He's working salvation, amen and amen. And so behind the scenes, yes, we see the wrath and we fear it. But in the middle of it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And that was put on display beautifully in the 10th plague, wasn't it? Do you remember that?

The plague on the first born, when the angel of death moved through Egypt, and he came to the house of the Israelites. And you get the feeling he would have gone down except for one thing, The blood of the Lamb. And why? Because they're sinners too, but when he sees the blood of the lamb, what does he do? He passes over. God wanted that picture. You know why? Because there's Rahab the harlot who's going to hear about the Power of God and the plagues, and have a hope of forgiveness and salvation, and she's going to get saved. James 2 say, she believed by faith she was saved. 40 years later we've heard what you did at the Red Sea, we heard what you did in Egypt, we fear you and we believe in you. Let me tell something, God is a dreadful dreadful enemy, but oh, what a sweet savior He is. And so we should behold the goodness and the severity of God, and he laid down 10 plagues of severity plus the Red Sea crossing, so that we would see His power.

And is that all? Well, so that we could have a picture of Christ, our savior. Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the one who drank God's wrath at the cross. Do you realize that this power of the 10 plagues is nothing compared to what Jesus drank on the cross, ain't that incredible? Oh, the love of Christ for us. He stood in our place and took our wrath, that we might be forgiven, that we might have eternal life, God put His power on display in Egypt.

God’s Purpose #2: “And That My Name May Be Proclaimed in All the Earth”

And then finally, so that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth that's it. So that preachers like me for 20 centuries, really 35 centuries now, 3500 years, we've been talking about this, that God's name might be proclaimed in all the earth, and why? So that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This incredible thing, isn't it? So if we call on this mighty name of God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved.

IV. Understanding the Doctrine: Romans 9:18

Well, that's Romans 9:17. What is the doctrine? Well we've been talking about it, it's very plain, I don't think that it's impossible to understand. Verse 18, "Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom he wants to harden." God has ultimate power over human hearts. Focus here is absolutely on God's will, not on man's will, verse 16, "It does not depend on man's desire or will, effort, but on God's mercy." Basically it says God has mercy on whomever He wills and He hardens whomever He wills. God has absolute power over human hearts and He Has absolute freedom in salvation. And along with that God hardened sinners against the gospel. Isn't that why he brought up Pharaoh in Romans 9? What question is Paul seeking to answer? Why are the Jews almost universally rejecting the Gospel of Christ? In context, at least part of the answer is God has hardened them to do it. That's why it's brought up here.

And that may make no sense to you, you may not understand that, I don't. But I know that God commanded Pharaoh, "Let my people go," Hardened Pharaoh against the command and then held him accountable for what he did. And I know also that God does the same thing in the Gospel. Now, we have to put certain boundaries around this. God never ever actively and directly tempts anybody to sin. It says in James 1:13-14, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." So how God does it, I don't know, I never pretended to know, but I do know this, that God does it in a way that He never entices or drags anybody to evil. Now, to end here, I want you to look at parallel texts that I printed in your bulletin. It's quicker if you just look at your bulletin rather than you look them up in the Bible. As a summary of all of God's miraculous dealings with Pharaoh and with Egypt.

It says in Exodus 11:10, "Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country." That's a summary statement, right? All of these miracles were done, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he wouldn't let them go. Okay? Well, we get a similar... I think parallel statement concerning the miracles Jesus did and the Jews not believing in Christ, and that's in John 12:37, and following, "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him." Do you see the parallel with the Exodus statement? Moses did all these miracles, Pharaoh wouldn't let them go. Jesus did all these miracles still, they would not believe. Verse 38, "This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: 'Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' [Look at verse 39] For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere, 'He has blinded their eyes and deaden or hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn and I would heal them.' Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him." That is the connection in Romans 9, John draws it, it's the same connection that Moses got. Moses and John and Paul, are all teaching the same thing. These people did not believe, because God harden their hearts, so then God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.

V. Application

Now, what application can we take from Romans 9: 17-18. Well first God's total sovereignty over human hearts means hope in prayer. For those of you that they care about lost loved ones.

And then let's talk about Mother's Day. Is there not a power in the tears and prayers of a mother for a lost son or daughter? Can you imagine God saying, "Don't come to me with that problem, I've done everything I can do, or will do. The only thing you need to do is go persuade that hard-hearted sinner to believe in the gospel. There's nothing more I can do." No. You crying and praying moms have come to the right place when you prayed to God concerning that problem. You've come to the right place. God has power over the human heart. The human heart isn't a Holy of Holies that God doesn't enter into. He has the power to take out a heart of stone and put in a sweet heart of flesh, a soft heart to the word of God. That gives us hope for prayer, not just as mothers. But take a missionary working in an Islamic country, seeing almost no fruit. He can get down on his knees and say, "Oh God, work on the human heart. Oh, God, grant repentance. Oh, God, grant faith, oh God, work in their hearts." And God is not going to say, "You do have your theology, right? I don't do any of those things, that's up to the individual to do, I don't know." We've come to the right place. Hope in prayer.

Another thing I get out of this is to look at history differently, to realize that every one that's ever sat on the throne was raised up by God for a purpose. Everyone. And God holds each one of them accountable for what they did with their power, but He raised them all up. It's not just Pharaoh, it's all of the rulers. And God uses pain and misery and suffering in that great tapestry of history to accomplish His ends for His glory, the salvation of His people. It's a marvelous thing.

And so thirdly, we should learn to bow humbly in God's presence and just give Him the thanks, and the praise and the glory for our own salvation, which the more I study, the more amazed I am. It soars far above my ability to comprehend, far above. So to Him be the glory. And then finally, can I ask you please trust in God confidently, if you're going through some trials, don't think that God's going to say to you, "Look, I didn't do it. Satan did it. I didn't do it, these free will folks did it, they brought it into your lives and I can't do anything about it." God is not a kind of a sympathetic grandpa who is limited in power, but has a really good ear and listens a lot. And just says, "Well I want to help, but I can't." That's not our God. When you're suffering, you're going through struggles, some of you are struggling with cancer, some of you struggling with relatives that have cancer.

Others are struggling with the unbelief of a husband or a wife, a parent, a child, come to God in prayer. He is mighty to save. May be that some of you are here you've never trusted in Christ. You've never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm standing to tell you today, that Jesus' blood is sufficient for all of your sins. Trust in Him, come to Him, believe in Him and you will be saved. Close with me in prayer.

Earth is out of step with Heaven

 I'd like to ask that you open to Matthew chapter 11. We'll be concentrating this morning on verses 25 through 27 in particular. This entire section of Scripture, Matthew 11:20-30 is a masterpiece really of theology and of the deep fruits of God and we began to touch on them some last week with a consideration of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. In this text today we see Jesus our Savior rejoicing over divine sovereignty and in this matter we find that the Earth is out of step with heaven. Recently I read a story about one of my favorite composers George Frederick Handel and how he composed Handel's Messiah, probably his greatest work. He was 57 years old at the time, he was in despair, drifting in life, wasn't really a success at that point. He was close to poverty, frequently went without food. He had lost his thread to some degree and didn't know where to turn. He was a naturalized citizen of England, and was away from his home area of Germany and just trying to make his way in the world.

One night in 1741, he went for a walk out on the streets of London. He just walked all night and was  in despair, came back to his room and there was a package at his door. He brought it in and it turned out to be from Charles Jennings. He was the man who wrote his libretto, the words that he would put music to. And as he began to read it, he thought about it and  was so fatigued from his night of walking that he  kind of collapsed on the bed, but he couldn't shake the Scriptures that were in his mind from this libretto.  "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. For unto us a child is born. Glory to God in the highest and hallelujah, hallelujah." It started to stir him up and started to move inside him. He couldn't shake it and so he got up out of bed and he began to work. He worked for 21 consecutive days without resting, scarcely eating, nobody came and went, he just worked until the Messiah was completed. Finally at the end, some of his friends who were very concerned about him were there at the door knocking and one of them was admitted entrance. The composer was sitting at his piano sheets of music all over the floor. He wasn't a very neat person but there was the music everywhere and there were streams of tears flowing down his cheeks, and he said, "I do believe I have seen all of heaven before me and the great God Himself." 

The hallelujah chorus, the most famous part of that entire piece of music, was focused on the climax of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 19: 6 which says, "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, and like the loud peals of thunder shouting hallelujah! For the Lord God almighty reigns." It's not just hallelujah. There's a reason for the praise. Why are the angels praising God at that point? Why are they thrilled?  It's because God Almighty sits on His throne, because He reigns, and in the libretto another text from Revelation, Revelation 11:15, "The kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever." There is praise in heaven over the prospect of God sitting down on a throne and ruling on earth the way He rules in heaven. I can't wait for that to happen. Even as I was thinking about these texts this morning, I was stirred myself in my spirit. I don't have Handel's musical talent so I can't write the way he did. But my desire this morning is simple. I want you to rejoice in His sovereignty as much as the angels do in Revelation 19.  I would like you to rejoice in sovereignty as much as your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does in Matthew 11:25. I want you to delight in it, and yet, it is not natural for us to think of it that way. Actually, naturally, we come against the sovereignty of God and have to be transformed.

"We have to repent and enter the kingdom of heaven", said Jesus. It's not naturally our state. I've read this quote before from Charles Spurgeon concerning this doctrine. It bears reading again. Spurgeon said this, "There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty."  Is that not true? Think about the events of our times. Were it not for a God who sat on His throne and ruled over all things there would be little but despair as we face the prospect of yet another war.  As General Sherman said, "War is all hell." 

Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, we believe that sovereignty has ordained our afflictions, that sovereignty overrules us and that sovereignty will sanctify us all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation, the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands, the throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by “worldlings”, as the truth of the doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah.  Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever moving ocean. But when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth.

We proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own. To dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter. Then it is that we are his and execrated. And then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love but it is God upon the throne that we love to preach and it is God upon His throne that we trust.  In all of my life, I've never found a truth, as delightful as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Christ would give His life for me, that through His blood, I would have complete forgiveness of sins and that when I die, I'm going to heaven. Second to that, I found no doctrine as delightful as the sovereignty of God. I have moved on in my Christian life, to the point where I really can scarcely see a distinction between the two.  I hesitate to even say second because I attribute the first to the second. It's a delightful thing. But it's not our natural state, is it? Naturally we tend to be allergic to the doctrine. Jonathan Edwards, a great exponent of the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, had the same experience. He said, "From my childhood up my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God's sovereignty. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well when I seemed to be convinced and fully satisfied as to the sovereignty of God, and there has been a wonderful alteration in my mind in respect to the doctrine of God's sovereignty, from that day to this. So that I scarce ever have found so much as the rising of an objection against it in the most absolute sense. I have often since had not only a conviction, but a delightful conviction. The doctrine has often appeared exceeding, pleasant, bright and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God. But my first conviction was not so." 

Earth is out of step with heaven on this matter. We are out of step with our Savior Jesus Christ. May God grant in the speaking of my words and the moving of your hearts through the Spirit a change in that, if such a change needs to happen. And does it? I think so. In all of our cases, we still hesitate a little bit. We hold back at the sovereignty of God. Yet I've seen this whole text, Matthew 11:20-30, as an integrated whole in which this issue is brought to the fore. In the end Christ is inviting us to find rest in it. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me."  Christ's yoke is a submission to His kingship. You bow your neck, and you put it under Christ's yoke and you'll find rest for your souls. In Isaiah 1, if you resist and rebel you'll be devoured by the sword. Those are the choices that we have, and so we yield to the sovereignty of God, and find delightful rest.  "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart. I'm not a raging tyrant, but a gentle loving Savior. And you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." That's what we're working on today. That we might come to the point where we find as much delight in this doctrine of God sovereignty as Christ did. 

The section that we're looking at today is part of a larger study on the sovereignty of God. We began looking last week at three points of these things. I have listed out 10 points of sovereignty that I find in this text. We will deal with four of them today, we have already dealt with three. There are 10 points:  First Divine Power. We see  in Christ's miracles a display of kingly power. He would couple His miracle working with the proclamation, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." There's a combination of the display of His miracles and His kingly power, His divine power. Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed because they did not repent.  Secondly, we saw last time, Divine Perception. The supernatural knowledge that Christ has of what Tyre and Sidon and Sodom would have done, if they had had the same miraculous display that Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum received. This wasn't merely theory or a flight of fancy on His part, but He knows all things. He knows what was, what is and what will be. He also knows what might have been had some other things occurred. He knows all of these things. This is Divine Perception, a supernatural knowledge that only He could have. And then thirdly, we saw last week, Divine Prerogative. As a king, you have prerogatives, you have the ability to choose one course, and not the other. That's what makes you a king.  He has the prerogative to do those same miracles that He did, in Chorazin, Capernaum, Bethsaida, in Tyre and Sidon if He wanted to. But He chose not to. That is His Divine Prerogative. We've seen those three things already. 

Christ Praises God’s Sovereignty

 Now we begin with the fourth, Divine Praise. It's really quite striking.  In verse 25, it says,  “At that time, Jesus answered and said. . . .” Why is this important to me? Because it's a double emphasis on the context of Jesus's praise. "At that time." At what time? At the time when he's thinking about Tyre and Sidon and Sodom and Capernaum and Chorazin, Bethsaida, these cities. At that time when He's thinking about the failure to repent of the cities in which His miracles had been performed. At that time, Jesus answered. What do we mean by answered? Well, He's responding to the stimulus, He's responding to the situation, He's responding to the rejection. So, Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum are rejecting Him, they are not repenting, they're indifferent to Him. How does He respond? He praises God. We are out of step with our Savior;  we would do something else I think. What causes heaven to rejoice? What causes Christ to rejoice causes us to become grumbly and irritable and out of sorts and puzzled and scratch our heads and have a hard time.  Christ just looks up to His father and says, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth." He's praising Him, and He could have done many other things. He could have praised God for other things at that moment, He could have praised God for example for His patience and not destroying Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. He could have praised God for His mercy and grace in giving those cities such miracles. He could have praised God for His love in sending them rain and sunshine, and many physical blessings, He could have done that. He could have praised God for His mercy to those who did repent in other places. Or He could have chosen at that moment to plead for these cities, to pray for them. Or to weep over them as Jesus did over Jerusalem. He could do all of these things, but instead He praises God for His sovereignty. It's a strange thing, and I don't think we would have done it, but that's my point, we wouldn't have and so we must repent, we must change, we must look again at our Savior and our king and praise Him for His power.

Divine Position

The next thing we see is Divine Position and we find this in the titles that He ascribes to God, "I praise you," He says, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth," stop there. These are two titles that he gives to God. First, He calls Him, Father, then He calls Him Lord of heaven and earth. Let's take the second first. The essence of paganism, and of polytheism is of jurisdictions given to the Gods, much like a federal office. You go in there and you bring a certain document to an office and you're in the wrong place, and you're told to go to another.  Well, polytheism basically works that way. There's the God of war, and there's the God of the oceans and then there's the God of the mountains and of the valleys. Or it may work along political lines. There's the God of Moab and the God of Ammon, the God of Edom and the God of Judah. And they each have their jurisdictions, for example, the Moabite's God was Chemosh. The concept was whatever God, the God of the Moabites, Chemosh gave to his people, that's what they received, whenever they went out to battle, Chemosh would go with them. If they won, it was Chemosh that gave them the victory; if they were defeated, it was Chemosh that had given them over to the defeat. Jephthah in Judges 11:24, speaking to Moabites says, "Will you not take what your god, Chemosh gives you? Likewise whatever the Lord our God has given us, we will possess.” Oh shameful understanding of Jephthah. "Well, we get Yahweh and whatever he gives and you get Chemosh, and whatever he gives."

If the Moabites went out and fought and lost it was because Chemosh had given them up. Numbers 21:29 says, "Woe to you O Moab, you were destroyed, O people of Chemosh. He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captures to Sihon king of the Amorites." Now, Chemosh  would never hurt his people too much because without the people, there's no Chemosh anymore. Case in point, have you ever met a Moabite? Have you gone to school with a Moabite? Do you have any living in your neighborhood? Is there an outreach to Moabites that we can give money to? What happened to Moabites? They are gone as a people.  Second question, what happened to Chemosh? If you look in the yellow pages will you find a temple that Chemosh that you can go worship at this morning? Chemosh is gone, the Moabites are gone.You see the God of Israel is different. He chose Israel out of all of these nations to be His treasured possession, but He will go on whether they're extinct or not, and they know it. Therefore, He commands them to be holy or He will judge them and they know that He is not just a tribal deity but He is Lord of Heaven and Earth; He rules over all things. Therefore the Old Testament prophets in their oracles frequently would make pronouncements about Moab and about Ammon and Edom, and Syria, and Egypt, and all the world because God rules the world. When Jonah was taken on the boat by a bunch of Gentiles and they find out that he doesn't worship one of those tribal deities, he worships the Lord who made heaven and earth, they became very afraid because of God's reputation. He is Lord of heaven and earth. At one point, he specifically sends a messenger to say, "I'm going to give you the victory in the battle because of what your enemies are saying." 1 Kings 20:28, "The man of God came   up and told the king of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord says, “Because the Arabians think the Lord is a god of the hills and no a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into you hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.’” “I’m not a God of the hills only or of the valleys only. I am a God of the hills, and the valleys and everything else besides. I am not a tribal or localized deity." Jeremiah 23:23-24,  “‘Am I only a God nearby, declares the Lord, ‘And not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’declares the Lord.” 

This is the God that we worship. This is the God that our Savior, Jesus Christ lifted His face to and praised, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth who rules over all things".  God created Heaven and Earth. God has the right to sit down on the throne and rule heaven and earth, and He does. He rules over individual nations, even Gentile ones.God chose Israel out of that nation to be His people, His treasured possession, and from Israel, He brings salvation to the world, "For salvation is from the Jews."  Christ at this moment, in verse 25, is delighting in and rejoicing in the sovereignty of His father over heaven and earth, over all things. He rules over them and can do with them whatever He chooses, because He is king, He is Lord of heaven and earth. This very sovereignty over all of the earth is what gives the Gospel its success. In the Great Commission Jesus came to His disciples and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations." Do you see the connection? Because God rules over the whole world, we are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations. If God were not Lord of heaven and earth, the gospel could not and would not conquer the world, but it will in the end. There will be people from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation, because of the sovereignty of our God.  What about the first title? "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth." This shows the relational aspect of God's sovereignty. It shows that He is not some austere tyrant King, but rather a heavenly father. It's an endearing title, a title of authority definitely, but a display of God's loving relational rule. He desires not just to be Lord of heaven and earth, but to be father. And so, Jesus praises Him, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth."

Divine Preference

 Then we see Divine Preference, concealing to some and revealing to others, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because. . . .” That's very important. Why are you praising Christ? "Because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children." That's striking isn't it? I praise you that you conceal, and I praise you that you reveal. This is the praise of our Savior, Jesus Christ. God can choose to deal differently with some than He does with others, and He does. To some in this case, He conceals, and to some others, He reveals. And Christ praises God for it. He delights in it. He rejoices in it. First of all, He praises God for concealing, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned."  This is shocking. We tend to think of ourselves as, or tend to think of God as, a God who would reveal Himself to everyone, who shows Himself openly all the time to anybody. The whole time He's revealing, opening, demonstrating, imploring sinners to come and to sit at the banquet feast and to enjoy a full revelation of His nature and His glory. We would never think He would conceal Himself. It doesn't seem to be the God that we know or the God that we worship. From whom does He conceal? He says, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have concealed or hidden these things from the wise and learned." This is rather striking to us as well. What's wrong with wisdom? What's wrong with learning? As a matter of fact, there's a whole book of the Bible, Proverbs, devoted to the blessings of wisdom. There's nothing wrong with wisdom, but there's a kind of wisdom and learning that Christ is singling out here. It's an arrogant human wisdom separated from God, in which humans are seeking of themelves and from themselves to learn these things, these Gospel truths.

Why did philosophers in Greece, like Plato and Aristotle and Socrates, not discover God? Because He had concealed Himself from them. Scientists, like Archimedes, did not discover God, because He had concealed himself from them. Mighty potentates, like Alexander the Great and the Roman emperors and all the other conquerors of that region of the world, had never discovered God through sheer power, because He had concealed Himself from them. It says in 1 Corinthians 1:20-21, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him. God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." God has made the wisdom of the world foolishness, and He has ordained that through those means no one will discover Him. It does not matter how intelligent they are. It doesn't matter how much they inquire. They will never find Him, because God delights to conceal Himself from arrogant people.

Isaiah 45:15 says, "Truly, you are a God who hides himself, oh God and Savior of Israel." That's a striking verse, isn't it? "You are a God who hides himself." Man will never find God if He does not reveal Himself, and God does not always choose to reveal Himself.  Christ praises God for concealing Himself, first and foremost. Secondly, Christ praises God for revealing Himself, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, not just because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, but because you have revealed them to little children." It delights Christ that His Father conceals Himself, but it also delights Him that He reveals Himself, and to whom? To little children.  If you're willing to repent. If you're willing to turn, to humble yourself, to turn away from your own wisdom and your own power and strength and achievement, He will show you everything. He will reveal Himself fully to you. You will see Him face-to-face. You will see His glory. You will be part of that prayer that Christ prayed in John 17, "Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am, to see my glory." We will see His glory if we humble ourselves and become like little children. Mathew 18:3-4, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth. Unless you repent and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Jesus also said, "Blessed are the spiritual beggars, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

In Mathew 23, Jesus says, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted, for the Lord gives grace to the humble, but he opposes the proud." This is a major and a consistent theme in Scripture. Number one, God cannot be found if He does not will Himself to be found. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you will not find God unless He reveals Himself. Secondly, God actively hides Himself from the wise and learned, they chase rabbit trails and they will never find Him. Thirdly, God actively reveals Himself to the humble, to those who are like little children. Do you see then the benefit of this kind of preaching. It humbles us, doesn't it? It makes us like little children, it slays our pride so that we can bow our neck to the yoke of Jesus Christ, and He will reveal Himself fully and completely to us. Who are the little children? — Humble Jews, outcasts, like tax collectors and sinners, He reveals Himself to them. and even to Gentiles who know nothing, who were rejected, and outcast by the Jews. He will reveal Himself to them, as they trust in Him, and believe in Him.

Divine Pleasure

And then seventh, we see Divine Pleasure, all things done according to God's pleasure. He says in Matthew 11:26, "Yes father, for this was your good pleasure."  What Christ delights in, God delights in. There's no dis-harmony between Father and Son. It's not wrong for Christ to delight in His Father's sovereignty because His Father delights in His own sovereignty. He says, "Yes father, this was your good pleasure." God was pleased to conceal and pleased to reveal. He's not disgruntled, irritable, out of sorts, frustrated with His rule of the universe, it's not going badly for Him. Every mighty potentate has a bad day or even a bad year. The seven fat cattle are swallowed up by the seven skinny cattle, even if you're Pharaoh, King of Egypt, but for God, it's never that way. He rules over all things according to His pleasure. Our God is in heaven and he does whatever pleases Him.

Psalm 135:6 says, "The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, and the seas, and all their depths." Now what pleases God, is it automatically delightful to us? Are there not some surprising aspects of what pleases God? Does He not delight in some things we would not naturally delight in? For example, He speaks to Israel, and He says, "He was delighted to make Israel prosper in their land, in the promised land, if they would only obey his commands but he's also delighted to crush them and destroy them if they won't." In Deuteronomy 28:63, "It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you and multiply you, so the Lord also will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it." That's not our way but that is God's way. He was delighted also to make Christ suffer on the cross.

 Isaiah 53:10, it says, "The Lord was pleased to crush him and cause him to suffer, and if he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand." God's good pleasure flowers in Christ's hand like a garden.  God delights in concealing from the wise and revealing to little children. Now, let me explain what I mean. I don't believe God finds any pleasure intrinsically in crushing Israel and expelling them from the land. I don't think He finds any masochistic delight in watching His Son suffer on the cross nor does He have any delight in concealing himself from arrogant people, but rather in the big picture, He sees the new Heaven and the new Earth, the home of righteousness where all sin is crushed and destroyed, where the devil and all of the rebels are removed and Heaven and Earth is one under His rule. That's a delightful thing and in that He delights. Just as Jesus said, "He endured the cross despising its shame for the joy on the other side, the joy set before Him, that's the pleasure of God. What God delights in, if you're a Christian, means salvation for you. It was the pleasure of God to choose you before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:5, "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will." It brought Him delight, He said, "Little flock, don't be afraid, it is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And it is also His pleasure now that you're saved, to sanctify you, to help you to grow. It says in Philippians 2:13, "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure."

Application

This is the delightful thing. How can we apply this? This understanding of the sovereignty of God, of God's divine power and of His divine pleasure, prerogative and all of these things that He has shown us.  There is no end to those things we can be anxious about in this world. Did you know that? There's no end to anxiety, no end to concern, to current events, to problems. How about in the future? You look ahead in your life, there's no end to what your imagination can tell you will happen to you or your loved ones, to your bodies, to your souls, no end to the anxieties. If you do not accept this doctrine of God's sovereignty, it leaves you without a rudder on a sea of anxiety and fear and God would not have it so. He wants His people at rest and at peace with Him, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. I will give you peace if you trust in my sovereignty, rest in it."

Be confident in the rule of God. Secondly, be humbled by this doctrine. God is not asking our opinion concerning the rulership of the universe, He does not poll us, He does not need our insights. When you are praying, you're not giving Him advice as to a course of action that He should take that He hadn't considered thoroughly. That's not what's going on there. This is a humbling doctrine, and it makes us like little children, doesn't it? It humbles us, and makes us low and meek so that we can receive the full revelation of His nature and His character, be humbled. Thirdly, repent and live in the kingdom. "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is here." The time has come for you to throw away your weapons of rebellion and allow Him to be king, because that's what He is. Let Him rule therefore over every area and every aspect of your life. Let Him rule over you and let Him rule over the world and realize that it's a good thing.  Repent therefore and live in the kingdom. How practical is this? Are there any areas of rebellion in your life? Anything that you know is out of sorts with the will of God, anything you know that's not in harmony with the word of God, Then repent from those things and take delight in His kingdom.

 How did Jesus apply this teaching? Verse 28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Come to Christ, come to Him now, if you've never trusted in Christ, come to Him today and keep coming, find rest for your souls.

Introduction: Mysteries of our Faith

We'll be looking this morning at a majestic section  of the Scripture, Matthew 11:20-24. There's so much in here.  In 1951, a British survey ship named The Challenger, sailing over the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean and found the deepest part of the ocean ever measured. They used wide band sonar and found it to be 35,639 feet, a little under seven miles. Nine years later, human beings we wanted to go down there and look around. I can't imagine having seven miles of water over my head. But some courageous men from the US Navy got in on the Bathyscaphe Trieste, and descended down and found it actually to be a little deeper than originally measured, 35,813 feet, in that little sphere. If you take a steel ball of two pounds and drop it over the Mariana Trench, it'll take 64 minutes to reach the bottom. That's the depth of the ocean at that place.

We may have reached the depths of the ocean, but we will never reach the depths of the wisdom and the knowledge of God nor will we reach the depths of his love for us in Christ. Scripture testifies plainly to these truths. In Romans 11, after Paul has written all of these chapters of doctrine that he himself did not fully understand, I can assure you, he said, "Oh, the depths of the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God, how un-searchable His judgments and His path beyond tracing out, who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay Him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen." He says that the knowledge and the wisdom of God are un-searchably deep. If we were to combine all the string in our pocket and tie it together, we could not plumb the depths of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.  So also, is the case when we come to His love for us in Christ. For it says in Ephesians, that Paul prays that the Ephesian Christians may know how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ. And that they may know that love that surpasses knowledge. Just think about that for a moment, to know something you can't know. What that means is that we're going to search out and study some things that are going to overwhelm us. We're going to reach the limits of what we can understand. We're going to say, "I don't get it," but here it is in the text. I think that may happen for some of you today — that you might know the infinite depths of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, and that you may also know the infinite depths of His love for us in Christ, that you may be humbled and brought to your knees, as I was, with tears in my eyes, saying, "Thank you, God, for saving me."

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility 

We come to one of the mysteries of our faith, and that is the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. You wonder, how did we find this in Matthew 11? It's been there all along. No, this is not Romans 9 or some of those other passages like Ephesians 1, but there it is. I can assure you that we will not completely in the end be able to resolve this. Augustine and Pelagius debated over this. Luther and Erasmus debated over this. Whitefield and Wesley debated over this. Others have debated over this, and we're not going to finally resolve. There's a danger to going beyond what Scripture says, to try to push our understandings so that we can click it into a neat system, and that won't happen and shouldn't happen; but I think there's also a danger in going short of what Scripture says, too.

I would like to go as far as the Scripture allows. Then when we reach the end of our wisdom, when we have no more string in our pocket to drop down the plumb line, and we realize that it's still too deep for us, then we can just fall on our faces and worship God, and say, "The secret things belong to God, but the things revealed to us and to our children forever." That's what we seek to do today. We are going to try to understand the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. When you walk out the doors this morning at the end, will you fully understand and grasp, will you comprehend it? I don't think so. But I think you'll have a sense of the scope of it better than you did before, and that's my prayer. 

As I look at the text, I realize that you've got to see it in context, as always. Realize the context of anything in the Gospel of Matthew is the kingdom of heaven. You want to understand the Gospel of Matthew. Understand what it means when Jesus says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We've been talking about this, and I never tire of reminding you that that is the unifying theme. It is the big picture. Matthew seeks to present Christ as king. It's hard for us as Americans to really understand what that means. There is, of course, a direct relationship between kingship and sovereignty. As a matter fact, another word for a king is a sovereign. Our understanding of the kingdom of heaven really ties in directly to our understanding of the sovereignty of God. They're really one and the same. We pray frequently, “our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, that is thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” This is what we're praying, we want God's will to be done, here, in this church. We want His will to be done in our hearts. That's what it means, the kingdom of heaven. We've been seeing Jesus unfolding the kingdom of heaven. He's been giving his credentials as His right to rule. We see it from the beginning in His birth and His genealogy. He has the pedigree, as a descendant of David. He is a Son of David, He's a son of Abraham, also through whom it was spoken, all peoples on earth will be blessed, through Abraham. Jesus is definitely the fulfillment of that promise to Abraham. God had His eyes on the entire world, and as this descendant of Abraham, the Son of Abraham, came, He is that fulfillment. He is the way that through Abraham and through His seed, all nations on earth would be blessed.

He is also the son of David and therefore, the recipient of those covenant promises made to David. He is the Davidic king. The genealogy has its place. In the account of the virgin birth in Matthew 1 it is revealed for us that Jesus is no mere human king. He's not just another David, He is God in the flesh. We have there, again, another mystery we will never be able to plumb the depths of, the mystery of the incarnation, how Jesus can be fully God and fully man together. After that, we see the unfolding of Jesus' ministry, and how He proclaimed very plainly, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He seeks to explain what that means. The kingdom of heaven therefore, is something we must enter. We're not born into it, we're born again into it. We must at some point, enter the kingdom through repentance and through faith. Repent and believe the good news. What is the good news? It is the kingdom, the good news is the kingdom, and the kind of king we have in that kingdom, that's the good news.  He preaches in Matthew 5, 6 and 7, The Sermon on the Mount, which is kingdom life: how we enter, how we live once we've entered,  and what it is,  this kingdom life through the Sermon on the Mount. Then He gives His evidence, His credentials in the miracles, and it's an incredible display of power.We're going to talk about it here in this text, because it's very relevant, Jesus gives us credentials.

As He's unfolding His right to rule, we are now getting in chapter 11, and we'll get again in chapter 12, human responses to that. Basically, we're starting to get the returns back on election night, but we're going to find out that people are rejecting Christ. We're going to find out that they are not entering the kingdom of heaven, that they are rejecting Him, that they are not repenting and believing.  Jesus is dealing with that here in verses 20 through 24 especially, for the first time. He's dealing with the issue of why it is that people do not repent, why they turn away and what are the ramifications.

Within  verses 20 through 30, we have three basic sections. From verse 20 through 24, Jesus denounces the cities in which His miracles had been performed because they did not repent.  From verses 25 through 27, Jesus is praising His father for His sovereignty, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, this was your good pleasure."  We see divine sovereignty right at the center of the passage and then at the end, again, human responsibility, where Christ reaches out and invites sinners to come, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The most beautiful invitation you'll ever see Christ give and perhaps the most beautiful in all of Scripture, an invitation to come into the arms of a gentle and loving Savior, and your sins will be forgiven. At the beginning, we have human responsibility — Jesus holds these cities accountable for their failure to repent. They should have repented. The evidence was sufficient, the miracles were enough, and they're accountable for their repentance and they will pay for it on judgment day. It's a very serious word on human responsibility. If you hear the Gospel, if you have evidence presented and you do not repent, you will be held accountable for that human responsibility.  So  at the beginning and at the end of this section, human responsibility and in the center of the text, divine sovereignty. The beauty of this is that they just flow together without any kind of controversy or difficulty in Jesus' mind. He's teaching it all. He doesn't have any stumbling block over it, it's not a problem for Him, as a matter of fact, He rejoices in it and praises His heavenly father. My desire as a pastor is to get myself and also by the power of the Spirit, to that same point that Jesus was at, so that you can embrace and love sovereignty, the way that Jesus did and understand it the way He did.

Woe to Jewish Cities

Let's look in a little more carefully now at verses 20 through 24, in which Jesus speaks a word of woe to these cities: Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. Reading again, it says, "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum will you be lifted up to the skies? No. You will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day, but I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the Day of Judgment than for you."  We have Jesus in a prophetic role here, speaking as a prophet of God, speaking even more than as a prophet of God, but speaking actually as the judge of all the earth, before whom all nations will be gathered and He will separate them, one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. This is the judge of all the Earth.  John chapter 5, "All of judgment has been entrusted to the Son, so that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father." This is the One speaking a word of woe over these Jewish cities.

It's a terrifying thing that He's saying to Capernaum that they will go down to Hades. That's a terrifying word of judgment spoken by Jesus. He denounces them, it says in verse 20. It's a strong word in the Greek, a word of rejection that He speaks of in this prophetic word of woe. Now, first of all, you must realize, this is a word of grace from Christ. You might not think it, but realize that they have not been condemned yet. There is still time. This is a word of warning from a prophet of God, even more a word of warning from the Son of God. It is grace from God to tell us this ahead of time, isn't it? We don't deserve it. He doesn't have to do this, but He does, and He presents to us, as a people, a word of warning ahead of time, and so He is gracious in this way. He doesn't owe us anything. He doesn't owe, certainly, sinners, repeated and pointed and careful warnings, and we get that in Scripture, don't we? One warning after another.  God is therefore very gracious, using this warning, a stern word of warning, to wake us up from our sin, that we might repent and come into faith.

Now, what cities is He denouncing here? These are Jewish cities — Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. They were communities clustered there in the north of the Sea of Galilee. They constituted together, essentially, Jesus' home base. This is where He lived during the years of His ministry. This is where He came back, even though He said the Son of Man had no place to lay his head, yet it's spoken of Capernaum that He returned to His hometown. This was His home area, not Nazareth, but Capernaum and this is the area that He based all His ministry in.  Jesus did most of His miracles, pouring out a river of display of the power of the kingdom of God. The people here saw things no one had ever seen before. Here, He healed the blind man by spitting on his eyes, and here He walked on water, and here, He fed the 5000 in Bethsaida.

We don't know really anything about Chorazin except that Jesus did miracles there.  Capernaum,  however, we know more about than any of these small towns. Jesus performed more miracles at Capernaum than any other city. He did more of His teaching at Capernaum than any other place. They got to see Him live here. He appeared in the synagogue and began His ministry in that area by driving out a demon, and they were astonished at the power that He had simply to speak to a demon, and the demon must obey. 

Here, He healed Peter's mother-in-law.  Peter himself lived in Bethsaida, as did Andrew and Peter, it was their hometown, but Capernaum is where his mother-in-law lived. Here, huge crowds of people thronged to Him and Jesus did so many miracles in Matthew 8 that he doesn't even describe them all. He just said He healed many people, everybody that was brought to Him, He healed them all.

In John Chapter 4, Jesus healed the royal official son, and here was where and four men brought a paralyzed man lying on a mat. They went up on the roof and dug a hole in the roof because they could not get through the throng. They lowered the paralyzed man right in front of Jesus. He is looking up a hole in the roof and down comes the paralyzed man, and it says when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, "Your sins are forgiven." The people were offended. How can this mere man forgive sins, and He said, "Which is easier, to say your sins are forgiven, or to say rise and walk? But so that you may know that the son of man has authority on Earth to forgive sins, He said to this paralyzed man, ‘Rise up and walk.’’’ and the man got up and walked. The people were astonished and they were filled with awe and  praised God, who had given such authority to men, and then they went about their business. They went back to fishing. They went back to their homes, they went back to their lives, and they did not repent, despite the wide open invitation Jesus gave, "I have power to forgive sins. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here." They did not, they went back to their lives, they did nothing. There wasn't an organized movement of resistance to Jesus in Capernaum. It wasn't where He met His staunchest resistance, that was Jerusalem. It was just a matter of indifference, they just didn't care. Jesus had had His 10 minutes of fame, and now, it's back to business as usual. Oh, the incredible power of the status quo. It's like a strong gravitational pull; it pulls you back to your everyday life. The people should have said, "Wait a minute, wait, wait. What did we just see?" "What was that?" “The world will never be the same again, because this man has entered and has done this miracle. There is forgiveness of sins through Him.” They should have flocked to Him, but instead, there was indifference, and therefore, the cause of judgment is failure to repent. It is indifference.

In verse 20, Jesus began to denounce the cities, in which most of His miracles had been performed because they did not repent. Jesus told a couple of parables about this. In Matthew 22, Jesus spoke to them in parable saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said... Tell those who have been invited, that I've prepared my dinner, my oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready, come to the wedding banquet." But they paid no attention and went off. One to his field, another to his business. Indifference, business as usual, that's all. Again, in Luke 14:16-20, 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 now, For everything is ready'. Doesn't that sound like, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand? Come now. Now is the time to enter, everything is ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, "I've just bought a field and I must go see it, please excuse me." Another said, "I bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." And still another said, "I just got married, so I can't come."

Indifference. It is the world's number one response to the Gospel. Not hatred, not persecution, that takes too much effort, too much energy, just indifference. "I'm glad for you, that you found something that works for you," that kind of thing. And so, they go about their lives, indifference and Jesus denounces them for this very reason, because they did not repent. Jesus is speaking most strongly, therefore, about a sin of omission, about something that wasn't done and what should they have done? They should have repented.

 It goes on today. Have you ever shared the Gospel with somebody, you present it and say, "Well, it all sounds reasonable. But what do you think is evidence that Jesus has risen from the dead? Well, what do you think?" "Well, I think He probably rose from the dead." "Really?" "Yeah." "What are you going to do in response?” "I don't know, nothing." There's no change, just indifference. They come into the same word of woe that Jesus gives in this text, failure to repent. Indifference is the scourge of the Gospel, and it's already been prophesied that it's going to go on to the very end, to the end of the world, to the second coming of Christ. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the son of man, for as in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, right up to the day Noah entered the ark. They paid no attention and did not know anything about it, until the flood came and swept them all away. That's how it will be at the coming of the son of man.  This indifference, this who-cares attitude, about Christ will go on to the end of the world. But the judgment for Capernaum and Chorazin and Bethsaida is increased. It's greater, and why? Because they had revealed to them miracles from Jesus Christ Himself. The judgment on these cities is far greater because of the miraculous display and preaching they had than it would have been if they'd never received it. This is a vital principle. The greater revelation of God that you have received and still don't repent, the greater your judgment on Judgment Day. It's what the text is teaching. The more truth you get, the more revelation, the more things flow to you from God, and you still don't repent, the greater your judgment on Judgment Day.  

Jesus had given them everything. He'd given them His own incarnate presence, He'd given them miracles, He'd given them teachings. They, as Jewish cities, had a whole heritage of law and prophets, the written word of God. They had the godly Kings like David and Solomon and Hezekiah, and they had all that heritage and history. They had what God did amazingly, restoring the Jews back after the exile. All of these things just increased their judgment because they did not repent. They had the miracles. Jesus intended the miracles to have converting power.  In John 14:11, Jesus speaking to His own disciples said, "Believe me, believe me when I say that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or at least, believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."  Jesus clearly felt that the evidence of the miracles was sufficient for you to believe the Gospel and repent. But they did not. Jesus compares these Jewish cities to some Gentile cities, and not just any Gentile cities, these were especially bad ones in the Jewish mindset: Tyre and Sidon. These are some of the worst Jewish cities, as far as the Jews were concerned. In the Old Testament, Tyre was a byword for Gentile wickedness. Now, initially, with Hiram, King of Tyre, they had a good relationship with the people of God. Hiram sent down cedar logs to help David build his castle, his palace, and then later, Solomon also received from Tyre, cedar logs to build the temple itself. Initially there was agood relationship, but when Judgement fell on Jerusalem through the Babylonians, the people of Tyre celebrated;  they were excited about that.  Ezekiel, the prophet, condemns them for that.   In Ezekiel 26-28, it's all about the wicked prosperity of Tyre. Tyre was a trading place, it had a great harbor and there were a lot of ships that went back and forth. It became a symbol later on in the Book of Revelation for Babylon. A prosperous Gentile place, where there was lots of money, lots of commerce, lots of great things going on, and no God at all, a place of wickedness. Jesus says that even the prosperous demonic  King of Tyre, is said to be Satan, the cherub in the garden of Eden, himself in Ezekiel 28. Beautiful  until wickedness was found in him. Jesus says, those cities are better than you, Jewish cities and they'll do better on judgment day than you.

Then there's Sodom. When you think of Sodom, what do you think of? It's really just a symbol of wickedness. Jesus says, "If I had done the miracles in that place in Sodom that you saw, Sodom would still be here today. Tyre and Sidon, if they had seen the same miraculous display you did, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." He is shaming these Jewish cities and showing their judgment. The greater revelation of God you have received, the greater your responsibility. From whom much is given, much is required, that's the principle, Luke 12:47-48. And what does this teach you? Not everyone is punished the same amount on Judgment Day. There's a lot of theology here.

In Dante's Inferno with the Circles of Hell, the lower you go, et cetera, it gets worse and worse.  The concept of variability of judgment on Judgment Day is coming right off this text. There's different levels of punishment. Now you say, "Wait a minute. Why punishment?" First of all, understand, there's no innocent natives.  You don't repent from good deeds, you repent from sin, and so Tyre and Sidon needed to repent and they would have repented if they'd seen the miracles. They're not righteous, they'll still be judged. But it's even worse for these Jewish cities. What about America? What kind of spiritual advantages have we had? We have more translations of the Biblein the English language than in any other language. More Bibles, more Christian publishing houses and books and spiritual aids, and Christian radio and more ministries,  more para-church work, more good solid churches, more good preaching. There's been more revivals in America than any other country by far, a pouring out, an effusion of the Holy Spirit. More missionaries have gone out from these shores numerically. God has done unbelievable work in this country. What then, for those that do not repent as Americans? What will it be for them, to have received all of this truth and still not repent? Jesus says your judgment is great. If you hear all of this and you do not repent. 

Why Didn’t God Save Tyre, Sidon & Sodom?

Now we come to the crux of the matter. It's a hard question. Some say it shouldn't be asked, but I'm going to ask it. Why then did He not do the miracles in Tyre and Sidon? Why did He not do them in Sodom, if they would have repented? It's a hard question, isn't it? First of all, understand the divine perception of Christ, let's remember who we're talking about here.

 I love history, I really do. One of the favorite things that historians like to do, is to write alternate histories. In other words, to go back to a moment. You know how for one of a nail, the kingdom was lost, that kind of thing? What if the nail hadn't been lost, then what? What would have happened? I read an article  a while ago about general Albert Sidney Johnson who was a great Confederate general who died needlessly on the Shiloh battlefield.This man makes the case that if Johnson had not bled to death needlessly, (it was a really pretty minor wound) that the South would have won the Civil War. He traces all back to that one moment that the man didn't have his surgeon with him to put a simple field tourniquet on and then unfolds from there a whole alternate history. It's mere speculation.  All we can do is speculate, what would have happened if.

Every Christmas, a movie comes on, that really gets into this whole thing. It’s a Wonderful Life, in which the angel Clarence comes and shows George Bailey what the world would have been like without him. He gets to go back to, not Bedford falls, but Potters-ville and everything's changed. Why? It's an alternate history. It's an alternate approach, something that didn't really happen, but this is what it would have been like if you'd never been born. But I say to you that both of these things are mere speculation. When Jesus says it, it's not mere speculation, is it? This is the incarnate Son of God and this is His divine supernatural knowledge, and He's speaking about a Gentile city, and He's saying, "I'm telling you what would have happened if I had done this up there, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes." He's also speaking back in time, 2000 years ago. "Sodom, if I had been there, they would have repented." It would still be here today. We're dealing with a fact, and it staggers me to think of the omniscience of God.  God not only knows what was, what is, and what will be. He also knows what might have been, what might be now, and what might be in the future if things go differently than He had ordained. He knows everything.

I like chess.Each side gets 16 pieces, 32 pieces, 64 squares, and all that. Do you know how many games can flow out of that arrangement? Literally, I think it's just about infinite. God knows all the possible chess games. He's got chess figured out.  I have a book  about chess about three inches thick about the subject of various chess openings. Some people make a full-time living just studying these openings and the branches out. If the person moves the pawn there and the knight comes down, then this happens. You go off into a whole area of development that way. Not only does God have chess figured out, He has human history figure out. Literally, infinite alternate universes that never happened, if this had gone on, and that had gone on. This is the omniscience of God. Not only does He know how many hairs are on your head, He knows all of this. And what is He saying? He's saying, "Those cities, Tyre and Sidon would have repented, if I had gone and done those same miracles there." Why didn’t he?

Let's eliminate some reasons. Number one: It was not too far to go, about 30 miles to Tyre. He wouldn't have had to travel across Asia and then take a boat. We're talking 30 miles up the road. As a matter of fact, in Matthew 15, He was there. He was in the city of Tyre and he did not do those miracles there. It's not because it was too far to go and it's not because it would not have succeeded. Some people say, "Well, some people don't hear the Gospel, and they don't get it because God knows that if the gospel is preached there, they'll just reject, and so He doesn't send the Gospel there." It's not what Jesus says. What would the outcome have been according to Christ? A revival to end all revivals. They would have set a record for revival, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. It's not because it wouldn't have succeeded and it's not because Christ lacked the power to do miracles in the Gentile territory. In Matthew 15, Jesus goes to Tyre and a Syrophoenician woman comes and confronts Him. Jesus doesn't answer her a word, doesn't say a thing to her. The disciples say, "Send her away for she keeps crying out after us." Jesus says, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." He was giving an explanation for why He's not speaking to this woman. The woman comes, and in effect, throws herself on the tracks of the oncoming train and says, "I'm not moving until you deal with me. My daughter is suffering from demon possession." He says to her, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs." She answers back, one of the great answers in all history, "Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table, isn't there some extra that could fall off the table for me?" He says, "Go home, your daughter's healed." Jesus certainly did not lack power to do miracles, but He did not pour out the miracles in Tyre and Sidon that He did in Capernaum.

 And it's not because He has no concern for Gentile nations. Perish the thought, because He's already said through Abraham, all the peoples on Earth will be blessed. He says through Isaiah, God the Father, speaking of God the Son, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Israel and bring back those of Israel that I have kept. I will make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” He cares about Gentiles, He cares greatly about them. Why then, didn't He do the miracles up there? I don't know, but God is sovereign and He can do what He chooses. He can do miracles or not do miracles. He can come and preach in your town or not. He doesn't owe us anything. He doesn't owe us a hearing of the Gospel.

Secondly, understand His plan, His plan was always to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. It's the way He ordained, and so He was not going to do miracles in Tyre and Sidon because He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.

God's sovereignty. What are implications of this? We like to think of God as up in heaven doing absolutely everything He can do to save absolutely every single individual sinner. Is that true? Does not this text remove that forever?  Our God is powerful and He can do anything. So I reach the point even while preaching to you now where I just say, "Thank you, God for saving me, thank you for saving me. What did I have to offer to you? You didn't have to do these things for me. Thank you for your sovereignty. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for giving Christ. Thank you for the river of miracles and then I read about it and I believe it. Thank you for your mercy and your kindness.

Application

 Can you embrace this God? Understand where we're at. I wish I could just keep going because in verse 25, "I praise you, Father, I praise you for your sovereignty, I praise you that you're a Lord of heaven and Earth." Can you do that? I think that's what entering the kingdom is all about. Ultimately, we're going to have an ever increasing sense of God's rulership, ever increasing sense of His sovereignty and His might and His power. I want that. I actually want to have the same reaction in my heart that Jesus had at that moment. I want to rejoice in God and what He does.  I'm urging you to embrace the sovereignty of God, delight in it, and thank God for your salvation. If you are saved today, it's because of the sovereign mighty grace of God. It's because of His mercy to you in Christ. Nothing you or I did could ever merit it. We don't deserve it. Secondly, can I urge you to pray for blessed America? For blessed America, for your neighbors, for your relatives, for your family members, perhaps, for co-workers who have heard the Gospel again, and again, and still have not repented. Fear for them and tell them the danger that they're under according to this text, of great judgment from God if they do not repent. Thirdly, can I urge you, don't presume on God. Remember who He is. He is sovereign and powerful. I heard something a while ago that bothered me. I understand the spirit behind it, but it bothered me. It was talking about the wickedness and immorality, ever increasing immorality in our country, and the preacher said something like this: “If God doesn't destroy America soon, He'll owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.” That is blasphemous. He doesn't owe Sodom and Gomorrah a thing.  He can do what He chooses with America. But understand this, He is holy, and He's as holy now as He was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. He's the same God, and He doesn't owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology, and He doesn't owe America another day to repent, either. This is the sovereign hand of God and so we must not presume on that.

If you are here and you've never come to faith in Christ, don't walk out of here without repenting and trusting Christ. Don't walk out of the doors presuming that you'll have another time to repent some other day. You don't know that. God hasn't promised it to you and He doesn't owe it to you. If today, you hear Him say, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest," do not harden your heart, but come.

Introduction

 We are looking this morning at Matthew Chapter 9: 27-34, two astounding miracles and two opposite reactions to those miracles. In the beginning of the universe, right at the very beginning, God created light. When God said, "Let there be light," in effect, He was saying, "I want to communicate. I want to reveal. I want to show Myself. I want to display Myself and put My glory on display." So God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." Then God went about the business of creating things worth seeing. That's one way to look at Genesis Chapter 1. He created the world in all of its majestic glory and splendor. He separated clouds from water below. He separated water from dry land. All kinds of living things, verdant green, and all kinds of colors came on this earth, and then every species of living thing, all of them worth looking at. Then He created people who had eyes, vision, eyesight, the ability to receive, to take in what God has made. 

David said in Psalm 139, "I praise you, Lord, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." I think that that applies to every aspect of our bodies, but I think there's something spectacular about the eyes, about vision in particular. At this moment, as you're looking at me, or wherever you're looking, whatever you're looking at, your eyes are making literally billions of calculations and adjustments every second. An astounding amount of information is flowing into your mind through your eyes, and you're processing it. I think about some of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen.  I think about, for example, Acadia National Park, up in Maine, Mount Desert Island, an island  right on the coast of the  Atlantic Ocean. There is one cliff, in particular, that as you're sitting there, you can see, Echo Lake, a freshwater lake, cold in October.  I can see the Atlantic Ocean and the rocky coastline as it goes up and down.  I can see the trees, and I can see eagles riding the thermals in kind of a spiral pattern, up the 600 or 700 feet up that cliff and then up over my head. As I had watched them fly occasionally in a lazy way they would flap their wings and just gain control for a moment, and they would go over us. There would be large ones and small ones, and we would watch them for hours. Now, as I was looking at that, my brain was processing things more complex than I can even understand. There was the form or shape of the birds. There was the motion. There was the color. There was depth perspective. Science tells us that all of those different aspects of vision are handled at different parts of the brain, and yet we only see one image, that eagle that's flying over our heads at that particular moment. What an incredible thing is eyesight.

We are dependent on our eyes for so much, aren't we? So much of our understanding of the world flows in through our sight. Our sight mediates and validates other senses. When you hear or touch or smell something in your world, don't you immediately turn to look at it? Isn't that one of the first things you do? You want to see what it is that you're hearing. In Revelation Chapter 1, John heard a voice behind him of the Lord, the risen Lord. What does he do? He turns to look, and he has a vision of Christ. He hears first, the sound comes first, and then he looks. By the way, that was the order in Genesis, wasn't it? God spoke, "Let there be light, and there was light.” The sound comes first, but then the sight validates what are senses are telling us.

Try this some time.  Look at something, an object, maybe on a table, look at it for a second or two. Then close your eyes, turn away. And reach out with your hand, and almost invariably, you'll be able put your hand on it. Neuroscientists don't understand that. They don't understand how the vision can lock in a spatial relationship around us all the time. We do it naturally, don't we? I know it, because when I walk into my kid's room at night, when it's pitch black in there, and step on something that's been left on the floor, I realize that all I needed was one second of light, and sometimes I'll turn on the hall light for a second, look in the room and turn it off, and then I can navigate around whatever may have been left there and not put away. I won't bump into their bed or into their furniture. I have set the room in my mind with just one second of light.

We depend on our eyesight for so much, don't we? And for that reason, vision, the idea of vision, saturates our language. For example, we speak of insight, something a poet has into the world. Or perhaps you pray for insight when you read the Scriptures, you're asking for insight. Or a foresight. It is something that business analysts are supposed to have to write for  the “Wall Street Journal”, or something that a prophet would have into the future, a vision of Isaiah the prophet. What about hindsight? It's said to be 20/20 for people who are regretful of something that's happened in the past. Or  this expression, "Out of sight, out of mind." That's an excuse for forgetful people. Or, ”We shall see." What does that mean? "We will experience. We will find out. We will learn. We will discover."  

The scripture is filled with the word "behold." In Greek, it's "idou," and in Hebrew, "hinneh." "Behold, something happened." It means, "Look at this, experience it, take it into you." We're dependent on our eyesight for many things. There's also another expression which I think the text will refute, and that is, "Seeing is believing." Is that true? No, because Jesus did incredible miracles in front of his enemies. Did they believe? No. They saw and yet did not believe. It’s a fascinating thing, seeing is not always believing, not for Jesus' enemies.

For this reason, because we are so dependent on our eyesight, a poll was done recently and showed that Americans fear blindness more than any other disability. Think of what your world would be like if you were totally blind. And yet, for all of that, only a few of you, or a certain number of you, have perfect vision. It's perhaps one of the marks of the fall, the effect of sin on our bodies. A quarter of you statistically will have myopia. That means that your lens focus is just a millimeter to the front of your retina, and so you need lenses to adjust it.  I think that blind people, therefore, are perhaps among the most courageous people that there are. Think about it. What would it be like to have to move through the world without being able to see? We're going to meet in the text today two very courageous blind people, who would not be stopped, who are going to keep calling after and pursuing Jesus until they get what they want.

Modern medical knowledge has made incredible strides. Science, specifically eye science, has come a long way since the Renaissance, when Dr. Georg Bartisch, an eye doctor during the Renaissance,  went around healing cataract patients by poking their eyes with a sharp object. It created a little hole and patients could kind of see through it amidst their pain.  But no one, not even today, not even here at Duke or at Johns Hopkins, no one can do what Jesus did in the text. Jesus has power to heal blindness. And that power, I believe, was given to him alone in a very unique way.

We also have another miracle in our text today, that is the healing of a man who is mute. He was dumb, he could not speak because of a demon. I found it a very interesting symmetry. Through the eyes, we take in. Through the mouth, we speak out. And so Christ is healing the means  by which we have to take in the world and then healing the means that one can speak out, hopefully praise to Christ for what He's done. As we've seen in Matthew's Gospel, in these nine chapters, Matthew is step-by-step unfolding the credentials of Jesus Christ to be King of the kingdom of heaven. Right from the very beginning of the Gospel, we have His genealogy, where he lays out the evidence or proof that Jesus is the descendant of David, the descendant of Abraham. He is the Messiah. The genealogy would prove it to any Jew who knew the significance of being the Son of David. We're going to see the term "Son of David" in the text today and from there, we have the evidence in the end of Matthew Chapter 1, and into Matthew 2, of Jesus's supernatural birth, the virgin birth, and what God did at that point.  Evidence that He was not just the Son of David, but the Son of God. He was God in the flesh. We've seen, unfolded from there, the miracles and the teachings of Jesus in an incredible way, more evidence than we need to prove the deity of Christ, and that He is indeed the King of the kingdom of heaven.

Healing the Blind

In verses  Mathew 9:27-31, we see two blind beggars who are healed by Christ. We begin by seeing their faith in pursuit of Christ. They're pursuing Christ by faith. Verse 27, "As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David.'" These were true beggars, they were totally destitute. In the world today, statistics from the World Health Organization tell us that 45 million people in the world are blind, legally blind. Most of them are in the third world areas, their blindness caused by many things — unsanitary conditions, infectious organisms, blowing sand, accidents, war, malnutrition, excessive heat, bright sunshine. Infants are born blind because of bacteria they'll pick up from their mothers as they pass through the birth canal, or through diseases they may get while in the womb.  When I was in Pakistan as a missionary, I had the privilege of helping an English eye doctor as he performed surgery on a trichiasis patient, and the problem there was that the eyelids had grown inwards so that all of their eyelashes were rubbing on the surface of the eye every time they blinked. What is it like for you when one eyelash detaches and gets into your eye? Are you a multi-tasker at that point? Can you do many things, or are you going to stop until you get that lash out of your eye? Imagine all of your eyelashes rubbing on your eye with every blink. Eventually you will go blind, literally. The plight of the blind is extreme, isn't it? It's impossible to work. They're stripped of the beauty and the information that we get all the time through our eyes. They're stripped also of hope for the future, because they are literally incurable, in most cases. Nowadays,  certain conditions can be cured, but there are so many forms of blindness that even today we will not be able to cure. These two beggars were friends. I guess you've heard the expression, "The blind leading the blind." It actually was something that was known. They would stay together in communities, they would beg together, and they would be together. They were companions in darkness.

Now, for all of that, there are some advantages to being blind. And you think, "What possible advantages could there be?" There are spiritual advantages to being physically blind. Blindness strips you of the illusions of self-reliance, doesn't it? You realize you cannot make it alone. You can't eat or survive alone, you must have help. It makes you a beggar. And it's a good thing to be a beggar before Christ, isn't it? It's when you are self-reliant that Christ will do nothing for you. It's when you think that you can do it or make it on your own that Christ has nothing for you. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, and the people who recognize that they are sick will go to Christ for the healing. These beggars are going to pursue Jesus, they're going to follow Him, they're going to  cry out after Him, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us." Another thing that blindness does is it makes you bold and impervious to public opinion. You don't care what people think. You need to eat today, so you're going to beg boldly because you need to in order to survive. We get the same thing with Bartimaeus in Mark 10: 46 and following, "As Jesus came to Jericho and His disciples were leaving the city, a blind man named Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was going by, he began to shout, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.' Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.'" He didn't care what people thought, impervious to public opinion, and he's going to pursue Christ until he gets what he wants.

 In Verse 27 there's an unrelenting persistence for mercy. As Jesus went on from there, it says, "Two blind men followed Him, calling out, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David.'" They followed after Christ, stumbling pathetically, blind leading the blind, following the sound of the crowd perhaps, or something, trying to find where Jesus might be. Despite the delay, they keep calling out after Christ. They're pursuing him. And what are they calling for? They're calling for mercy. What is mercy? It means getting something from God that you know you don't deserve. I think grace means not getting from God the things you do deserve, namely wrath and judgment, in addition to all the blessings of the Gospel. But mercy, I think, specifically in this sense, means getting something from God you know you don't deserve.

John MacArthur put it this way, these two men came to Jesus not only with a right understanding of His great worthiness, but with the right understanding of their own great un-worthiness. That is the attitude of the heart that the Lord honors and accepts. Christ was the most merciful human being who ever lived. He reached out to the sick and healed them. He reached out to the crippled and gave them legs to walk. He healed the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the mouths of the dumb. He found prostitutes and tax collectors, and drew them into the circle of His love. And He redeemed them and set them on their feet. He took the lonely and made them feel loved. He took little children and gathered them into His arms and loved them. Never was there a person on the face of the earth who showed the mercy of  Jesus Christ. They're crying for the right thing, they're crying for mercy.

 One thing about mercy, by the way,  and this is a very important theological point, you can't demand it.  You can't say, "I deserve mercy." See, those two don't go together. You can beg for mercy, but you can't demand mercy. These blind beggars were crying out for mercy. They had an uncommon faith, because they called Jesus Son of David. Son of David is a messianic title. They recognized and they believed that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. Matthew began his Gospel this very way, in Matthew 1:1, "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David." Those are the opening words of the New Testament. Jesus was indeed the Son of David.

This was later very controversial to the Jewish leaders. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the donkey, and people are crying out,  "Hosanna to the Son of David," the Pharisees are vey angry. They wanted Jesus to make the children stop, and Jesus said, "Haven't you read in the Scripture? Out of the mouths of children and infants you have ordained praise. I am the son of David." But later Jesus himself also had to correct the understanding of "Son of David." He asked His enemies, "What about the Christ, whose son is he?" And they answered, "Son of David." He said, "How is it then that David," in Psalm 110, speaking by the Spirit, said, ‘The Lord has said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’  If then David calls Him Lord, how can He be his son?” In a Jewish way of thinking, a father would never call his own son Lord. The son would honor the father and the mother, as Moses commanded. How could it be that Jesus, physically descended from David, will be worshipped by David and called Lord? Where do you think David is right now, and what is he doing? Is he not calling Him Lord and worshipping Him in heaven? He is worshipping his own son, because He was more than just a physical descendant of David, He was the Son of God incarnate in the world.

But back to the blind beggars. Leon Morris says, "One of the things we have to recognize about these beggars is that they would have seen nothing about Jesus." Any information they had about Christ came in through hearing.  Where does faith come from? Faith comes from hearing the report.  The blind beggars actually represent us. Have any of you ever seen Jesus? Have you ever seen him do a miracle, like we're talking about here? No. You're hearing about it this morning. Do you believe? Do you believe, the way that these blind men believed? They got all their information through hearing. Faith comes from hearing, and that's how they knew that He was the Son of David.

Jesus is going to test their faith. As He walks by and they cry out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David'? what does He say? Not a word. He keeps walking. They get up, they follow, they're crying out, they continually cry out, the Greek says, after Him. He didn't say a thing. He goes into the house. Is He cold? Is he callous? Is he unfeeling? Not at all. He wants to test their faith.  Further more, when they come in to the house- it was probably Peter's house, where Jesus was staying in Capernaum,- he looks at them and says, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" This is very interesting. Ordinarily, the Scripture does not speak of "believe that" when connected with Christ. It speaks of belief in Christ, and as a result of that, believing that He can do many things. He starts with the healing, "Do you believe that I am able to do this thing?" He asked them that question. It's an interesting question, too, because why do you think that they're there? He knows their hearts. He knows they believe. But what does He want? He wants them to testify to it. He wants them to speak their faith in Jesus Christ. "Yes, Lord," they answer. God, by the way, frequently tests our faith, doesn't He? Have you ever felt like this in prayer? You're crying out to Him, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy," and He just walks right by and doesn't even seem to answer? He is testing your faith to see if you'll be as persistent as these blind men who would not give up until they got what they wanted. So, they come into the house, and Jesus tests them further. "Do you believe I'm able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they answer. Then, in verse 29, "He touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith will it be done to you.'"  He touched their eyes. Remember we talked about how Jesus was touchable. Jesus was in the world, incarnate, physical, that He might touch people physically. He did many of His healings by touch. He would lay hands on people and heal them. He didn't need to do it. all He had to do was speak and it would be done. But He loved to touch people,  so He reaches out and touches their blind eyes, and says, "According to your faith will it be done to you." Instantly their sight is restored, and I think it must have been 20/20, absolute perfect vision.   He touched their eyes and immediately their sight was restored.

This astounding miracle, I believe, is utterly unique to Jesus Christ. There is no record anywhere in the 39 books of the Old Testament of a healing of a blind man. It'd never been done. Moses did miracles, mighty incredible miracles to show the power of God. Elijah and Elisha even saw people raised from the dead. Those miracles were done, but this one, for some reason, God reserved to His own Son. Interestingly, after this point, there's no record of it either, except for the scales that fell from Saul's eyes.  I think it's different perhaps there. It seems that the healing of blindness in particular was reserved to the Son of God. In Exodus Chapter 4: 11 we see that the giving of sight is a divine activity. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’” There's a lot of theology in that one verse. Theology of suffering, theology of muteness and blindness. "I can make a man blind and I can make him see again. I can do all of those things, I am the Lord." This recovery of sight was something unique to Christ.  The messianic prophecies in Isaiah are clear. Isaiah 29:18, "In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see." Isaiah 35: 5-6, "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." Isaiah 42:6-7, "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness," this is God speaking to Christ, I believe. "I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."  When Jesus began His ministry in Nazareth, His hometown, He got up on the Sabbath and went to read the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. It was unrolled for Him, and He found the place where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the captives," listen, “and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and then He spoke these words, "Today in your hearing, this Scripture is fulfilled." This miracle, this power of recovery of sight to the blind was unique to Christ. It was His special Miracle. He alone had this kind of power.

Now notice Jesus says to the blind man, "According to your faith will it be done to you." I've thought about this all week long, and  I think this is interesting. There is a direct correlation, in my opinion, between faith and eyesight. Both of them are essentially passive. Both of them essentially take in what God is presenting to you. Does the eye make something red or blue or green? Does the eye make something beautiful or majestic or lofty? No. But it sees it, and receives it and takes it in. Jesus said, "If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light." And so also faith does not make a reality from God, doesn't create something that God wasn't willing to do, but rather by faith we take in what God is doing. By faith, we receive. By faith, we are justified. By faith, we are forgiven. And by faith, these two men were healed. "According to your faith will it be done to you."  Archbishop Trent put it this way, "The faith which in itself is nothing is yet the organ for receiving everything. It is the conducting link between man's emptiness and God's fullness. Faith is the bucket let down into the fountain of God's grace, without which the man could never draw water of life from the wells of salvation. Faith is the purse which cannot of itself make its owner rich, yet effectively it enriches by the wealth he contained."

And so they had faith for this healing, but sadly they did not have faith for obedience. Look how the account goes on in verse 30-31, "Jesus warned them sternly, 'See that no one knows about this.' But they went out and spread the news about Him all over that region." Their faith did not extend beyond the healing to submission and obedience. I think it's easier to believe for salvation than to obey constantly.  It is harder for us to obey the commands of Jesus Christ day by day, moment by moment than it is to trust Him for salvation. It's an incredible thing. They disobeyed Him. There was nothing complicated about the command, "Don't tell anyone about this." You might say, "But, Jesus, why? Why? This incredible miracle, why not publish it abroad?” In many cases, He did want the healing of people to be published abroad. But He is a King, and Jesus did not want them to do this. We can speculate, it could be that He did not want too early an association with this title, Son of David.  Could be He didn't want lots of blind people coming for healings, although Jesus did more blind healing than any other kind of healing. But it doesn't really matter, does it? Do we need to understand in order to obey? We really don't. We just need to understand the command, and then we obey. And they understood, and they disobeyed.

Healing the Mute

In verses 32 and 33, we see the other healing that He does. It's almost  inserted here as though it were nothing. In verse 32-33, it says, "While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute, [dumb] spoke." We first see that he has demon eyes, that's the Greek word. It means controlled and really, in one sense, possessed, I guess, by a demon. Realize a demon can possess nothing, because they know their time is short, but the demon had controlled this man so much that the man lost the ability to speak. So we see him dumb, mute. Imagine the tragedy, unable to speak to a loved one, a wife, or unable to speak to a child or a parent, unable to pray out loud, unable to sing praise songs, unable to put out any words at all. Chrysostom said this about it, "The affliction was not natural, but the device of an evil spirit. For this cause, H doesn’t require faith of the mute but straight away heals the disease." So he doesn't ask him anything. He doesn't interrogate him. He just heals him. He drives out the demon. This man was destitute. He was a spiritual beggar, he was without hope and without God in the world, completely without resources, so he was a fit vessel for the mercy of God, and he is delivered. A simple command from Christ, and the demon is gone. The formerly silent mouth is now enabled to speak.

Here is where it gets interesting. What did he say? Well, the text doesn't tell us. Did he say "thank you?" Did he praise the Lord? Did he shout, "I can talk again everybody! Look, I can talk!”?  Did he speak? The demon had controlled his tongue and silenced it. The power of the demon over the tongue was broken, but the power of the heart over the tongue is not broken and never will be. For out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. So, if the man had a regenerate heart, he would speak regenerate thoughts. If he did not, he would not. Who knows, but that later that week, he was heard gossiping or slandering or arguing or telling an off-color joke. Or perhaps he was heard speaking words of praise and glory to God. We really have no idea. Oh, I hope he used his speaking ability to speak words of praise to God.  James put it this way, "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by a man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison." That's what James says about the tongue.  I have no idea what this man did. But I do know this, Jesus warned us that how we use this thing, this mouth, will be ample evidence or give ample evidence for our eternal destiny, whether heaven or hell. He put it this way  after his enemies did in Matthew 12 the very thing they're about to do in our text, namely ascribed Jesus' healing powers to the devil, they ascribed His supernatural healing power to the devil.  Jesus said to them this in  Matthew 12: 34-37, "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him. The evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." We have no idea what this man went out and said. But I do know that his speaking record from that point on was kept in heaven, and all Jesus need to do is look at what he said over those years and he'd know whether he was saved or not. How do you use your tongue? You don't have a demon controlling your tongue. You have a heart which controls your tongue. What does your tongue show about your heart? That's a question, isn't it? 

Differing Reactions to Healing

At that point, we have an assessment of Christ. Amazed and open versus angry and opposing.In verses 33-34, “The crowd was amazed and said, 'Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.' But the Pharisees said, 'It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.'"  Christ is on the dock right now worldwide. He is standing there waiting to be assessed, waiting to be judged. It's a very interesting thing, isn't it? Just like Pilate on the judge's seat and Jesus standing before him, we all make an assessment about Christ. Doesn't change who He is, He is God, doesn't change the reality about Him, but we are assessing, we're weighing.  The audience, the people watching Jesus at that moment, weighed who He is. The evidence was the same, but the reaction was very different. On the one hand, some people were amazed and open. They said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." They searched back and thought about Moses and Elijah and Elisha and Daniel, and all of those, and none of them had done this. This is a first. They'd never heard it before, and they're ready to believe in Christ. But there were others that were angry and opposing. Perhaps they were jealous of Jesus. Perhaps they were offended by His independence. Perhaps they were angry at His rebukes, and felt prideful. Perhaps they were guilty by His holy example. But they were set against Him forever.

Everywhere Jesus ministers, we have a division, every time, into believers and unbelievers. Jesus put it this way, "Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on, there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided. Father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”  In John's Gospel, again and again, it says, "But they were divided.”  “But the Jews were divided." Again and again it happens. And so in John Chapter 10:19, at this point, it says ,”The Jews were again divided. Many of them said, 'He is demon-possessed and raving mad.'" They ascribed to Jesus the power of the devil, the very same thing we see in this text. But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a man possessed by a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

There's a division, and there's going to be a division, isn't there, on Judgment Day? There'll be wheat and chaff. There'll be good fish and bad fish. There'll be  division between sheep and goats. Again and again, the images of division come, and the issue is always the same. Just as it was when the bronze serpent was lifted up and all of Israel is divided into two categories, believer and unbeliever, so it will be at the end of the world.

Application

What application can we take from this incredible miracle story? First of all, the astounding power of Jesus Christ. He creates and He heals, He has power. September 11th in our country showed that shock therapy does not jar anyone out of spiritual blindness. It doesn't matter how many of our buildings will be erased by terrorists. Spiritual blindness will never be healed that way. There is only one Savior from that kind of blindness, and it's the same one that saves from physical blindness, Jesus.  When you look at Jesus, what do you see? Do you see an ordinary man? Do you see a myth? Do you see a God among gods? Do you see a great spiritual leader?  2 Corinthians 4:4 says,”The god of this age, [Satan] has blinded the eyes of the world so they cannot see in Christ what He really is.”True conversion occurs, when God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” makes His light shine in your hearts to give you a light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

When you look at Jesus, what do you see? Do you see a Savior? Do you see Him on the cross, dying for you, shedding His blood that you might have eternal life? Do you see that? Do you see Him risen from the dead, showing hands and feet to Doubting Thomas? Do you see that? Or do you see something else? And then secondly, what do you say? Can you speak a word of confession that Jesus is your Savior? Romans Chapter 10 says,  “The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith that we are proclaiming, that if you confess 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 the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with the mouth that you confess and are saved." 

Matthew's goal, in the first seven chapters of the book  is to portray Jesus Christ as the King of the kingdom of heaven. That's why he came and right from the very beginning, he gives us a genealogy, which establishes that Jesus Christ is the Son of David; he is the rightful heir to the throne over Israel. He's the Son of Abraham also, and that means that he is the inheritor of the promise made to Abraham that through him, and through his offspring, all peoples on earth would be blessed, and that blessing is Jesus Christ.  After that genealogy, we saw that Jesus was not only son of man, he had a human heritage— he had a human lineage— but he was also miraculously born of a virgin, of Mary. So his name was given to be Emmanuel, which means "God with us”; he is God incarnate. He's come to Earth for a reason. In the fullness of time, at the right time, he who is very God, a very God begotten, not made, took on a human body and came to earth for a purpose. And what was that purpose? —to save us from our sins.  In Matthew chapter 2 we saw that the Magi longed to come and worship him and Herod longed to seek him, to destroy him and to kill him, because he was the King. In John Chapter 3 we saw John the Baptist proclaiming the way, saying, ”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it's here, it's now, it's coming."

 

A kingdom needs a king, and that King is Jesus Christ.  He submitted to John's baptism;  baptized in order that he might fulfill all righteousness. In Matthew 4 we see the beginnings of his ministry as he also preaches the exact same message that John had, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We see here in Matthew 8, Jesus's miraculous power  noted in Matthew 4.

 

There are two things that set Christ apart in terms of his life, that make him different than any other religious leader that's ever lived, and that is his mighty words and his mighty deeds —the things he said that no one else could have said.  We get a tremendous sampling of that in the Sermon of the Mount: Matthew 5, 6, and 7. We've seen the teachings of Christ, but now we're going to see the mighty deeds of Christ.  We're going to see the actions of Christ, things that only he can do. The supernatural healing ministry of Jesus Christ. We're going to see in Matthew 8 and 9 unfolding  before us, Jesus' kingly power over our physical foes, disease and death. We're going to see Jesus' kingly power over natural foes, namely a storm when he stills the storm. We're going to see Jesus's kingly power over supernatural foes, in that he drives out the demon with the word. And we're going to see Jesus' kingly power over our greatest foe, our sin, when he says to a paralytic simply because he believes, "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven you."

 

Jesus’ Healing Power

 

Our focus today is specifically on his power over disease, over sickness, over death. A number of pastors, including myself,  were invited to come to Washington DC, to meet with other pastors and members of the House of Representatives and some senators who were believers in Christ to pray together. The original date for that was September 11th, the year 2001.  That very morning I came with my luggage all packed up, ready to go, ready to drive right up to DC right by the Pentagon, and when I saw the Pentagon burning, I said, "I think my trip is cancelled today." Especially when the Congress was sequestered for their protection and safety. So the date for that pastoral meeting was rescheduled for October. You probably remember that day — that was the day of the anthrax scare,  and I was in the building at the time. The day that anthrax was found in the ventilation system of the Congressional Building, I was there.  I remember the panic that was coming over the nation over the next week, as we began to think about weapons of mass destruction, biological terror and anthrax and all this kind of thing.  Fear was coming over our nation that there would be an anthrax epidemic all over this country. We know now that nothing happened, but it tapped into that deep-seated fear that we have of disease, isn't it true? 

 

We're afraid of disease, we're afraid of an unseen foe, a virus, cancer, bacteria that can come into our bodies and we are helpless, and there's nothing we can do. Throughout the history of humanity, we have faced this fear. In the 14th century, bubonic plague swept across Europe and killed one out of every three people that lived there. Huge communities wiped out by disease, and there was terror. Recently, there has been concern over AIDS. We're always afraid of a disease for which there is no cure. We were wondering if perhaps AIDS could be transmitted by mosquitoes, like yellow fever and other diseases.  There's a terror and  fear of disease:   ebola in Africa,   E. Coli in certain fast food restaurants which  shut them down. 

 

How about the ones that kill more of us than any of those, heart disease, lung disease, cancer?  We stand and we face these things absolutely helpless, apart from Christ. We are scientific people, aren't we? We think that perhaps if we know more about each and every disease, if we could just do more research that we could abolish all disease and death from the earth, but it cannot be because it says in Revelation 21, "There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, in the new Heaven and the new Earth." And then it says, "For the old order of things has passed away." What does that tell you? That disease and death are part of this order now and will be until the end. And so, we face disease and if it were not for what we're going to read about in our Scripture today namely, Jesus's miraculous power over disease, we would have no hope.  We do not put our trust in the science of pharmaceuticals  but rather in Christ, Christ who alone has power over all things, Christ who is the supernatural healer of all diseases.

 

 As we look at Jesus as portrayed in Matthew's account, he's going to be listing ten miracles over the next few chapters. First, we’ll see  the cleansing of a leper, then Jesus healing a centurion's servant, and then the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. Then, Matthew gives us a kind of a summary statement. I think this is what happens with the miraculous accounts in the New Testament. He did so many miracles, there was so much healing going on that they chose to give in the Bible, just some vignette, some individual stories to give us representation of what he had done after which there are summary statements like John says, "Look, if I wrote down everything that Jesus did and all of the implications and all of the stories, I suppose that even earth itself could not hold the books that would be written."  There were just rivers of miracles flowing through Jesus, unlike ever has been seen before or has been seen since then. 

 

Matthew picks a representative sampling of Jesus's supernatural miraculous healing power. We see him healing a leper, healing a Gentile and healing a woman. And it's interesting, those three would have been seen to be outcast or in a lower level of society.  I think Matthew chooses these three on purpose, to show Jesus's love, his willingness to reach out to every man, every woman, every child, every nation with his supernatural healing power. As we look at the miracles of Jesus we see a recurring theme. And it's not just with the healings but with every miracle that Jesus did. What is that theme? -  Man can't, but Jesus can. You can sum up all the miracles that way. Man can't, but Jesus can. We come face-to-face with our own impotence, our weakness. We cannot defeat sin and death, we cannot defeat disease, but Jesus can do all things.  Therefore, I think these miracles also give us a picture of our spiritual situation. Do they not? You look at a leper who comes to Jesus covered with rags, with filthy rags, and he's covered with the effects of the disease, he looks terrible, he's unacceptable spiritually, he's an outcast. That's a picture of us, isn't it? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the spiritual beggars, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” It's a picture of our spiritual state. More than anything, I think the miracles are given for a purpose, and that is to mark Jesus as God and to mark him as our savior, worthy of our trust. That as we make much of the name of Jesus, people from all over the world will call on that name for salvation and they will be saved. The miracles are given for that very reason, to demonstrate Jesus is God. 

 

But for other lesser reasons as well. One of the reasons is that it was through Christ that God created the human body. He wove us together, he knit us together, it says, in our mother's womb. And we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  You have a nervous system, you have a circulation system, you have a digestion system, and a reproductive system, and muscles, and bones, and all of this is fit together marvelously, isn't it? Who can understand the complexities of the human body?  It was through sin that disease entered, and the body lost its capabilities. We became subject to death really, every day. Our cells do not replicate the way they should, there's mutations and problems within us. We are not strong, and we are not healthy. We are not well the way he created us to be good at the beginning. The healing ministry of Jesus really is a redemption back, a buying back of what God originally intended for us. Now, in the end, it will only come with a resurrection body. What is a resurrection body going to be like? No weariness, no fatigue, no disease, no diminishment of capabilities as time goes on,  what God intended at the start. It was sin and disease that brought these things in. And so we see a picture of a reversing of the curse, but in the end we see also the depiction of God's power, and his grace, and his mercy, and his compassion, to heal us of our real burden which is sin.

 

Healing the Leper

 

Though we are not going to study it now, one of the miracles that Jesus does in Matthew 9, is of  a paralyzed man lying before Jesus. It says, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to that paralyzed man, take heart son, your sins are forgiven." The connection between his healing ministry, and his power to forgive sin should be before us at all times.  Let's look at the details that Matthew gives us. First, we have Jesus healing a leper and he's healed to draw near, by that I mean he's healed to draw near to God. He was a social outcast he was a religious outcast, this man. Jesus is coming down from the mountain, he's given the Sermon on the Mount and the crowds are astonished at his teaching. They're amazed at his authority because he taught them as one who had authority and not as the teachers of the law. As he's coming down from the mountain, a huge throng of people comes to him.  Many times you think, "If I could only have lived back then, I would go back and see Jesus face-to-face, and the two of us would sit down and we'd talk for hours." You wouldn't get near him, you wouldn't be able to get close, because the reputation had spread all over that land, and people were coming, they were bringing sick people everywhere, they were coming, throngs of them. You couldn't get even close to Jesus. It was one man that seemed to be able to get close and he was a leper. Perhaps once people saw who he was, they ran away from him screaming, perhaps pelting the dirt and rocks. The Law of Moses required they call out and say, "Unclean, unclean,” so that no one would catch his contagion, his disease. He had leprosy. 

 

We've come to understand  leprosy a little bit better. When I was in Pakistan actually, visiting a leprosy hospital, I shook their hands, and I was told it was alright.  You look at them and it is really a very, very sad thing.  One of the things they worked on the most in the leprosy hospital is getting shoes fitted just perfectly for them. Modern science has told us that leprosy is really a nerve disease. It attacks the nerves so that you can't feel anymore. We want to be free from pain but pain is a great gift from God, is it not? It tells you to stop doing what you're doing. But you see a leper can't feel that, he'll pick up a splintered hammer, and start to use it and he'll just keep on using it, not realizing that he's gouging himself with... Gouging his hand with splinters. And even when he's done, he doesn't feel the splinters so they get infected. Little by little, he loses the flesh on his hand because of the infections. Or perhaps that little nerve in your eye that tells your eyelid it's time to blink, your eyes are getting dry. Well, that nerve is destroyed by leprosy, and so he doesn't blink and little by little, he goes blind.  If the disease has had time to work on his face, perhaps he bites his lip while eating and his flesh is destroyed by disease. 

 

The leper in Matthew probably looked horrible, a religious outcast, unable to worship, unable to go to the temple. He had to cry out, "Unclean, unclean." People probably made way for this leper as he came near Jesus. Look at the humility as he falls on the ground before him, kneels down and  says, "Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean." You see the humble request that he makes, "Lord, if you are a willing." Listen  to what he said, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." That's tremendous, isn't it? There is no lack of power in Christ to heal. I don't care what disease you may have brought in with you today, or if you have a loved one that has a disease, there is no lack of power in Christ to heal. If he wants to, he can heal everybody. This man comes humbly and says, "If you are willing, you can. You have power to do it, you can make me clean.”  Incredible faith and incredible humility. But Jesus has already shown his willingness, hasn't he? He's been driving out demons, he's been cleansing the lepers, he's been healing. And so, the willingness is already there. That's why he's here, but he assures him and he says so gently, he says, "I am willing, be clean." And just as he speaks, he touches the man, he reaches out and touches him. This was forbidden by the law of Moses, because the moment that Jesus would touch this man, he himself would become ceremonially unclean, except that he's different than anyone that ever lived. If you have a light room filled with bright lights beside a dark room, and a door between them, when the door opens, light floods into that  dark room. So it was when Jesus touched that man. Healing and strength went from Jesus right to the hands of that leper, and he was cured immediately. His nerves were renewed, his flesh regenerated, he was new again, he was clean, completely, immediately.  This is incredible power, just like the night that Jesus was arrested, and Peter chopped off Malchus's ear. Jesus just reached out his hand and touched his ear and gave him a new ear. Only Christ can do that, and so he heals him. 

 

Having healed the leper, Jesus has revealed himself, he's revealed his power, he's revealed his compassion, he's revealed his tenderness, he's revealed his person, he is God. But now he wants to conceal himself. It's very interesting, he says, "See that no one knows about this, don't tell anyone, but instead go show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them."  What's he referring to? In Leviticus, an offering was to be given by somebody cured of leprosy. As soon as they noticed that they were cured, they had to bring an offering to the priest. And so, Jesus said, "Go be a missionary to the priest, and tell them. But don't tell the folks around here." Jesus meticulously obeyed the law of Moses, he said, "Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them, I tell you the truth, until Heaven and Earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is fulfilled."  He meticulously obeyed the law of Moses and said, "Go offer that gift that Moses commanded. But don't tell anyone about this healing." Jesus obeys, but the man does not obey Jesus. We don't see this in Matthew, but Mark tells us what happened. Mark 1:45, it says, "He went out and began to talk freely spreading the news and as a result Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely places and people still came to him from everywhere." Perhaps we get a little bit of an inside there as to what Jesus’ reasons were.  It was hard enough to move around at that point and he didn't need yet another crush of people coming. We don't really know, but we do know that the man refused to obey Jesus.

 

Healing the Gentile Servant

 

In verses 5-13, we see the second specific healing — Jesus healing a Gentile to be invited to the feast. This means  he's healed to be invited to the feast of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to sit at the feast with them. This is a striking thing because Jews and Gentiles during Jesus' time hated each other, especially the Jews hated the Romans because the Romans were dominating them. The Romans were in charge and had used their power to lord it over them. They were taking taxes from them;  they would confiscate farms, whatever they needed. So the Jews hated the Romans. There was, it says in Ephesians 2, a barrier, dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, so much so that a Jew would not enter into the home of a Gentile. It seems that this centurion knew about all of this. The centurion's a very humble man who fears God. He was a Gentile, a Roman. He came to Palestine and at some point he came to understand the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He came to believe in him and trust in him. We get from Luke's gospel that he loved the Jewish nation so much that he built a synagogue for them, but he would not have been permitted to go in the building. 

 

What do you think all of his Roman soldiers, other centurions and his commanding officers would have thought if he had gone on behalf of a servant no less, not even for himself, but on behalf of a servant, to a Jewish carpenter and asked for healing. But that's exactly what he did. And he goes with incredible humility, saying, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you under my roof.” He comes humbly, he calls him Lord. There's a humility here, just as there was with the Leper.  We also see the humility of Jesus.  In verse six, it says, "Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." And Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him." One of the most challenging aspects of Jesus to me as a minister of the Gospel is that he is constantly interruptible. No matter what you need, you come to Jesus and he goes with you to meet that need.  He does it with Jairus when Jairus comes to ask for healing for his daughter. He does it again and again. He gets up and goes completely interruptible. He didn't have an agenda for himself that day, only to serve God, only to love his fellow neighbor. There's a humility in Jesus as well.

 

The centurion says, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. For, I, myself, am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell this one, go, and he goes, I tell that one, come, and he comes. I say to my servant, do this, and he does it." Now, what is going on here? The centurion is taking what he knows about the world from his Roman army perspective and applying it to the invisible spiritual realm. That is faith. He says,  “I’m in the Roman army. The Roman army has conquered the world, not because their swords are stronger than anybody else's, not because they had secret weapons that no one else had, but because of their discipline and structure. So much so that the Emperor could give the word, the tribunes would hear the word and give it to their regional commanders, regional commanders right on down the chain of command to a centurion who is in charge of 100 men." The centurion would get the word and turn right around and pass it on to the hundred men and they would do it and he knew that they would do it, he didn't have to go and see. Because the discipline of the Roman army was such that if you did not obey a command, you would be executed. So with absolute certainty that word that came from emperor right on down the hierarchies to the lowly foot soldier  would be obeyed. And he said, "You know something? That's what's going on in the physical realm. Jesus, you are the emperor. You are the king. You give the word. Just speak it and it will be done." Isn't that incredible? "Just say the word." Now, perhaps he didn't understand the theological significance of all of it, that it was Christ, it was God through Christ that spoke, "Let there be light" and there was light, let there be an Earth and there is Earth, let there be mountains and rivers and there are. He just speaks and it is. I don't know if he understood all that, but he understood enough.

 

You don't need to come to my house, just speak and it is done. Now, ordinarily, Jesus loved to go and do the healing in person. Why? So that the people would understand the connection between Jesus and the healing. It wasn't necessary this time. A man already knows, if I just speak, it's me that heals. And so it is. At this point Jesus just rejoices. Look at verse 10 through 12, "When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the Kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." It's an incredible statement that Jesus makes here.

 

In his humanity, Jesus hears this word from the Gentile centurion, and he is astonished. He's amazed at this man's faith.  Then he makes a pronouncement: "I haven't found anyone in Israel with faith like this." There's no one among the subjects of the Kingdom that he's going to mention that has a faith like this. Jesus understands better than anyone else what's going on in the invisible realm. He makes a prophecy.  He's saying there are going to be Gentiles in heaven. There's going to be many Gentiles in heaven. There's going to be people from as far as the east and the west, and they will come and sit at the same feast; there's only one God, there's only one feasting table, and there's only one Savior, Jesus Christ. He says, "You know, I tell you the truth, there's going to be people from every tribe and language and people and nation."  Jesus made a pronouncement that there would be people believing in Christ, from the ends of the earth. The very thing that God had already said through Abraham. He said, "Through your seed, through your offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed." There's going to be a feast. Do you have your place reserved? Are you sure there's a name tag  and a seat for you? Do you have a place at the banqueting table through faith in Christ? Because if you don't, there's only one other alternative, it's either feast or it's hell.

 

Look at the next verse when Jesus said, "The subjects of the Kingdom who do not believe in me, who do not accept my authority, who do not understand who I am, will be thrown outside into the darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." This is nothing other than the doctrine of hell,  and it's coming right from the loving lips of our gentle Saviour, Jesus Christ. He did not shy away from warning us about hell. We must understand the suffering and torment of those who reject the gospel message. We must fear it, we must shun it, we must witness, including these words as Jesus did. There is an outer darkness and there will be some in it, those who reject. Then he releases the healing word. Look at Verse 13, "And then Jesus said to the centurion, go. It will be done just as you believed it would. And his servant was healed at that very hour." Isn't that incredible? I wonder what it would be like to be the paralyzed servant. You're laying there and you're in great suffering and all of a sudden something happens and you're moving. Your legs are moving, your arms are moving, you can walk again, you can sit up, you're totally healed, you feel better than you felt in years. He is healed to serve; we're healed to serve anyway, aren't we? 

 

Healing a Woman

 

Next we get Jesus healing a woman. In verses 14 and 15, it says, "When Jesus came into Peter's house he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever, he touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on him." The first thing I get out of this is simply this, Peter had a mother-in-law. He must have had a wife.  I'm a former Roman Catholic and they say that Peter was the first Pope,  and they also say that clergy cannot be married. Well, here's Peter with a mother-in-law and a wife. Apparently she was hospitable. She had the gift of hospitality and opened up her home to Jesus. We're going to learn later in Matthew 8 that Jesus has no place to lay his head. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but  the Son of man has no place to lay his head.” This woman invites Jesus in, "Stay with us."

 

However, the mother-in-law has a fever. Now what is a fever?   A disease has come and  the body's immune system responds by elevating the temperature. The idea is the body can handle it and the disease can't. Back in those days when there was not medication or advanced medical techniques, when there were no hospitals, a fever frequently meant death. Jesus comes in and just simply touches her. He speaks to her and rebukes the fever, "Get out of here, fever." The fever's rebuked and instantly her body temperature returns to normal. Whatever bug or virus, whatever was in her, is gone, defeated. Not by her immune system, but by the powerful word of Jesus.  He speaks the word and she's healed. She's strengthened now and what does she do? She gets up and begins to serve him. I  want to focus on that. There is healing available today for you through the same power of Christ, but it's temporary. If Jesus restores your health to you, it's just because he wants you to serve him more in this world.  I think we forget that. There are faith healing ministries who take this statement in Matthew 8:17, "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases and by his wounds were healed,”   and they say “You're healed from every disease and sickness." There are faith healing ministries like that and they say that if you're not healed it's because you lack faith.   If Jesus heals you, it's because he wants you to serve him longer on this Earth. The mother-in-law is healed, she's strengthened, she gets up and begins to serve.  If Jesus heals you, it's so that you can serve him longer on this Earth,  and also to show his compassion, his love,his mercy and his kindness.  

 

Then we get this beautiful summary statement, verse 16, "When evening came many who were demon possessed were brought to him."  " And he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick." It's a summary statement; a river of miraculous power flowing through Jesus. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, Isaiah. “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”  The ultimate fulfillment here is spiritual because if you go to Isaiah 53 where he's quoting, it says, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity, the sin of us all."  The real healing is spiritual. The real healing is turning to Christ for Salvation. 

 

Application

 

As we look at this passage, what application can we get from this?  First, please stand in awe of the person of Christ. There is no disease that he faces that he could not heal with a word. Do you understand that? It doesn't matter if you've been amputated? He could recreate your hand just as he did with the ear that day. It doesn't matter if you have AIDS, he can heal. It doesn't matter if you have anthrax, it doesn't matter what disease. There is no disease that has come to man that he cannot heal. He has all power in heaven and on earth. Stand in awe of him, he is God, he's in the flesh; stand in awe of the person of Christ and understand his power. It is not always his will to heal. Sometimes it is, but his power is under his sovereign control. Christ is ruler of all. Secondly,  trust him to heal. . You may have a disease, you may have walked in here today with cancer. Do you realize that your ultimate trust should not be in chemotherapy, your ultimate trust should not be in radiation treatments, it should not be in the skill of your surgeon or in a pharmaceutical technique. It is Jesus ultimately who heals, for he is the great physician.

 

I commend to you, therefore, his compassion and gentleness and his supernatural power as God and his perfect wisdom to know what to do. There’s only one way to get a resurrection body and that's to exchange the one you have. How much we focus on this world We're here for a short time. If, miraculously by faith, he heals you, he wants you to serve him more. That's all, you've got more time on Earth to serve Christ. Trust him to heal you physically or to heal a loved one, come humbly to him. It says in James 5, "The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well, the Lord will raise him up." God can heal today as he healed back then. But finally allow Christ to take up your true burden.

 

He took up our infirmities, he carried our diseases, we, all, like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus suffered on the cross to bear your burden, to take your sins away. Trust him for that, trust him for salvation. Jesus said, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest, take My yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Come to Christ for healing from sin.

Endurance and Assurance for a Dangerous Journey

Take your Bibles, if you would, and look in them with me at Romans Chapter 8. This is going to be our last sermon in Romans for a while, and that's kind of exciting when you stop and think about it. I won't tell you how many messages we've had in Romans, but it's a lot. It's about a third of the preaching I've done since I've been here. So, it's really a remarkable journey. And we've seen very clearly, I think, as we've moved through Romans, how the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

For in these 8 chapters of Romans, we've been taken from being dead in our transgressions and sins right into the very presence of God in heaven. And so we who deserve nothing but wrath have been assured of salvation in Romans 8, in the most lavish way. And therefore, I think it's remarkable this Christian faith of ours. I think it's an incredible thing, because God promises absolutely everything to us through Christ, doesn't he? And then he demands everything from us in Christ as well. And we're going to see that in the verses that we're looking at today. Recently, I've had the privilege of reading one of the most exciting adventure stories I've ever read in my life, and I'm continuing to read it.

I've read the children's version. Now, I'm going to read the adult's version, and it's about an expedition begun by Sir Ernest Shackleton, in August 8th, 1914, an expedition across the Antarctic. He was going to be, or attempting to be, the first man with his group to set out and to travel across the Antarctic. As he sailed from London on August 8th, 1914, what followed was the most extraordinary adventure, perhaps in history. The ship was trapped and then eventually, crushed by ice. The expedition was marooned first on the constantly shifting Antarctic ice pack, and then on a remote and uninhabited island. It took a daring open boat journey, a 22 footer with three sails, across 1000 miles of the most turbulent, dangerous, and frigid waters to rescue his group. Shackleton went out, a small expedition from the larger to bring back help. And the astounding thing about this incredible journey, this adventure, is that Shackleton lost not one single man committed to his care, but brought them all back safely.

Now, I found out recently that this story is going to be depicted at an IMAX, in Raleigh, very soon. And so, all of you are going to want to go buy tickets. I know I want to go see it, but this is an incredible story. The thing that's amazing to me is that the name of the ship was The Endurance, and I believe that Romans Chapter 8 is given to us, because we are in the midst of an incredible journey, a dangerous journey even more dangerous spiritually, I think, than the physical dangers that faced Shackleton and his group. And what does this journey call for but endurance, perseverance through faith in Christ.

What's also interesting to me is that August 1914 was the very month that armies began to march and World War I began. And so really, if you combine those two things, the moment you become a Christian, you are set to travel a perilous journey through a war-torn zone to accomplish a mission for God. And what does it take, but the kind of assurance that we are given in these final verses of Romans 8 that enable us with courage to set out on that journey. We are not going to be wafting up to heaven on flowery beds of ease, not at all. But rather, in the Book of Acts, Paul says it is through many hardships that we enter the kingdom of heaven. Americans almost need to be jarred awake to realize that. We are called to make a dangerous journey.

And I've come to realize also that every single blessing in the Christian life is given to us because of God's love for us, that we may be blessed thereby, but also that we may turn around and be a blessing to others. And so, it is also true, in the matter of assurance of salvation. The very thing that God's been laboring to do in us, in Romans 8, he works in us an assurance of salvation, but always for a purpose. And I believe that purpose is that we may accomplish the advance of the kingdom of God, in this world, no longer worried about our own future, no longer worried about our own salvation, no longer worried about anything whatsoever. We are now fit to be vessels for God, poured out for his glory until he takes us home. And so, I think, behind the assurance given in Romans Chapter 8, is a mighty and incredible mission laid before the church, the mission of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Romans 10:14-15 says, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news!'" You all are the ones with the beautiful feet. You are the ones who are called to take the Gospel across mountains and rivers and oceans, even the Arctic Ocean if need be, to people who've never heard. The blessings that God has lavished on you, that he is lavishing on you, are not meant to accumulate in some kind of a backwater, but rather are meant to motivate you to turn around and be a blessing to the nations, and that's the very thing that God intends to do by giving you assurance of salvation.

II. The Ultimate Question Posed

Christianity truly is an astounding religion. It asks ultimate things of us. It promises ultimate things to us, and it answers the ultimate questions of life. What kind of questions do I mean? Well, for example, what will happen to me when I die? Or what does the future hold? What does the future hold? What is going to happen to me in my future life? These are the kind of questions that Paul is dealing with here at the end of Romans Chapter 8. The Christian version of it is, can anything separate me from the love of God in Christ? Look at that in Verse 35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" We have therefore set before us the eternal, the sweet love of God in Jesus Christ, the sweetest gift that we've ever received. We are loved totally. We are loved unconditionally. Contrary to what we deserve are we loved and we have been loved before the foundation of the world.

In Jeremiah 31, "I have loved you with an everlasting love and therefore in love and kindness, I have drawn you." Isn't that marvelous? What a lavish thing is the love of God in Christ, and yet it's also complicated as well, isn't it? It's a little bit difficult to understand, because the very ones that God loves mainly us, he also is willing to say, you're like sheep for the slaughter. We're going to talk more about that in a minute, he's willing to pour us out like a drink offering, and how can that be? We don't understand his love. Our love is based on constantly shifting emotions and value judgments and assessments. So our love is not a secure thing, but Christ's love is very different. It asks incredible things of us and gives incredible things to us contrary to what we deserve, and it's a difficult doctrine.

Difficult Doctrine of God’s Love

Recently, there was a book written by DA Carson entitled "The Difficult Doctrine of God's Love," and in it he goes through five different types of God's love. And I think if we don't understand that properly, you will get no assurance of salvation from Romans Chapter 8. You have to understand, God loves people in different ways. This morning, we received an example of God's love given indiscriminately to all people, righteous and unrighteous alike, namely the pouring rain. And we need the rain to live, without the water we cannot survive. And so, God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, indiscriminately loving all in that way. But the kind of love discussed here in Romans Chapter 8 is of a different kind. It's the love of God in Christ Jesus, for us, the very thing that we have talked about.

Now, this is so important. Why do I say that? Because if we believe that God in the kind of a weak general way, loves everybody, but yet you might still end up in hell, what kind of assurance is that? God's loving me, but I might go to hell? That's a terrifying thing. I want to know what's going to happen to me when I die, I want to know. And that's why we need to understand Paul's question Paul's way. Who shall separate us from the kind of love I've been talking about here? The kind of love that transforms you, the kind of love that saves you, the kind of love that brings you to heaven. Can anything separate me from that love? And the answer is no, and therefore we have a full-blooded assurance of salvation. We must understand love that way.

III. The Ultimate Question Weighed

And so, Paul weighs the ultimate question, what does the future hold? Can I be separated? Can I be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Now, this word separated comes up in many different contexts in the Bible. For example, in Matthew 19:6, talking about marriage, he says, "What God has joined together, let man not [what?] separate." So there's that idea there of a divorce. And the question we'd ask spiritually is, "Am I going to be together with Christ forever? Is there a possible separation between me and the one who love my soul? Is there a divorce in our future?" Or there's another kind of separation, separation that comes through departing, through leaving.

We feel this, we're a very fluid society. We're together for a while and then people leave and we move on, there's a tearing and a ripping from that separation, when we're called to leave a place. In Acts 1:4, on one occasion, Jesus was eating with them and he gave them this command, "Do not depart from Jerusalem, don't separate yourselves from the city because a gift is coming to you from on high." Or even more poignantly speaking of the Holy Spirit, in 1st Samuel 16:14, "Now, the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul and an evil spirit tormented him." So there was a sense in which the Spirit had been taken from Saul, you know what I'm talking about? And so David cries out after his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51, he says, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me." He's yearning, he's concerned over this matter.

And so we can ask the ultimate question, will I be asked to depart from my share in the heavenly Jerusalem? Or will the Spirit depart from me so that I'm separated from the Holy Spirit? Separation, can anything separate me? Or there's another kind of separation, separation that comes through holiness, holiness itself, there's a picture of separation. Separate unto the Lord, this kind of thing, like the holy vessels that are used in the temple, they're separate unto the Lord, they're holy to the Lord. So therefore, in the final analysis, there's going to be a separation of wicked from righteous.

And my question is, will the holiness of God move him to separate himself from me? Talk about King Uzziah, 2 Chronicles 26:21. It said he had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house, leprous, and excluded from the temple of the Lord. You see that.

And so, we want to ask, is the holiness of God finally in the end going to catch up with me, and I'm going to have to be separated from him forever? And so finally, there's a separation that comes on judgment day. He speaks of a separation of the wheat from the tares. He speaks of a separation of the good fish from the bad. Good fish are collected in baskets, the bad are thrown away. He speaks of the separation of the sheep from the goats. The sheep are on his right and the goats are on his left. And those on his left, he says to them, "depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

There's a separation. I want to know, am I going to be wheat separated and brought into his barn or am I going to be chaff burned with eternal unquenchable fire? I want to know this. Can anything separate me from Christ? That's the question that Paul's seeking to answer here. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now, here, we face the issue of what I call ostrich assurance, I've referred to this before. What I mean by that is, well, the ostrich is an amazing thing, isn't it? What does it do when danger comes? What does it do when trouble and hardship and persecute... What happens? What does the ostrich do? It sticks its head in the ground and hope it's going to go away.

Does ostrich assurance bring any kind of assurance at all? The assurance of faith is to get your head out of the ground and look full on at what is coming at you and say, God is bigger than that. God is more powerful than that, and nothing can separate me from the love of God. And so, we have here, I think a red blooded assurance, something that's facing everything that could possibly happen to you and some of them will. That's the whole challenging thing. If you have an ostrich assurance, you're not going to be able to face, it won't measure into your theology, you won't be able to understand why is God doing this to me if you don't understand what's going on in these final verses in Romans Chapter 8.

Possible Separators Named and Weighed

And so, he goes through the various kinds of separators, the things that could come to separate you from Christ. And he weighs each one of them, he looks at them separately, and he looks at them and he weighs them and he sees, can this or that or the other separate us from God? And that's what he's doing here at the end in Romans Chapter 8.

Tribulation

The first thing he looks at is the issue of tribulation. In Verse 35 he says, shall trouble or a better translation is tribulation, it's a very common word, tribulation or troubled distress something difficult, and Jesus deals with this in John 16:33. He says that in this world, you will have trouble. It's the same Greek word. You're going to have it. Have you ever seen those little pocket books of promises from God?

This is the promise, John 16:33, "In this world, you will have trouble." I didn't find it, I was flipping through, I didn't see it in there. I thought, "wow, it's not in there." I didn't own the book so I couldn't write it in there. John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble." Or everyone who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. These are promises from God. But Paul is not giving us an ostrich assurance here, he wants us to face it. You're going to have trouble, but shall those troubles separate us from Christ? That's the question he's dealing with here. There's going to be tribulation. Actually no, they don't. If anything they make you stronger, they make you more powerful if you're truly a Christian.

Now that's a big if, isn't it? That's been the issue all along in Romans Chapter 8. Assurance is given to true Christians. Those who have no assurance, those who are not true Christians should have no assurance, you should repent and trust Christ. You should not be comfortable and safe and easy in a position which you're not a Christian yet. Assurance isn't for you if you're not a Christian, it's for the Christian. There is therefore now no condemnation for who? For those that are in Christ Jesus. Those that are Christians. And so, he wants to give you assurance and if you are genuinely a Christian, tribulation or trials actually help you in your Christian life. We already covered that in Romans 5:3-4. Not only so, but we rejoice in our tribulations, our trials, we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.

What's another word for perseverance? Shackleton will tell you, it's endurance. It produces endurance in you, the ability to stand fast. Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces proven character, and proven character results in hope, and hope does not disappoint, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So those trials actually make you stronger, they give you a full-blooded hope, you go through these hard things, you say, I made it through, I'm still a Christian, I still love Jesus. I've survived.

Now flipside, the trials, the tribulations also sift out the true from the false, don't they? When a time of persecution comes in the church, there's a sifting there, isn't there? And Jesus talked about that in Matthew 13:21. He talks about the seed that falls in various kinds of soils, the seed that falls on the rocky soil it says the one that received the seed that fell on the rocky places, is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, he might even walk the aisle during that joy. No joke, it might be a time of excitement for him, and then immediate receiving of joy, but when trouble or tribulation or hardship comes because of the word what happens to him? He quickly falls away. And so, there is a sifting out, but tribulation or trial will not separate a true Christian from Jesus Christ.

Distress

Neither will distress, you look at the second word he says distress, the idea here is a very strong Greek word, the concept of being crushed on every side. Can you imagine like the walls coming in from both sides, just like this, and there's a sense of increasing pressure. Do you ever dive down into a pool or into the ocean and just keep diving deeper and deeper, and you feel that increasing pressure starting pushing on you. And that's what can happen when you're living a life of faithfulness and obedience to Christ, there can be times when there's just a pressure from every side pressing in on you. Apostle Paul knew about this in 2nd Corinthians 1:8, he says, "We were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired even of life." There's a crushing that goes on, and he says this happened "so that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead." The pressure comes but it didn't separate Paul from Christ.

Persecution

Well, what about persecution? That's when you get a human being who uses all of their intellect and their abilities and their creativity and their power to make your life miserable. It's called persecution, and it happens at lots of different levels. People insult you, falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me, Jesus talked about that. That's persecution. People just saying things, people insulting you all the way up to people wanting to kill you. All of that's just the range of persecution and Jesus said "rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

So he goes through these things, and then he lists those things. Those first three things, I think are unique to Christians, it's the stuff that happens when you step out boldly to be a Christian. These other things can happen to anyone, but they're especially true of those that are boldly ministering for Christ. Famine, nakedness, danger, sword. Famine means you're stripped of food, nakedness means you're stripped of clothing, danger means you're stripped of your peace of mind, and sword ultimately you're stripped of life itself. But the amazing thing is none of those things can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate you. Thank you. Amen.

Famine

Shall famine separate us from the love of God? No, you may run out of earthly food, but you will never run out of the bread of heaven, the bread of life.

Nakedness

What about nakedness? They may strip you of clothing, Paul lists that as something that happened to him in 2nd Corinthians 11. Without clothes. And so little moments in church history when ask about, but don't delve too deeply, but it happened. He was without clothes, he was stripped of clothes. But you're never going to be stripped of the righteousness, the cloak of righteousness that you will stand in on Judgment Day. That's the basis of your standing with God. Nothing can take that away from you.

Danger

What about danger? What is danger but potential evil that might happen in the future. It causes anxiety and fear. That way you don't move out. You're not witnessing to your neighbors, you're not witnessing to your boss. You're not witnessing to your family members. They might not like you. They might hurt you. They might oppose you. That is true. They might. Probably, they will actually. But danger, is danger going to separate us from the love of God in Christ? No. 2nd Corinthians 11:26, Paul says, "I've been in danger from rivers, I've been in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers." Most dangerous kind. And in all that danger, I was never separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Sword

And what about the sword? Does the sword ever get unsheathed against a Christian? Ask James. In Acts, Chapter 12, his head was cut off by Herod, by the sword. Tradition has it the same thing happened to Paul. It was the sword that was waiting for Paul in the future. He wouldn't be crucified, he was a Roman citizen, so he was executed by the sword most likely. The sword was in Paul's future and he said, "It's not going to separate me. It might separate my head from my body, but it will not separate me from Jesus Christ.

III. The Ultimate Question “Considered”

Now he has weighed all of these different kinds of things, now he goes a little deeper. He considers why do these things come to us at all? I thought we were children of God? Is God not powerful enough to protect us? Why are these things coming to us? Why do we even have to discuss them?

God Considers Us as Sheep to be Slaughtered

Well, he discusses that in Verse 36. Look at it. "As it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

That's another one of those skipped verses. You can't skip this verse. If you skip it, you don't understand the assurance of Paul's talking about. It's a powerful verse. And this, I think, is the key to understanding all the assurance he wants to give you. You're going to need this kind of assurance. You're going to need to be fully equipped with assurance if you understand this verse and move out accordingly. You're going to need this kind of assurance if you move out accordingly based on Verse 36. What does it mean? Well, we're considered, it says sheep for the slaughter. The word is reckoned. There's a reckoning. God has basically put you down in his accounting book as a sheep to be slaughtered. That's the way he thinks about your earthly life here on earth. The time you're left here on earth.

In heaven, you are a child of God, nothing can touch that, but on earth you are considered, you are reckoned as a sheep for the slaughter. That's what I think it says. Now this word reckon has been very important in Romans, hasn't it? Romans 4:3, it says, "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." God put Abraham's faith down in his book as righteousness. Good for judgment day. And that's the way we get saved. We're reckoned righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. We're counted righteous that way. Furthermore in Romans Chapter 6, we are called to reckon or consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. It's the same word.

And now here we are told that someone, somewhere, we are not told who, but we know, has reckoned us or considered us sheep for the slaughter. Well, who did that reckoning? It's got to be God. God considered it that way. He counts us as sheep for the slaughter. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a martyr for Christ, the end of World War II, said this, "When Christ bids us follow, he bids us, come and die." And he did. He said take up your what? Your cross. Let's say you lived in Palestine in the first century and you saw a man walking down the road surrounded by Roman soldiers and carrying a cross. What would you think about him? Well, in the modern language, you'd say, "Dead man walking." "He's a dead man." Hadn't happened yet but that's where he's going, he's going to die. No question about it. Any hope for escape? Any hope for parole? Any phone call coming from the governor? No, no, and no. He's going to die.

And so what do you think Jesus meant when he said, "Take up your cross daily and follow me." So he's calling for your sake. And this is the key, at the beginning of the verse, he gives us the key, for your sake, we face death all day long. What does that mean? For you, literally because of you, because of your name for your name's sake, he leads us in passive righteousness for his name's sake, for the advance of his kingdom. For his glory, because of him, we face death all day long. Because of him and for his glory, we're considered sheep to be slaughtered. Now Jesus, did he live out this principle? Yes, he did. He did. In Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the" what? "to the slaughter. And as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."

Who led him? Who gave him over to death? Who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. Who was it that did that? It was God the Father. Now let me ask you a question? He didn't spare his own son that... Do you think he's going to spare you? If the head of the house has been treated like that, how about the servants in the household? That's hard to hear, isn't it? But it's true. We're considered sheep to be... Considered his own son sheep for the slaughter, how much more we who are his servants?

Has this principle been lived out by Christ's sheep? Yes, it has gloriously. For 2000 years, Christians have taken up their cross and have been willing to die for their savior. Why? So that the kingdom of God might advance. Brothers and sisters, we have a glorious heritage. We don't know the 10th of it. I can't wait to get to heaven and talk to the martyrs. I want to find out what motivated them. I want to know them even more. I want to know the Christ whose spirit imbued them and empowered them. Don't you want to know them? Don't you want to be like them? Why lead a small life? We're called to be more than conquerors? We're called the rise to conquer.

Yes, this principle's been lived out by Christ's sheep. He taught it to his disciples. "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it does what, produces many seeds." Think about that. What's that seed supposed to do? Fall into the ground and die, whereupon it produces what? Many seeds, which then are supposed to go fall into the ground and die. This is the way the kingdom advances. It's always been this way. Paul put it this way about himself in Acts 20, "And now compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city, the Holy Spirit warns me, that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish my race and complete the task the Lord Jesus gave to me, the task of testifying to the Gospel of his grace."

I consider my life worth nothing to me. I reckon, I account my life nothing to me. Paul's following his own savior and the way he thinks about his life. And then it says in Revelation 12:11 of the holy martyrs, "They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." Has the church lived this out? Yes, it has. How do you think in a mere 200 years or so, the gospel of Jesus Christ conquered the Roman Empire. How did that happen? How did it happen? How did it happen that an empire which had Nero and Marcus Aurelius and all these terrible persecutors, one after the other, Caligula and all these other, how did it happen that eventually Constantine declared himself to be a Christian?

Well, Tertullian said, "The blood of martyrs is seed for the church. The blood of martyrs is seed for the church." But what happened is centurions would take simple everyday common place people out and kill them, and the centurions would watch how they would die, and then they would get converted. There are many accounts of centurions who later, who had earlier executed Christians were later executed for their faith. And how did that happen? Because these folks didn't consider their lives worth anything to them. They're willing to die for Christ. It's a great story about Felicitas, a widow, a mother of seven sons, pagan priest denounced her. The authority’s brought her in to threaten her with death if she didn't renounce Christ and her courageous answer, I love it, rings through all of time. This man is standing threatening her with death, and this is what she says to him, "While I live, I shall defeat you. And if you kill me, I shall defeat you even more."

Isn't that incredible? And then they brought in her seven sons, one after the other, and thought that they could get at her through them, no dice. Every one of them was ready to die for Jesus Christ. And they did die in different parts of the city. The emperor said they have to die in different parts of the city. And so there are testimony spread all over the city, and everybody got to see how they died. And God welcomed them into heaven.

Why are we considered sheep for the slaughter? Well, first of all, we need to die. Don't we? We need it. Are we done being saved? Is your salvation complete? Are you perfect? Are you like Jesus? Then you need to die day after day, after day. You have to die to yourself, you have to die to your own desires. You have to die to what you want. You have to die to your own reputation, your own plans. You have to die, be willing to die, and we need that. But you know something? More than that, others need us to die. Don't they? Other people who haven't heard of Christ yet.

The Example of John Frederickson

So many examples of this. In 1900, John Fredrickson, was a missionary in India. He purposely went to a famine stricken region of India and rescued hundreds of starving children, transferring them to the care of other missionaries. Then he went back into the region and worked so hard day and night that he came down with dysentery. He died on September 5th, 1900, when one of the children that Fredrickson, whom they called Sahib, had saved, heard about his death. He exclaimed, "Two have died for us, Jesus and Sahib." And out of his life, and his death came countless Christians, Indian Christians, who live for Jesus Christ. 1900.

The Example of Jesse and Evelyn Brand

How about this one 1907, Jesse Brand went as a young missionary to serve in disease ridden Chat in India called the Mountain of Death. They could see fleas jumping from dead rats to live ones or even to other living things, even babies. It was a terribly disease ridden, infested area. And this man went just to bring the gospel and one year of medical training. That's all he had to offer. And he went in there and he served, and God preserved him for a while, went back to England and on furlough was talking about the needs, and a young woman listened to him speaking, Evelyn Harris, she was a wealthy London socialite. She committed herself to go to India as a missionary. Eventually, the two of them got hooked up and they got married. You know where they spent their honeymoon? Ministering in Shat to the people that they were called to minister to.

Over the number of years that they ministered, 25,000 people were cared for in one year. Jesse preached over 4000 times in 90 villages, churches had sprung up in these villages. Tons of people led to Christ. And then Jesse, finally, 1928 came down with malaria and died. Just poured himself out for Christ. The Indian Christians buried him with the epitaph. He delivered up his life to the Lord in behalf of the people. Evelyn Brand continued to minister. She raised their son Paul. Paul Brand wrote a book with Phillip Yancy called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. He became a missionary doctor ministering to lepers. Perhaps you've read the book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, and also In His image. That was his parents. Amazing.

The Example of Jim and Elizabeth Elliot and Tona

And we, two years ago, had Elizabeth Elliott here. Probably the most famous martyr story of the 20th century. What people don't know is that one of the six Auca Indians that killed her husband and the others came to faith in Christ and said, "We need to go up river to the warring Aucas." It's another faction of the Aucas that they've been warring with for years. "We need to go up river and witness to them. They went up river." This man, his name was Tona, went up river and he volunteered to go to share the gospel, and as he was sharing the gospel they attacked him with an axe and killed him. And as he was dying, he cried out, "I am not afraid, I will die and go to heaven." His attackers cried out, "We'll help you go." And they killed him and with his dying breath, Tona whispered, "I forgive you. I'm dying for your benefit." And many of those down river Auca Indians also came to faith in Christ. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it bears many seeds.

We're in verse 36, "As it is written, 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'" The fact of the matter is, our God is not our... He doesn't think about things the way we do. He's not trying to protect you in this world. He's actually trying to pour you out in this world, and he does it by giving you assurance. He's calling on you to be willing to be slaughtered. Your reputation in the world slaughtered. Your earthly comfort and ease slaughtered. Your superficial friendships with non-Christians slaughtered. That's the hardest of all, isn't it? I worked in a workplace and you have these superficial, easy kind of comfortable relationships with non-Christians, and you never share the Gospel. You never challenge yourself. You're never willing to go out on a limb, and then you leave that company. Those people never came to Christ. Never heard a word from you. And on it goes. Are you willing to die to that easy, comfortable relationship?

Because if they don't come to Christ, it gets really weird, doesn't it? It gets awkward and difficult, and you have to be willing to pay that price. Superficial friendships with non-Christians slaughtered. Perhaps even your professional career slaughtered. And how long all day long we're considered that way, sheep for the slaughter. And why? For his name's sake.

IV. The Ultimate Question Answered (verses 37-39)

In the end, Paul answers the question, "Can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?" No. Look at Verse 37, "No. In all these things, we are super conquerors." Isn't that marvelous? "More than conquers through him who loved us. For I'm 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."

Is that not the answer to the ultimate question? No, nothing can. So why are you afraid? Why hold back? Why die with any resource not having been spent? Can death separate you from Christ? No. I am the resurrection, the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. What about life? Sometimes it's easier to die, isn't it? What about another 40 years of life in this place? Can that separate you from Christ? No. He will sustain you through all the twists and turns, persecutions, temptations. He'll get you there. Can an angel separate you from Christ? No. They're ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. What about a demon? Let's includes Satan in that. Can he separate you from the love of God in Christ? Absolutely not. Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

What about the present? Can anything going on right here and right now separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Answer, no. What about the great unknown? The Future? Oh, that's the one. I worry about that. What am I going to be in 20 Years? Don't underestimate the grace of God. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. So nothing in the future is going to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. In short, nothing in all creation shall be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

V. Application: Rise to Conquer!

What is the application? Die for Christ. Take up your cross today. Be willing to say no to yourself. Be willing to walk as Jesus walked. Be willing to pour out your life. I want to close with this.

The apostle Paul, the end of his life. He was in prison and he said, "I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure." What do you think Paul meant by departure? Death by execution. He was convinced he was going to die. It was over. But it's interesting what he said first, I am already being what? Poured out like a drink offering. Had not God been pouring Paul out for years? Pouring him out, pouring him out, pouring him out, day after day, pouring him out, and this is my picture of God at the end of Paul's life. He looks in the cup. Oh, there's a little more, a little more of Paul. Pours him out some more, until it's gone.

That's the God we serve. And then what happened to Paul? For me to live as Christ and to die is gain. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. And so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. What are we afraid of? Let's rise to conquer as a people of God. Let's be super conquerors for Jesus. Let's leave nothing, no stone unturned, no resource that we have available to us unspent for Jesus Christ.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Romans 8:26-27. The main subject of the sermon is that the Holy Spirit assists us in lifting up our prayers to God.

             

I. The Extraordinary Prayer Life of John Hyde

Please take your Bibles and open to Romans 8:26-27. We heard those two powerful verses read for us earlier. Today we are going to talk about the mystery of prayer, and specifically how the Holy Spirit helps us in prayer. When I was in seminary I learned about a man named John Hyde, a missionary to India and one of the greatest men of faith and prayer that this world has ever seen. And when he went as a missionary to India, he was soon, as you can well imagine in that populous nation, overwhelmed by the needs that he saw. Being a man of God and being a missionary and a preacher of the Word, he understood that the most significant needs of the people were spiritual. They did not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. And he began to be burdened. And he was not satisfied with the progress that they were making. He was not satisfied with the Word going out and not coming back with conversions. He wanted to see people saved. And so he began to pray. And God led him in a significant way to begin to trust Him for one soul a day. That he would have the privilege of leading one person to Christ every day. And God answered that prayer.

And it wasn't long before he added another and started praying for two a day, that he might have the privilege of leading two people to Christ every day. By the time he was finished with his missionary work he was up to four people a day. Trusting God for their salvation, and seeing repeated answers to prayer. So that's what he prayed for, but it doesn't touch how he prayed. And I have an account here of a way that this man prayed related by Dr. Wilber Chapman who wrote about it to a friend. Now Dr. Chapman was an English preacher, and they were having a revival service. And this is what he wrote.

"I have learned some great lessons concerning prayer. At one of our missions in England the audience was exceedingly small, but I received a note saying that an American missionary was going to pray for God's blessing down on our work. He was known as 'praying Hyde.' [That was his nickname, 'praying Hyde']. Almost instantly the tide turned, the hall became packed. And at my first invitation 50 men accepted Christ as their Savior. As we were leaving I said, 'Mr. Hyde I want you to pray for me.' He came to my room, turned the key in the door and dropped on his knees and waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips. I could hear my own heart thumping and his beating. I felt hot tears running down my face. I knew I was with God. Then with upturned face, while the tears were still streaming, he said, 'Oh God.' And then for five minutes again, at least, he was still. And then when he knew he was talking with God, there came from the depth of his heart such petitions for me as I had never heard before. I rose from my knees to know what real prayer was. We believe that prayer is mighty and we believe it as we never did before."

Now that's a prayer meeting. Have you ever prayed like that? I really can't say that I have. I've had times in which God has lifted me up and I've prayed in a more significant, in a more Spirit-filled way, but never like that. And I think to myself, all of us feel our weakness, especially in prayer, don't we? Don't you feel your weakness when it comes to prayer? Can any of you testify and say, "I am a hundred percent satisfied with my prayer life? It's everything that I want it to be." Can you say that? I can't. And so I feel my weakness.

And it's a beautiful thing that this passage on prayer and specifically on the Holy Spirit's ministry to us in prayer begins with a testimony to our weakness. Look what it says in verse 26, it says, "In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness." Do you feel your weakness today? Do you feel the weakness of your faith? Do you feel your weakness in prayer?

II. The Promise and Fulfillment of Prayer

Well, I want you to know that God has made promises concerning prayer, lavish promises. I think he means to fulfill them in you individually and in us corporately through the power of the Holy Spirit. And only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we pray as God intends. It says in Zechariah 12:10, this is an old Testament promise, an ancient promise, and this is what it says, "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me the one they have pierced." That's a powerful testimony isn't it. A promise that God will pour out on the Jews a spirit of grace and supplication.

What is supplication? It is prayer. And not just any prayer, but prayer from the heart. And I will pour out on them a spirit of prayer. We receive these promises, this promise given to the Jews. We receive it by extension, we who are Gentiles, we've come in to all the promises of God, they are yes and amen in Christ. And so we also receive the Spirit of supplication. And this Spirit is fulfilled even in our text.

In Romans 8:15 it reads, "You have received the spirit of sonship, and by Him we cry out, 'Abba Father."' We cry out to God Abba Father. What is that, but prayer? It's a fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10 for us who are Gentiles. Every Christian, the moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are given the spirit of supplication, the Holy Spirit. And immediately as a child of God, a newborn child of God you begin to breathe prayers to God. You begin to speak to Him and call him Abba Father. but yet God is calling us (I believe) to a deeper a fuller and a richer prayer life than we've ever experienced before. Jesus Christ commanded lavishly in Matthew 7:7-8, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Lavish promises, and a command to pray.

John 16:23-24 it says the same thing. "I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. Until now you've not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." Jesus said that if you believe, you'll receive whatever you ask for in prayer. These are lavish promises and commands aren't they, for prayer? And we have throughout

Church history many examples of those who have believed these promises. Not just praying Hyde, we've talked earlier about George Müller. This man trusted God for over 10,000 orphans; on his knees every day praying for daily bread, and for the needs of these people. 10,000 orphans. Prayed for them daily, and in good Prussian style kept a careful record of all of his prayers. Every single one of them and all that had been answered. Wouldn't it be great to go through those notebooks and see what God did? The details and how strong was his faith at the end of his life.

David Brainerd, the missionary to Indians during the 1700s poured out his heart daily in longing for Heaven. "Oh that I might not loiter in my Heavenly journey" he would say. He was praying that his heart would be wrapped up, so wrapped up in Heaven that he would care nothing for the things of this world. That was David Brainerd. Then there was Martin Luther who said he was so overwhelmed with all the work and the business of a certain day that he had to pray twice as long that day. What would we do? Pray half as long if at all. But he believed in prayer and he lavished prayer on God and God lavished answers back. And then there was William Carey who had a world vision in prayer. Many examples of those who have taken these promises. What about you? Where's your prayer life? What about me? Where is mine?

As we look at the Apostle Paul, he also is an example of this. Put your finger here in Romans 8, and look back at Romans 1:9-10. And this is a tendency I've seen in the Apostle Paul and confirmed in numerous places. Actually beginning at verse 8 it says "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world." Isn't that marvelous? What does he thank God for? The faith of the Romans. "Thank you God that they're believers, and not only that but their reputation is spreading all over the world. Thank you God for that." But he goes on. He says "God whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the Gospel of His Son as my witness, how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times, and I pray that now at last by God's will, the way may be open for me to come to you." And so Paul is praying constantly for the Roman Christians.

Now, look over at Roman's 15:30 and following. Romans 15:30 "I urge you brothers," he says there "By our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you, be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen." What is he doing there? He's saying "Please pray for me. Pray for my mission, pray for my work. Pray that I might be delivered and rescued from those who would attack me."

And so at the beginning of his letter to Romans, he says "I pray for you all the time," at the end of his letter, he says "Please pray for me." He does the same thing in many other epistles, he says "I pray for you." He asked, "Will you pray for me?" And so he is dependent on prayer as he is also faithful in prayer.

III. Our Weakness and Prayer

But my question is, "What is prayer? Or why are we so weak in it? And, specifically from this text in Romans 8:26-27, what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us in prayer?"

Let's look first at our weakness and prayer in verse 26, it says "In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness." Well what weakness are we talking about? Well you have to understand the phrase, "In the same way." He's connecting this to what we have just talked about. What did we just talk about? Well in Romans 8:18-25, it talks about our physical bodies and how they're breaking apart, and how the physical world around us is groaning. We ourselves groan and the creation around us groans. And so we learn here in Romans 8:26-27 that the Spirit groans with us. Do you see how that works? We're in a time of groaning. We're in this present age of suffering and physical trial and death. This is a hard world for a believer.

And so we're in a time of present weakness and our enemies, which are arrayed around us, are too strong for us. They're too mighty. And so we have indwelling sin, and we have external enemies that are fighting us. And so it's a time of weakness, but it's also weakness for ourselves in prayer. He goes on to say "We do not know what we ought to pray for." And so we have a weakness, we're ignorant, we don't know what to pray for, we're weak in terms of our desire to pray, we don't want to pray. We're weak in every way and so the Spirit has come to help us in our weakness.

Now, prayer is part of the work that the Holy Spirit does in us to assure us that we are Christians, right?  The whole chapter, Romans chapter 8 is given that we may know with a full certainty of faith, a full assurance that we're going to heaven. God wants you to live that way. And as a matter of fact, if you really understood the reality is what we're talking about heaven and hell, eternity in heaven, or eternity in hell, and you had no assurance of salvation, how would you live? Everything would be different. All of your good works would ultimately be self-focused, I believe. And so God wants to give you assurance of salvation and then send you out to do the good works in a whole different way. And so He's working assurance of salvation in us. Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:39 says that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. No condemnation all the way to no separation.

I've repeated that about five or six times, but you get it. Romans chapter 8, it's assurance. It's giving a message of assurance and right in the middle of it is this issue of prayer. And so a healthy Spirit-led, Spirit-endowed prayer life is great assurance for the Christian. Is it not? But what's remarkable to me here is that it doesn't tell us to pray. Have you noticed that? As with much of what Paul does, is there any command in here that we should pray? He's just telling us what is... He's telling us what the Holy Spirit does. He's not telling you to pray, he's telling you actually you're weak in prayer, and so the Holy Spirit is given to help. We have a weakness in prayer.

Jonathan Edwards, preaching a sermon in the 1700s, entitled it, "Hypocrites Deficient in Private Prayer." That's a potent title, isn't it?  What's a hypocrite? Somebody who claims to be a Christian, but they're really not. And what is he saying? He's saying, there's no secret or private prayer. They don't go into their room, close the door and pray to their Father who's unseen. That's not part of their life. They may pray publicly, they may pray at dinner, they may pray when called upon, but there's no secret private prayer. It's not a part of their lives. But I began thinking about that title, and I said, "Hypocrites Deficient in Private Prayer," who isn't deficient in private prayer? Isn't that all of us? Aren't we all deficient to some degree in our private prayer lives? And so we must understand again, the ministry of the Holy Spirit given to strengthen us in our prayers. How are we weak? Well, first of all, we don't pray. In James 4:2 it says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God."

How many things come along in your life and you realize later, I never prayed about that? Whether it be a financial situation or a health issue, or a friend had a problem, you've even perhaps promised to pray and then you realize later you didn't pray. I've tried to get it in the habit of praying immediately for needs that are given me because of this problem that I have. I've sometimes kept a little notebook with me in my pocket to write them down immediately because I feel so ashamed when I see the person later and that situation has been resolved and they thank you for praying and you think, "Gee I hope somebody prayed because I didn't." James 4:2. Oh no, I'm a pastor, this is on tape, isn't it? Sometimes I don't pray the way I should. You don't have because you don't ask God. We also don't pray for the right things. "When you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures," said James. So not only do we not pray, we also don't pray for the right things. We're weak in prayer. He says it here in verse 26, "we do not know what we ought to pray for."

We don't pray in the right way, we don't pray in faith believing, we don't pray in humility, recognizing that we're not the king of the world. We don't pray with boldness, the boldness of a child of God, and we don't pray with thankfulness, we don't pray as we ought to. And more than that, we don't persevere in prayer. We pray for a little while and then fizzle out, and so we're weak in prayer. I guess, as we look at it, we have trouble both in the matter and in the manner of prayer. In the matter of prayer, whether we pray at all or what we should pray for and in the manner of prayer, mainly how we go about praying, and in this way, the Holy Spirit has been sent to help us.

VI. The Holy Spirit Helps Us in Prayer

Now, the Holy Spirit helps us in prayer, but I think to be honest with you, the burden of this text is not how He assists us to pray better. The burden of this text is how He just prays for us. Look at it again in verse 26-27, "In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we are to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Do you see that? It's almost by contrast, we don't pray well, but the Spirit does, do you see that? The Spirit does, He prays for us and He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

So really to some degree, it's a little bit trickery for me to be talking anything at all about your prayer life here. I'm really talking primarily about the Spirit's intercession for you, because that's what the text talks about. But I want to talk about your prayer life because the Spirit does help you to pray. We are commanded elsewhere to pray in the Spirit, and so I think this is a vital text for understanding that. Jesus Christ has not left us as orphans, He says that in John 14, the night before He died. He was about to die, the disciples were about to see their Savior dead on the cross, and they didn't understand what was going on. They were filled with grief, they were filled with struggle, and Jesus is so compassionate for them. In John, He spends time with them, He teaches them, He gets them ready. He said in John 13:19 "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He." And so he's getting them ready, and one of the things He does is talks to them about the Counselor, the Comforter that He's going to send. He says, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you." Do you realize you have the indwelling Holy Spirit in you as a result of prayer? Jesus prayed for you.

And the Father sent the Counselor, the Comforter, to you as a response to Jesus' prayer for you. "I will ask the Father and He will send the Comforter." Do you see the confidence that Jesus has? I will ask and He will send. That's the confidence that Jesus has in prayer. "…the Spirit of truth, the world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him or knows Him but you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you." Neither has He left us as orphans in our prayer life either. We have fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit and in prayer and so the Spirit prays for us constantly.

"The Spirit," it says in Verse 26, "intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." And it says again in verse 27, "The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." Well, who does He intercede to? Well, He who searches our hearts is God the Father. He intercedes to God the Father for you. The Holy Spirit is speaking to God the Father for you. He's interceding right now that you will listen to the Word. He's praying for you right now, the Spirit is interceding to God the Father for you and what power is there in God, the Father. He is Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. He is king of the universe and the Spirit has free access right into His throne and He prays in accordance with God's will. There's a perfect intercession here. In the NIV it says "in accordance with God's will…" But literally in verse 27 it really just says "in accordance with God."

The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God. What does that mean? I think probably two things. Number one is that He was appointed to that task. The Spirit was given the work to do. He's assigned the task. He's given the place, the position of prayer for you and so He's praying for you. It's His place to do so and He's going to be faithful to do that work until the end comes.

But in accordance with God also means what He prays for. He knows what to pray for. He prays for you in accordance with God's will for you. What does that mean? Well, in 1 John 5:14-15, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And we know that if He hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of Him." What is that saying? If you pray according to God's will, what do you get? You get a yes. A yes and Amen. I will give it to you.

I've thought often about this. I love sports. What is my batting average in prayer? How often do I get the things that I asked for? I don't know. I'm not George Muller. I'm not a Prussian. I don't keep careful records of all my prayer requests. I wonder what it would be, what my batting average is. How about you? What is your batting average in prayer? How many times do you get the thing you ask for? Now, let me turn it around. What is the Holy Spirit's average in prayer? How often does He get what He asks for? Answer: every single time without fail. And why? Because He prays according to God. In accordance with the will of God, He prays for you. That's how He prays a perfect intercession and He's praying according to God's will.

Well, what is God's will? Big picture. Understand what is the big picture of God's will. Read verses 28-30. We're going to look at it more carefully next week, but look, this is the will of God. This is what He's doing. "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 likeness of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brothers." I'll read that again. "That He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined He also called and those He called He also justified and those He justified He also glorified."

So the end of verse 29 and the end of verse 30 are the same thing. You being conformed to Jesus perfectly and you being glorified are the same thing and that's what the Spirit is praying for ultimately for you and not just for you but for all the chosen of God. We'll talk about that next week but that's what he's working toward. And He gets what He asks for. He prays for you in accordance with God's will that you may be glorified and He knows that there are steps along the way. He knows every step of the journey and He knows not only the big picture but all of the minor pictures along the way and he prays for everything in accordance with God's will.

But it's also intimate intercession. It says "He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." There's a searching of the mind. The spirit moves through the mind of God and the Spirit moves through our minds and brings them together in a marvelous and mysterious way. There's an intimate intercession. The Spirit knows the Father's thoughts completely. The Spirit brings the Father's thoughts to you. The Spirit takes your thoughts and brings them to God. There's an intimate intercession. It's also a spiritual intercession. Look at verse 26. "…the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." The word here in the Greek is usually translated mute. What is someone who is mute? They cannot speak words. There aren't no words when the Spirit intercedes. You say, "How can He do that for millions of people praying for absolutely everything we need, big picture and in details for everybody all over the world that He's praying for? How could He do it? They're just isn't time in the day."

Our thoughts of God are too small. I am speaking to you in words now, I'm speaking English, that's the only language I'm fluent in and I used to speak Japanese. If I were to speak some Japanese here you would get nothing out of my sermon. I know because I sat through two years of Japanese sermons and got nothing out of them because I couldn't understand a word. And what do we do? We take truth and we encode it in words, nouns, and verbs and adjectives. And it's like a train, like a freight train, and it pulls into the depot of your mind and dumps its truth in there, word by word, line by line. It's so pedantic, It's so human. The Holy Spirit doesn't need it. He just intercedes for you. Just like that. Do you understand? Just like that, everything you need has been prayed for. Completely. You don't need words, you don't need nouns and verbs and adjectives to talk to the Father. That's our thing. He can speak that in 1 Corinthians 2:9-14, I urge you to look at it. It's a parallel passage to one we're looking at today. It says that, it has not entered in the mind what God has planned. Eyes not seen, ears not heard. Neither has it entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Read the next part, "These things God has revealed it to us through His spirit." And He who searches them, the mind brings the truth of God to our minds directly. Do You see what I'm talking about? So he can speak English words to us. He can do that. Sometimes He speaks to your mind directly without words. Just boom and you get the truth. But He can speak words and he can put spiritual truth into spiritual words so that we understand. So it's a spiritual intercession as well and it's also a passionate intercession. He groans with you. Do you understand what that means? He's groaning with you. He's feeling your passions. He is a passionate being. The Holy Spirit is not a force. He's a person and He has passion and His intercession for you is passionate. Do you understand what I'm saying? There's a passion there. He rejoices over your successes. He grieves over your disobediences and He prays accordingly based on what you need. Now later in this chapter, not today, we are going to be talking also about Christ's intercession for us. Look down at verse 34. "Christ Jesus, who died, more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." Do you see that?

So you have the Holy Spirit praying for you and you have the Son of God praying for you. Are you not covered in this chapter with prayer? You are just prayed for. You are thoroughly prayed for. Now we as children of God should pray for each other, but you are well prayed for all the time. The Spirit prays for you and the Son prays for you and they do not fail.

V. The Spirit’s Help in the Matter of Prayer

Well, that's the center of this message, but I want to talk a little about how He helps you in your prayers too. The Spirit prays for you but the Spirit also assists you in your prayer and He helps you in the matter of prayer. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean what to pray for and whether we should even pray at all. He helps us there. Verse 26, "We do not know what we ought to pray for." We don't have the sense of the purpose of God, do we? The big picture? What is God doing in the world? We don't have that. Nor do we have the detailed understanding step by step of how to get there. We also don't believe or don't understand, or even know the promises of God. So we don't pray according to the promises of God. We don't know the procedures along the way. Those minor things and we don't look to the source the way we should. Now what is the source of information?

How do we know what to pray for? Two things; number one, the Spirit instructs us through the Scripture. As you read the Scripture and saturate your mind in the Bible, you will know what to pray for. William Gurnall said, "The mightier anyone is in the Word, the mightier he will be in prayer." Some believe, and I think it's true, we should only pray those things revealed in Scripture or in accordance with what's revealed in Scripture. Christopher Nice put it this way, "Where God has not a mouth to speak, men must not have a tongue to ask." I believe that. I think we should pray according to the promises and the purposes of God as revealed in Scripture. But secondly, the Spirit also directly communicates to you what to pray for sometimes. In Acts 13 it says, "In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers," and it lists them and then it says, "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'" And so after fasting and praying, they sent them out.

Don't you think after the Spirit spoke that. They prayed differently than they had been before that, They started praying for Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey. You understand? So the Spirit communicates and navigates through history as new things come up, we start to pray according to the Spirit. We pray in the Spirit as He leads. So He helps us in the matter of prayer, namely what we should pray for, but even more He helps us in the inclination to pray. What does that mean? He helps you to want the things God wants. He helps you to be hungry for what God's hungry for. He helps you to yearn for what God is yearning for. How does He do that? By changing you and moving in you, by working in you. He gives you, as one black preacher put, I love this. "You gotta have the 'want to.'" Do you have the want to? Do you want to pray? When given a choice of the way to spend the afternoon, do you spend it in prayer or something else? Do you have the want to? The Spirit gives you the want to. He gives you the inclination and to want the things that God wants. And I think that's why we need to pray. We are not done yet, are we? We were not finished in our salvation. Do you want what God wants for you? Or do you want something else? The Holy Spirit moves in you to want what the He wants for you and to give you the inclination to pray.

VI. The Spirit’s Help in the Manner of Prayer

Well, the Holy Spirit also helps us in the manner of prayer. Not only do we not know what to pray for and not only are we not inclined to pray at all but when we pray our prayers are weak and lifeless, they lack zeal. What is the model of our prayer? Is it not Jesus, how did Jesus pray in Gethsemane? You remember that? In Luke chapter 22 it says and being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Hebrews chapter 5 says during the days of Jesus' life on earth He offered prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death and He was heard because of His reverent submission. And so He prayed fervently. James 5:16 says in the King James Version "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Are your prayers effectual and fervent? Are they prayers on fire? Do you pray in the manner of the Spirit? Well the Spirit helps us, He gives us empowerment. Our prayers are weak because they are faithless. We don't believe that God will answer and so we don't receive answers.

Thomas Watson said this, "Prayer that is faithless is fruitless." If your prayer life is fruitless, could it be that you don't believe that it's going to do anything? The Spirit works faith in us. Jude 20, "But you dear friends," write that one down. That's such a great verse Jude 20. "But you dear friends build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit." Do you hear that? I think build yourselves up in the faith means read the Scripture. And then pray accordingly. Pray in the Spirit. He gives us faith. He also gives us endurance, He works endurance in us. Colossians 4:12, "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you that you may be matured and fully assured." He's wrestling, would you like to have an Epaphras praying for you? He's wrestling in prayer for you. Images of Jacob wrestling with the angel, wrestling, he's not giving up, he's going to keep at it, he's going to keep praying.

How's your endurance in prayer? Is it good? The Holy Spirit can work endurance in you. The Holy Spirit can also work passion in you. He impassions you in prayer. Cold and lifeless prayers are unwelcome in heaven. Thomas Brooks said this, "Cold players always freeze before they reach heaven." I love that. We don't need cold players, we need prayers on fire, prayers like John Hyde prayed. Praying passionately. Hudson Taylor looked at a map of China and he knew that all the missions were along the coast, just along the coast and they were vast inland regions of China that had never been touched with the gospel and he just fell on his knees before the map and he said "God give me China or I die." Give me China or I die. Do you pray for anything like that? Maybe if your child had a dread disease or your spouse you might, but we could pray for the things of God that way too, Hudson Taylor did and John Hyde did as well. In passion.

And then finally the Holy Spirit works integrity in us. God does not listen to the prayers of people who choose sin. I'll say that again, God does not hear prayers from people who choose sin. And I'm not talking about stumbling, the Scripture says we all stumble in many ways, James says that. And this is how David put it in Psalm 66:18,"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have heard my prayer." Do you hear that? If I cherish sin, if there's some pet sin, something I'm holding on to, God will not hear your prayers. Your prayers are ineffective. Isaiah 59:1-2, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save nor is ear too dull to hear but your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear." And so if you want a healthy strong fruitful prayer life, you must have integrity, you must be a consistent spirit-filled Christian following the Holy Spirit putting sin to death in your life and God will see that you receive answers in prayer.

1 Peter 4:7, "The end of all things is near, therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." Turn it around, if you're not clear minded and self-controlled you will not be able to pray. John Bunyan put it this way, "Prayer drives sin out or sin drives prayer out." They're mutually incompatible. Has sin driven prayer out of your life? Ask the Lord by the power of the Spirit to bring it back and then chase sin out of your life.

Today we've looked at what the Holy Spirit does for us in prayer, He prays for us according to God, He also moves in us that we may pray according to God's will as well. He instructs us what to pray for, He gives us an inclination to pray, that's the matter of prayer, and in the manner He gives us empowerment through faith, building our faith. He gives endurance to stay with it and pray daily sometimes for years. He gives us impassioned prayers, not cold prayers and He gives us a life of integrity so that God will hear our prayers.

VII. Application

Now I've given you some applications on your bulletin, you can look at them when you get home, but we're coming now to a time with the Lord's Supper. And this is a good time for you to humble yourself before God, to just bow down right in the pew where you are, and to take advantage of some quiet moments to allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart. To allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you, about your life, about your prayer life, yes but about everything. And that you might be clean through confession of sin and ready to receive the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is for Christians, it's for people who have been baptized, who have trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, welcome at the Lord's Supper. It's for sinners, but sinners who have been forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ. But we must come and eat in a manner worthy of the Lord. Take advantage of these few minutes or a few moments to allow the Holy Spirit to search you, that you might be prepared to take the supper of the Lord. And then after a little while, I'll lead us into the Lord's supper.

I. Precious in the Sight of the Lord

Take your Bibles please and open to Romans 5. This morning, we're going to focus on one verse, Romans 5:5. And what does it mean, when it says that, "Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." This is the first mention of the Holy Spirit. As we've been unfolding the doctrine of salvation, this is the first time the Spirit has been mentioned. And what does it mean, that, "The love of God has been poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us"? That is the purpose of my sermon today, but I want to go far beyond it. I want the love of God to be poured out into your hearts, by the Holy Spirit. And it's something that can't be put into words.

Well, how do I know it can't be put into words? Well, last week, I read Paul's experience. In 2 Corinthians Chapter 12, Paul says, "I know a man in Christ, who, fourteen years ago, was caught up to the Third Heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to Paradise. [Now, listen] He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell." Those are two different things, aren't they? "Inexpressible," means you can't put it into words. "Things that man is not permitted to tell," means you're not allowed to try.

Now, what was Paul talking about? What did he see? What happened to him? Has anything like that ever happened to you? Anything even remotely like that? Has the love of God been poured out into your heart, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us? Well, Scripture says, "Yes." But to what degree? My perception is, that most of us walk along satisfied with a much lower level of experience in our Christian lives, than God intends for us. We're dryer, more fruitless, more patterned after legal requirements, satisfied with far less than God intends for us. And I want to just open up your heart today, and have the Holy Spirit pour out God's love into you. I want you to experience His love in a way you never had before.

Richard Robarts, Nineteenth-Century Minister

Now, Richard Robarts, a minister of God in the early 19th century, early 1800s, died of consumption, (tuberculosis), when he was 36 years old. That's a young man. And he writes about his experiences toward the end of his life in a journal. And this is what he says, "Frequently, all around me, thought me about to expire. My cough was so dreadful, and so were the pains I felt in my chest inside. And above all, the languor, which oppressed me for a while, seemed almost overwhelming. But while I was thus sinking, I felt more of the consolations and supports of religion, than I ever had experienced before. Oh, with what strong and assured confidence, was I enabled to look upon my Redeemer, and how gladly would I have resigned my soul into His hands." 

Assurance of salvation carried that man right to the end of his life. All of us are going to die. If the Lord doesn't return in our generation, we will face the day of our death. This man came into it, knowing he was soon to die, with an incredible assurance of his own salvation. "Oh, with what strong and assured confidence, was I enabled to look upon my Redeemer, and how gladly would I have resigned my soul into His hands." Gladly. Glad to go. Glad to go across the river and see Jesus face to face. Not sad, saying, "I've lived a good life." Glad to go. The best things are yet to come. I can't wait to see Him. For me, to live is Christ and to die is what? Gain. What could be more than Christ? Nothing's more than Christ. More Christ then. Face to face, not through a glass darkly. Seeing Him face to face. "Oh, I would be glad to go."

"What glorious manifestations of His love and mercy did He make to my soul? And how did I rejoice to believe that, in a few days more, I should be with Him in glory eternal. For the sake of my dear wife and friends, I was willing to live, and I saw it my duty to use all proper means to promote my recovery. I need to get better and I'm praying for it. I'm going to take my medicine, but let me tell you what's in my heart. For my own sake, I had a desire to be with Christ. And thus, I lay in sweet suspense, as it were, between Earth and Heaven, somewhere in between. And indeed, so I have remained, in general, ever since." This is a great journal entry, isn't it? Do you write journal entries like this?

Later on, a friend said to him, "I should be glad to enjoy your happiness." He was standing by his death bed, observing him. He's basically saying, "What is your secret? How do you do it?" At this point, Robarts couldn't speak, but he wrote this on a slate, "Believe constantly on the Lord Jesus Christ and you may be much happier than you are. Had I been more faithful in this respect, I should have enjoyed more consolation," and listen, "And done more for the glory of God."

The account continues: "In the course of this day, he experienced an ecstasy of Heavenly joy. His eyes were bathed in tears, and he uttered words of praise, consolation, and triumph. It appeared as if he were transported into Paradise. It was evident that he experienced a foretaste of Heaven. He said, 'Oh, I am happy in my God, in His love. I'm going to possess Him forever. I shall enter into that city whose streets are a fine gold. Yes, the New Jerusalem, from above the city of the living God.' "

And then the final journal entry, he wrote this, "Since my last attack, three weeks ago, the Lord has been near, and has manifested His love to my soul in an uncommon degree. I have been deeply humbled under a sense of my unworthiness and past unfaithfulness, but I have felt myself firmly fixed upon the rock of ages, and have been enabled to anticipate my departure from the body with unspeakable delight. One thing has much occupied my mind, mainly, the great proneness I have ever felt to rest short of all the fullness of God." What is he saying there? "I was too easily satisfied. I stopped short."

"Often, it seemed within my grasp. Often, has my soul seemed to take possession of it, but never did I enjoy a constant sense of it, of all the great salvation of God. However, I never gave up the hope of possessing it fully, and I trust that I shall now obtain my heart's desire." He's saying, "God had something for me, but I fell short of it. I didn't take it all in and I regret that. I would have done more for God, if I had. But now, I'm going to get it. I'll get the full amount now. I'm certain of it. No question about it." 

My question to you today is, what is Robarts talking about? What is this? What was Paul talking about in 2 Corinthians 12? And do you experience this? Is this part of your Christian experience? If not, I want to point the way. I want to point the way today. "God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Now, by way of review, this fits in somewhere. It's not just out of nowhere. Paul has been talking to us about what we were, apart from Jesus Christ. We were, it says in Ephesians, "Dead in the transgressions and sins." In the language of Romans, it says, "There is no one righteous. No, not one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." Let me say that again, "No one who seeks God." We don't naturally want God. We want anything else, but not God. "There is no one who does good. No, not one."

Alright, is there any salvation for people like us? Yes, there is. "For all have sinned, and lack the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Free justification. A free declaration from the Judge of all the universe. You are forgiven, because Jesus died for you. His righteousness has become your righteousness. The gift of righteousness has been given to you and I have declared you not guilty on that basis. How do we receive it? Well, Romans 4 tells us, simply by faith, apart from works of the law. Abraham heard a promise from God. He believed God and it was justified. He was declared not guilty, because He believed a promise from God. And so, also, all of you who have been justified, if you have been justified... If you have been justified, it's because you heard a promise, you believed it, and God declared you not guilty, because of Christ's righteousness. That's what we've been getting to now.

In Romans 5, he unfolds the benefits that come to you. Look at it: Romans 5, beginning at verse 1, "Since we have now 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 rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that our suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely, will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

Do you know what Paul's doing here in these 11 verses? He wants you certain of your justification. He wants you to know that you're saved, and that no power in Heaven, or on Earth, or under the Earth, can take that away from you. You're going to Heaven when you die, if you've been justified. That's was he's laboring for here. He's working that you may be assured. He's giving you an assurance.

Assurance of Salvation

Now, last week, I gave you the categories of assurance, and I've given you the same diagram again. It's on the cover of your worship bulletin. These are the three types of assurance that God measures out to us. And what are they? First, an assurance that's reasoned out in the mind. That's the lowest level. It basically works this way: God has made you a promise. You believe it, you trust that it's yours, and therefore, you know you're forgiven. Lowest level. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tell me so." Period. That's the lowest level of assurance. Then the next level, worked out in the life, that talks about proven character. Remember, trials result in proven character, and proven character is the basis of hope. What's another word for hope? Assurance. Okay, so the basis of your assurance, in this case, is proven character. You are a Christian. Why? Because God is doing things in your life, things that only He could do. You don't take credit for them. Jesus Christ has changed you. He's working in you.

What's this third one? "Poured out into the heart." And what is this strange looking swoosh on top of it? Well, that's the purpose of the sermon today. God pours out His love into your hearts. It means He just tells you, "You're a child of God." He just assures you in truths that words can't express. And He can do this so much, that you will feel as if you've been swooshed up to Heaven. He can take you as high as He wants to take you here. Paul went up to Third Heaven, Paradise, whatever that is. Now, you can't work your way to this. It's not like, "Well, if I do this or do that, then I'll get higher... " This is something God does. It's something God does. But every Christian's somewhere along this swoosh at different times in their life. A certain elevation comes, a certain sense of God's presence, a certain sense of His love. That's what we're talking about today.

Now, I want to give you a few words about assurance, so you'll understand it. First of all, assurance is worked by the Holy Spirit. All three flavors of assurance, three types, the Holy Spirit does all three. We'll talk about that in a minute. All of them are a direct result of faith, interconnected with faith. Faith and hope go together. They're totally related. Without faith, there's no hope. These are all just really out-workings of justifying faith. Thirdly, this assurance is not required for salvation. It's true. It's possible to have salvation and not be fully assured. I think many of you, frankly, are in that category, and that's why I'm preaching on this today, that you may be assured, but it's not the same as salvation. And it's not equally strong for all Christians, nor is it equally strong within the life of one Christian all the time. It kind of comes and goes. And why is that? Because it's tied to how you're living. It's related to sin, isn't it? You can sin your assurance away. You can't sin your salvation away. You can't sin your justification away, but you can sin your assurance away. And some of you know what I'm talking about. Those are the things I want to say about assurance, in general.

II. The Gift of the Holy Spirit: Poured Out

But now, I want to zero in on the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has been poured out on us. The Holy Spirit is universally given to all justified people. I am not, today, talking about a "second work" of a Baptism in the Spirit or any of those things. I am talking about a filling of the Spirit. But I'm not saying that you do not have the Holy Spirit if you are justified. That, I believe, is doctrinally impossible. If you have been justified, you have the Holy Spirit already. Well, you know that from our verse, it says, "Through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." "Whom He has given us." So He's already given us the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:9 says, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Christ." "He does not belong to Christ." And Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirits, that we are God's children." Isn't that sweet? As soon as you're justified, what happens? The Holy Spirit comes into your heart and He begins to tell you, "Child of God, you're a child of God. I love you. You're a child of God." And so, if you look at our verse, Romans 5:5, what is the verb tense? "The love of God has been poured out into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit." You've already experienced it. You're somewhere on the swoosh, maybe a low one. You haven't been swooshed up as high as Paul, but you're somewhere there. He's already poured out His love into your hearts, but He has more to give you. That's all I'm telling you today. He has more love to pour out into your heart.

From the moment you're born again, you have the Holy Spirit. Now, I want to stop just a minute. There's kind of a danger in preaching on assurance to a huge mixed group. Now, what is the danger? Some of you may not be regenerate. Some of you may not be born again. I don't want to give you any assurance of salvation. I want you to seek Christ, if you're not born again. If you have not yet been justified, the Scripture says that you're under condemnation, under the wrath of God, heading for hell. That's a clear teaching of Scripture. So I don't want to give you any assurance at all. None. Because I want you to seek justification through faith in Christ. I want you to know this, but you can't depart from entering through the narrow gate, Jesus Christ. Through faith in Jesus Christ, all your sins can be forgiven.

But those of you who have received this, I want to give you a full and healthy, full body, muscular assurance of your salvation. These are the people I'm talking to now. I want you to have assurance of your salvation, if you already trusted in Jesus Christ. Now, what happens at the moment of justification? The Holy Spirit comes in and Ephesians it says He is a deposit, guaranteeing a full inheritance. Well, how does this work? Well, suppose one of you were underage and you had wealthy parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Gates. He has a daughter, I think, isn't that true? She stands to inherit a lot of money, billions and billions of dollars, but she's underage. And so, if they should tragically die, and leave her all that money, they're not going to give it all to her at once. It's going to be put in trust, to be held against her maturity. When she comes into her maturity, she will come into her inheritance. But how will she live in the meantime? That's the question. There's going to be a certain amount coming out of that sum, a small amount coming toward that inheritor, toward that heir, to support her. A down payment, a deposit guaranteeing the full amount, and it'll come to her at the right time. You see? And so that is what the Holy Spirit is for us. We have a full inheritance coming and what is it? What is it?

Face to face fellowship with God for all eternity. Is there anything better than that? Is there something you would trade? "Well, I've got face to face... But I'd rather have... " No. There's nothing better than face to face fellowship with God for all eternity. Are you experiencing that now? No. You haven't come into your inheritance, but you're getting a down payment, a deposit, "I love you. You're my child. Stay with me. Walk with me." The down payment, the experience, it's coming. You feel it? You know what I'm saying? The Spirit testifies that you're a child of God, and you feed off that, and it keeps you going, but it's not the full amount. No. "We see through a glass darkly, then we shall see face to face."

Now, the indwelling Spirit is responsible for the other forms of assurance too. He does all of this. None of this is done, except by the Holy Spirit. For example, reason out in the mind, it says in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, "We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." The Spirit tells us what God's given us, as we read the Scripture. We open up the Bible and the Spirit illuminates it, lights the Scripture to us. If you don't have the Spirit, the Scripture will make no sense to you.

But, if you do have the Spirit, you will understand, and these things come as a form of testimony to you. The Holy Spirit also works it out in your life. Those changes I was talking about last week, the proven character, the action fruit, and attitude fruit? It comes by the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? And no other place. It comes as we're grafted in the vine, Jesus Christ, and by His Spirit, He produces good fruit in us. The Holy Spirit works holiness in us. Highest form of assurance, in terms of your practical everyday working out, is that you're putting sin to death. We'll talk about that in Romans Eight. If you're not putting sin to death in your life, if you're not following, keeping step with the Spirit, you're not a child of God. This is what it means to be a child of God. I didn't say, "If you sin, you're not a child of God," we know that. 1 John 1 says, "If anyone says, 'I have not sinned,' he's a liar." All of us have sinned. But there's a relentless urge to put sin to death in the life of a child of God.

Now, where did the Holy Spirit come from? Well, He was poured out on us. Pentecost, right? It says that, "The love of God has been poured out." What is this pouring out? Well, it's similar language from Acts 2 The Day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and quoted Joel chapter 2, it says, "'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people.'" The Holy Spirit poured out on all people... And as He pours out the Holy Spirit onto you, and you receive the Holy Spirit, at the moment of justification, He opens a channel, a conduit, through which He pours out the love of God into your life, day by day. That's how it works.

Now, what is this experience? What are we talking about? Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan, put it in these words: Suppose a father and a son are walking along a road. Let's say they're walking through the woods. It's a beautiful day. It's fall, let's say. The leaves are beautiful, the breeze is blowing, and they're holding hands. Father and five-year-old son, let's say, walking along, and the son knows he's the son of his father. And he knows that his father loves him, and he knows that his father will provide for all of his needs. He's always done that. He knows those things, and he's happy they're having a walk together through the woods, when all of a sudden, from some sudden impulse within, the father picks up the son, and squeezes him, and speaks into his ear, 'I love you. You're my son.' And twirls him around a little, maybe throws him up in the air, catches him, and sets him back down, holds his hand, and they continue walking.

Is there a difference in the son after that, as before? Is there a cognitive difference? No. You try to write it down, there's no difference. It's the same stuff, right? The same truth. But they're on fire now, you see? There's a love. They've been filled in. They were black and white; now, they're color. There's a vividness to the love. Have you ever experienced that? Has God ever picked you up, and squeezed you, and said, "You're my child," in that way? And you went higher up on the swoosh, than you've ever been before? Has that ever happened to you?

The Experience of Blaise Pascal

There are testimonies about this from church history. Blaise Pascal, 17th century philosopher and mathematician, something happened to him one day. Something happened and he never forgot it. It changed the rest of his life. Up to that time, he'd been doing his mathematics, and his philosophy, and all. From this day on, he concentrated totally on theology. Something happened...

When he died, they found his coat, and they opened it up, and there was a piece of paper sewn inside the lining of his coat. What is this? And they took the paper off, and written on it were these words, "This day of grace, 1654, from about half past 10 at night, to about half past midnight. [Two hours] Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the wise. Security. Security." What's another word for security? Assurance. "Security. Security. Feeling. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ. Thy God shall be my God. Forgetfulness of the world in all except God. He can be found only in ways taught in the Gospel. Greatness of the human soul. Oh, righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee. Joy. Joy. Joy. Tears of joy. I have separated myself from Him. My God, why has thou forsaken me? That I be not separated from thee eternally. This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and whom who now has sent Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. I have separated myself from Him. I have fled, renounced, crucified Him. May I never be separated from Him. He maintains Himself in me, only in ways taught in the Gospel. Renunciation, total and sweet."

What was going on there? That's a hug, isn't it? He gets swooshed up and he hugs. And he's hugged, and he feels that love in a passionate way. And you know what? He wrote it out on a piece of paper and sewed it in his coat. And when the coat wore out, he sewed it in the next coat. And when that coat wore out, he sewed it in the next coat. He never forgot.

The Experience of Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards. Who's Jonathan Edwards? "Oh, he's one of those dry, dusty, theologian types." Don't you believe it. But I want to tell you about a quiet time he experienced one day:

"As I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that was, for me, extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as mediator between God and man, and His wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet love, and grace, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the Heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thoughts and conceptions, which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour."

What is going on here? "About an hour, such as to keep me, the greater part of the time, in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt such an ardency of soul, to be what I know not otherwise, how to express emptied and annihilated? To lie in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone, and to love Him with a wholly and pure love. To trust in Him, to live upon Him, to serve Him, and to be perfectly sanctified, and made pure with a Heavenly purity." And then he picks himself up, off the dust out of the ground, and dusts himself off, and keeps walking with his father, but it's never the same, is it, after that?

The Experience of D.L. Moody

D.L. Moody, heard of him? 19th century evangelist. He'd been a Christian, a minister in charge of a mission. He was seeing people converted, but he was unsatisfied. He wanted more. And this is what he says, "I began to cry, as never before, for a greater blessing from God. The hunger increased. I felt that I did not want to live any longer. I kept on crying all the time, that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York, oh, what a day. I cannot describe it. I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for 14 years. I can only say God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love, that I had to ask Him to stay His hand." Stop. I can't take anymore. It's too much.

Have you ever experienced anything like that? When God does it in one life, it's one thing. When He does it to a group of people, it's called a revival. Isn't that true? It's called a revival. Now, let's understand that word, Southern Baptists. A revival is not something you can schedule. It's not something you can advertise. You don't know when it's going to come and you know why? Because a revival is a miracle. Finney had it wrong. You can't manipulate and maneuver people. You can manipulate, maneuver them to do many things, walking aisles, singing songs, and to jumping up, but you cannot manipulate or maneuver, so that they're born again by the Spirit. That's something God does. Also, He gives a revival, and only He gives a revival, the only one.

John Wesley talked about it, 1734 journal entry, "Mr Hall, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother, Charles, were present at a love-feast at Fetter Lane with about 60 of our brethren, about three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer." What time was it? Three in the morning. What were they doing praying at three in the morning? Well, they wanted to be there. There was a group prayer time. Three in the morning, they were praying. Maybe revival doesn't come at convenient hours, I don't know. But at three in the morning, they were praying. "And as they were continuing, instant in prayer," it says, "The power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exalting joy and many fell to the ground. As soon as we recovered a little, from the awe and amazement at the presence of His Majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise thee, oh, God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.' "

Now, lest you think this is unbiblical, you ought to read Acts chapter 4, After Peter and John were released, they went back, and they prayed together, and they continued in prayer. "And after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the Word of God boldly." I'm quoting Scripture. This happens in the Bible. It happens in church history. Has it happened at First Baptist? Will you pray with me that it will?

III. Seeking the Filling

Well, what are we to do? Can I urge you to seek this feeling, to hunger for it, to yearn for it, to not be satisfied with Christian mediocrity any longer, to want more? I'm going to give you some invitations, an invitation from Jesus Christ. John Chapter 7:37 and following, "On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.'" Are you thirsty or are you satisfied? "It's enough. Enough, God. I have enough God." "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me," as the Scripture has said, "Streams of living water will flow from within him. By this, He meant the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that point, the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." I've just quoted John 7:37-39. By this, He meant the Spirit, "Streams of living water flowing from within," out to who? Well, we'll talk about that in a minute. To others? That's an invitation. Are you thirsty or are you satisfied? If you're thirsty, come to Jesus. Come and drink.

Or He invites us to pray. In Luke 11:9 and following. "So, I say to you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if a son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit, to those who ask Him!"

Now, wait a minute. I thought we already had the Holy Spirit? Well, if He's your Heavenly Father, you do have the Holy Spirit. What is Jesus talking about? He's talking about the love of God poured out into your hearts, by the Holy Spirit. He's talking about that hug. He's talking about a power, which cannot be explained humanly.

I'm going to skip the benedictions and I'm going to go right to Ephesians 3. It's printed out there. I believe that Ephesians 3 is Paul's prayer exposition of Romans 5:5. We don't have time to fully develop this. I would urge you to take Ephesians 3:14-21, and break it apart, and see. But let's see what Paul prays for his people. It's printed out in your bulletin, if you want to read it, or just look in your own Bible. "For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in Heaven and on Earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Does that characterize your present Christian experience? "Filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." If not, can I urge you to begin asking for it?

Paul prays for it here for the Ephesians. He prays for them. He gets on his knees and asks that God, that they might know the dimensions of the love of Jesus Christ. I get the picture of the Grand Canyon, how wide, and long, and high, and deep is the love of God. And that you may know that love that surpasses knowledge. That doesn't make sense. Know something that can't be known? Speak of something that can't be put in words? It's an experience of God's love that can't be put into words.

Do you know this love? Do you know what I'm talking about? Are you somewhere in the swoosh? Would you like to be higher? Would you like to know more of God's love? You say, "Wait a minute, I don't want to experience now." Well, I'm not really talking about experience, I'm talking about God, that you may know God, that you may know Jesus, that He may be enough for you. All of the experiences that I've read are not empty-headed nirvana-type things. They're filled with truth. Look at what Blaise Pascal wrote. It's just saturated with biblical truth, and ideas, and quotes, and it's just flowing in some fire. It's not an empty-headed drifting thing. No. It's a fullness of the person of Jesus Christ, who is truth incarnate. Well, if you've never experienced anything like this, ask Him for it, and keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, until He gives it to you.

Thomas Goodwin said, "Sue Him for it. Sue Him for it. Ask Him for it. Don't give up." Now, the Puritans meant 'sue' differently. We're not going to take God to court. What we're going to do, is we're going to pursue Him, until He gives it. I'll get very practical: Begin setting aside specific time every day, simply to ask God for a deeper experience of His love. Instead of watching the ballgame today, do this instead. Say, "It's not enough. I've been drinking out of my own cisterns. I want the living water. I am thirsty, Jesus. I don't want the ballgame. I don't want nine holes on the links. I've done that so many times before. I don't want this. I want Jesus today." Ask Him to work His Holiness in you. He's not going to do it to... He's not going to assure a rebellious child. He'll convict you and try to fix those things, but He's not going to assure you. He's not going to pick you up that way. He's going to fix the sin problem first. If you've got sin problem, repent, turn to Him, allow Him to change you, and then start lifting those hands. And say, "God, please give me that hug."

Put aside earthly pursuits. Seek God diligently. Take Ephesians 3:14-21 and pray through it line by line, until it becomes yours. And look around you, and realize that there's other brothers and sisters. Want it for them too. That's what Paul's praying. He gets on his knees for his brothers and sisters. Pray for First Baptist Church, that we may be pipes or conduits of the love of God. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me, as it is written, streams of living water will flow from... " The Greek is 'ek.' "From within and out to others." To who? To other Christians, other believers who need it, who are parched, and need love from Jesus Christ. To unbelievers, to a world that's not yet been justified, and a great outpouring for missions.

Remember Acts chapter 4? "After they prayed, the place they were meeting was shaken, and they are all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the Word of God boldly." What do you think happened after they spoke the Word of God boldly? People got saved, as a result. I want to challenge you to begin asking for this. I want to challenge lay people to start praying for it. Don't wait for the staff to organize that prayer meeting on Friday or whatever. You be thirsty for it. You organize it. You get together, and pray, and ask that God would pour out His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Why don't you close with me in prayer?

Father, I thank you for the time that we've had to understand and experience your Word. Father, I pray that we would also experience your love, that we may know that love that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Father, I pray for any here who have not yet trusted in you, who are not born again. Father, I pray that you would bring them to personal faith in Jesus Christ, that they might also know this love that surpasses knowledge. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

 

I. A Tale of Two Conquerors: Alexander and Christ

Remarkable things from the book of Daniel, we've seen the sovereignty of God, we've seen his knowledge of the end from the beginning, the meticulous and careful way in which he's laid that out in the book of Daniel. And we come now to Daniel 8 and one of the most remarkable prophecies in the book in terms of how it lines up with popular secular knowledge of history. We come to an account of Alexander the Great. In the year 323 BC, the life of a 33-year-old man, the most successful, the most powerful, the most talented, the most visionary leader of the world had ever seen, and some people think has ever seen ended in a bout of drunkenness, in the city of Babylon. The very same place where Belshazzar's life, 200 years before, had ended in a fit of drunkenness. Alexander the Great, died because he drank too much.

Move ahead three centuries or more. 30 AD, city of Jerusalem, the life of a 33-year-old man ends on a cross and whereas Alexander's death ended his reign over his earthly kingdom, Jesus death on the cross began his reign and the advance of a kingdom, which will never end. Today as we look in Daniel 8, we look at a tale of two conquerors, and one anti-Christ. We look at the tale of Alexander the Great and his successor after 200 or so years, Antiochus, an anti-Christ figure and then we look at Jesus Christ, the greatest conqueror the world has ever seen, and we're going to compare their methods and their achievements, and we're going to see the eternal kingdom of God again. The thing that's remarkable about Daniel Chapter 8 is how specific it is about the coming of a man that most people know. And I'm going to give you today a tool right in your hands that you can take into your work places and with other people in this truth questioning age that we live in and say, there is a supernatural evidence of the truth of the Bible right here in Daniel 8. Have you ever heard of Alexander the Great, well, 200 years before he was born, his kingdom and his death and the division of his kingdom was all laid out in prophetic perspective by the Prophet Daniel.

Remarkable thing that I came across in my research for this sermon, about the year 330 Alexander the Great had not yet completed his conquest of the Persian empire. He was in the middle of it. He was seeking to conquer Gaza and he took a side tour up to the city of Jerusalem. The account of this is in Josephus, a first century historian, Jewish historian and he went to Jerusalem and there the high priest came out and met him in their robes, and he was so impressed with their appearance because he had had a vision. Alexander had had a vision, a dream (so the account goes) before he had ever left Macedonia, that he would come to a city in which people dressed in certain robes would come out and show him a prophecy. He had a dream, and that had encouraged him and exhorted him to begin his conquest of Asia. And now these men were coming out in these robes and it was the Jewish priest and the high priest in particular.

And he brought out a copy of the Book of Daniel and he showed Alexander in Chapter 8, what we're going to study today, what was written in there about him. Alexander believed these kind of oracles. He was always going to this or that or the other oracle for predictions or prophecies about him. But here is one that have been written 200 years before he had been born and according to that prophecy he would conquer the Persian empire. I think that the high priest stopped reading too soon because it also gave a clear warning of his death at the height of his power and perhaps the high priest should have taken a moment to warn him, to make himself right with the God of heaven before he died.

All of us today are facing our own mortality, and no matter how much we achieve in this world, no matter how great we are as Alexander was great in the world side, we need a savior, and we need to enter the kingdom, that we've been learning about in the Book of Daniel, namely the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

God’s Purposes: Vision & Interpretation

Now as we come to Daniel 8, you have to wonder why did God spell out something like this? Why is this important to God? I think, first of all, that we understand God knows the end from the beginning. He knows the future in detail and He delights to reveal some of it to us. Now, we don't know it all but we know enough to see that God holds the future in his hand. And secondly, why does he reveal it in this way? If you look and read through Daniel 8, you'll see the confusion in Daniel's mind. Daniel, one of the wisest man that ever lived. He could not understand it unless God sent Gabriel or some way to explain it and so it is also with the wisdom that comes from God. God knows all things. We know nothing unless God is pleased to reveal it to us.

And so we come to Daniel 8 and what I like to do is take it in parts so that we don't get overwhelmed by what's in here. Let's look at verses 1-8 and see the vision described and then we'll interpret it. Beginning at verse 1.

"In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, had a vision after the one that had already appeared to me and in my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. In the vision, I was beside the Ulai canal. I looked up and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal and the horns were long, one of the horns was longer than the other, but grew up later. I watched the ram as he charged toward the west, and the north, and the south. No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great. As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came to towards the two horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him. The goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his power. The goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn, was broken off and in its place, four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven."

II. The Vision Described and Interpreted

Context: Time, Place, Circumstances (vs. 1-2)

The context, the time, place and circumstances of Daniel's vision are given in verse 1-2, it's the third year of Belshazzar's reign. Remember, Belshazzar is the one that had had the writing on the wall. The one I described to you earlier, the one who was the final ruler of the Babylonian Empire. The one who drank a toast to the gods of wood and iron and stone from the vessels taken from the temple of the Lord, this Belshazzar. The time was probably 553 BC, about 200 years before Alexander the Great and he said that this vision came after the previous vision. Well, what vision was that? It's the vision, we just discussed over the last two weeks in Daniel chapter 7, the vision of the four beast that came up out of the disturbed and turbulent sea. And we saw that these were four great world empires; the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and then the Roman Empire.

We also saw the vision of one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven to bring in a kingdom that will never end. And we saw that this was Jesus Christ, the Son of Man whose kingdom will never end. The place of the vision is given as the citadel of Susa. Now, this is visionary language, and so we're really not sure if he was physically in Susa or just traveled there in the Spirit as Ezekiel from time to time, would travel in the Spirit or as the Apostle John would travel in the Spirit to see visions, of heaven, but he may have been physically there because he was a high-ranking official in the Babylonian Empire, and Susa was an important city. It was the capital of the Elamites, the ancient capital of the Elamites about 250 miles east of Babylon. It would later become the capital of the Persian empire, it was the home of Nehemiah, for example, and of Queen Esther wife of King Xerxes.

And as he was standing there, he was by the Ulai canal. It says this was a wide artificial canal connecting the Choaspes and the Coprates river. This is a physical place and that's where he was in his vision, so in the vision he's kind of tied to an actual city and a little detail of the city, a small canal and that's where he has his vision and what does he see in the vision?

The Ram with Two Horns (vs. 3-4, 20)

Well, he sees a ram with two horns. In verse 3 and 4, "I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns standing beside the canal and the horns were long, and one of the horns was longer than the other, but grew up later." Well, this must be the Medo-Persian Empire, and we know it because it says so down in verse 20, look down at verse 20, the two horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation, but will not have the same power. So we get Gabriel, the angel coming and telling us literally what this means. So we don't have any doubt at all. This is the Medo-Persian empire.

And one horn is longer than the other because the Persian power was greater than that of the Medes, very specific, and then suddenly the conquests, are described in verse 4, of the Medo-Persians, "I watched the ram as he charged toward the west and the north and the south, no animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power, he did as he pleased," it says, "And became great." So the Medo-Persian empire was the greatest empire that the world had seen, up to that time. It spread from northern Ethiopia, all the way to the Black Sea. It spread from the Asian or the Aegean Sea near Greece, all the way as far as the Indus River almost to India and China. It was an incredible empire, it traveled westward, northward, southward and it was totally dominant. Nobody could stand against its power.

It says of the kings of Medo-Persia that they did as they pleased, or he, the goat, did as he pleased and became great. This is the ultimate desire, isn't it of human beings in vaunting themselves against God. We want to do as we please and we want to become great. We want to be worshipped like gods. That was the original temptation in the Garden of Eden. And so we see its fulfillment in these human empires, these tyrannical reigns, these kings who want to do as they please and conquer and dominate; the essence of human rebellion, against God.

The Goat with One Horn (vs. 5-8, 21-22)

Well, as he's watching all of a sudden comes this goat. Now, you think in a contest between a goat and a ram, the goat has no chance. The ram is bigger, it's more imposing, it's more powerful and it's got these strong horns. And along comes this goat with just one horn. Look at it again in verses 5-8. "As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came toward the two horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him. The goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his power. So Daniel is pondering this ram with the two horns, he's intensely interested, the Hebrew is very strong, he was very interested in this vision of the ram, he's mystified by it and not sure what it is. And then all of a sudden comes this goat and it's moving fast. I mean, it's flying, it's almost like a missile, it's a goat missile. Can you imagine a goat missile? And it's coming fast from the west.

Versus 5 and also 21 describes him with a single prominent horn coming up from between its eyes and the origin of the goat, it says it's from the west. Well, it just so happens that Macedonia is from the west, it's coming from Greece. The Persians were never able to settle the Greeks down, there was an ongoing struggle between the two, and they never quieted them down and there was a great deal of bad blood between the Greeks and the Persians, a lot of history there. And so from the west came this goat and it's moving fast, it says it's crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. Remember in Chapter 7, what represented the Greek Empire. It was a leopard with four wings, speed, agility, that was the picture. It moved fast and it conquered fast. There's an enraged charge of the goat in verse 6-7, and a complete conquest by the goat in verse 7, and then at the height of his power, that prominent horn is cut off and the kingdom is divided into four, four equal parts, a four-fold division of the kingdom. This is the vision.

III. Detailed Fulfillment #1: Alexander the Great

Now, what is the fulfillment? Well, you don't read the fulfillment in scripture, you have to go to secular history, classical history to understand what happened and there is no shortage of accounts of the life of Alexander the Great. You see, Alexander was intensely interested in his legacy. He was intensely interested in history. He knew who he was or at least who he thought he was. And so it came about, his father Philip II of Macedonia had organized a coalition of Macedonian troops and they began to conquer Greece. His first conquest was over a small mining town, right near his area. This is Phillip now, his father, changed the name of that town to Philippi and we have the book Philippians from Alexander the Great's Father Philip, that was the first conquest, but at the height of his power, he was assassinated and his young son, Alexander, a mere 19 years old, took over Greece at that point. So in effect he was the first king of a united Greece because the conquest wasn't completed yet and Alexander took over.

Rise to Power

Now, Alexander had been born July or August perhaps 356 BC. After Alexander's life, there are lots of myths that grew up about him, about supernatural birth and other things like that but he was just a man, human being, his father was obviously wealthy and powerful and had him tutored with the best tutor available who happened to be Aristotle. So Aristotle tutored Alexander. Aristotle, one of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece, and he tutored him in the ways of Greek culture and he became, in effect, a disciple or an apostle of Greek culture and everywhere Alexander went, he spread the Greek language and Greek culture. He had a vision of the supremacy of Hellenism of Greece and he got that from Aristotle.

When he was eight years old, his father bought him a mighty war horse, a charger, a steed named Bucephalus. Nobody could even get near the horse. It was a very proud and powerful horse. Alexander was just eight years old, and he watched for a while, and he said, "Father, I'd like to try to ride him," and his father just stared at him and he said, "You're going to get hurt." He said, "I want to do it." And so, he got down there and he took the horse and turned it toward the sun and it kind of blinded it, right in the sun, and then while it was blinded and somewhat confused, he jumped up, he jumped up on his back and he conquered that horse just like that. Bucephalus rode with him everywhere he went. He became his horse and as he conquered, he went everywhere he went and his father Phillip said to him after that you'll have to find another kingdom. Macedonia, won't be big enough for you. So from the very start of his life, he was kind of groomed with visions of grandeur and conquest.

Vengeance on the Persians

The time came for him to invade Asia. I don't know if it was because of that vision I had mentioned earlier, where he had a dream of somebody saying, "You will conquer," but off he went. His armies crossed the Dardanelles, and they spread over into Asia Minor. Alexander the Great, went to Troy, ancient Troy, the enemy of the Greeks and he went there and he took the shield of Achilles that ancient Greek hero and he carried that with him everywhere he went, he had delusions of grandeur, always thinking of himself in this way and everywhere he went, he wanted eternal glory. That's what his biographer said, he was seeking eternal glory. In lightning fashion, he went down, he conquered down the coast down into Egypt, went back up and defeated Darius the King of the Persians in two key battles; Issus and Gaugamela, two battles. And within three years, the whole world lay at his feet. Three years. Lightning conquest.

Lightning Warfare, Lightning Conquest

He continued to march for another 10 years, went all the way to the Indus River. His army marched with him for 20,000 miles in 10 years. Think about that 20,000 miles in 10 years. Average of 2,000 miles a year, that's a full army marching with all their equipment, incredible speed. And everywhere he went, he had victories. He never lost a battle, never a single battle. Finally, his men said, "Enough is enough. What we're going to go on into the Himalayas? We're going to go, going to continue going east?" They wanted to stop, they wanted to go home, enough was enough, and he sat down and wept because there was no where else for him to conquer. Incredible speed of assault, three years Persia destroyed, 10 years the known world, conquered. Some days he pushed his army to march 36 miles in a single day.

Zeus-Ammon: the Symbol of the Horn

While he was in Egypt, he was crowned Zeus Amun, the son of Zeus. On the cover of your bulletin, there's a coin there, a picture of Alexander the Great and coming out of the side of his head is a horn. This is an ancient coin from Alexandria, Egypt, the city that he established. It's still the finest port in Egypt. It's named after himself. And by the way, everywhere he went he planted cities which he named Alexandria. There are 30 Alexandrias that he started but Alexandria Egypt is the most famous of them all and there he was crowned Zeus Amun and he was declared to be a God, the son of Zeus. Do you see the horn coming out? It looks a little bit like the hair. You have to look at it a while but you see it curving around, it represents his power. It's remarkably like the vision that Daniel had had 200 years before hand.

World Domination

And so, he conquered from Yugoslavia to the Himalayas, 3200 miles about the distance from LA to New York and he organized an efficient Empire, and he had future dreams to build a thousand warships and conquer North Africa beyond Italy, all the way to Gibraltar; to build a road supply along Southern Mediterranean coast for all of his ships. He had a vision of a harmony of all of Asia and Europe, an intermingling of all peoples and languages and tribes. He wrote about this often. A vision of one world and one culture under the Greeks, and he would be its eternal king because he believed himself to be a God. And then he came to Babylon. Came to Babylon. No where else for him to conquer just to organize his empire that would be the seat of his power.

Self-Destruction

Verse 8, "The goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off." Well, this is how it happened. They were having a feast and somebody brought to him. So it goes, the story goes, the Hercules bowl, a huge bowl and no one had ever been able to drink a whole Hercules bowl of wine, and so he was challenged and he never backed down from a challenge, that's what his pride was, his ego and so he drank it to the bottom in order it to be filled again and always filled the second time, and he drank it to the bottom and died several days later from alcohol poisoning. He conquered the world, but he couldn't concur himself.

Kingdom divided

The height of his power is cut off now, he left no heir and so his foremost powerful generals divided the kingdom among themselves. Cassander ruled in Macedonia and Greece. Ptolemy in Egypt, Selecus in Babylonia and Lysimachus in Thrace in Asia Minor. This is a clear fulfillment of prophecy maybe the clearest detail of this entire vision, the fact that his kingdom was divided into four parts, the goat became very great verse 8, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off and in its place, four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. Verse 22, The four horns that replaced the one that broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power, clear fulfillment of prophecy.

Impact

Now, what is the significance of Alexander the Great to us as Christians? Well, he's unified the world under Hellenism and therefore all of you who have studied the Bible know that the New Testament is written in what language? In Greek and why is that? Because Alexander conquered Palestine. And so many Jews were Greek speakers and the New Testament was written in Greek. Above Jesus' head when He was crucified, there was written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews, in what languages? In latin because that was the power language of the time. In Hebrew, Aramaic because that was a religious language, and then in Greek, because that was the language of commerce and culture, and why because of Alexander the Great. But he did not leave an empire that endured for ever rather he died and his empire was divided and was never that powerful again.

IV. The Vision Extended: The “Little Horn” (vs. 9-12, 23-26)

The Description and Rise of the “Little Horn” (vs. 9-12, 23-36)

Now, in verses 9-12, we have another vision, a vision of a little horn. "Out of one of those four horns the four kingdom that was divided, came another horn, which started small, but grew in power to the south and the east, and toward the beautiful land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens and it threw down some of the starry host to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the prince of the host. It took away the daily sacrifice from him and the place of his sanctuary was brought low, because of rebellion the host of the saints from the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did and truth was thrown to the ground."

This rise of the little horn parallels that we've already seen in Daniel 7, the description and rise of the little horn also seen in verses 23-26. In the latter part of the rein, it says in verse 23, "when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern faced king, a master of intrigue will arise. He will become very strong but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the prince of princes. Yet, he will be destroyed but not by human power.

The War on the Saints and the Desecration of the Temple

So there is a horn to grow up, out of this, one of these four Greek sub-empires, this little horn and who is this little horn? Well, it is Antiochus IV called The Ephiphanes. He lived in the 2nd century BC, he was not a mighty conqueror. Rather, he was a usurper, a master politician. He had the ability to work intrigue and to gain positions of power, and influence for himself.

In the year 175 BC, he secured the high priesthood from the Jews and he pressured the Jews to show loyalty to Greek culture and to idolatry. Many Jews were persecuted, and put to death. Antiochus then was guilty of blasphemy, he ascended himself up to be an incarnation of Zeus, just as Alexander before him acclaimed to be, and not only that, he went into the holy of holies, into the temple itself, he cut off all animal sacrifices, all the sacrifices of God for 2300, it says mornings and evenings. Now, some people think this was 1150 full days, 1150 mornings, 1150 evenings. I think that fits better with history. We know that the Jews were commanded to offer morning and evening sacrifices and Antiochus cut those off. God had no sacrifices because of Antiochus. Rather Antiochus wanted to be worshiped. He set himself up as an incarnation of Zeus. He had an idol put in the holy of holies and even worse, he had pigs taken into the sanctuary and sacrificed, and pigs blood anointed all over the altar and in the holy of holies.

Can there be a greater defilement of the temple than that? Antiochus totally usurping power, setting himself up to be worshiped and then desecrating the temple. This was a direct assault on God Himself, and the scripture says very plainly that he also will be cut off but not by human hands. Now we're going to learn more about Antiochus in Chapter 11 in Daniel 11.

The Hanukkah Story: The Reconsecration of the Temple

But basically what happened was he was on a trip and God struck him dead with a disease. He was dead within a week, suddenly he died. God will not forget this kind of open rebellion, and in 164 BC, just three years after he had desecrated the temple, Judas Maccabeus, (this is written in the apocryphal I Maccabeus) reconquered Jerusalem, took over the temple, had it cleansed ceremonially from all the pigs blood, and the idolatry. Re-established worship to God and they found in one part of the temple, a little vial of oil that had not been desecrated, a little bottle of oil that they could use for the burning for the light within the Holy of Holies, just enough for one day.

But yet, so the story goes that, miraculously burned for eight days. And so, our Jewish neighbors celebrate Hannukah every year. Eight candles for eight days, the eight days that the temple that that oil burned miraculously after the temple had been cleansed. Specific fulfillment.

V. The “Little Horns” of Daniel 8 & 7: Type and Fulfillment

 Now, as you look at Daniel 8 and Chapter 7, who are these little horns? Well, you have to compare them. There are some similarities. Both of them arise out of Gentile kingdoms coming from one of these beasts. There is a similar career a conquest of rivals, war against the saints, blasphemy against God, desire to be worshipped in God's temple and its demise not done by human hands, but there's some significant differences too, aren't there?

This one arises out of the third beast, doesn't it? The Daniel Chapter 8 horn arises out of Greece, but the Daniel Chapter 7 horn arises out of the fourth beast. And so, what is the relationship between the two? I think it's a relationship between pattern and fulfillment. Things were acted out in history, in the 2nd century BC that we will see again at the second coming of Christ. Things were acted out by Antiochus IV fourth called epiphanies which means manifestation of God that's what he claimed to be, acted out in a small scale just in a little part of the world, that it's going to happen again at the second coming of Christ with the true anti-Christ.

Type and fulfillment. It says in 1 John 2:8, "Dear children. This is the last hour. And as you have heard that the anti-Christ is coming, many anti-Christ, have now come." And so this pattern is set and it would be replayed again, just one generation after Jesus Christ when the temple that Jesus visited was destroyed and he called it the abomination of desolation. We'll learn about that in Daniel 9. But the Romans came in that fourth beast, and they destroyed and desecrated the temple, and it has never been rebuilt. Some scholars believe that the temple will be rebuilt. II Thessalonians 2 says, The anti-Christ, the man of sin will sit in God's temple and make himself out to be God in God's temple, II Thessalonians 2. And so we have a pattern, a kind of an acting out in history by Antiochus of something that's going to happen, yet in the future.

VI. Application

Now, as we look at this, Daniel 8, all these details, you think, "What does this have to do with me? What does this have to do with my life?" Well, first of all, I think we have to understand it relates to God's ability to know in detail the future. Does it matter to you what happens to you in the future? Does it make a difference? Would it make any difference to you to know whether you're going to heaven or hell? Would that make a difference to you?

I think it would make a difference to me. I don't think it's possible to live until you're ready to die. And we know that death is coming for all of us. It came to Alexander the Great and it's coming to us. Are you ready for that? But God has given us specific promises, whoever trusts in Jesus Christ will have eternal life, and no one can take that life from us, and so God has declared the future before it has even happened. Further more, it says that some day he will return in glory to set up his kingdom. Are you waiting for that? How can you pray the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done," without believing in a God who knows the future. And say, it absolutely will happen, and so we can pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come." And know it will certainly happen, because God has shown his track record, his specific performance in the past.

I think we also need to realize that history matters. Only a handful of you are really that interested in Alexander the Great. Some of you would watch a documentary about him in UNC-TV or something like that. Others couldn't be bothered. But I think the fact of the matter is, that God cares intensely about history, he cares a lot. This is Christianity, the only religion that's woven together through historical events. Do you realize that it? It makes a difference whether Adam and Eve ever lived. It makes a difference whether there was someone named Abraham, who was called out and promises were made to him. It makes a difference whether the Jews ever lived in Egypt and were slaves, and then led out by Moses. It makes a difference. It makes a difference whether there ever was a Joshua, conquered the promised land, whether there was or was not a king David makes a difference.

It makes a difference, whether there was a Jesus of Nazareth born in Bethlehem of a virgin, lived for 30, some odd years, ministered, died on the cross, rose from the dead. It makes a difference. History matters because if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, we're still in our sins. History makes a difference but your personal history makes a difference too.

Remember, last week we talked about in Daniel 7, the court was seated and the books were open or what's in the books? Your history, every word you've ever spoken, everything you've ever done, it's all written down. God is a meticulous and careful historian, he cares about history and so we need a savior. Because we could look at that. Daniel said very clearly that the Alexander the Great came and was cut off in the height of his power. He needed a savior, and so do you. Jesus Christ said, "What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul. What would a man give in exchange for his soul?" Has there ever been a man who came so close to conquering the whole world as Alexander the Great and yet he could not conquer himself. But Jesus Christ came to give eternal life to all those who claimed him. I want to finish by giving a comparison.

VII. The contrast between King Jesus and King Alexander:

1. Alexander crushed His enemies, leaving them shattered and poverty-stricken
2. Jesus saved His enemies, leaving them eternally blessed and wealthy
3. Alexander boasted and exalted Himself
4. Jesus was meek and lowly of heart and laid His majestic glory down in order to save us
5. Alexander claimed to be the son of Zeus
6. Jesus was the Son of God
7. Alexander wept that there were no more peoples to conquer
8. Jesus wept when Jerusalem would not believe in Him
9. Alexander died in his early thirties in a drunken feast of pride and dissipation
10. Jesus died in his early thirties on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sins
11. Alexander’s body rotted in a grave
12. Jesus’ body rose from the dead on the third day
13. Alexander’s soul was eternally judged for his sins
14. Jesus is Alexander’s judge
15. Alexander built a world-wide empire... all that remains is the reputation
16. Christ is still building His world-wide empire... it will last eternally

I. Human Pride: The Root of All Evils

Go to your Bibles and open to Daniel chapter 4. As we continue in our series in Daniel, we look at one of the most important chapters in the Bible. The reason I say that is because this chapter opens up what I consider to be my soul's greatest enemy, also the greatest enemy of what God wants to do in this church, and that is pride. The more I've gone on in my Christian life the more I see that as I trace back troubles in my life, it roots back to pride, time and time and time again. Everything that God wants to do in our lives, pride opposes. Everything. If you're not a Christian and I were to stand and tell you that your righteousness was like filthy rags in God's sight, there's something inside you that riles up. What is that? Well, it's pride. And if I were to tell you that you had to receive salvation as a gift paying nothing, but just receiving it simply as a gift, there's something inside you that says, no it can't be. "We are more unwilling," said a Puritan scholar, "to give up our righteousness than our sins." And why is that? Because of pride.

Alright, and then once you become a Christian, are you finished? Are you saved, you're done? No, our "salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed," there's a journey to be traveled. "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me," that's journey language, isn't it? And what is it that fights every step of the journey? It is pride. Because as we're advancing we're putting sin to death, we're seeing problems in our lives, they're exposed by Scripture, by good preaching, by a friend who speaks the truth to us, and there's something inside that fights. And what is it? It is pride. And so we have pride exposed and revealed in Daniel chapter 4. But we have more than that, we have the remedy and the only remedy, a sovereign God who sits on a throne and who reveals Himself in all His majesty and His splendor as a King of kings and a Lord of lords. Who rules over the kingdoms of men and over individual men no matter how powerful they are.

And so the final phrase in this chapter has become for me one of the sweetest in all the Bible, those who walk in pride He is able to humble. It's a remedy. Our God is a God who hates pride and yet deals with it so wisely, and we're going to see that today. Preaching in the year 411, St. Augustine as he was ordaining a bishop warned against pride, and he said this, he said, "Pride is a great vice, and the first of vices, the beginning, the origin, and the cause of all sins." Now stop and think about that, the beginning, the origin, the cause of all sins. It's what cast down an angel and made him into the devil. Pride was the cup which on being cast down he gave to the man still standing for him to drink. The beginning of every sin is pride, because pride is the desire to replace God with oneself.

The Story of Narcissus

There's a story told in ancient Greek mythology of Narcissus, you remember the story about Narcissus, a beautiful youth, too beautiful, too proud for anyone, couldn't find any friend or soul mates. And so one day he looked into a crystal pool and what did he see? A beautiful soul mate, himself, he fell in love with himself. By way of contrast. Do you realize that the number one tourist attraction in the United States is the Grand Canyon? Now you may wonder what in the world do those two have to do with each other? Well, let me ask you a question, how many of you have been on vacation in the last year? Go ahead, put your hands up. How many of you have spent your vacation looking at a mirror? Have you ever gone and stared at a mirror for your vacation? Don't you rather go to the ocean or the mountains or the Grand Canyon or something outside of yourself that's glorious and majestic and lifts you up out of your circumstances? And so we have a tension in our soul, we see the Narcissus, we see the mirror, the gazing inward and wanting to find all fulfillment there, and yet we're not satisfied. And so on vacation time we go to the Grand Canyon and see something majestic.

And so what is it? Well, the Grand Canyon represents that which is left in our soul of a yearning after God. We're hungry for Him, we want Him, we yearn for Him. Narcissus represents what sin has done, we try to take what was meant for God and focus inward on ourselves, we yearn for ourselves, we find the answers in ourselves, we're satisfied like Nebuchadnezzar walking on the palace roof with everything that we have accomplished. It's good enough for us. Pride. And so therefore the central lessons in Daniel 4 we need to hear very much. That God rules over the kingdoms of men and is satisfying to the soul, and that those who walk in pride He is able to humble.

II. Nebuchadnezzar Narrates the Vision (vs. 1-18)

Now, what I propose to do because it's a lengthy narrative chapter, is to go through it section by section rather than reading through it all at once, but rather to explain what happened in this chapter, so that we might understand how God worked in Nebuchadnezzar's life. Now, in verses 1 through 18 Nebuchadnezzar narrates a vision that he had. And in verse 1 through 3, the first section of this, he gives a proclamation or an address to the members of his kingdom. And this is what he says, "To the peoples, nations, and men of every language who live in all the world may you prosper greatly. It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me, how great are His signs, how mighty His wonders, His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, His dominion endures from generation to generation." This is a proclamation that Nebuchadnezzar wrote. The timing of it is probably immediately after his restoration, after his mind was restored from that of an animal. And he wanted to tell everyone what God had done in his life. Earlier we heard two wonderful testimonies about what God had done in the lives of two sisters in Christ, this is Nebuchadnezzar's testimony about what God had done in his life, and he wants everyone to know about it, he's written a universal greeting.

And it's not just to the members of the Babylonian kingdom of 500 BC, it's for us today, because here it is in Scripture, it's very unusual chapter, it's the only chapter in all the Bible written by a pagan king. And yet God, through His Holy Spirit, brought it to us so that we might understand.

The Culmination of a Spiritual Journey?

Could this be the culmination of a spiritual journey for Nebuchadnezzar? Could it be that God has been working, navigating in Nebuchadnezzar's life, bringing him to a point of brokenness before God, where he's ready to accept that Heaven rules and that there is a God on the throne? Remember in Chapter 1, Nebuchadnezzar was introduced to four extraordinary Jewish youths, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Extraordinary. He said they were 10 hands better than anyone he had found in his kingdom, 10 times better. And they spoke of a God who's the only God, the ruler above all gods, and it was the God of Israel. A bit of a puzzlement. I thought I just defeated Israel on the battlefield. How can this be? And so already the wheel is beginning to turn.

And then suddenly Daniel chapter 2, an extraordinary vision that he has, which he cannot understand. And he wants so much to know what this vision means. And he calls in all of his wise men and he says, "You must do two things. Number one, you must tell me what the dream is, and number two, you must interpret it for me." None of them could do that, it would be a miracle. I can't read your thoughts, oh, king. Nobody can do this. But God could, and He did it through his spokesman Daniel. And you remember that vision was of human history, of the expanse of the kingdoms after Nebuchadnezzar. This got Nebuchadnezzar to thinking. What is this "after Nebuchadnezzar" thing? What is this "after Babylon" problem? I thought our kingdom was the final kingdom. No, not at all. There's going to be another kingdom and then another and then another and on and on until at last a kingdom from heaven rules over all the earth. I don't like that. As a matter of fact, I'm going to set up a gold statue, gold top to bottom, not just a head of gold representing Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. We're going to have the whole thing gold, and everybody's going to come and worship it, worship me. Everybody's going to get down on their face and worship, and anyone who doesn't is thrown into a fiery furnace.

Well, three Jews wouldn't, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, their names in their Jewish tongue. And Nebuchadnezzar threw them in to the fiery furnace and God spared their lives. What a miracle! And out they come. God is working in Nebuchadnezzar. And in the middle of that, he says, "what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" Well, we'll introduce you to Him, little by little. You're going to get to know what God. Chapter 4, he really gets to know what God is able to save. For there is only one God able to save. And so this is, I believe, a culminating of the work inside Nebuchadnezzar. Do you know that no one comes to salvation in Christ without work like that? You don't suddenly decide one day, "I'm going to believe in Jesus. Jesus seems good to me. I think I'll follow Him. I have decided to follow Jesus." Suddenly, without anything, you just decide to follow Jesus, is that it? Or has there been a working inside you by the Holy Spirit, a process different from Nebuchadnezzar's but not so different, a process of humbling where you come to know your need for God.

Jesus said in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." And so this is a drawing. Now, I must tell you, I don't know whether Nebuchadnezzar's in heaven or not. I hope so. Wouldn't you love to get up there and talk to him personally, to find out what it could be that would transform a tyrant, a slaughterer, a bloodthirsty empire builder into a child of God? I hope he's there. And what a journey he's traveled even in this section. So he greets them and he gives his worship. He wants everyone to know about the miracles, the signs and wonders that God had done in his life, and of the awesome kingdom of God.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Circumstances (vs. 4-5)

In verses 4 and 5 he speaks of his circumstances. "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous. I had a dream that made me afraid. And as I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind had terrified me." So there he is in verse 4, comfortably in sin. There's no more dangerous place to be than comfortable in sin, and so he was. He was at ease. All the wars had been fought, the borders were all at peace, he was secure in his throne, he had everything he wanted, everything. He felt good. The Aramaic likens him to a green tree. Interesting, because in a moment he's going to have a vision or a dream of a tree. He said, "I was green and flourishing in my palace." That's what it says literally. Comfortable. Nebuchadnezzar had reached the pinnacle of power and wealth. Babylon was a fantastic creation of his military might and conquest, and of his technological skill and his administrative ability to organize people to do great things. He was still a relatively young man, so his life laid out ahead of him. Things looked good for him, but his pride was a stench in the nostrils of God Almighty, and so also was the way that he had built his empire by bloodshed, and so also was the way he was running his empire by oppression of the poor. He was in deep trouble with God despite his contentedness.

Someone once said of the preaching ministry that the job of a preacher is to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. How do you do that in one message? How do you do both? How do you disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed? Well, Nebuchadnezzar was which of the two? He was comfortable and he needed to be disturbed, and God sent him a vision to do that. As John Newton put it beautifully, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." First we fear, and then we come into a peace of knowing that God has forgiven us.

Wisdom of Man Inept Again!! (vs. 6-7)

And so he has a terrifying dream, and he wakes up sweating and gasping, perhaps, from that dream. An awesome vision of a tree which is going to be cut down. So he calls in his counselors again. I don't know how much money is spent on counseling in the US every year, and I wonder if it's as effective as this. Call the counselors in there, let's see if we can get some wisdom. Verse 6 and 7, "So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. When the magicians and enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me."

Now, this is odd. Remember what I told you earlier that the wise men, the enchanters, all had a whole system of dream interpretation? They had worked these things out. Is this a really hard dream to figure out? Well, maybe for us, but realize, the image of a flourishing tree is pretty obviously the king, and when the tree is cut down, it's pretty obviously some kind of judgment. The details may be difficult, but not really, I don't think. So why is it these interpreters couldn't interpret the dream for him? Well, I think they may have been afraid. It could be they knew very well what the dream signified but they didn't want to say. Nebuchadnezzar has this habit of throwing people into fiery furnaces and chopping off heads. So they huddled together and were befuddled and didn't know what to say.

Daniel: God’s Spokesman Again! (vs. 8-9, 18

So in comes God's spokesman again, and that's Daniel, verse 8 and 9, "Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. He is called Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him. I said, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream, interpret it for me." As usual, notice Daniel doesn't have anything to do with those guys, the counselors and all those folks. He is separate from them. And he makes his entrance separate. And he speaks in a different way. He talks differently. He talks of a Holy God. Notice that Nebuchadnezzar is now speaking of holy gods.

Do you know what the holiness of God is? Separation. He's above all His creation, and He's separate from evil, separate from creation, separate from evil. That's the holiness of God. And so he's speaking of a holy God, or holy gods, and notice there's some vestiges of his paganism here. That's why I'm not sure if he's in heaven or not. "The spirit of the holy gods is in him." "Belteshazzar after the name of my god." Oh, give up that god, Nebuchadnezzar. Come to the true God, the eternal God.

And he remembers the earlier interpretation, no "mystery is too difficult for you." And in verse 18, he says, "This is the dream that I, Nebuchadnezzar had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me, but you can because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."

Nebuchadnezzar relates his vision (vs. 10-18)

And then in verses 10 through 18 he relates his vision. First is the description of the tree, verse 10 through 12, "These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed. I looked and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky. It was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful. Its fruit abundant and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter and the birds of the air lived in its branches, from it every creature was fed."

So the vision is of an immense tree standing all by itself. It's an isolated tree in the middle of the land. It's an enormous tree of great height. It's a growing tree reaching to the heavens and spreading to the ends of the earth. It's a beautiful and fruitful tree and a protective and providing tree. All the beasts of the earth come and find protection and provision under its branches. In verses 13 through 16, we have the judgment proclaimed, "In the visions I saw while lying on my bed, I looked and there before me was a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He called in a loud voice: 'Cut down the tree and trim off its branches. Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit, let the animals flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. But let the stump and its roots bound with iron and bronze remain in the ground in the grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal till seven times pass by for him.'"

So Nebuchadnezzar has a personal vision. While he's lying in bed this vision comes, and the vision comes from God and the vision comes as a warning to him. Our God is so gracious, so gracious. He gives us so much time to repent and so much clear warning of why we should repent. The messenger comes literally in the Aramaic, a watcher, or a watchman. That's what the angels are called, the watcher. And so the watcher comes down and gives this proclamation in a loud voice. And notice in verse 16 it suddenly... Or verse 15, it suddenly says, "Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven." We're talking not about a tree, are we? We're not talking about a tree. What are we talking about? We're talking about a person. And he's going to be banded about, restrained and constricted in some way, and he's going to be drenched with the dew of heaven until seven times pass by, that's seven years, and he acknowledges that the most high is sovereign. That's a lesson declared in verse 17, "The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men."

The Lesson Declared (vs. 17)

What's the point? What's the point of all this? This lesson? That everyone may know, including you who are sitting and listening today, that God rules over earth. Our God is a sovereign, interfering God. He doesn't just let it roll on the way it just rolls, but He rules. He interferes. He is King and you must acknowledge that, Nebuchadnezzar. You must stop living as though you're the final word. Acknowledge that you got your kingdom from me.

III. Daniel Interprets the Vision (vs. 19-27)

Well, in 19 through 27 Daniel interprets the vision. First we see Daniel's compassionate reaction. "Then Daniel (also called Belteshazzar) was greatly perplexed for a time, and his thoughts terrified him so the king said, 'Belteshazzar, do not let this dream or its meaning alarm you.'" Daniel, I believe, loved Nebuchadnezzar. He was compassionate. We preach the judgment of God with tears in our eyes. We don't preach out of a sense of vindication. But rather that they may repent and not face the wrath of God. And so he said, "My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!" He's genuinely compassionate. I think he feared for Nebuchadnezzar's soul. It's serious business to vaunt yourself up against the King of heaven.

Serious business to challenge God. Daniel knew it and he was fearing for Nebuchadnezzar's soul. And then with courage, the courage and love that God gives, he clearly explains the vision. Verse 20 through 26, "First of all you are the tree Nebuchadnezzar." Verse 20, "The tree saw which grew large and strong with it's top touching the sky visible to the whole earth with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit providing food for all giving shelter to the beasts of the field and having nesting places in its branches for the birds of the air. You oh king are that tree. You have become great and strong, your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky and your dominion extends to the distant parts of the earth." You're the king and you are the tree and God is going to judge you. Verse 23, "You O king saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, 'Cut down the tree and destroy it but leave the stump bound with iron and bronze in the grass of the field while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, let him live like wild animals until seven times pass by for him.'" Notice the repetition, can it be any clearer?

It's very clear what's going to happen to Nebuchadnezzar. He's going to be judged by God because of his pride, because of his arrogance. And so in verses 24 to 26 Daniel gives the interpretation, "This is the interpretation O king. And this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle, you will be drenched with the dew of heaven, seven times will pass by for you, until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that heaven rules." So there it is. Daniel is clear, he's plain, horrible shame is threatened. He's going to be stripped of all his splendor and his kingly majesty, he's going to be brought low, he's going to be humbled, and yet even in the midst of the judgment God remembers mercy. He's tenderhearted. He doesn't kill him, doesn't strike him dead and not only that He doesn't permanently take his kingdom away, but after seven times have passed by "your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that heaven rules."

The Character of Daniel

And then in verse 27 we see the mark of Daniel's character, his courage, "Therefore O king be pleased to accept my advice." This is the preaching. "Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed, it may be then that your prosperity will continue." The mark of a true prophet of God is the ability to say things that people don't want to hear because they desperately need to hear them. The courage of Daniel here, he's standing in front of Nebuchadnezzar, he's got compassion, he's got tears in his eyes, but he's telling the truth. "Repent oh king, turn from your wicked ways, turn from your sins, renounce what you're doing, stop your oppression of the poor." He listed specifically not just your sins generally the oppression of the poor. "It may be that God will not send this calamity on you." Now you know what happened. Verses 28 through 33 is the fulfillment of a vision. If this were a movie we would have a little sign at this point, one year later.

VI. God Fulfills the Vision (vs. 28-33)

After one year. Now we don't know what happened in that one year. 12 months. Verse 28, "All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon he said, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as a royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?'" Doesn't it make you sick? Oh my goodness the arrogance. Aren't I wonderful? And look at what I've done. Isn't it great? I mean he is so full of himself. And where is he? He is walking up high on the roof of his palace. One puritan preacher said, "Men will often rise up to great heights not like Zacchaeus to see Jesus but rather to be seen." Well Nebuchadnezzar went up to see but not to see God. But rather to see the things he'd accomplished in his life. God had been patient and waiting. Last week you heard about the sword of Damocles hanging over. That sword had been hanging over him by a thread for 12 months and at last the twine is cut. Was it something I said? Yeah it was something you said. You vaunted yourself against the King of heaven. You're so full of yourself, you're arrogant and out of the fullness of the heart, what? The mouth speaks. It came right up out of here. It's over, judgment is coming.

And it's sudden and severe justice. Verse 31, "The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, 'This is what is decreed for you King Nebuchadnezzar, your royal authority has been taken from you. You'll be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes.'" Now our modern worldview talks about evolution, we come up out of the slime up into ever higher grades of splendor. This is devolution here, it's down down down. He's stripped of his authority, he's stripped of society, he's stripped of his sanity, he's stripped of his humanity. If you're going to think like a beast you're going to be a beast, Nebuchadnezzar. "And immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird." There's a modern name for this boanthropy.

When a man thinks he's a cattle, you think how is this possible, it's got to be mythological. No, actually, in 1946, there was a British physician that came across a case of boanthropy in England. I read about the account, it's amazing. This guy was in his early 20s, and as soon as he is admitted, they knew what the problem was, although it was very rare. Maybe someone had read Daniel 4 and said, "Well, I know what this is. It's that Nebuchadnezzar disease." But what this guy did was he walked around on all fours and he ate grass out of magnificent hospital lawns, beautiful. And he was seen to select between types of grass. He wouldn't eat, for example, crab grass, but he would eat other types of grass. It's real, this really happened. Very rare though, have you ever met anyone with boanthropy? Very unusual, but it has happened, and it happened to Nebuchadnezzar.

The Mercy of God

So there he was for seven years. But in wrath, Habakkuk 3:2, in wrath, God remembered mercy. Do you know that in Acts 12, King Herod vaunted himself up against God? And what happened to him? He died. It's over, just like that. But God didn't kill Nebuchadnezzar, He gave him seven years. And He did not give him seven years to repent. He gave seven years until He permitted him to repent. Do you see the difference? He couldn't repent at five years or three years or two years. God grants repentance. If you don't think so, read 2 Timothy 2:25. God Grants repentance as a gift, and he gave it to Nebuchadnezzar to repent after seven years, not before then. It was a gift. "At the end of that time, I Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my sanity was restored, then I praised the Most High. I honored and glorified Him Who lives forever." His mind could have been changed forever. He could have lost his throne forever, but God restored him

V. Nebuchadnezzar Learns and Proclaims the Lesson (vs. 34-37)

Verse 36, "At that same time, my sanity was restored. My honor and my splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisors and nobles sought me out and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before." Now we're going from the ground back up. His sanity is restored, his humanity is restored, his society is restored, his advisors and counselors come to him, and his splendor and his glory restored too, and then God is even more gracious, he says he "became even greater than before." But now I have some additions to my character, wisdom and humility. Verse 34 and 35, he praises God. "His dominion is an eternal dominion, His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, What have you done?" This is a sovereign God.

And therefore, this chapter, the whole chapter is a real kick in our human pride, isn't it? There is a God who rules. I mean, this meticulously. And you know what's interesting? C. S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, "If we are just products of evolution, that no one individual is more important than human society or the kingdom that they're a part of, for the society and the kingdom will outlive them. But if we are created in the image of God and if our souls are eternal, and we will spend eternity either with God in heaven or apart from God in hell, then every soul is worth more than any human kingdom." Jesus said so, "What would it profit a man to gain the whole world," that's empire language, "and yet lose his soul? Or what could a man give in exchange for his soul?" Nebuchadnezzar's soul was worth more than the Great Babylon that he built for his own glory and splendor and majesty. Is anything left of Babylon? It's gone, it's gone. Is anything left of Nebuchadnezzar's soul? Oh yes. For good or ill, he's still conscious, still alive. Oh how we hope in heaven.

And then Nebuchadnezzar worships God for His righteousness, verse 37, "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven because everything He does is right and all His ways are just." Isn't that amazing? He's just been struck by God for seven years and he says He was right to do it. "I deserved it. I deserved worse. He was just, He was righteous, I praise Him. What He did was right." And then that beautiful statement that we've now worked our way up to, "And those who walk in pride, He is able to humble."

VI. Applications

Now what application can we take from this? First, there is a repentance that saves and it humbles us to our hearts. It humbles us to our hearts. We have to recognize God's sovereign power. It is absolute, it cannot be questioned. It will never end. It is an objective reality in this universe.

Now, ask yourself, "Do I delight in God's sovereignty or do I resent it? Do I delight in the fact that there's a King like this or do I kick against it?" You're kicking against will not change it. Don't kick against, rejoice and joyfully submit. Hate your own pride and self righteousness and turn from sin. And there is a hidden time frame, isn't there? When is your year up? God gave Nebuchadnezzar how long? 12 months, right? When is your year up? Where are you? Are you in the 11th month or the first month? Have you got two weeks left? Do you know? Jesus told a parable about a tree that didn't bear any fruit and the owner of the tree said, "Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?" And the gardener said, "Sir, leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." Same thing, it's the same story. The tree gets cut down after a year.

Where are you in the year? Do you know? Today is the day for repentance, today is the day. If you have the testimony of God in your heart that's something wrong with you spiritually, repent today. Turn to Christ. Maybe you already know in the Savior, but you're living in sin. When is the 12 months up for you? Do you know? Don't presume on tomorrow, but repent today. And maybe you don't know Jesus as Savior and Lord, are you presuming on tomorrow? Are you sure that you'll have time to respond tomorrow to be saved, to trust in Christ? Repent today.

I want to tell you one last thing about this verse. There was a time that I looked at this verse as a warning. "Those who walk in pride, He is able to humble." Would you call that a warning? God may do terrible things to you if you walk in pride. Is it a warning? Yes, it is a warning. The idea is, do the work on yourself so God doesn't have to do it. You can humble yourself onto the idea of a sovereign God or under the activity of a sovereign God. It's your choice. Choose idea, choose idea. I'm preaching idea today. Choose idea, because God may act. It's a warning, right? But then, all of a sudden, I began to see something about myself. I opened myself up to you when I began to preach today, do you remember?

Pride is my greatest enemy, along with some other sins, but pride is the one I hate the most, because so much comes out of it. Look at yourselves. Husbands, what kind of husbands would you be if you had no pride in the year 2001? No pride at all with your wife. What kind of relationship would you have with her? Wives, what kind of wives would you be if you had no pride whatsoever in dealing with your husband? None. Christians, what kind of witnesses and evangelists would you be if you didn't care at all what people thought about you? What would your evangelistic life be like freed from pride? Let's say you had some kind of besetting sin and good friends to tell you the truth about it. Lets say you had no pride. Would you make strides in your sanctification and growth? Because you're humble enough to say, "You're telling me the truth, I want to change rather than kicking against." I began to see that pride was my biggest enemy.

And then all of a sudden, I saw that this verse isn't just warning, what is it? Those who walk in pride, what? He's able to humble. I want to be humbled. I really do. I want to be more humble 20 years from now than I am now. Because God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. He fights people who are proud. First Baptist, don't be proud.

What is the cure? First, recognize that everything you have comes from God. What do you have that you didn't receive? Number two, recognize that pride is already a massive problem in your life. It's not like you're going to catch the pride at some point, like a disease. You already have it. And number three, ask God to humble you. Would you like to pray that prayer? God, humble me. Do very difficult things in my life so that 20 years from now, I'm a genuinely humbled broken person. Please do. I don't care if it's cars breaking down, losing a job, other difficulties, just humble me. Can you pray that prayer? That's a courageous prayer. God says, "At last, we can work. Yes, I'll answer that prayer. I will humble you." Oh God, grant me humility. Number one, all things that you have come from God. Number two, pride is already a big problem in your life. Number three, Oh God, humble me and He will do it. Please join with me in prayer.

I. The Rise and Fall of the World

Please open your Bibles to Daniel 2, and we'll begin our study in that chapter right now. Now, in Daniel 2, we see traced out for us in an amazing way, the history of the world. In the 1770s, just as our country was beginning to think about independence before the Declaration of Independence was signed, there was a professor named Alexander Tyler, who looked at America and looked at governments, and made some comments about government and said some amazingly insightful things. He is speaking of democracy and he said,

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by dictatorship."

That was in the 1770s.

He then went on to look at human history and at the governments that had come, and he noted that the average age of the world's greatest civilizations was about 200 years. We're past that, we're about 225. And it could be that we are seeing fulfilled in our midst, the crumbling of our society and our civilization, we can pray against it, and we should be salt and light so that it doesn't happen. But Tyler noticed that all great civilizations follow the same track. They move from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from great courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency and from dependency back into bondage again.

So there's a course that it follows like a bell curve like that. Now, I'll leave it to you to decide where you think we are in that but I think it's been amazingly insightful. But the point that Tyler is making is the same thing to the point that Daniel 2 makes that all human governments, all human empires will come to an end, they rise, they reach their peak and then they fall and then another empire, another era, comes and takes over and it rises, reaches its peak, it fades and it dies as well. This is the course of human history. And yet within that every government has had a thirst for eternity, hasn't it? They've all felt like we could be the one that lasts forever.

On September 4th, 1934, the Nazi party concluded its annual Congress at Nuremberg Germany and Adolf Hitler had the following proclamation read. This is what it said, "The German form of life is definitely determined for the next thousand years. There will be no other revolution in Germany for the next 1000 years." The crowd went berserk with joy and started shouting, "Heil Hitler." Twelve years, four months, and eight days later, the Third Reich lay in rubble. It was finished, just 12 years later. And what I'm saying is that there is a hunger and a thirst inside even pagan governments for eternity, and there's only one eternal government and it's set up in prophecy in Daniel 2, the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Now, today's message is of kingdoms, human kingdoms that rise and fall and of an eternal kingdom that will rise and never fall, the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The deeper issue I believe of Daniel 2, is evangelism, it's evangelistic. I believe, right there that day, that moment, God was reaching out to king Nebuchadnezzar and from that point on through Daniel's record reaching out to us who would come later and read that record. He was reaching out to an arrogant king, a tyrant, in order that he might humble himself before God and come to salvation. And so He reaches out to us in our pride in order that we might be humbled and we might also come to salvation.

Now, the context of Daniel 2, is Daniel 1 and Daniel 2 we're going to be reading today from verses 24-49, and looking at the rest of this chapter. In Daniel 1 we were introduced to the historical context of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar, mighty emperor king of Babylon, had conquered Jerusalem, he deported some of the vessels from the Temple of Jerusalem, along with some of the high-born youth and they were to be brought into Babylon. Daniel was included among these, and they were to be more or less trained or you could even say brainwashed into the service of the Babylonian empire. And so, Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were brought into that circumstance and we looked at Daniel 1 and saw that Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah also resolved that they would not defile themselves. And God rewarded them and blessed them with physical vigor and health far greater than any of those who were eating the food sacrificed to idols.

And then in the first half of... The last half of Daniel 1 it promised there that Daniel would have a gift of visions, interpreting visions and dreams and he puts that gift to use in the chapter we're looking at today. Then in Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. And he's so troubled by his dream that he cannot sleep, sleep flees from him, he's terrified by the dream and he is determined that he's going to have an interpretation to that dream. Now, I told you at the time that the Babylonians had a vast system of dream interpretation, they could handle any dream, any vision, any symbol they knew how to do it. Well, the king didn't believe in any of that, he wanted a sure and certain interpretation and so he called all the wise men before him and he set before them an incredible test, two-fold test. Number one, that his wise men tell him what his dream was. And number two, that they then go on interpret the dream, they had to earn the right to interpret that dream.

They wriggled, and they squirmed, and they could not get out of it, because the king was determined that they do both, not just one. And so he threatened them that they would be pulled literally limb from limb, their houses reduced to a pile of rubble, and that their memory be execrated in Babylon. And in that context, Daniel steps forward and goes to the king, and asks for time that he might interpret the dream. Then he goes back, and he fasts, and prays with his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And God graciously gives him the revelation. He tells him what the dream is and He tells him what it means. Now, all of you have been in suspense for two weeks, I know, wondering, "What is the dream?" And today, we're going to see it. Let's begin reading at Daniel 2:24 and continue on.

"Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, 'Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king and I will interpret his dream for him.' Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, 'I have found a man among the exiles from Judah, who can tell the king what his dream means.' The king asked Daniel, also called Belteshazzar, 'Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?' Daniel replied, 'No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown king Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed, are these: As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come. And the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation, and that you may understand what went through your mind. You looked, O king, and there before you, stood a large statue. An enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue is made of pure gold. Its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The winds swept them away without leaving a trace, but the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of Heaven has given you dominion, and power, and might, and glory. In your hands, He has placed mankind, and the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, He has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. After you, another kingdom will rise inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. And finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, for as iron breaks and smashes everything, and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. Yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw, iron mixed with clay. And as the toes were partly iron and partly clay so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united any more than iron mixes with clay. In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands. A rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.' Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering in incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, 'Surely your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries for you were able to reveal this mystery.' Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon, and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the Royal Court."

II. The Revealer Introduced (vs. 24-30)

Now in the first section verses 24-30, we have the revealer introduced. And I don't mean Daniel, the true revealer of this dream is God Himself. God is introduced to us in verses 24-30. First, in verse 24, Daniel intercedes and what he does here is he shows incredible compassion. You'll remember that the order had gone out that all of the wise men be executed. Once the dream is revealed to Daniel, one of the first things he does is go and makes sure that the other wise men will not be executed. He shows compassion for them. And he's going to show the very same compassion, I believe later for King Nebuchadnezzar. He's going to show concern for his soul in chapter four, we'll see that. But Daniel's a compassionate man, and he moves out for others. He also has a tremendous amount of confidence. In this verse, in verse 24, he shows confidence. He says, "I will interpret his dream for him." Get me an audience with the king and I'll interpret it. He's confident. Now on what is his confidence based? It's based on the fact that he believes that God has spoken to him. It's based on his faith. God has revealed this dream to him and he knows it well. And so he's confident enough to stand before a tyrant, like Nebuchadnezzar and say, "I've got it, king. I've got the dream and I'm going to interpret it." So, he's confident.

And we also see Daniel's courage. And the source of his courage is the same as the source of his confidence. He knows that God's hand is with him. He's not going to die that day, but rather God is going to exalt Himself, and He's going to lift Himself up. And so we see Daniel's compassion, his confidence, and his courage in verse 24. And in verse 25, Daniel is introduced, and this brings us to a very important principle. Daniel did not have the authority to simply walk into the presence of King Nebuchadnezzar, Arioch had to bring him, and Arioch did bring him, and Arioch's somewhat of an opportunist here. He says, "I have found a man among the exiles from Judah, who can tell the king what his dream means," it's something like he did. Give me some extra points, king because I found Daniel. Now he's about to do something amazing, but don't forget me here. That's the way it works in courts. You're always jockeying for position, trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, that's Arioch. But I think it's still established as a principle. Daniel could not have simply walked into the king's presence without an introduction.

Arioch was the head executioner, the chief executioner for the king. And so it was not an accident that it was Arioch that went to Daniel in particular. There's a link therefore between Arioch and Daniel, and Arioch has the authority to bring Daniel right into the king's presence. What is the principle here? Well, if you need an introduction into the presence of an earthly king, how much more do you need an introduction to the presence of the King of heaven Himself? We can't simply walk in there on our own. We have no right to do so. Do we have such an introduction into God's presence? Oh yes, we do. His name is Jesus Christ. It says in Romans 5:1-2, "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained introduction," is the Greek word, "into this grace in which we now stand." Introduction, we are able now to walk in to God's very presence and speak to him. Without Jesus Christ you would not be welcome. But with Jesus Christ you are welcome any time. And so there is an introduction that Arioch works for Daniel.

Thirdly, in verse 26, we see Daniel interrogated. The king says, "Are you able to do what no one else could do? Can you tell me my dream and give me the interpretation?" So, he interrogates him. By the way, how would you have felt at that moment? Just put yourself in Daniel's position standing there before this king. Do you think that Nebuchadnezzar had a humble throne or a mighty lofty throne? Well, you can imagine it was as big as he could make it. He was an intimidating man. And so there you are, just a humble Judean refugee standing before the king of all the Earth, the king of kings, he's called. And you're about to answer this question, what an interrogation, "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?" He is interrogated. And now Daniel does the introducing. Daniel's been introduced, but now he's going to do some introducing. O king, meet your maker. I want to introduce you to the God of Heaven. And he does that in verses 27-30. And he does it in four ways.

Evangelistic Leveling

First, with evangelistic leveling. Now what I mean by this is that you must remove human pride, all human conceit in order to see God. If you're filled up with yourself, filled up with your ego, and what you can do, you will never see God. And so a true Evangelist, you want to be a witness, you must remove human pride. The Gospel removes human pride. It's a leveler. Every valley shall be raised up, but every mountain and hill shall be what? Made low. There needs to be a leveling. And so, Daniel does that in verse 27. He says, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he's asked about." The answer is not in human capability. There's no one who can do what you have asked to be done. Now, Nebuchadnezzar, I think he knows that in reference to his dream interpreting wise men. He doesn't trust them. That's why he wants this additional step, of you tell me the dream and give me the interpretation. So he doesn't trust them, but he still does trust in human pride and human ability, doesn't he? Whose pride and whose ability does he trust in? His own. And he's not thoroughly humbled even at the end of this chapter. We're going to see in chapter 3, when he builds a statue probably to himself and then on in chapter 4, how his pride has a way to go, but God is beginning to chop that tree down, even in this chapter. Evangelistic leveling.

Evangelistic Worship

Secondly, evangelistic worship. I really believe that those of us who feel that we are called, and we are all called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. We might feel afraid to go witness, but I have found that fear in witnessing is removed, if I simply go and worship God in front of unbelievers. If I just speak about a God who created heaven and earth, a God who is gracious and merciful, who is holy and righteous, but who has provided salvation through Jesus Christ. I'm just worshipping God in front of these people, and whether they come along and worship or not, I have honored God in their presence. It takes fear away. And so that's in effect what Daniel does. He just stands and worships God in front of Nebuchadnezzar. "There is a God in heaven," he says in verse 28, "who reveals mysteries." No man can do this, what you have asked, but there is a God who can. He reveals mysteries and He has shown king Nebuchadnezzar what will come in days to come.

Now, it's beautiful when God's power is lifted up and human power made low, people get saved. People get saved. And I think that's what's going to happen in Nebuchadnezzar. God is a revealer of mysteries so deep that no human wisdom could ever see to their bottom. This is the way God is. And it's beautiful how Daniel, just like Joseph before him, gives honor to God for the interpretation of the dream. Remember how Joseph did the same thing before Pharaoh. No, Pharaoh, I can't interpret your dream but there is a God who can and He has revealed the answer to me. He does the same thing, the same humble spirit is in both of them.

Evangelistic Miracle

And then the third step is an evangelistic miracle. Back in the early days of the church, the apostles did mighty miracles to gain a hearing for the Gospel and it seems that this era as well, the time of Daniel was a time of mighty miracles. Now, God still does amazing things. God can break the laws of nature any time He chooses. He made them but He's not bound by them. He can break them any time He chooses. And so He does, but at this point He does a miracle and the miracle is not similar to walking on water or any of the other, the healings that Jesus did. It's a miracle of knowledge. Supernatural knowledge, but that can be enough. You remember Jesus before the woman at the well. What was it that broke through that woman? Wasn't it Jesus' supernatural knowledge of her life? He just knew things about her, that she'd been married all those times and the one... The man that she was living with at that point was not her husband. He knew these things and He'd never met her.

Supernatural knowledge kicks in here, in verse 28 and 29, "Your dream and the visions that pass through your mind, as you lay in your bed are these. As you were lying there, O king your mind turned to things to come." The future is secret to us, but God knows it completely. Our thoughts are secret to us, but God knows them completely and that's the miracle that Daniel does right here. Psalm 139 says, "Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise," listen to this, "You perceive my thoughts from afar. Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord." God knows my thoughts and the future, even my own future, the words I'm about to speak. This is a miracle, amazing. Daniel told the king what he was thinking about as he laid on his bed.

Now, I made this point two weeks ago. What do you think about as you lay on your bed? What do you think about while you're driving? What do you think about while you're watching television? What do you think about while you're reading? What do you think about? God sees it all, and who may ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a what? Pure heart. God sees it all, there's nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. This is God, He's very invasive this way. He created your brain and your ability to think and He knows your thoughts, He knows mine as well. Is that a motivation for holy thinking? I hope so. The king is searched, his mind is searched by God, and Daniel's about to reveal it.

Evangelistic Humility

And then fourthly, we see evangelistic humility. Verse 30, "As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation, and that you may understand what went through your mind." This is the second time that he's made it clear that he does not know the interpretation. Very humble. And I think it's interesting that he says that the whole purpose here is for you, king. This whole thing is for you, so that you may know what went through your mind. Now, we know that there are others that were standing there that heard it too, and they were amazed, and we who come later, who read the account of Daniel, we can be amazed, and God had all of this in mind, but at this particular moment, the focus is on the king. "He has shown king Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come." Now let's stop and take stock of what's happened up to this point. God has removed all the charlatans and the fools, remember? The Babylonian wise men, the magicians, the enchanters, all the charlatans, they've been removed. They couldn't do it. The stage was cleared, and then God's man came forward and stood right in that center stage, but he didn't stand for his own honor and glory, but for God and for God alone. And then he revealed that introducer. That revealer of mysteries. He introduced Him to king Nebuchadnezzar.

III. The Revelation Declared (vs. 31-36)

Now, in the next section, verses 31-36, Daniel reveals the dream, and it really comes in three sections. First, the statue is described, then the statue is destroyed, and then the stone is exalted. Those are the three phases of this dream.

The Statue Described

First, the statue described. Now, on the cover of your bulletin, you have a beautiful picture. I have no idea if that's what the statue looked like, I was just looking for something, and Jason found it and we put it on there. It's black and white, so you can't see the different colors. Did it look like that? Who among us can say? I don't really know. But it's an immense statue. "You looked, O king, and there before you, stood a large statue." And descriptive words are given to this statue. It's a large statue, enormous actually. The language is effusive in the size of the statue, it's almost like a skyscraper, 50-story building in the middle of a plain, flat plain. And so perhaps Nebuchadnezzar, in his dream, saw himself walking up and just looking at this immense thing. It took his breath away, it was so huge. And not only was it huge, but it was dazzling, it was bright, it shined in his eyes with light, brilliant light. Maybe the sun was glistening off of these precious metals. It was a dazzling, breathtakingly radiant structure.

And it was awesome, it says. It was terror-inducing, it made you feel afraid as you looked at it. He was terrified by it. It's an immense statue, so he describes the statue, and as you look at the statue, it's interesting, there's a descent of metals. The head is gold, and the chest and arms are of silver, and the belly and the thighs are made of bronze, and then the legs are iron, and then the feet partly iron and partly baked clay. And as you notice, there's a descent in value. Start with gold, the most precious of the metals, priced today at $270 per ounce, and then, down below at the next level, is silver, only $4.70 an ounce, today's market price. I couldn't find a market price for bronze, and iron be even less. So as they go from head to toe, they go from more valuable to less valuable, and also from more dense to less dense, so the thing really is top-heavy. You've got a head of gold and all the way down to these little feet of clay. It just seems like it's ready to topple. And yet, as the metals go on, they get tougher and stronger, don't they?

You'd never want a sword of gold in a battle. I mean, it would look spectacular, but in the first strike, it would just bend. Gold is soft, it's dense, but soft, it's not good for a sword. So also with silver, you'd never have a silver sword, but a bronze sword, now, that's different. Bronze is tough and strong, and so the Greeks actually did have bronze swords, but how much more powerful is an iron sword? Eventually steel would come in, the hardest metal that you can find developed. So... And that's made out of iron, so as it goes from top-down, you go from more valuable to less valuable, but from weaker to tougher and stronger. So that's a description of the statue.

The Statue Destroyed

And the statue is destroyed. The destroyer appears, it's a stone cut out, but not by human hands, and it says that it's cut out while you watched. See, while you watched, O king, there was this stone cut out, but not by human hands. I get this image like a mountain, and kind of like these laser things, going...And then there it is, and there's no hand, so I can't do it with hands, and it just flies through the air like a guided missile or something like that. That's the stone cut out, but not by human hands. It has supernatural origin. All the other stuff for the statue has been quarried from the earth, alright. Where does gold come from? Out of a mine, same thing with all the others. Coming up out of the earth, it's rising up out of the earth. But here's this stone, cut out, but not by human hands, it's just supernatural, it doesn't come from the earth. And it comes like a guided missile like one of those... What are they? Cruise missiles. It's just turning and it's heading right for the weak part, right for the feet and down it goes and it strikes the feet of the statue. And the whole thing just collapses. It just collapses like it's made of crystal. And it's just pile of rubble after the stone hits it. And then along comes a wind and it just blows it all away until there's not a piece left, not a shard, not a fragment, not a piece of powder left. It's all gone, but the rock remains. And then as he watched the rock gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and fills the whole earth. The stone replaces the statue. The stone enlarges. The stone fills the whole earth. The stone is exalted.

IV. The Revelation Explained (vs. 37-45)

Well, that's the dream. What does it mean? What does it mean? Well, I figure if you can tell the king what the dream was, you're ready to tell him what it means. And that's what Daniel's about to do. But let's summarize what we've seen. Daniel recounts the dream with incredible detail by the way, even involving Nebuchadnezzar. "As you looked O king you saw this and that." So, Daniel has met the first test. Tell me my dream. Now, John MacArthur in preaching through this said, you noticed that Nebuchadnezzar isn't saying anything here, it's because his mouth is hanging open. He is right on, the detail, the meticulous... How does he know? It's because God knows. He already told him how he knows. God has revealed this to Daniel. He's stunned, he's in amazement.

And verse 36, transition, "This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king." Just like it's nothing. I can tell you the dream and I can tell you... But he doesn't say 'I', what does he say? 'We'. Who's he thinking about? There is a God in heaven, he's not alone. I know actually God's doing the revealing and I'm just a pipeline, the mouth piece and it flows through me to you. Alright, verses 37-45, we have the revelation explained. Now overall interpretation is that this is human history on a grand scale. This is God stepping back and just looking over centuries and centuries of human history right on to the end of the Roman Empire. It's a chronological account from top to bottom, from head to toe. There's no time information given by the way. He doesn't say how long the head of gold will be or how long the silver phase will last. There's no time information. Does God not know that? Doesn't He know the time? Of course He knows the times. He's just not telling us. And He steadfastly doesn't tell us the times and dates that He's set by His own authority. But instead He gives a sense of order.

And we notice a kind of a devolution rather than evolution, right? From the head of gold down to the feet of clay. Where has man come from? According to Genesis 2, weren't we taken up out of the earth, clay in God's hands, we are clay in the hands of the potter and He fashioned and made us. And then... He breathed His life into Adam. But do you remember what it says in Genesis 3:19, after they sinned, what entered the world with sin? Death, remember. Death entered the world. Romans 5, "Death entered the world through sin". Mortality. And it says in Genesis 3:19, "By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food." God speaking to Adam, "until you... " What? "Return to the ground since from it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you shall return."

Don't you see that with the statue? It came up out of the earth and it rose to a height and then it what? Came back down to the earth, down to the very clay. Do you remember the great achievement of human technology in Genesis 11? The Tower of what? Babel, same place, the plain of Shinar, Babylon. And they built a tower, and what was the tower made out of? What were the bricks made out of? Baked clay, thoroughly baked. Do you remember? And it rose up out of the earth and then went back down to the earth. "All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flower the field that rises up and then it withers and dies when the breath of the Lord blows on them." And so it is with human kingdoms.

The Head of Gold: Nebuchadnezzar

Now, the details are pretty precise here. The head of gold is not the Babylonian Empire. No, the head of gold is King Nebuchadnezzar. "You are that head of gold." Now, why do I make a distinction between king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire? Well, really apart from Nebuchadnezzar there was no Babylonian Empire. He died and within 19 years it was over. No one took his place who was suitable to rule. And so, the Medes and the Persians conquered and... You read the account in Daniel 5, Belshazzar what a fool. Having a feast and a celebration when the Medes and the Persians are outside the walls of Babylon. He should have been mobilizing his forces to fight, instead he's having a drunken feast. Not a worthy man. And what was it that Nebuchadnezzar was thinking about as he laid on his bed? Things to come. Is there going to be somebody to take my place after I die? Will there be a son who will come and rule in my place and do a good job and continue on? Answer, no. You are that head of gold, O king. And after you're done, it's over. And pretty much it was, within two generations. And that was all prophesied as Jason said in Jeremiah 27. You can read it, his grandson and that's it. They will submit to you, your son and your grandson and then it's over. God had it all figured out, "You are that head of gold."

The Chest and Arms of Silver: Medo-Persian Empire

And then the chest and arms of silver were the Medes and the Persians, the Medo-Persian Empire. Now, some have made much of the fact that it's two-sided, we've got two arms, but you run into problems with the Roman Empire. And the thighs of bronze, the same thing. It could be that each of these were divided in two, but I really don't see it. You really have to start to twist history to find it. So we won't even talk about the two-sided aspect. The fact of the matter is, the human body is symmetrical through the nose, alright, it's just the way it is, there's two sides of us. But we're not saying much about the Medes and Persians at this point, although later on in Daniel it says that this beast that represented the Medo-Persian Empire was raised up on one side, so that could refer to one side, the Persians in particular, becoming ascendant over the Medes. The Medo-Persian Empire. Now, Daniel says almost nothing about this. What does he say? He just says, "After you, another kingdom will rise inferior to yours." That's all he says. And actually, the Aramaic, could be translated just lower down on the statue.

He almost gives them no information. And why is that? Well, suppose he knew that within one generation after he was dead, that the Medes and the Persians were going to take over. Would that change the way he had interacted with the Medes and Persians? Oh, you better believe it. He might try some genocide or something. And so God gives him no information, so that history cannot be changed. He knows nothing about the Empire of Silver, but we know it's the Medes and the Persians.

Belly and Thighs of Bronze: the Greek Empire Under Alexander

Now, the next, the belly and thighs of bronze, we're going to find out much more about in Daniel 8. This is the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. Now, why bronze? Because they did use bronze on the battlefield, bronze helmets, bronze shields, bronze swords and it gleamed and glistened. And we're going to find also out in Daniel 8, the incredible speed of the conquest, how Alexander the Great moved like a leopard with wings across the land, and conquered pretty much the whole earth; everything there was to conquer out to Pakistan to the Indus River, he went, as far as there was to go until his men said, "We want to go home". And he sat down and wept because there was no other place to conquer, that was Alexander the Great. Died at age 32, able to conquer lands but couldn't conquer himself, we'll talk more about him. But this is the Greek Empire.

The Iron: Rome

And after the Greeks come, the Iron Empire, and what was this? It was Rome. And it's interesting that Daniel says the most about this one, "Strong as iron." Incredible strength, and there was never an empire as powerful and as strong as the Roman Empire. Dominant and they crushed, they crushed politically, what God crushed later through the rock of Jesus Christ, and will crush at the second coming of Christ. They crushed all the other kingdoms, they destroyed, totally. There's an account of the Romans and their fight against Carthage, their early rivals; The Punic Wars, they were called. And when they conquered Carthage, they sowed their fields with salt. Why did they sow their fields with salt? So that nothing would ever grow there again, and it hasn't. They leveled countries, they dominated and crushed them, they were strong, and they lasted longer than any other empire in the Western World, this was Rome.

The Feet and Toes of Iron and Clay: See Next Sermon!

Now, what of the feet and toes, partly iron, partly clay. We do not have time for that today, I can assure you, we're going to talk about that next time. Some people believe that there's going to be a final form of the Roman Empire and that the 10 toes represent 10 member nations, 10 kings that will be around at the second coming of Christ. I'm going to get into all that next time, so you should come. See this is like one of these serial things, you remember Batman and Robin and all that next time, we're going to find out more. Alright, the same thing here. I can't get into it, there isn't enough time, but we'll find out more.

The Eternal Kingdom

And then the third aspect is this eternal kingdom in verse 44, he says, "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever." This is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven, it is in direct contrast to the kingdom of earth, it lasts forever and ever, it can never be destroyed. It will crush and destroy all opposition and it will take over the whole world. This is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which was set up in the time of that fourth Empire, the Roman Empire. In the days of Caesar Augustus, when he issued a decree that a census be taken of the entire Roman world, Jesus was born. And so the kingdom came and it's been coming for 2,000 years and it's going to come in a final way. I'm getting ahead of myself, this is what I'm talking about next time. The second coming of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

V. The Rewards Bestowed (vs. 46-49)

Now, in verses 46-49 the rewards are bestowed. First on, Daniel, and he gets the big three. What are the big three? What three things does the world have to offer? Honor, material benefits and power, those three, and Daniel gets all three. Now, if you think Daniel was tested in Daniel 1, with the king's food, this is the real test. Would he maintain his faithfulness to God and his integrity when lavished gifts from a powerful man like Nebuchadnezzar? Says in Proverbs 27:21, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives." Daniel's going to have his greatest test after he receives the power and the wealth and the honor, that king Nebuchadnezzar bestows on him. And it's also bestowed on his friends, verse 49, "At Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court." Now it's interesting that Daniel has the foresight to lift his friends up as helpers, and he's going to need them. You don't want to stand alone in that pagan court. And so he doesn't, he's got friends to help him.

Furthermore, and even better for Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel has constant access to the king from then on, he remains at the king's Court. And do you think there's a chance that he might have talked to him about the God of Heaven over the next number of years? I think so. God established a witness for King Nebuchadnezzar, but Nebuchadnezzar bestows his highest honors on God. And look what he says in verse 47, "The king said to Daniel, Surely your God is the God of gods and... " the what? "Lord of kings." Is he saying He's my Lord? Not quite. He's beginning to think about it, but he's not there yet, he's not converted yet. Not ready to bend the knee entirely. Now, he does fall prostrate, and this is an incredible thing, that a potentate like him should lay down on his face before a Judean refugee like Daniel, he's being humbled. It's just not hitting the heart yet, and we'll see that in chapter three and chapter four.

VI. Applications

Now, what applications can we take out of this chapter? First of all, what does this teach us about God? Well, we can learn about God's foreknowledge. God knows all things before they come to pass, He knows every aspect of human history before a single detail of it comes to pass. Do you realize that the time when this prophecy was given, Rome was barely able to control the seven hills that surrounded it? It was an Etruscan city, nothing was going on there, it was nothing. And if you had said, "I'm going to tell you the most powerful empire in the history of the world. It's going to be Rome." And you'd gone there and said, "Nothing's going on here." "Yes, but it will, it will." God sees it all, details before anything comes to pass. Therefore, fear not, no matter what you read in the newspaper, God is sovereign over all events of human politics, governments and history. He is a King over kings.

Also, understand God's intimate personal knowledge of you. You cannot think a thought unless God reads it entirely and clearly, therefore be pure in heart, be pure in heart. Can I tell you that purity of heart eludes you, apart from Christ? Without Jesus Christ, you will never be pure in heart, but through Jesus Christ, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God." He alone is able to purify your heart, and we see God's sovereign power. Not only does God know human history, He's not just a human history scientist, He's a human history ruler. He rules, He doesn't just know, He rules, He acts, He moves, He affects, He brings up these kingdoms to their height and then lowers them at His right time, orchestrating history like a conductor. Therefore, is God your Lord? Is He ruling your life? Have you brought every aspect of your life under His sovereign control? Are you asking Him, "God, what should I do with my life?"

Right now, we have students, college students, seniors who are at the InterVarsity Urbana Conference, and they're praying about whether they're going to be missionaries or not. They're saying, "God, what should I do with my life?" They are bringing their lives under the sovereign lordship of Jesus Christ. And then finally, God's mercy. All of this is for salvation. God could just crush Babylon, instead, he uses Babylon. He could just crush all of us in our sin, instead He saves us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God, exalts His name, and when He exalts His name, people get saved, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and so we need clear proclamation of a God like this. Go out in the name of a sovereign, powerful God, and proclaim that He is Lord and He is Savior, and do it this week.

We learn also about human frailty and limitation. None of the wise men could do what Daniel did, neither could you. Your own wisdom, and your own power, and your own knowledge will never get you anywhere. You will build with your hands that which rises up from the earth, and in the end, it will sink back down into the dust, it's just the way it is. But, if you build the kingdom of God through the preaching and through spiritual ministry, it will last forever and ever. Human things are limited and frail, but God's things last forever.

And what of history? What I want to say to you is that history has a reason, it has a purpose. It is not emptiness, it is not a story full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, it means something. God is unfolding something here, and it is His kingdom, and He's building it, and it's happening right before us, therefore don't despair, no matter what you see, but understand that God is building His kingdom.

And finally, what does it tell us about Jesus Christ? Well, that He comes to set up a kingdom and you can enter that kingdom. You have, some of you, many of you, entered it already by faith. Realize that Jesus Christ is the King, He is that rock cut out, but not by human hands, and His kingdom will endure forever and ever. Please enter that kingdom, and walk in it by faith. Won't you close with me in prayer?

Introduction: Groping in the Dark

I'd like to ask that you take your Bibles and look with me to Psalm 19. This morning, we're going to look at a majestic piece of scripture. As we continue in our series in the Psalms, we're looking at those Psalms, in particular, that deal with the written Word of God, and also those that deal with the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. And we're going to intersperse them, some of them dealing more directly with the written Word, and some are called messianic Psalms that deal more directly with Jesus Christ. And this morning, we're going to look at Psalm 19.

One of the things I liked to do when I was younger, and we'd like to continue doing if I have the time, is to go hiking and camp just below the tree line on a high mountain. I really like to do that. Now, I haven't cleared this yet, but my wife likes to camp in those campground areas. You know what I'm talking about, with those fixtures and all that. That's a different experience, but a good one. But I like to climb out just below the tree line on a high mountain and pitch a tent there. And then after the Sun has gone down, I did this when I was in college, did this frequently, just go out and just look up at the sky. Have you ever done that? Where it's clear and cold. And you can see stars you didn't know existed. Can you picture it? I didn't know what the Milky Way was until I got up on a mountain and looked up, and you see this white swathe of stars going across the sky, and in some places, it's so bright and so milky and white, you can't tell one star from another. And it's glorious. Isn't it? And the Heavens are speaking to us, aren’t they? They're communicating something. They're speaking to us. And if you know how to listen, you know what they're saying.

Now, modern scientists have invested billions and billions of dollars in the most advanced listening and looking devices that there are. There are readings recently near Socorro, New Mexico, from one of the very large array radio telescopes. It uses 27 huge dishes, and an adjustable movable antenna to get faint radio signals from the distant parts of the cosmos, and they put together pictures based on what they're hearing: the birth of stars, the collision of galaxies, even the existence of a suspected Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way, and they're listening all the time. And high atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, at an elevation of almost 14,000 feet are the two most advanced looking telescopes in the world, Keck 1 and Keck 2, they're called. Constantly looking up, and each one has 36 honeycombed adjustable reflectors, computer-controlled state-of-the-art computers, just to resolve the most distance features of the universe.

And recently, I don't know if you've read in the newspaper, they have begun to detect in 20 different places, planets that are orbiting stars similar to our own Sun. And so once again, our unique place in the universe is challenged in the newspapers and magazines like National Geographic. National Geographic wrote about these planets, “as our image of the universe has exploded, humanity has lost the ancient conviction that its role must be all-important. We now know that our planet is an insignificant speck, circling an ordinary, relatively small star, far out on a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy, which is an ordinary assembly of stars of only a few hundred billion in number, among at least 100 billion such galaxies.” Feel small now?

Continuing the quote, “And we're still the only intelligent life we know of anywhere, but now, humankind has taken a dramatic leap backward toward another possible demotion with the discovery of as many as 20 worlds detected in orbit around Sun-like stars outside our solar system.” Well, that whole quote is to give you a sense of insignificance, that you are insignificant. And it's funny that these scientists don't realize that the ancients had learned that lesson too. In Psalm 8, David put it this way, “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have created” (verse 3). What was David’s thought? “Boy, am I great!” Was that his thought? No. His thought was, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him” (verse 4).

So, the ancients got that message too. But there is a second message that the heavens are proclaiming, and that's what we're going to focus on today. It's a message that science twists and perverts and will not listen to. For the heavens are declaring the glory of God. And that is our focus today. How does God speak to us of His nature? How does he speak to us of His glory? And here we have in the Psalm beautifully, the three ways that God communicates to us. He speaks to us through creation, He speaks to us through the scripture, and he speaks to us through His Son, the redeemer, Jesus Christ.

I want you to have a sense when we get done with the scripture today, that our God is what he is, a majestic, immense, incredibly unmeasurably powerful, glorious God. And that this God is sufficient for any problem you face in your life, sufficient to take you out of sin, right into heaven, and sufficient to dazzle you with his being for the rest of eternity. That's who our God is. Let's look at Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech. Night after night, they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. And the heavens, he has pitched a tent for the Sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course, it rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other, and nothing is hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

 We live amongst people who are groping in the dark, don't we? They're searching for something. They're searching for some spiritual reality in their lives. And to this, we can attribute the proliferation of cults and ways of thinking and philosophies that seemed to satisfy that spiritual need. But they wither and die as quickly as they spring up, some of them even lead to tragedy. We are groping in the dark. And yet in the midst of this darkness is the light of God's communication to us. God is speaking! He is speaking and He wants to be heard, and He is speaking to us through His Universe, through the creation. He's also speaking to us through scripture and through His son, Jesus Christ, most clearly.

Now, as we're groping in the dark trying to find our way spiritually, we will never find God that way. Never! God has ordained it that we not find God that way. For it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, “For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God. God was pleased to reveal Himself.” (verse 21). The point is it was wise for God to hide so that He must communicate about Himself to us or we will never know who He is. That was wise of God, and that's what He's done. And unless God speaks to us, we will never know who He is. We will be idolators, we will imagine him and make Him, perhaps even in our own image or after our own likeness. But God has spoken to us very clearly. And what's so beautiful about Psalm 19 is that all three are featured in one Psalm: creation first, then scripture, and then as a final word, Jesus Christ.

Creation: God Speaks Naturally to Glorify Himself

First, let's look at creation. God speaks naturally to glorify Himself. What's interesting about all three forms of communication is the priority of the Word, including creation. What comes first, the universe, or the word of power, which creates it? God says, “let there be” ... What? Light! The Word exists first, and then comes the reality. God says, “Let there be a Sun.” And there is a Sun. God says, “Let there be an Earth.” See, the Word comes first, and then the reality. The Word precedes all things, but God has created, as we learn in Genesis, this world, which one theologian called the theater of His glory. You all have seats in it. You look around and you see it every day with a majestic sunset or with the stars, the Sun and the Moon, which David extols. You see a theater of God's glory. So, creation is giving a speech every day. And what is the topic of that speech? It is the glory and the majesty of God. That's the topic. How great our God is.

Now, what's so tragic is that this form of communication is not heard clearly by the sinful heart. We talked about that in Romans. In Romans chapter 1, verse 20, it says, “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 men are without excuse.” But they take that knowledge and they twist it, they do not receive it, but yet, it's there. Now, David could have focused on the intricacies of Biology and how the whole ecosystems fit together. He could have focused on geology and the stars, the rocks, and all the things that we have on the Earth or the oceans and their power, but instead, he focuses on the stars. He looks up and he focuses specifically on that star that we're closest to, the Sun. And as he looks, he sees the contours and the edges of God's glory. Not just God's glory, vaguely, but aspects of it.

What kind of glory is it? God is powerful. We see that in the Sun's constant heat. God is wise. We see that in the fact that the Sun is just the right distance from us, not too close, not too far, just perfect for life. God is immense, in that the Sun is just swallowed up by heaven, no matter how big it is, God is good, the sunlight comes through and just caresses the leaves and photosynthesis creates the possibility of your life and mind. God is good, and God is faithful. The sun constantly rises day after day. Day after day. You see aspects of the glory of God in physical creation. We also see it in the stars, and this communication is so powerful. It is first of all ample. Look at the words that David uses to describe here; in verse 1, it says, “The Heavens declare the glory of God.” What do you think of when you think of declare? It's a proclamation! The very next thing, it says, “The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech.” You get the sense of a big picture and just speech is being poured out from the heavens. And then it says, “Night after night, they display knowledge.”

You get the sense that God is not in the business of hiding His glory, that God is in the business of displaying His glory. He wants you to know. He wants you to see his glory. Yes, God wants to be the foundation of your life, but how many of you discuss the foundation of your home? We have the most beautiful foundation. I want to tell you about it. Would you be interested in talking about the foundation? God is the whole house, and he displays his glory. Yes, let God be the foundation of your life. We'll talk about foundation later on, but let God also be the showy display, which is what he is. He does not hide his light under a bushel, but he shows and displays what he's like. The glory pours forth, he's not shy about it, and neither should we be in our communication, for we serve a majestic God. And we can go out in the name of that God and pour forth and display His glory as well.

Our God is not shy about who he is, but that the nations may know and the ends of the Earth may see he has displayed this. And what else does he say about this? The communication is constant. It happens all the time. The Sun rises and the Sun sets day after day. This communication comes. The communication is clear. It is non-verbal, it says there's no language where the speech isn't heard, so it's not a matter of this language or that language, but you can just look and see, and you know. The communication, therefore, is universal. In creation, therefore, God speaks universally for His own glory.

Scripture: God Speaks Supernaturally to Save Us

But now in verses 7 through 11, we look at a different form of communication, and this is scripture. Here where God spoke naturally to glorify Himself in creation, He speaks supernaturally in order to save us from our sins. Naturally, to glorify Himself in creation, supernaturally, to save us from our sins. Look at the titles of scripture, beginning in verse 7, we have the law of the Lord, and then again in verse 7, the statutes of the Lord. The precepts of the Lord, in verse 8. The commands of the lord, also in verse 8, and ultimately, the fear of the Lord, the judgments of the Lord. This is speaking of the written Word of God. The Bible, therefore, is God's spoken word, written. We believe in prophets. We believe that God has spoken to prophets. Prophets heard accurately the words of God and wrote them down. For all scripture is God-breathed. And as this Psalm and other places testify it is perfect, so God communicates to us.

Now, as we compare the two forms of communication, we've got: nature, the stars, the Moon, the Sun, mountains, rivers, ecosystems, all of this. It communicates clearly, but scripture communicates far more clearly, with actual, perfect clarity. The reason I say that is that some see the stars and what do they do with them? They worship them. They make idols to them. This has been part of the groping in the dark of humanity. We do not get the message properly, because we twist and suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And so, therefore, God must speak more clearly to us: a word that is more clear, and he speaks that in scripture. In order to understand the mind and the glory of God, you must read the scriptures and you must saturate your mind in them daily. “For man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

Perfection of Scripture

Now, the first thing that David talks about scripture is the perfection of scripture. Look at verses 7 through 9, the law of the Lord is what? It is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect. There's nothing missing. There are no blemishes. It's totally complete and upright. It's absolutely flawless. Another Psalm, Psalm 12:6 puts it this way: “The words of the Lord are flawless. Purified seven times over like silver refined in a furnace of clay”. The psalmist David, in that case, Psalm 12, reaching for words, saying, I don't know anything that's like scripture- as pure and perfect as the scripture. Absolutely flawless. And so, we have here in verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect.”

And then it says “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy.” This talks about the foundation I mentioned before. When you're building a house, you want something that's not going to move, don't you? You want a trustworthy foundation, something you can bank on that isn't going to be a fad. An intellectual, philosophical fad that was true when you were growing up, or true when you were in college, but it's not true anymore; you can't build your life on that. You need something that's going to stand the test of time; something that what David says is trustworthy. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy. They don't move.

When I was a student at MIT, I remember hearing day after day, the pounding of hydraulic hammers driving girders (supports) down into the muck that is the undersurface of Cambridge. And it's kind of like a landfill. It's muddy, and in order to build a solid foundation, they had to go as deep into the Earth as they plan to go above it. So, they had to pound and pound and pound until they could get a foundation that wouldn't move over the years. And that is a picture to me of the absolute trustworthiness of the scriptures. It's the very same thing that Jesus said in the sermon on the mount when He said “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matt 7:24). What's the image? The image is of permanence. It doesn't move, whereas the sand sifts away, and then the house falls when the testing comes.

Total Truthfulness of Scripture

And then it speaks of the total truthfulness of scripture in verse 8, “the precepts of the Lord are right”. The Hebrew means righteous. It means they tell the truth. Scripture speaks the truth to you. Scripture doesn't flatter you. You need a friend like scripture. You need a friend like the word of God, a counselor that's going to tell you the truth. When you go to a doctor and when you get an analysis of your condition, do you want him to flatter you? Would you like him to say “Well, basically, you're fine. Just need to get a little more vitamin C in your diet.”? Is that what you want? You want him to tell the truth. Scripture does not flatter you. The scripture tells you the truth. And the reason it does that is that it speaks with incredible clarity. The commandments of the Lord, it says; Are pure, enlightening the eyes.

Now, any of you who have been married you went through the whole process of buying a diamond. Do you remember the four Cs of diamonds? Do you remember what they are? I guess they added a fifth recently. Color, cut, carat, and what's the last one? Clarity. The fifth one is cost, right? This is important for some people; usually, people who are buying an engagement ring. They're concerned about that. But what of clarity? You know recently they've invented something called clarity-enhanced diamonds. Have you heard of these things? Clarity enhanced. Now, a clarity enhanced diamond is a natural diamond; however, it's been altered to improve the clarity. For example, if there was a break or a little fracture in the diamond structure, which broke the surface of the diamond, it's possible to fill that break with a glassy substance, which improves the clarity and the look of the diamond. It makes it catch the light and transmit it to your eye with more radiance, more brilliance, and increases the clarity.

Does scripture need that kind of help? Absolutely not. There's no flaw. It's perfectly clear. And so, the commandment of the Lord is pure, giving light to the eyes. When you read the scripture, light comes in. And you know, light is a metaphor for knowledge, for truth, for understanding. You're not in the dark anymore, which is where we started. And it ultimately results in the fear of the Lord. Verse 9, “The fear of the Lord is...” What does it say? Pure. It is clean. It's a clean life that's lived in the fear of the Lord. Well, that is the nature of scripture. We've been describing what scripture is like. Well, the Psalmist also gives us a sense of the impact of scripture; the power of scripture on an individual. Verses 7-9, also. Every one of these phrases has a direct impact on David. You see, “The law of the Lord is perfect.” What does it say? “Reviving the soul”.

Have you ever felt in need of revival? Personal revival? You feel saggy in your walk with Jesus Christ, you feel like you've got no energy? You've got to get back to the Word. The Word, the Word! It revives you. This is what gives revival. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” The next thing it says, “The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” Do you need wisdom for your life? Do you need to know what to do? Go to scripture. Go to scripture. Making wise the simple. When David sees himself as simple or ignorant or un-tutored, he goes to the scripture. And it is, by the way, the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to make you feel that way. To make you feel like you're simple and ignorant. You should feel that way because you are. And so am I. And we need to come to scripture and be instructed. So, the Holy Spirit humbles us and says, “Read this, and then you will learn and then you will grow.”

“The precepts of the Lord are right.” Giving what? Joy to the heart. There is a tremendous amount of joy in the life of scripture. “The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” We just talked about that. See how scripture has an impact? It doesn't leave you the way you were. And then finally, David discusses the preciousness and the pleasure of scripture. Verse 10, “the precepts of the Lord are more precious than gold. Yes, even than much fine gold. They are sweeter also than honey from the honeycomb.” Now, I don't own very much gold. As a matter of fact, I believe this is the only gold that I own. Very valuable to me, but not much gold here. Now, I don't know how much gold is worth, so I had to look it up. $275 a Troy ounce. Perhaps some of you investment-oriented people know that. What you didn't know perhaps is how much gold is available in the world? Do you know how much there is? Are you thinking of collecting it all?

Well, if so, you've got some competition, because other people are looking for it too. 33,000 tons is available in this world. So that makes a total of about $330 billion available in gold. And if you have $330 billion and you would like to invest in gold, that's what's available. And David says the scripture is worth more than that to me; the scripture is worth more than much fine gold to me. Could we connect it to something Jesus said: “what would it profit a man to gain the whole world” (Mark 8:36)? Not just gold, but all the platinum, all the diamonds, everything, the power, all of it. And yet what? Forfeit your soul. Your soul is worth more than anything you can find on the surface of this Earth. And so, the scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus is worth more than much fine gold. Also, it's pleasurable. It's sweeter than honey, the honey of a honeycomb.

So again, I looked up some information. Amazing what you can do on the internet these days. The value of honey. Do you know how many bee miles, how many miles of bee-flying it takes to make a pound of honey? Does anyone want to venture a guess? You'd be wrong. It's incredible. 55,000 miles per pound of honey. 55,000! One bee makes a 12th of an ounce of honey in its lifetime. So, to get a pound, you've got to have a lot of bees. They fly to over two million flowers to make a pound of honey. And for that reason, honey has always been valuable, even back to the ancients. The Egyptians used it for trade and even for currency. In Greece mead was an alcoholic drink made from mixing wine with honey, and it was called the nectar of the gods.

And what is the purpose of honey? Why did God create honey? Because our God is a pleasure God. He created a portion of your tongue to respond well to honey. And some of you may even use honey every day. I don't know, in your tea or something. It's sweet. It's pleasurable. It's delicious. And so is scripture to David. Is scripture delicious to you? I found that it tends to feed on itself. The more you read and meditate and learn, the better it gets. All the time. And therefore, if you can't relate to what David's saying here, I would urge you with all haste to get into the Word of God, because scripture is valuable and it is delicious.

Purpose of Scripture

Now, what is the purpose of scripture? Well, in Psalm 19, there are two-fold. To number one, warn of dangers, and number two, to produce reward. In verse 11, it says, “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” There are two great things available in Psalm 19, great transgression and great reward. Scripture is designed to help you avoid great transgression and to receive great reward. That's what scripture is for. Now, in terms of dangers, the danger is sin, and even that gets broken into two categories. Do you see them? What are the two categories of sin in Psalm 19? There are hidden faults and willful transgression. Doesn't that about cover it? The things you didn't know were wrong but you did them anyway, and they were wrong. And those things you knew what you were doing. You knew and did it anyway. Those are the two categories.

Now, in terms of hidden faults, those things that are offensive to God, but you didn't know it. They're still offensive to God. And so, David says in verse 12, “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.” We all have blind spots, don't we? And it is scripture that enlightens us as to what those blind spots are. Also, the loving strokes of a brother or sister in Christ can help too, but especially if they use scripture to show us those blind spots. But then there's the second category in verse 13, “Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.”

Now, this is the real danger. When you willfully give yourself to a pattern of sin and start getting sucked into a lifestyle or a habit of sin, it feels like slavery, doesn't it? How will you be free? What can break the bondage of that addiction? The scripture and the power of God through the Holy Spirit using scripture is the only hope you have. It's a great transgression when you're in bondage to a pattern or cycle of sin and you can't get out. The scripture holds out a warning against that. So, the scripture warns against sins you don't know about and warns even more against sins you do, that you may not go in for great transgression. But it also produces great reward, verse 11: “Keeping them there is great reward”. I believe as you follow the precepts of scripture, step by step obeying God, you will produce many good works by faith. And God has already promised graciously to reward you for them. It says in 1 Corinthians 4:4, “at that time, each will receive his praise from God.” That's grace, folks. But it is scripture that enables you to produce those good deeds.\

Human Response: A Prayer for the Pleasure of God.

Now, the final section of Psalm 19 is a human response, a prayer for the pleasure of God. Now, when God speaks to us, he speaks to elicit a response. He wants something back. He doesn't want to speak into emptiness and nothing results. When God speaks, there is light, there are worlds, there is conversion. Things happen when God speaks. His Word does not come back void or empty. And so, God has spoken to David, and David does what? He speaks back to God, and He does it in prayer. He says in verse 13, “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.” So that's a prayer for what? For his own holiness. He's praying to God and saying, God keep me from myself! Oh, God may I be free from sin! And then he prays in reference to his mouth and his heart. He says, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight.”

David has gone right to the heart of the matter here. Why did God create the universe? For His own glory and for his own pleasure. For his own pleasure. I love what the King James says in Revelation 4:11: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they have been and are created.” You are created, every one of you, created in the image of God for the pleasure of God. And not only that, but you're redeemed. You're saved for the pleasure of God. Listen to this in Luke 12:32, “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Our God is pleased not just to create us, but to redeem us, and therefore, God's pleasure should be our goal every day. 2 Corinthians 5:9 says, “We make it our goal whether at home, in the body, or away from it, to please God.” We want to please Him. Ephesians 5 says, “We should find out what pleases the Lord” (verse 10).

Now, David says, I want my words and the meditation of my heart to be pleasing to you, God. I want them to be pleasing. I want them to be an aroma offered up to you. I want you to be pleased with what I say. And Oh God, you are a God who searches hearts and knows minds. I want you to be pleased with what I think. Can you pray that kind of prayer? It's hard to control the mouth, isn't it? It says in James if anyone is able to control the tongue, he's a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body as well. If you can control what you say and you're never at fault in what you say, you're a perfect man or woman able to control all of the lusts and tendencies in the body. And so, David says, put a bridle over this thing, that I may never say anything except what is pleasing to you, O God. But where do the words come from? Out of the overflow of the what? The heart. The mouth speaks.

And so, he goes back one step back and says, May the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you as well. What's your thought life like? There is a God who searches your mind and your heart, and David knew it. And so, he presented to him every aspect of himself. You can't sanctify yourself. You can't make yourself better. What you can do is like a spiritual beggar, go to God and say, God, make me different, make me different, make my words different, make my thoughts different by your word, transform me. And that's exactly what David does as a humble man.

One last thing about pleasure. You know I've noticed in the Christian life, if God is pleased with me, I'll be pleased with life. If God is displeased with me, I will be miserable. Have you noticed that? And do you know why? Because you're one with Jesus Christ, and if he's grieved, he's not going to let you be happy. He's going to make you as miserable as he is until you come out of the sin. Our pleasure and God's pleasure are connected. And so, I pray this prayer, “Oh, God, may my life be pleasing to you. Then I will be filled with joy.” Joy. Now, I've told you that there are three forms of communication that God has given us. Remember what they are. Number one, creation. Number two is what? Scripture. What's the third form of communication? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's final word to us. Isn't he? It's also David's final word in the Psalm.

Do you see that? Who is David's redeemer? What is a redeemer? It's somebody who buys you back from slavery. And who bought David back from slavery to sin? Well, his descendant from his own body, Jesus Christ. His greater Son, who took on a human body, who died on the cross to redeem us from our sin. He is our redeemer. And isn't it beautiful how all three forms of communication are right here in Psalm 19? But he ends with God's final word. And that is Jesus Christ. And I guess for application, I just want to ask you, God is speaking. Are you listening? Are you hearing what he's saying? Do you realize what kind of a glorious God you walk under every day when you look up at the stars? Do you realize how glorious he is? What kind of power there is available for your holiness and your salvation?

That same power at work in Jesus who raised Him from the dead is at work in you, if you're a Christian. I'm going to bring you all the way to Heaven. You realize that. Praise God for it. The power of God. Are you listening to what he's saying? Are you reading scripture daily, taking in, so that your hidden faults are revealed to you and you can confess them and repent? Are you speaking the scripture back to God through prayer? And more than anything, have you come to your redeemer Jesus Christ? He's your only hope. Your only salvation. Let's close in prayer.

Prayer

Father, you have spoken to us. You have spoken to us in what your hands have made. You've spoken to us through the prophets, and now you have spoken to us the final word through your Son, Jesus Christ, who is the living Word. Father, I pray for all those here who do not know you as a redeemer, who do not know Jesus as Savior from sin, that they would even this day, not give sleep to their eyelids before they repent and come to you, for all those willful and hidden sins which your blood alone can atone for. And Father, for all of us who have come to you as redeemer, I pray that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts may be pleasing to you. Oh God, our Lord, our rock, and our redeemer, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.