Bible Guys Classics: Romans 11 Part 2

Hey, everybody, we're the Bible Guys. And if you're just tuning in recently, just know that we are showing a little bit of reruns for a few months, and then we'll be back bigger and better than ever on August thirty first, because behind the scenes we're taking a hiatus to do some very important things. Yeah, we're building building out a new studio and we've got some new structure. Super excited about it. So August thirty first, brand new content. But in the meantime, enjoy some of our greatest hits. So today, Wesley, we're going to learn how God loves some people and he can't stand others. No, that is not what we're coming wrong today. Okay, well you know we're talking about how God's mercy is available for everyone. Oh so the opposite, the exact opposite. This is Chris and this is the Daily Bible Guys. Hey, So Wesley, today you are joining in for the Bible Guys as Jeff's out of town. And so today we're going to do something that Jeff and I love to do, which is and by the way, we always fail at it, which is the Whisper Challenge. So what I'd love for you to do. Actually, I'll go first. I'll go first. I'll put on these headphones and you whisper something into the microphone and i'll see if I could guess. And this is spontaneous, this isn't scripted, so he doesn't know what I'm going to say. Actually, I don't even know what I'm going to say after you. Yeah, I think of something. On the spot. So here we go. Persson play. Okay, go ahead, buddy. Okay, the blue cow is really brown. The brown cow is really brown. You were close. That was close. It was the blue cow is really brown. The blue cow is really brown. Hey, I can't believe I got that. Yeah, that's really I tried to make it a tongue twister a little bit. I couldn't even hear anything. Yeah, all right, so let me tongue twister. Huh. Yeah, okay, that's a little bit of what. I'll go again. Here we go, hang on, hang on and hit play. Okay, okay, here we go. Pizza is so much better than pancakes. I have no idea. I say it again, pizza is so much better than pancakes. Something about going to the beach. That's way off, I said, pizza is so much better than pancakes. Wow, that's a long phrase. All right, good, here we go. Wow, you're tough man. Yeah, here we go. I'll give you something tough. You're ready. You got to hit play. Okay. I slipped the sheet. The sheet, I slit, and on the slitted sheet, I. Said, I have utterly no clue, and I'm watching your mouth carefully. So because of the dark twisters that you gave, I said that I slipped the sheet. The sheet, I slipped none the slid say. By the way, you have to really know that phrase in order to be brave enough. To pull that off. Okay, I see if I can get this, I'll give you. A real one. Now, okay, here we go. Let me think, Let me think. Okay, Sally sells seashells down by the seashore. That's tough. I felt like the first word was tithing. Off. Yeah, the first one was Sally. I was like, is that tithing hilarious? Yeah? So I said Sally sells seashells down by the sea shore. Oh. I was like, is that tithing on Sunday? Yeah, that's so funny. That's the message for our listeners. Tithe on Sunday. Yeah, that's so funny. Soone's turning on. I'm not listening to that anymore. I'm out. I'm out. Funny dude, that's funny. Hey. The Whisper challenge. The reason why I like it so much is because it is so difficult and we rarely ever get it. Yeah, so even when you're watching the person's mouth, you're like, what are they saying? It's really good. So anyway, so today we're going to jump right in and we are going to continue in Roman chapter eleven, and really, to be honest with you, it's it's similar, Paul says something different than he did. You know that yesterday's podcast, But this is just a continuation to the thought that we had on yesterday's podcast. We're reading from versus number twenty five through thirty six Romans chapter eleven, So. Now I will read that that's out of the New Living translation. You're ready to go with your radio voice. I'm ready to go? Or do you want to go? No? No, dude, are you kidding me? I'll never read with you in the room again. Verse twenty five. I want you to understand this mystery, your brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of gentiles comes to Christ, and so all Israel will be saved. As the scriptures say, the one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins Verse twenty eight. Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the good news and the benefits, and this benefits you, gentiles. Yet they are still the people He loves, because He chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for God's gifts, and his call can never be withdrawn. Once you, Gentiles, were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you. Instead, they are the rebels in God's mercy. Has come to you, so that they too will share in God's mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. Oh how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. How impossible is it for us to understand his decisions in his ways, for who can know the Lord's thoughts, who knows enough to give him advice, and who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back, for everything comes from him and exists by his power as an intended for his glory, all glory to him forever A man awesome. So, yeah, there's a few nuggets in here where Paul is talking about. Obviously, the blanket of his topic is God's mercy, but at the same time, what he's doing is he's giving thoughts around that. He's saying that God's mercy is for everyone. But he says several different things, and the first thing that he says is number one, be proud, right And by the way, we sort of ended yesterday's podcast with that thought, don't be proud because, you know, just because you're a part of, you know, God's club, the Salvation Club. Just keep in mind that it's not you who does anything that it's God. You know, just because some are included, some are not, some have rejected Christ, some are not, you should never. Feel proud about that at all. And it's really interesting, how, you know, there are some people who I grew up in a very sort of conservative. Denomination where people felt like. It was very rules heavy, right, It was very very rules heavy. So it would just I don't know how to say this without being trying to be respectful. So I used to be a pastor in this denomination. And so here's the best way I can say it, because I'll talk about myself, is that I look back at my old mess when I was in my early twenties, and the success of a successful message was to make people feel bad about themselves. I wouldn't have said it that way, but like, like literally, I would highlight. I would highlight, like how bad can I convict you? I would use that word convict, right, And I would just say I would just say, like, you know, if I could make you feel bad about your choices Monday through Friday, you know, or whatever then or Saturday night specifically, then I'm going to make you feel really bad. And so I used to feel that. And then consequently, somebody who focuses so much on that when they're trying their very best to obey God's word, there's pride that comes in, and it really does, and then there's this air and I don't again, I don't want to talk badly about it, but It's not just the denomination I was a part of. There's a lot of denominations that sort of. Feel this way, and I think we feel this way about people on Facebook as well. Sometimes right where it's like it's like if there's a person that tries really, really, really hard and the standards are super high, and we're always talking about lifestyle and choices and behaviors and we're trying our very best, then it's what we do is when we talk about with other people, we take this position of pride. Yeah, and you can feel, you know. That I don't want to so much better than. Yes, I'm trying not to be negative, but yes, it's like this posture of. Like holier than thou, you know, better than Have you ever been a part of something like that? Yeah, But the funny part about that, Chris, is we were all at one point in that same spot, right, That's the funny part about it. So it's not like we were never there and suddenly just appeared at this level in our lives. Yes, No, that used to be us. Yes, So what if God treated us like we're treating them, right, that's something to think about. So the same way that you look down upon them. What if God looked down upon you like that, right, And when you look at verse twenty eight, we see that God does not do that. In verse twenty eight here it says many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the good News, and this benefits you, gentiles. But it goes on to say, yet they are still the people He loves because He chose their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God loves them despite the hardness in their heart, despite the fact that they have gone a different direction, they're on a different path. God still loves them. And that really encourages me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, very much so. And just to be clear, we're talking about the two categories of those who believe in Christ those who do. Not believe in Christ. Right, So, you know, it's always it. Always feels like most of the applications fall into these two categories because either you're a Christian and you believe that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the grave, and he's the way to Heaven and you believe that for your faith, or you don't believe that part of it, which, of course we would say that you know, is not a true religion because you know, we believe that Jesus came and and it's sort. Of the whole point of the Book of Romans. He's the one that says he's bringing the good News, which is again it's capitalized right here, good news, which means the Gospel, the Gospels, the good News, the story of Christ for everybody. And you know it's so funny is when he talks about that, and he talks about God loves those, he's talking about those who are enemies of God. And he's not talking about enemies, meaning like he God doesn't hate enemies. Like when we see enemies, we're like, oh, I hate that person. I can't stand that, or at least I have bad feelings to that person. Right, That's not what God is saying. He's not saying that he's an enemy of non believers. He's saying that non believers have postured themselves as enemies of him. Yes, right, and. So and so be careful to you know, not, you know, don't ever attach that to God, because God clearly says here to your point, that he still loves those people, you know, So think about all the people who can't stand Christians like that. Maybe some maybe for our listeners, someone they work with. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yea, yeah. Maybe you have people who are non Christians who just you kind of get the sense that they don't like you for no other reason. Run the fact that you go to church. That's the main reason they don't like you. Job, I got to tell you, I've had those people in my life. Yeah, they just could not stand me. I remember, and you're trying to. Figure out what I haven't done anything. To right, you know. I was. I was a sophomore in high school and I had this English teacher that just missus marsh that just didn't like me at all. And it was because I was a Christian. Yeah, And by the way, I sort of thought that, and then I thought, though that can be true, And then I talked to my friends and they're like, oh, she's straight up. It's the fact that you carry a Bible and that you pull it out, you reference it, you know. And she used to poke fun publicly at me and all these different things. I was like, Wow, she was totally atheist and uh, and I just always felt like that is so weird. Yeah, somebody not to like me just because I have my own faith, And who knows, maybe back then I was maybe arrogant or postured myself, was maybe kind of like I told you, which is like better than you kind of a thing. I might have. I might have been that way. But by the way, that's let me let me let. Me digress a little bit and go back to the fact that even though that's the category of Christians and non Christians, what I was referring to I think is also the category of Christians and other Christians. Right, So in other words, like you know, those people who look down on other Christians because they're not good enough, you know, kind of like the pastor I used to be when I used to do messages based on conviction to make you feel bad. And uh, you know when anybody ever postures themselves with pride and there's this arrogance or this hue of of like better than then or holy, holier than thou, I have to tell you it is. It is one of the main things that Jesus spoke against. Wasn't it Because because the religious leader who were in Jesus's day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all the other sees, right, they actually they thought that they were serving God well like I don't believe that a lot of them had. I think that there was, you know, some evidence obviously of corruption, there was evidence of like, you know, hypocrisy, there's evidence of all those things. Jesus said it. He's like, you're like you're like whited tombs, your whitewashed tombs, where you're bright white on the outside, but underneath you're all full of dead bones. Right, Like, there was definitely hypocrisy in some of the Pharisee and the religious leaders. But I believe that there's probably some of them who they probably thought they were serving God. Well, yeah, I'm adhering to every single one of God's laws. I'm following it to the letter. I'm doing that. I agree with you, they probably thought they were doing well. Yes, and Jesus didn't always speak against the Pharisees with contempt. I believe that he probably did it as evidenced here, right, he loves everybody who doesn't believe in himself, but he's doing it. With compassion and and and and so like. For instance, there's other instances in the Bible where Jesus says, uh for some around the mound. For example, where he says, hey, listen, you pride yourselves and thinking that you've kept the thank commandments where you don't commit adultery. But I'm here to tell you that. You know, I'm paraphrasing, but he's like, you're much, much, much worse off than you think, because if you look after a woman and you lust after her in your own heart, you commit adultery. And what he wasn't trying to do wasn't trying to He wasn't trying to say, uh, you know, I'm accusing you, and I'm trying to raise you to the standards of you know, stop looking at people and lusting it. He's not saying that, although that's obviously what he wants us to do by giving that verse. All he's really saying is this, you can't pride yourself for keeping one commandment of not. Sleeping with another man's wife the ones and you can't think. But the point is right, The point is pride. That's the point, because you feel better than the person who glances after a woman who walks by and has a little bit lust in his heart. And what Jesus is saying is you're the same person, right, Chris, wouldn't. You say that? Oftentimes we do this. We've we've all done this where whatever the sin is in my life, would just use me in my life isn't so bad. But the sin in Chris's life, oh he needs to be We need to throw rocks and stones a bit. We need to my sin, but his is horrible. Well, it's it's that rounds me of another scripture where Jesus says, Jesus says, you're worried about the sawdust in your in your friend's eye when you have a two by four sticking out of your own right, And he says that by the plank of wood that's sticking out of your own because we all have sin in our lives. And that's that's Jesus point. And I think that that's really the heart of what Paul is getting at, and he's talking about don't feel prideful over non Christians. But also I believe that we should not feel prideful over anybody right, whether they believe in Jesus or not, because there is no pride that comes with that. We should feel honored to be included in the body of Christ. We should feel blessed to feel a part of the family of God. If we believe in Christ, and following him we receive his blessings. We are adopted errors in Christ. We are joint errors with him. We are the receiver of all the blessings that God gives to us. But there's zero pride that comes in that because of everything that Paul talks about God's mercy. Let's keep in mind Romans eleven is under the blanket of God's mercy. And you know the true definition of mercy. Mercy is giving, not giving someone what they actually deserve. As you deserved it, but you're receiving it. Yeah, you deserve something bad and I'm not going to give it to you, right, I'm gonna give you mercy instead. And there's a big difference between and grace. Right, So mercy is sparing somebody what they deserve. The grace is actually giving somebody something that they don't deserve. Right, So mercy spares us, but grace pardons us, Grace favors us. Right, that's the difference between the two. And so again God God says there's no pride because none of the good in us comes from us, It's from Jesus. And so another verse that stands out to me is actually it comes with so many implications. Is the quoting of Isaiah. Chapter fifty nine, when he says, you know, even as the scriptures say there's one who rescues us from Jerusalem, he will not turn away from ungodliness. And then he quotes Isaiah again in verse number thirty four, and he quotes Isaiah forty thirteen or who can know the Lord's thoughts? And those are two different scriptures that have two different meanings. You know what I think, you know what I thought of. I thought of immediately. Uh Isaiah was written seven hundred years before Jesus walked the earth, seven hundred plus years before Paul wrote this verse. And he's quoting the prophecy that talks about Jesus seven hundred years later and talking about the city in which he lived in. And you know, he was born in Nazareth. He spent his time in Capernaum. He came all the way down from the you know, the Sea of Galilee to the south part of the state of Israel, and and and you know, right around or you know, Bethlehem's was was was near Jerusalem, but then but then up in the in the north it was Galilee in Capernaum, and then and then of course he dies back down in the south in Jerusalem. And and so here's Isaiah talking about this prophecy, And isn't it amazing how that sort of is woven in there to sort of solidify that Jesus has fulfilled right, Like, there are those who don't believe him, Paul says, and yet he's fulfilled over NDS three hundred plus prophecies, which is impossible for any man to fulfill. Yeah, yeah, cool, that's absolutely awesome. And then it ends with verse thirty six. We could spend all day in this chapter. It's got a lot of different angles to it. But verse thirty six, for everything comes from Him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory, all glory to Him forever a man. I could preach a sermon on that one. No doubt that everything comes from the Father. So we can't take credit for ourselves. We can't take credit for anything that happens in our lives, the family, we have, the jobs, we have anything, because everything was given to us by God. But it exists for his glory. I think that's just awesome. Yeah, And it's also important to know that God blesses evil people in spite of themselves. Yeah right, So God's goodness doesn't run out. God God is you know, I think about some people would say, now, my story is I came to Christ as I was a teenager. But there are some people who say I didn't come to Christ till I was forty years old, yeah, or fifty or sixty or seventy. And I spent most of my life wasted, and I was living as an evil person, you know, that's the whole scrooge, you know, kind of a thing. Right, And then this moment of conversion, of seeing the light. And yet God continued to bless me in spite of my past. He blessed me with health, He blessed me with all these different things. And it's exactly true. So those of us who are evil, those of us who are good, all of us are at the absolute mercy of God. We are the recipients of things that we do. Not deserve, whether we're good or whether we're bad, because in and of ourselves and our nature, God says we're all sinners. Yeah right, And I. Thank God for this, and I know we're running short on time Verse twenty nine. For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. I absolutely love that, the fact that when I was far from God, God could have wanted his hands and said, you know what, Wesley, I'm done with you. You know, you're gone forever. But the scripture says, whatever He has given us, that gift, that talent, it can never be withdrawn. That's why sometimes people have a tough time when they see people who are who they deem is living wrong and it just seems like they're amazingly talented and they're they're you know, they got all these talents, and we will even say, you know, why don't they use those talents for good instead of you know, using that talent in this way. But those gifts can never be withdrawn. Withdrawn, and I'm glad that God does not withdraw us because God sees the end of our life. Our story is still being written. And maybe we have listeners right now who are looking at their own life and they're thinking, you know, it's off track, it's out of balance, and I'm far from God. Know that your story is still being written, and God has gifts and talents on the inside of you that he wants to use his glory. That's really good. Yeah, so I think one of the takeaways, and there's probably several, but one of the takeaways from these few verses is, you know, as believers and followers of Christ, this is yet just another passage that tells us that we should value and treat people exactly the same. There is no pride that comes with us and our faith. There is no differentiation. Right. We realize the difference, of course, but in terms of our pride and our attitude, we should love and value and treat everybody the way that God wants us to. Because Jesus also said they will know your disciples by how you love one another. So I think that's a good place to end, and we will see you next time on the Bible. Guys, make sure to share us on Facebook, YouTube, and wherever you consume this podcast.