Romans 9:25-33 (Bedrock Doctrines, Pastor Jeff Kliewer)

Anybody get tired singing five songs? Let's pray. Father, your word teaches us in Isaiah 6 that the angels never tire of singing holy, holy, holy before your throne. And for all eternity, they delight to give you praise.

Help us to be more like those angels, Lord. Fill our hearts with that kind of adoration. Father, we thank you now that we can open your word so that we can go deeper in the things of God. We pray, Lord, that you would establish our feet upon the rock.

Lives built upon sand will crumble when the wind and the floods, the rains come. But Lord, if our houses are built upon the rock, Christ Jesus, and on every word that Jesus gives us, Old Testament and new, then when the rains come and the floods and the wind beats against the house, it will not fall.

So Lord, establish our houses upon rock, bedrock, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. I once had the privilege of seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were discovered in 1947 in a cave outside of Qumran, but they brought them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and there they were behind a sheet of glass about that thick.

I remember because I leaned forward to try to make out what was written on the Dead Sea Scroll, and one of the guards actually pulled me back on the shoulder and said, don't get that close to the glass because your body heat could actually affect the temperature in the chamber.

And that's how carefully they were guarding these scrolls. They're significant because they date back before the time of Christ, and they have intact all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is remarkable because it's 66 chapters parallel, in a sense, the 66 books of the New Testament.

Yet it was complete before the New Testament was given, and it divides 39 -27. The first 39 chapters are very distinct from the last 27 chapters, just like the Old Testament is 39 books and the New Testament is 27 books.

But I tell you, if you were to go to witness, let's say at Princeton University or RCBC or some college, and you told them Jesus is the Christ, he died for our sins and he rose on the third day, most people would be incredulous and believe that you have no foundation for what you're saying.

They might consider Jesus a liar or a lunatic, or perhaps more likely just a legend, a developed tradition that people invented over time. If you ever run into that objection, what you are to do is to not only say that Jesus died, but that he died for our sins according to the scripture, that he was buried and that he rose on the third day according to the scripture.

The ground for the gospel that we all believe is the Old Testament. And Isaiah stands prominently among the books of the Old Testament that ground our faith in Jesus Christ. This book was written 700 years before Christ appeared.

And yet Isaiah 714 says, behold, I myself will give you a sign. The virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel. In chapter nine, verse six, it says, to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and he shall be called wonderful counselor, almighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

In chapter 11, we learn that the Israelites have been ransacked and destroyed by first of all, Assyria, and then the Babylonians. And in that context, as Isaiah is foreseeing it, he also tells that after the tree is cut down, once Israel is taken away into captivity, there will remain a stump.

And from that stump will come another shoot. Have you guys ever seen that happen? Maybe you've gardened and you've cut off a tree, and then another shoot comes from the stump. Well, Isaiah said, a shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse.

Jesse is David's father. A branch from his root will bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord will be on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears. But in righteousness, he will judge the needy, and with justice, give decisions for the poor of the earth, and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked.

Sound like anybody you know? The only King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, anointed with the Holy Spirit, judge of all men. In chapter 28 of Isaiah, verse 16, we're told that he is the cornerstone, and those who found their lives upon him are on sure footing.

Whoever believes is not put to shame. In chapter 42, we have the first of four servant psalms, songs written about a coming servant. And the first song comes from Isaiah 42. It tells us that there is one who will not snuff out a smoldering wick, and a wounded reed he will not break off, until he has established justice, not only in Israel, but to the ends of the earth.

This servant is none other than Jesus Christ. The second servant psalm is like it. It says, it is too small a thing for you to establish justice in Israel. But speaking to all the coastlands, the ends of the earth, he will be a light to the nations, and salvation will go to the ends of the earth.

Amen, missionaries of Portugal. Salvation to the ends of the earth, Genesis 49. In Genesis, I'm sorry, Isaiah 49. In Isaiah chapter 50, the third servant song says that this servant will be mistreated.

He will be beaten on his back.

His beard will be pulled from his face. He will be spat upon in his face. Isaiah 50, verses two to six, the third servant song. And we're familiar with the fourth servant song, Isaiah 53, but do you know that that actually begins in the 52nd chapter, three verses earlier.

And it speaks of one who will be beaten beyond human recognition, beyond the resemblance of a man. But with this suffering, he will sprinkle the nations. Sprinkling refers to that bloodshed as he's beaten, that his blood, which we just celebrated in song, that this blood will be a sprinkling for sinners to wash us.

And then goes forth the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, in which we're told how he comes up like a root out of dry ground, no beauty that anyone would desire him. But he is the lamb of God. And we all like sheep are led astray, turned to each his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Remember this, by his wounds, we are healed. We believe in Jesus Christ, the one who bore our sins, because he was prophesied by Isaiah and all of the 39 books of the Old Testament. This is the ground that we stand on, the sure footing for our faith in Jesus Christ.

I want you to see one other prophecy in Isaiah. Turn with me to Isaiah 44, verses 24 and following. We're very familiar with the prophecies of the Christ. We talk about them at Christmas and Easter, and should talk about the prophecies whenever we preach the gospel.

But what I want you to understand this morning is that prophecy is not only peculiar to Christ, but covers a whole panoply, a whole range of things that God chooses to reveal. And prophecy shows by that, that he is in control of whatsoever happens in the world.

Did you know that Isaiah also prophesied the coming of Cyrus, the king of Persia? Before he came, before the Southern kingdom was even taken into exile in Babylon, God had already named Cyrus, who would send them back as a remnant to the promised land.

Let's read it. Isaiah chapter 44, verses 24 through 45, seven. 44, 24. I hear the pages, so I'll give you a second.

Good.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and make fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers.

In other words, prophecies fulfilled because God is doing whatever he pleases.

Now watch.

Who says of Jerusalem, she shall be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah, they shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins. Who says to the deep, be dry, I will dry up your rivers. Who says to Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose.

Underline it, circle it, all my purpose. God has a purpose, and he prophesies things to come to fulfill what he intends to do. Saying of Jerusalem, she shall be built, and of the temple, your foundation shall be laid.

Now this is remarkable. God foretold Cyrus before he came? A king that was not yet born? Let's read on, because he says something more about the calling of him by name, and what this reveals about God's decree.

Chapter 45, thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed, I will go before you and level the exalted places.

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes and secret places that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

You see what it reveals? That every time Persia conquered the Medes, or the Medes working in cohorts with the Persians, when they conquered the Babylonians, when the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians, or when the Assyrians conquered Israel, this was not just nations doing what they do.

God is saying, I did that for my own name. Keep reading, it says in verse four. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name. He's doing this ahead of time. I name you, though you do not know me.

Was the Persian king righteous? No, but he did send Israel out of exile back to their promised land to rebuild. God moved him. I think it's because someone, probably Daniel, showed the king this prophecy and said, look, our God wrote you and named you in our book.

Before you were born.

That explains why Persia was so favorable to Israel and sent them home with gifts in order to rebuild as Israel was rebuilt, the southern kingdom. Then it says, verse five, I am the Lord, there is no other.

Besides me, there is no God. We better have a high view of the God we serve. I equip you, though you do not know me. That people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me.

I am the Lord and there is no other. Let this verse sink in. I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. That word in the Hebrew is ra, evil, calamity, destruction. God is sovereign over even the ruining of kingdoms one over against another.

I am the Lord who does all these things. All these things, as we already underscored in verse 28, all my purpose, all the things he intends to do. How many of y 'all watched the Olympics? You shouldn't raise your hand, because remember what I said?

I'm not watching the Olympics because of that opening ceremony. You just got caught by my little chick. No, I was, I'm glad for everybody who watched. That was a matter of conscience and freedom. So I didn't get to watch the American versus the Italian gold medal match in women's volleyball.

I would have loved to watch that. But from what I understand, the Italians just pummeled us. They could jump higher and hit harder, and they beat us three sets to zero. Now, what if they were handicapped by sand?

There's another kind of volleyball called sand volleyball, and you can't jump nearly as high off of sand. Imagine if the Americans had hardwood floors, and the Italians had to play on a sand side of court, but it was equal height.

Which team would have won in that case? I submit America would have crushed them, because you can jump a lot higher off of hardwood. You can move much quicker, much better footing. The problem with sand is that it's shifty.

You don't have a great footing, and therefore it's hard to jump, it's hard to move. It's hard to grasp things or hit things that are higher than you. The foundation on which you stand matters. Last week, I taught a doctrine of election.

The reason I taught it is because it's right here in Romans chapter nine, verses six through 24. The concepts therein are high. In fact, I would say they're over our head. We can't grasp them. But the problem is we lack footing.

We lack the grounding, the sure foundation in the book of Isaiah and Hosea. And Paul has already quoted three times from Genesis, once from Exodus. He quoted from Malachi chapter one. We lacked Old Testament grounding to really track with Paul.

Now, I said last week that we can be sure of what he's intending to say because of the context. We know that Romans nine is about salvation, not just distinguishing nations, as if that would fit in the flow of Romans, but it's about salvation because in Romans eight, 28 to 30, we were given the golden chain of redemption.

Remember what that is? Those whom God foreknew, he also predestined, he also called, he also justified, he also glorified. And this beautiful chain, I should do it this way because it's left to right for me, but for you guys, I should be going like this.

This chain is unbreakable. It's beautiful, it's glorious and illustrious, it's golden. But the ones who are called are certain to be justified. This calling is effectual. And so I say that we know it's about salvation because in chapter nine, verse 11, he's still using that word.

In chapter nine, verse 24, he's still saying, even us whom he called. We know it's about salvation because Paul has lamented that the Israelites are not being saved. By and large, they're all being lost, except for this remnant.

And so he says in verse six, and MacArthur summarizes the problem this way. John MacArthur will say about the whole chapter nine of Romans. Is Israel's unbelief inconsistent with God's plan? Israel's not believing in their own Messiah.

So has God's plan failed? Has the word of God failed? That's the problem, verse six. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. Israel is set apart still and chosen nationally for the distinct reasons given in verses four and five, but individuals by and large are not saved.

How could this be? If they're the chosen people of God, why are most of them being lost to hell? As Paul laments in verses two and three. That's a problem. And we know that we're following his train of thought if we have the same philosophical objections that Paul raises in the text.

The first philosophical objection is found in verse 14, Romans 9, 14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? If Jacob I loved and Esau I hated, if God is choosing, he's electing for his own purposes to call whom he wants, how is that just?

How is it fair that he would call Jacob and not Esau? Or this Christian and not your next door neighbor? How is that fair? Is there injustice with God? God's answer is that this is all by mercy. If he were to condemn every person in this room to hell on account of our sin, God would be just in so doing.

We are wicked, sinful people by nature who have also committed sin actively. If God condemned us all, he would be just. But the principle of mercy is that nothing is owed to us. So anyone he calls out of that lump of fallen clay to have mercy on and to make a vessel of mercy, God will mercy whom he mercies and have compassion on whom he compassions.

He's not unjust, but it goes on to say he also hardened the heart of Pharaoh in order to achieve his purpose. What's up with that? Second objection, verse 19. Why does he still find fault? If he's the one that hardened Pharaoh, why does he still find fault?

The answer is that Pharaoh was already part of that wicked lump of clay. And the potter can make from that a vessel of mercy, like those who believe, or a vessel of wrath. God might display his glory by judging Pharaoh.

Did you know God was glorified to crush Pharaoh? He says, I raised him up for that very purpose. Now he judicially hardened him. You would think when God sent frogs to overrun the land, and that was really nasty, and gnats, and hail, and darkness,.

And the death of the cattle,.

At some point, Pharaoh would say, you know what, Israel, you can go now. Let my people go. But what did he do? He hardened his own heart, God hardened his heart, and God was just to do that because he was displaying his own wrath against the idolatry, wickedness of Pharaoh.

And the Egyptian people.

Can't he do that? Is he not just to display his wrath as well as his mercy? In fact, when you're mercied by God, you should see the fate of those who don't believe and still praise God all the more. God, thank you so much that you saved me because but for the grace of God, there go I.

That's the idea. So there's no injustice, and if you're tracking with Paul, you should get it, but it's still hard. This morning, I'm going to give you four bedrock doctrines. Four things you might not have known from the Old Testament that if you were standing on that, if you kick the sand off the bedrock, maybe use one of those air blowers, just get all the sand off of the hard surface, right?

And you stand on Isaiah and Hosea, this will make so much more sense to you. It will delight your soul so much more. The first bedrock doctrine that I have to share with you is prophecy. Turn back to, well, in Romans 9, let's read verses 25 and 26.

This is where we left off last week. The bedrock doctrine of prophecy will prove that God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass. Look what it says. As indeed, which means he's now grounding what he told us, he's giving us the footing, the bedrock foundation to believe this.

He said in Hosea, those who are not my people, I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

All right, what was the problem that Paul was addressing in Romans 9? Did God's plan for Israel fail? They're the chosen people. Why aren't they believing in their Messiah, right? And the answer is that this unbelief, this hardness of Israel as a nation against their own Christ was prophesied by Hosea because the people here are Israel, the chosen ones, right?

In the book of Hosea, first chapter, he is required to go marry Gomer, the prostitute, to represent faithless Israel. And from that wedding, from that union, are born three children. The first is a boy.

They named him Jezreel, which means scattered. The second was a girl. They named her Loruhamah, which means no mercy. Parents, I don't recommend these names. Or Isaiah's name for his kid, which was Maher Shalal Hashbaz.

Quick to the spoil, quick to the plunder. Don't name your kid this. But it's saying something prophetically. And then the third one was Loahmi, not my people. And the prophet here is saying God can regard Israel as not his people in order that from them, he could call a remnant that he calls his people.

Hosea chapter two and verse 23 is quoted here in Romans nine.

And it's good news.

Those who are not my people, I will call my people. It answers the problem of verse 24 because God is calling from Jew and from Gentile. Now the Gentiles are just inherently, in the Old Testament, not my people.

But Hosea taught us that God can and will regard his people as not my people, just like the Gentiles, in order to call out from that lump, from that mass, some that he will call my people. That's you, his people, sitting here believing in his son.

And I don't care if you were born Jew or Gentile. If you're called to believe in his name and you do believe in the son of God, you are called his people. That's the idea. He quotes then again from chapter one where this promise is made in verse 10.

And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God. The deep principle of prophecy that I want you to understand is that prophecies are like God opening a window for you to catch a glimpse of his decree.

The fact that he's behind it all. It's not that he's just gonna do a couple things prophetically that he's sure to do, like Jesus being crucified. When you read the whole Old Testament, prophecies cover the gamut and they prove what we read in the introduction from Isaiah 45, that God has purposed all things.

I want you to know that God has decreed whatever comes to pass. We're told exactly that in Psalm 33 11, Psalm 135 6, Acts 2 23, and in your notes I gave you Ephesians 1 11. Where it literally says all things, God works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Prophecies prove that God has this decree, this plan, this purpose that he is working out and it covers everything. You say, well, wait a minute, not everything like the rolling of a dice. He hasn't controlled whether it lands with two dots up or one dot up.

Except that Proverbs 16 13 says, the casting of the lot is into the lap and it's every decision is from the Lord. Knowing that, this is why the apostles replaced the wandering Judas by casting lots. They trusted God's sovereignty over even that, that Matthias would be chosen and not the other based on the casting of a lot.

God's decree covers everything. And prophecy is a revelation of glimpses of that, that Judas would betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Even that was decreed. When you understand that God's decree covers all of these things, you have a much firmer bedrock basis for understanding Romans nine.

Now, wouldn't that mean that human will doesn't matter? That our choices are fake, that we're just marionette dolls, puppets that God is moving around. Paul will deal with that next. Let's look at Romans nine 27 and 28.

The second bedrock doctrine is called compatibilism. It comes from the word compatible, two non-contradictory things that are compatible. And here, what is compatible? God's sovereign decree and human will, a real choice that comes from within the man, not controlled in that way.

The Westminster Confession describes in chapter three that God from all eternity, predestined, foreordained, whatsoever comes to pass. But then listen to what it says. Yet, yet, so thereby neither is God the author of sin.

Well, how could that be? Nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures. He didn't take away real will. Nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. The idea that the willful choices of men are established by this doctrine.

Do you wanna see it in scripture? All right, don't believe me unless it's in scripture, amen? Romans nine 27 and 28. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. When we study a prophecy, it's very important that we not proof text. What does it mean to proof text? It's to just quote a little snippet of somewhere in scripture to prove what you already think.

Rather, what we're supposed to do is to go back in the context of where it was given. So quickly, let's look at Isaiah chapter 10, Isaiah 10. This is where the quote comes from. The bedrock doctrine is called compatibilism.

And I wanna show you that what Isaiah is doing here is showing God's sovereign decree compatible with real human choices as the secondary cause for which they're responsible and truly do of their own.

Isaiah 10 verses five and following. Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury. Who's speaking here?

God.

The nation of Assyria will be his rod, his staff. He's going to wield an entire nation to judge his own people against a godless nation, Israel, I send them, him. And against the people of my wrath, I command him to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Now pause right there after verse six. Is this God's sovereignty or man's responsibility? God's sovereignty. He's wielding them as a tool. And he is going to be the one to use Assyria to judge and trample down.

But now look at verses seven through nine. But he does not so intend. There's the will, the intention of the king of Assyria. He's not trying to be the rod of God's instrument. It says, and his heart does not so think.

But it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations, not a few. For he says, are not my commanders all kings? You see the haughtiness? His own willful mind is made up to go conquer whoever stands in his way.

He's going to rule the world.

That's his intention. And it's a real will. This is why he's doing what he's doing. Then it says, is not Calno like Carchemish and not Hamath like Arpad? These are nations that he ran over. Verse nine, is not Samaria like Damascus?

Samaria is the northern kingdom. Isn't Israel just like the Lebanese? We run over them, we do what we want because we run this town. We own this world. This is the willfulness of the king, and it's real.

So both things are true. God is wielding them without them knowing it, but they're responsible for their own willful choices. God then speaks to this in verses 10 through 21. And the answer to this is God will use them, but he will preserve a remnant, a remnant.

That's what we read about in Romans nine, from Isaiah 10, 22 to 23. Okay, well, you guys survived what is probably the deepest doctrine that I talk about from the pulpit, compatibilism. The free will of man and the sovereignty of God being not opposed to each other, but both true at the same time.

God having a decree overall, but man having real responsible will. There's a third bedrock principle that Paul takes us to. And this one will help a lot of people, I do believe. Romans nine, we're picking up again at verse 29.

Paul says, and, which means there's more that we need to pay attention to. As hard as it is for us to go to these depths, we need to set our feet on this concept. Isaiah prophesied, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.

This is the principle of restraint, restraint. If it weren't for God giving a remnant, the whole world would have become like the days of Noah and like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Why is it that your next door neighbor isn't an ax murderer?

If he's not believing in Christ, Christian theology says he's totally depraved, but he doesn't look totally depraved. He looks like kind of a good guy, takes care of his lawn.

He loves his kids.

He drives them to school and goes to their soccer games. That doesn't look like total depravity. Are humans really so wicked? And the problem is we can't understand God judging this lump of wicked humanity apart from mercy because it doesn't look that wicked to us.

The reason why human depravity does not look the part is because of this very reason in verse 29. If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, if God were not calling out a remnant offspring from this wicked lump, everybody you know, and listen, you yourself, would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.

That's what your heart is capable apart from grace, capable of. To become like Sodom and Gomorrah, no, not me. To become like the days of Noah, can't imagine. That's what he said. And he proves it from the first chapter from which he's quoting.

Go back to Isaiah one. This one will be fast. But I said, without Isaiah, we can't follow Paul and we can't just proof text a verse here. We have to know the context. Pick up with Isaiah chapter one, verse four.

Isaiah chapter one, verse four. The quote in Romans nine comes from verse nine, but we need the context, so we'll read four to nine. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly.

They have forsaken the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are utterly estranged. Sound like total depravity? Totally depraved. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it. But bruises and sores and raw wounds, they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.

Your country lies desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. In your very presence, foreigners devour your land. It is desolate as overthrown by foreigners and the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

Not a pretty picture. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. It is not difficult to grasp the rightness of the doctrines of Romans nine, that God is calling out and preserving for himself a remnant people.

When you realize how utterly depraved people are apart from grace. But for the grace of God, there go I. I would look just like this. That's the ravages of sin inherited from Adam. Did you know 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verses six to eight, foretell the rapture of the church.

That's when God's remnant, those who believe in Christ, are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But in that moment, the restrainer is taken out of the way. God is restraining the wickedness of this world for the sake of the elect, for the sake of the church.

Sometimes you will see a glimpse of what it looks like when God removes his hand of restraint. I think he does that to show what mankind is really like apart from that restraint. So you have the gulags of Stalin.

That's what man is capable of. Why would God let Hitler set up concentration camps? One of the things he showed in that, it's not that God couldn't stop it. He could have given Hitler a heart attack like that and none of that would have happened.

But God allowed it to show the full depravity, the wickedness of man, what man is capable of doing left in themselves. There's coming a day when the church will be raptured. He will no longer restrain evil and read the book of Revelation to see what an unrestrained world does to itself and the judgments that fall from God.

We can understand the doctrines when we understand restraint. God is restraining wickedness by civil law. People don't just kill because they know the consequence of civil law. God has given that for restraint.

He's also restraining in the hearts of men, only allowing people to go this far or that far. But it's not hard to understand that God has saved us by grace alone when you know what that lump was like.

That you came from, that I came from.

So this is what Paul appeals to. And now the final verses of Romans 9. You'll be surprised what Paul says. The fourth principle, I couldn't come up with a big theology word like compatibilism. Well, it's not my word, that is a theology word.

But I don't know the theology word for what this principle communicates. So I called it the doctrine of whosoever, verses 30 to 33. What shall we say then, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it?

That is a righteousness that is by faith. But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

Why?

Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Again, he's quoting from Isaiah. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. I love this ending because we've just talked about the election of God purely of grace, but he closes this with whosoever, that whoever would put their faith in Christ will be saved.

And the problem with Israel is that from their perspective, they were pursuing self-righteousness. They were trying to establish their own righteousness by keeping the law. And so in their pride, God left them in that hardened state.

But here's the amazing thing. A free offer of the gospel, when Christ is preached without regarding Jew, Gentile, handicap or able-bodied, whoever you offer the gospel to, if they will believe, will truly be saved.

Doesn't that sound contradictory to election? Doesn't whosoever sound contradictory to election? Remember compatibilism. Both things are true. What prohibits people from coming on their own is their moral inability.

It's like telling the devil not to be a liar or a murderer. It's in his nature. But here, the offer is sent to all. Both of these things are true. So church, in your grounding in the book of Isaiah, you can believe that God has decreed whatever comes to pass.

And that includes whom he will have mercy on and electing. That's deep knowledge that you get from Romans 9. But it does not undermine the point that God makes a free offer to whosoever will. Doesn't the Bible say that too?

John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will be saved. You can go out and preach and believe that they have a real will. They're not just a puppet.

There's a real will. You appeal to that. We know from our maturity in Christ that it's only by grace that they'll hear the gospel in the first place or that their heart will open like a flower to it. But in the sense of preaching, we offer it to anybody and everybody.

We'll learn this in the next chapter, Romans 10, 9 and 10, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. If you confess, if you believe, that's a real appeal to your will.

It's real. Or we know from Revelation 22, the spirit and the bride say, come. And anybody who's thirsty, let him come and drink from the waters of life. These two things are not opposed. And so here's what we're gonna do as a church.

We are going to make an effort to offer the gospel to a certain group of people who have disabilities that you would think might, some might think would keep them from understanding or believing. There's a missionary couple, Tim and Kathy Sheets, who have long been sharing the gospel with handicapped people and I'm gonna show you a video now to close my sermon and then Phil will come up and pray and lead the final song.