Romans 9:19-10:4, What Are Your Assumptions?, Dr. John Carpenter

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Romans 9:19-10:4 What Are Your Assumptions?

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Romans chapter 9 starting verse 19 to chapter 10 verse 4 hear the word of the Lord You will say to me then why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?
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But who are you a man to answer back to God? Well, what is molded say to its molder?
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Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
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What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in Order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the
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Jews only but also from the Gentiles as Indeed, he says in Hosea Those who were not my people
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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.
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You were not my people There they will be called sons of the Living God 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
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For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay and as Isaiah predicted
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If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah What should we say then?
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The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it That is a righteousness that is by faith
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But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law
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Why because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works
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They have stumbled over the stumbling stone as it is written Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame
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Brothers my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved for I bear witness
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That they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge For being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own
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They did not submit to God's righteousness For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes
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May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well ever made a wrong assumption
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Have you sat on a chair assuming it was good and have it collapse on you? Or have you leaned back expecting a wall to be there and it not be
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Maybe you've taken a bite of something assuming that is is good and then be disgusted that it's horrible Taken a sip of something assuming it's fine only to be repulsed this taste you realize it's spoiled.
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I've spit it out. I Broke my leg last August because I assumed my left foot was free of the pedal and so I leaned to the left bad assumptions
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Can get you in trouble? Sometimes the bad assumptions don't get exposed for a long time
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Maybe for a whole lifetime some people and figuring this culture believe that you know The relationship is the meaning of life now.
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They've never sat down and Rationally thought through you know, what what's life mean? What's it all about and then?
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Deliberated and come to the considered conclusion that yes The most important thing in life is the girlfriend of the boyfriend the wife of the husband the soul mate a love of my life
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No, it's it's not the conclusion of considered Deliberation they just pick that assumption up from songs and movies
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Maybe as a kid having adults ask them constantly you have a boyfriend have a girlfriend Maybe from watching their parents
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Maybe in the air they breathe Other people of course assume that money makes the world go around and they so they spend their life chasing dollars others assume that their feelings or their psyche is
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The definition of truth of what they should do or what they should be if I feel
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I am something Then I am what I feel I am Both in the push to legitimize homosexuality and now trans sexuality people assume that their psyche
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What their psyche tells them about themselves about either what they should do or about who they are is more true it's more to be trusted than what objective biological facts show a
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Trans person assumes I am what I feel I am not what biology says they assume that psyche trumps
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Reality or to probably put it more precisely. They assume that psyche is reality What do you assume?
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Well, there's a crisis in the church right now because many people assume they haven't thought about it. They haven't considered it They just assume it they've caught it from the air
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They breathe that the church is just another customer service provider like all the other things in life that Center around them
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It's like a restaurant. It's like a theater. It's like those other assumptions people just absorbed it in the from the culture
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And so they find it incredible that you suggest that life could be different as Jonathan Swift said
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It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing. He was never reasoned into Now for millennia people assume that the earth was the center of the universe
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That even the Sun revolved around the earth, which was stable The earth they assumed was stable and still after all you walk out of your home in the morning
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And the ground doesn't feel like it's moving The Sun is coming up in the East and going down in the
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West. It looks like it's moving Not not me So you just assume that it's all revolving around us
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Now once you assume that and there's no one to correct you you just assume it It then it is it's shocking even alarming if someone tries to get you to even consider
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That maybe you're not the center of the universe that maybe hear me out as outrageous as this might sound maybe you and everything around you is spinning at about 1 ,000 miles per hour as it is and Moving through space at about sixty seven thousand miles per hour around a star now
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That's just incredible. Isn't it as in unbelievable if you've assumed all your life
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That the universe revolves around you Now here we see Paul confronting some bad but common assumptions he's been showing that salvation does not depend on man's desire effort, but on God's mercy that God loves some like Jacob and Contrary to what we've been told to assume
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He doesn't love others at least not in the same way it might be kind and generous to everyone but he doesn't love everyone in the same way like not like like Esau and Salvation depends on God having mercy which he does at his will now, that's just incredible Like saying that we revolve around the
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Sun Common assumptions wrong assumptions have to be uprooted. So Paul does that here in four parts?
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first the Potter Second the people then the presumption and finally the purpose
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First the Potter beginning of verse 19 Paul answers the question that comes naturally to two people
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We have assumed that the spiritual universe revolves around us I thought God's acceptance of me depends on my choices that I make a decision and that starts
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The dominoes falling either for my salvation or for my objection It depends on my choice people just assume that God like the
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Sun revolves around us Reacts God reacts they think to whether I believe and obey or whether I reject and resist my choices
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Make God move I act he reacts
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That's just a common almost universal assumption of people today And so Paul has just said in verse 18
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He that's God has mercy on whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills
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Now the objection for the person assuming that we are the center of the spiritual universe is that that's that's incredible He cannot believe that that doesn't make sense.
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How can God harden someone like Pharaoh? so that he disobeys God's command and Then condemn
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Pharaoh for resisting him Because no, you can't resist him because he's in control Then how can he how can he condemn me for doing what he made me do notice verse 19?
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Why does God still find fault if our faults are under God's control? How can he judge us for them still common objections to this day for who can resist his will?
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Pharaoh couldn't resist God and yet God condemns Pharaoh for doing what God raised him up to do We talked about someone that this same idea of the same problem of the past two weeks now first It's not as though Pharaoh was going to let the
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Israelites go You know, it's not Pharaoh was just right on the edge of letting those Israelites go and then
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God reached down intervened and made him do Something that he wouldn't have otherwise done.
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He made him hard -hearted, you know, Pharaoh was by him What you just leave him to himself. He's soft hearted. He's gonna let everybody go but now
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God made him hard -hearted No, that's that's not the case. God. Let him do what comes naturally to him
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God put him in that place as king of Egypt so that he would do What he does it would be who he is and God gave him the command let my people go
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But he did not give him the mercy To soften his heart So that he would obey the command
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But notice here in verse 20 that Paul doesn't try to rationally explain Why it is right for God to condemn people for doing what
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God predestined them to do You see I just offered what I thought was kind of rational explanation try to justify what
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God did Paul doesn't do that Notice Paul does not do what
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I just did He doesn't offer the explanation that I just did that makes I think makes it seem more reasonable
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Pharaoh was hard -hearted and God hard his heart by letting him be himself Instead what Paul does and he's inspired
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Don't forget what Paul does is go right to the assumption That's where the problem is
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It's something that you think you could ask that question of God the critic It was talking back to God in saying
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God cannot find fault with us for doing what God predestined That we would do he doesn't have that right
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It's wrong for him to do it. The moral universe revolves around us in our choices.
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Paul says no. Oh man Who do you think you are?
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Who are you oh man to answer back to God you think he's revolving around you
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He is not He's the Potter Paul doesn't try to explain
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God explain predestination doesn't try to sell it make it more palatable Make it look attractive to rational people
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He just asserts it and then goes for the assumption that protests against it in order to root that out
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You don't make yourself God does he's the
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Potter You're the clay So, who do you think you are?
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Well, what is molded? you Say to the molder
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God Why have you made me like this? No, it's like if you made a figurine whatever you made a clay and you make a little figurine and you
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Bake it and glaze it to make it look nice some kind of whatever image it is you want to make it of and and a dancer or a shepherd or whatever it is you make this figurine put it on your mantle and now
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It's ranting at you. It's demanding answers from you Every time you pass by that figurine starts trying to argue with you.
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Why did you make me a dancer a Shepherd, you know, whatever you probably just shoved your shoulder and say, you know
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It's because I felt like it it's what I wanted to do as John Piper said for man to advise
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God about how he ought to act is as out of place as for a statue to advise a sculptor how to chisel
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In verse 21 has the Potter God in this analogy No, right over the clay that is over people all of humanity to make out of the same lump
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All the material that he is making people with one vessel right one kind of container whatever could be a pot a bowl of a vase a vase a jar a cup for honorable use
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Honorable use like a fine vase that you put in the center of a table a centerpiece to show off And make one of those or another he says for dishonorable use like a chamber pot in those days
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Before indoor plumbing people have chamber pots a pot one uses to relieve oneself in instead of going out to the outhouse
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The the Potter is God and out of this same lump of humanity. He is making some containers to be centerpieces just to show off to be fine
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China ornate and beautiful and then out of the same lump of Humanity, he's making some to receive his wrath
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His his anger at sin to be poured out on them Now potters do this all the time.
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They make pots for all kinds of purposes Some to be beautiful decoration centerpieces or in a formal dining table or a vases on a mantle to be honored some to be useful like carrying water or wine some as chamber pots
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Dishonorable probably probably hide it in the closet. I guess when you're not using it No one is going to say to the
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Potter, but you can't make Chamber pots you can only make ornate bosses now if an ornate boss
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Chooses of its own free will to be a chamber pot. Well, that's up to it, but you have no right to make chamber pots
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Now the critic would talk back to me and say well, ah But that's where your analogy doesn't work
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Pots don't have free will we do? We have free will and we can choose to be ornate boss
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Or we can choose to be a chamber pot if we want it's all up to us to up to our free will
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But that's where your assumption is Wrong. That's an assumption that we have free will you assume we have free will like you assume
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Naturally people assume the Sun revolves around the earth you make choices sure, yes people do make choices and You think you make your choices freely unaffected by anything
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You but you're not aware of all the forces around you your upbringing your environment all the forces in you
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Whatever it be hormones Spiritual forces everything that are guiding even determining your choices
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Just like we're not aware that we're all spinning on a globe and revolving around the Sun right now Free will is an assumption
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Once gave a theology test When which I asked the question list all the scriptures that teach free will you know, they answer
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Nothing, you leave it blank Some students didn't get that this is common assumption
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We have free will but the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 8 verse 34 that if you sin and we all do
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Then you're a slave of sin Paul used the same term in Romans 6 remember slave of sin
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Slaves do not have free will that's pretty much the definition of a slave He has no free will psalm 51 says that were conceived in sin
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Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says that our heart is desperately sick and beyond cure Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 says that every inclination of our heart is only evil all the time
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We don't have free will Now sure our will may be free of outward compulsion
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God is not forcing us to commit sins that that we don't choose He's not like a puppet master making us do things that inwardly we're saying no, please don't make me do that But he makes us do it
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No like he didn't have to force Pharaoh to Refuse to let the Israelites go or he didn't have to force Esau to trade his birthright for a bowl of stew
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He could just let them be themselves They chose to sin because they were slaves of sin
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They were free of outward compulsion But not of inward corruption
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Now here Paul is getting to that assumption that that we think we have the right to tell God what to do Because we think the spiritual universe revolves around us instead of verse 22.
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What if? Instead of God revolving on us and our desires. What if a common assumption?
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What if instead we revolve around God's? desires Now the word desires there in verse 22 is the same word
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There's used in verse 16. Remember we says salvation does not depend on our desires
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Now we assume it does we assume I desire God so I prayed and I got safe I mean, that's how we assume things work
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What really happened is God desired us and his desire for us created our desire for him We assume it does but God has already blown our minds that it doesn't what if God desires to show his wrath and to make known
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His power what if that's his desire? The implication is that yes, he does desire that Since he's the
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Potter he's going to show his wrath and his power by making vessels. He's pots. He's containers of wrath
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That is they are objects made for the purpose of showing wrath on Now I'm preparing for the sermon.
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I was reading one of my usually normally favorite commentators. He said basically
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This is his reasoning his assumption. We know God does not make vessels of wrath That is people for the purpose of being wrathful on them.
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I thought well wait, we don't know that He just kind of asserted it You're assuming that and then allowing your assumptions to overwhelm
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What scripture is saying here here Paul does say that God the Potter?
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Makes vessels of wrath people to be wrathful on notice even if he hasn't blown your mind already that they are prepared
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They're prepared literally fitted like a tailor fits your clothes, especially for you
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He doesn't just give wrath off the rat. He gives tailor -made wrath fitted for destruction
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The implied subject that is the one who is doing the fitting for destruction is
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God the Potter and someone react Well, that can't be No Potter makes pots just to be destroyed
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What the commentator said you don't make pots just to be destroyed Well, actually we do now they make clay pigeons just for the purpose of being obliterated in in skeet shooting
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But that's beside the point here. The point here is to uproot that assumption that makes you react with that can't be
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The spiritual universe revolves around us Paul here says no it doesn't God is the
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Potter and he can make people for any purpose. He chooses. He's the one whose will is free not yours
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Notice them in verse 22 the Potter has endured with great patience those ranting figurines
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They're ranting at him and he's enduring. He's being very patient with him He's venting figurines that he's made who are they're insisting that he can't do to them.
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Whatever he wants to do to them He's patiently enduring it for now What if he's done this he fitted some for destruction and Order that this is the purpose
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The purpose the Potter is making vessels of wrath and it wasn't just wasn't just to destroy them
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You know to make these people just for the pleasure of destroying them but to make known the riches of his glory
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Now if you just stop there you'd think that well God is simply demonstrating his glory in order to be glorified
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Which would be good, but he's doing it at the expense of people Which he which we do you'd say well, he and he can do that, but that's not where it stops
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What if God desires to show his wrath in order that God might make the riches of his glory?
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that is the resurrection the new heavens and the new earth the release from the bondage to decay the Glorious freedom of the children of God make all that known on Vessels of mercy
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Okay, it's a complicated sentence there. You've been noticing all the parts putting it together. Notice is on the vessels of mercy
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He's doing the fitting for destruction for the vessels of wrath in order to have mercy on the others
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That's the goal here. The riches of God's glory though is also specifically notice that is on them
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It's not just to Them and hopefully the them is us here. The glory is on us
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Not just to us as though it's just about us learning how glorious God is somehow
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We just see God's glory and we amazed by it, which is part of it But it goes way beyond that the glory is on us
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Meaning that we experience it we receive it we benefit from it. We're vessels were pots for glory to be poured into And that's what he's making us for and he made us for that beforehand
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He pours glory into us notice at the end of verse 24. He that is God by the way
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It's explicit this time when he's preparing beforehand for glory Specifically say that God is doing it for it was assumed it's implied
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But here is direct when it's about glory God prepared the vessels of mercy beforehand that is before we had done anything good or bad like Jacob above to his predestination and God prepared them us beforehand for the desolation glory
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His glory is not just shown in His power of his wrath his anger against sin, but his glory shown in the outpouring of his mercy on his people
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That's the final purpose. He's the Potter and he's making some centerpieces Some vessels for glory to be trophies of grace on his mantle for eternity displaying how merciful he is
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Second starting verse 24 is the people who are the vessels of mercy
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Who's the us in verse 24 even us The vessels of mercy who is this us this this we looked at it three weeks ago at the end of chapter 8 and beginning
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Of chapter 9 remember who's it for? But at the beginning of this chapter
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Paul is really focusing on who it is. Not us It's not the
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Israelites by birth now speaking of bad assumptions They assumed that if they were from Israel, they were of Israel But Paul says remember in verse 6 not all who are from Israel are of Israel Not everyone is born into the ethnic group as one of God's children and here he completes the idea that he began chapter 9 with Who is us?
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It's those whom God has called in verse 24 even us Whom he is called and he's called us not only from the
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Jews But also from the Gentiles from all kinds of people what the Lord Jesus called in John chapter 10 the other sheep
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I have other sheep who are not of this this Jewish sheepfold. God is calling people from all ethnicities
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Foreign missions is about getting to those people whom God is calling from other nations
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Just crossing ethnic boundaries to get to new people Paul then quotes
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Hosea's prophecy that originally appeared to be about in Hosea appeared you would kind of assume a
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Natural assumption that it's about God restoring natural Israel He quotes that and says that is really fulfilled
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The real purpose of that prophecy when Hosea is fulfilled by the church by people from all kinds of nations
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Who were not God's people they were Gentiles They're not God's people and now they're becoming part of God's people the church those people like you and me
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Right from all kinds of different nations those barbarians up in Europe those Africans as Chinese those people
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Who had no ethnic connection? No claim that they're descended from Abraham who couldn't claim to be born into God's chosen people who were not my people
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Are now called by God to be his sons and daughters Now they're
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God's children called Gentiles Are God's children?
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That's the us Even us whom he is called Now as for the natural people the ethnic
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Israelites Paul says that the prophecies from Isaiah chapter 10 chapter 1 Applied to them though.
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They were as numerous as the sand on the seashore So literally fulfilling the promise to Abraham some people complain the
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Old Testament promises They got to be fulfilled literally Paul is saying here. It was literally fulfilled Okay, Abraham as many descendants as the as the sand on the seashore
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But only a remnant that is a small portion will be saved. That's the
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Lord sentenced on them For their sin for their unbelief and he will carry it out quickly
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Which he has done he's already done First workings are he left him a few he left literal
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Israel a few children as children of God like like Paul here Otherwise, they would have been wiped out just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
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So God's people are one holy nation called out by him and even a few leftover from national
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Israel Third the presumption in verse 30 the presumption explains why so few are left from this once large nation
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To whom and through whom God revealed himself? Why are there so few
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Israelites left Among God's people you read through the Old Testament. You think these people this nation surely it's going to be the bulk
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It's gonna be most of eventually God's people, but in the end so few of them. Why? well because of their presumption a
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Presumption is an assumption. It's an idea taken is true, but rarely examined just kind of breathe in accepted without deliberation the presumption here that kept so many
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Israelites out of the true Israel is That they can be they thought God's people they can be accepted by God by law -keeping by religion morality by work
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In verse 30, what did we say? If there's only a few natural Israelites left in the true
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Israel Only a remnant called by God to be his children. How is that? Right? How could that be they then he says they have pursued the law to be right with God in verse 31
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It's not as though they were trying now. It's not as though they're But the New Testament times by this time.
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It's not as though they were Idolatrous they were disobedient to the letter of the law They were in the old like they were in the
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Old Testament during you know When Jerusalem was destroyed Jeremiah was prophesying to them, but all their idolatry and other sins, but they wouldn't listen to him now
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Here in the New Testament, they are pursuing How to be right with God? That's what righteousness means in verse 31.
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It's a right relationship with God. They are chasing after that They're striving to be right with God They're straining for it and yet they don't reach it and meanwhile
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Gentiles as people who know Ethnic connection to God's people to Abraham who are not pursuing a right relationship with God Aren't striving to keep
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God's law these Gentiles They got it Why?
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Because of the Israelites presumption They assumed that a right relationship with God could be earned
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By religion by law -keeping notice verse 31. Why were they not getting righteousness?
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That's right standing with God Why were they not getting it because they did not pursue it that is right standing with God by faith
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They were pursuing it But not by trusting God They were trying to earn it
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They presumed that it was by the labors of their hands that they could fulfill the laws demands
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If it didn't seem to be working there were keeping the law this still seemed like God is not
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Pleased with them. Well, their advice was always the same Try harder
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Find some something else to deny yourself Invent a new law to obey.
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Maybe you're just getting too close to disobeying God's law So build a hedge around it If the law says don't eat a kid that a baby goat
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Boiled in his mother's milk then somehow make that a prohibition against cheeseburgers That's for real for Christians If you're legalistic you take the scriptures against drunkenness to mean they can't ever have any alcohol
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All because you assume that being right with God depends on your effort your exertion running
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Why is there only a minute left in the nation that God gave all these blessings to at the beginning of Beginning of the chapter, you know the glory the covenants the promises the patriarchs even physically
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God in human flesh Why so few of them? Now are
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God's people Because of their presumption they approached righteousness look at verse 32 as if it were
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And when you say as if it were You mean it's not But someone presumes it is and if you say that someone he walks on to the court as if he were
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LeBron James You mean not only is he not LeBron James? It's probably not even a very good basketball player. His presumption is totally wrong
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Here they pursued a right relationship with God as if it were based on works as if they could earn it as If means they are assuming something that's not true.
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It tells you that it was never based on works That you could never earn it. And so with that presumption
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Despite the fact they still presume it was true that it was based on works and with that presumption when God's Son came to them
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Said have faith in me build your life on my word. I'm the cornerstone
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Trust me They stumbled over him they were offended They wanted to try harder and law keeping not be ashamed of their failure
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Not trust and say you must save and you alone their presumption
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Was that they could earn God's approval? They were ashamed of admitting that they could not
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Because they didn't understand the purpose of the law fourth the purpose
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At the beginning of chapter 10. He goes back to where he was He's actually closing a loop here where he started at the beginning of chapter 9 his longing that his people be saved
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He's just showed us from Isaiah that only a remnant That's a small lift of proportion will be but still he hopes for more his heart's desire and prayer to God for them
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Is that they may be saved? He testifies in verse 2 that they have a zeal for God Could my zeal no respite.
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No could my tears forever flow now many will think now Zeal for God surely that's proof.
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They love God They're right with God. He said their own way, right? They is zeal for God their religions working for them
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They must have their truth Don't think they're saved in their own way
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They feel they are and if you what you feel is true is the definition of truth. Well zeal for God is good though, right?
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And Romans 12 Paul will tell us never flag in zeal the Israelites had lots of zeal
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This time or around this time about a decade or so earlier Pontius Pilate brought emblems standards
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Kind of like a flag with images of Caesar into Jerusalem And this greatly offended the
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Israelites as a violation of the second commandment And so a large group of men came to Pilate, you know demanding begging that he removed the images
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The pilot refused saying that it would be an insult to Caesar for him to do that And so the men prostrated on the ground around Pilate's palace
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Begging for the images to be removed. They protested like that for five days Now finally pilot had had enough and he got his troops and had him surround the men with their swords drawn and Threatened to kill them if they didn't disperse and the men bared their neck and say that they'd rather die
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We'd rather die than Transgress the law Pilot was so astounded by their religious zeal
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He backed down and removed the emblems They were zealous But it was a zeal without knowledge.
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They don't know the God They say they're zealous for they assume that being right with God comes by law -keeping
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The purpose of the law they think is to strictly obey it and so by obeying it to earn
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God's approval They assume that you get right with God by religion Maybe for us we would say by baptism by repeating a prayer by claiming to believe things that don't make any change in your life
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They don't produce a zeal for God that don't make us zealous to know God and drive us to his word
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Really? That's just another way of doing what they're doing here Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish our own
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We establish our own by an easy believism Establish our own in verse 3 right real righteousness of God that is really being in a right relationship with God will indeed produce zeal
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Like they the Israelites had that you'd be willing to bear your neck and die Rather than offend your father, but it's a zeal that drives you to knowledge
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Knowledge about how you become right with God drives you to his word. So, you know
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Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill your laws demands could my zeal no respite
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No, could my tears forever flow all for sin could not atone
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You must save and you alone Ah, but the critic speaks up one more time
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If being right with God is not earned by law keeping then what's the law for?
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Surely God gave us the law to climb to heaven to earn points with God No Now people assume the purpose of the law is to earn
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God's approval. That's a false assumption Paul says in verse 4 you can't earn your own right standing with God by law keeping that's not the purpose of the law verse 4
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Gives us the purpose of the law notice the word end there he's in the
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SVS translated as end and which means the purpose the goal The final destination that the law is driving us
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Toward and literally in Greek translating that phrase. It says For the purpose of the law is
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Christ for righteousness to all the believers The purpose of the law is
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Christ for righteousness to all the believers The purpose of the law is not to try harder it's to bring you to Christ for being right with God and The laws for all the believers so as to make them aware of their sin
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Aware that the labors of their hands cannot fulfill the laws demands as Luther said I have this law to see therein that I have not been free from sin.
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And so we cry out you must save and you alone the purpose of the law is
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To bring us to Christ to make us right We so naturally assume just like we would assume that the
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Sun is revolving around us If someone who found out better hadn't told us we naturally assume
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The God revolves around us around our choices around our law keeping our religion that we can move him
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With enough work or enough tears or if we raise the volume loud enough or if we pay him enough money
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We're ashamed to admit We can't That even our receiving mercy
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Depends not on our will or work But don't be ashamed
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Uproot those self -centered God -reducing
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Assumptions that tendency in you to be the ranting figurine