I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans. And today we will be picking it up in Romans chapter 10, verse 18. And I think it's important for us to remember why did Paul even write the book of Romans? This is our 54th time we've opened up to this book together. We started this two Easters go, if you can remember that far back, and we found out that the reason the Romans is like the first out of Paul's 13 letters, not just in the order of the books in the Bible, but it's first in how it gets talked about. You say, oh, let's go to Romans, your brother in Christ is going to be like, yeah, Romans. I mean, why is it like that? Why do people love this book? And the reason we found out back in Romans 1 was he wanted to go to Rome, and he wanted to mutually encourage the believers there. And he wanted to preach the gospel in that great city. And he was never able to. He hadn't been able to go there. And so, if he had gone there, he would have taught them his masterclass on the gospel. But since he couldn't go there, he wrote it in a letter and sent it to them. And so, Romans is like if Paul came to town, and you've got to hear him do his teaching. And go with me, before we even get into our text, go with me to Romans 15:22. Let's just jump ahead here, because it might take us who knows how long to get to Romans 15:22-25. So, let's jump ahead here. Spoiler alert, everybody. The book and what he says here in Romans 15. Start with me in verse 22. He says, “This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.”
So, he wants to go to Rome. But it turns out that Rome is just a stop on his way. We've got a map right here. If you can see this map up here on the screen, you know, Jerusalem is kind of down here, bottom right where the Mediterranean Sea is, and then Rome would be kind of right there in the middle in Italy. And then you can see Hispania all the way over here to the left of the screen. So, he's on his way to Jerusalem, but he's hoping to get to Rome. And then he's hoping that they will refresh him and pray for him and support him. He's hoping that they will send him out to Spain, because the gospel still needs to be preached in a place where people haven't heard it. That's why my friend Andrew Gutierrez, some of you know him. He's a pastor in Arizona. He comes here and preaches sometimes, and he calls Romans the biggest missionary letter in the history of the world, because he's really looking for them to support him because he's got even more places and more people he needs to preach the gospel to. So, this is who Paul is. Paul's like, where's the city that hasn't heard? I want to go there. I want to let them know, to the ends of the earth, to Hispania, where can I go to preach the gospel? Now, the problem is, we don't know if Paul ever even makes it to Spain. We know he makes it to Rome. But how does he end up in Rome? He ends up in Rome as a prisoner. And when he goes to Jerusalem, and he brings the aid to the saints, what happens is the Jews, the Jews there, they have a hatred for Paul. And they arrest Paul, and they persecute Paul, and they're going to try to kill Paul in the city of Jerusalem. And so, the Romans take him out of the city, and they bring him up to Caesarea, where they leave him for two years as a prisoner. And then he ends up on the worst cruise ever. Have you read the book of Acts before where he ends up shipwrecked on an island where a snake jumps out of the fire and bites him but he doesn't die? And so, he gets to Rome, but he ends up a prisoner because the Jews hate the fact that Paul is saying, all people can be saved. It doesn't matter if you're a Jew, or you are a Gentile, you can be saved, and that's the issue. See, Paul had plans he wanted to go to Spain and preach the gospel. I don't know if he ever made it because this issue would end up defining Paul's life. He was the apostle to the Gentiles, and the persecution of the Jews against Paul would eventually lead to him dying in Rome.
And so, go back now to Romans chapter 10, verse 18, because this is the main thing he's talking about in our passage. This is the main thing he's addressing in Romans 9, 10, and 11. Why are so many Jews not believing in Jesus? And why are so many Gentiles believing in Jesus? If the Jews are God's chosen people, you would think they would believe, but actually, the Gentiles are believing, and the Jews are hating that the Gentiles are believing. And Paul's not wanting to shy away from this. He's wanting to make this very clear. And so, he's started in Romans 9 with how heartbroken he is for his fellow-Jews. And in chapter 10, he's praying for them to be saved. And now he's continuing to talk about this as we finish chapter 10 today and go into chapter 11. It's going to be a lot about what's going on between the Jews and the Gentiles. Now, raise your hand if you are like me, a Gentile here. If you're from some other nation besides Israel, okay, many of us here are Gentiles. And raise your hand if you're one of God's chosen ones as a Jew here today. Do we have any Jews here at the nine o'clock service? Yes, we do. Can we give them a round of applause here today? We’ve got some Jews here at our church, who are Messianic Jews, Jews who believe in the Lord Jesus, and we praise God for them, right? But there was this tension that defined Paul's day. And we kind of take for granted that a Gentile could come in here and believe in Jesus. What Paul ends up dying for is something we all think, no big deal. But that's what he's trying to get to here. How's it working now? If the Jews are God's chosen nation, but now the gospel is open to all nations? How are you and I suppose to think about that? And he's been talking about that in Romans 910, and 11. Now, Romans 9 is famous, because it talks about predestination and God's purpose of election, that when it comes to our salvation, God is the one who made the choice to save us. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? We learned that in Romans 9. And then in Romans 10, what do we learn that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be what? Saved. And we got to pray for them. And we should go and tell the good news to them, we should bring our beautiful feet and their faith will come from hearing and hearing from us opening our mouths to give them the Word of Christ. So, Romans 9 and Romans 10 are kind of popular for other reasons, other than the Jews and Gentiles discussion. But see, Romans 11, I feel like is not as well known. And so, this might be a passage of Scripture you've never memorized, you've never meditated on. I don't know if you've even ever heard this preached. And so, we want to make sure that we pay attention and that we learn this together. Look down to the end of Romans 11. Even still, before we read our text, let me just tell you, we're going to have a series for the next few weeks about the Jews and the Gentiles. And look how it's going to end in Romans, chapter 11, verse 33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable are his ways.” And in the last verse, verse 36, “For from him and through him, and to him are all things to him be glory forever, amen.” So, somehow, the conversation about what God is doing with his people, the Jews, and how God is bringing in all these other people in the Gentiles is so awesome in Paul's mind, that it causes him to just burst forth in this doxology of giving God glory for his wisdom and his plan with the Jews and the Gentiles. Something so awesome to Paul, that he's willing to die for this. And so, we want to make sure we give this our full and undivided attention here today. So, I'm going to ask if everybody will stand for the public reading of Scripture. And I'm going to start reading in Romans 10:18-21. And we're going to go to Romans 11:1-6, and let's really pay attention to these words. This is the Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, written by Paul to the church in Rome. Please follow along as I read Romans 10:18.
But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
That's the reading of God's word, please go ahead and have your seat. And so, I have, maybe you didn't know any one of those verses before we just read up. But I would love to really study them with you right now. And we have a handout there in your bulletin, if you can get that out there with me, it has the whole text on the right side. And there's a key word that gets brought up in a very repetitive way in our text that I want you to circle. So, you can see how Paul kind of is explaining this in a very conversational tone. And the word that I want to draw your attention to is the Greek word Lego. Now some of you thought Lego meant a little toy that you build awesome stuff with. All right. Others of you thought Lego was something you did to your ego, but it's actually a Greek word. And it's a very common Greek word. It's used over 1000 times. And it's the word “to say, to speak.” And so, Paul, he's done this. And if you've been with us through other sermons in Romans, you've gotten to see Paul's conversational tone, where he'll bring up the objections, he'll bring up the question. But what about somebody who might ask this? What about somebody over here who might say this, and he does it in a conversational way, and even asks rhetorical questions. And sometimes when he asks a question, he's looking for a strong answer. In fact, let's just jump right to Romans 11:1. If anybody ever tells you from this day forward, that God is done with Israel, that God has no plan for the future of the Jewish people; If anybody acts like Israel, that's old news, or where the church today we don't need Israel anymore. Let's just look at that in Romans 11:1. I asked them, has God rejected his people? What's the answer to that, everybody? By no means! God still is working with his people Israel. And if you meet a pastor, or a Christian, or anybody who acts like, oh, we don't need to worry about Israel anymore, who cares about them? Romans 11:1 cares about them. But you can see even there in 11:1, it says, “I ask.” Okay, so these asks all this little style that he's using here, it's all this word Lego over and over. So, I just want to throw it up here on the screen so everybody can see it. Here in Romans 10, starting in verse 18. And let's just circle where it says. But “I asked,” that's like, but “I say” so you can see. Let's just start with those two right there, where we're circling all of them here. Wow. Wow. Wow, that just happened quick. So, you can see the first two right there. Oh, wow. This is exciting. Wow, here we go. Who can keep up? Okay. So, let's just look at the Wow, there are so many of them here. This is not planned. This is awesome. Okay. Bam, we just gave you all the answers. So, look at verse 18, and verse 19. And you can see that Paul brings up two objections. And he's like, has Israel really heard about it? Yes, they've heard about it. Has Israel really understood about it? Yes, they've heard about it. And then he's like, well, how can I convince a Jew? Who are the two most compelling witnesses I could bring to speak to the Jews? Because if you want to establish something, we've learned in Deuteronomy, in our reading, if you want to establish something, you do it on the evidence of two or three witnesses. So, how about these guys? How about what Moses says in verse 19? And how about what Isaiah is so bold to say, both in verse 20, and verse 21. So, you can see in 18 and 19, he brings up, well, somebody might say, or I say, like, what about if the Jews haven't heard it? What if they haven't understood it? Well, actually, they have heard it, actually, they have understood it. Let's hear what Moses has to say about it. Let's hear what Isaiah has to say about it. And so then in Romans 11:1, let me ask my question, has God rejected his people? Because based on the first verses at the end of Romans 10, you might think, well, God, he's opened it up. He's done with the Jews, he's on to the Gentiles. Well, no, he's not done with the Jews. He has not rejected his people. And look what the scripture says of Elijah. And look what it says reply there. So, you can see in English this looks like different words. “Ask,” “says,” “reply”. In Greek, it's all the same word. And so, Paul's bringing up questions and then he's answering those questions using Scripture that he is quoting. And so not just, can you see it in this Greek word how he uses, well, somebody might say, well, here's what Moses says; somebody might say, here's Isaiah; somebody might say, how about the great prophet of the Jews, Elijah? What did he say? Well, what did God say to him? So, he's using the questions that people might have. And he's answering them with Scripture. He's quoting from the Hebrew Bible, what is today referred to as the Old Testament, all the Scripture that came before Christ. Well, he's doing a lot of quoting. So, let's throw that up here on the screen. If you've got your verses on the right hand side, right next to verse 18. You can put out there Psalm 19:4, that's the first verse that he quotes. So, the way I did it on my handout is I just put all the references right out here to the left side of the verses. And so, have the Jews heard about this? Well, he quotes Psalm 19. So, 19 is an awesome Psalm. A lot of you might be familiar with it, you may have even memorized some of it, because it says something like “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God.” Anybody ever heard that before? That the beauty of the sunrise or the sunset, the clear skies, the storm, they all declare the power, the majesty the awesomeness of our God, and they go out over the whole earth, everybody can see in the general revelation of creation, the glory of God. And then the second part of Psalm 19 talks about the special revelation of God's Word, and how God's Word is where revival comes from. And God's Word is pure. It's perfect. And it says so many great things about the Scripture there in Psalm 19. So, it's interesting that he's like, have the Jews heard this? Oh, it's gone out to the ends of the earth. It's gone out everywhere. We know that Jesus started it when he sent out his apostles; he sent them out from Jerusalem, and the first place they went was the country of Judea, to the nation of Israel. So even Paul, when he went to a new town, where did he go first? He went to the synagogue where the Jews were gathering together to read the Scripture. So, have the Jews heard it? Well, he quotes Psalm 19, which is talking about God's glory being spoken by the heavens. But he says, oh, yeah, they've definitely heard about it, just like everybody can see God's glory and creation. The Jews have heard the Word and then after it's like, well, did they understand it? Well, he quotes Moses here from Deuteronomy 32:21. So he goes back to Moses, the Prophet, I mean, the Moses, the one who wrote the Law, the Jews will definitely listen to Moses. Right? Well, look what Moses says, “I will make you jealous.” And really, Moses is quoting what God says here, because God is a jealous God. And God doesn't want us to worship any other god, he made this clear in the ten commandments, if you worship any idols, any other images, any other gods, which there are really no other gods, besides me, that I am jealous because I want my people to worship me. And so, what does God then say to his people, when they go and worship other things? You guys are making me jealous? Well, guess what, someday I’ll make you jealous. And someday, I'm going to show myself, I'm going to reveal myself to people who don't even know me, I'm going to go not just to one nation of the Jews, I'm going to go to all the nations. And so, we go all the way back to where Moses is saying that God is going to make his people jealous with a foolish nation, a nation that doesn't have the law of God. But even some of those people are going to come to know him and believe. Or how about Isaiah 65:1-2? That's really Romans 10: 20-21. Quote those two verses from Isaiah, where God is speaking now through the prophet Isaiah, towards the end of the book of Isaiah. “I have been found by those who did not seek me, I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me see.” A strange people, another nation, that's who I'm now revealing myself to, making myself manifest to. It's not just you, the Jews, I'm going to go and reveal myself to other people as well because look what's happening with my people? He says here in verse 21, of Romans 10, Isaiah 65:2, “All day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” See it is through the Jews disobeying God that the message has now gone out to the other nations. That's what not only is Paul saying, and in fact, Paul's not even really saying it. He's letting Moses say it; he's letting Isaiah say it, he's letting God say it. This was always God's plan. It wouldn't just be for the Jews. It would go out to other people who did not know God.
Now let's go into Romans 11. Let's throw these verses up here on the screen. And because right there in the beginning of verse 2, after that first part, you might think, well, God's mad at Israel, he's done with them. No, he's actually not done with them. In fact, in Romans 11:2 it says, “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” That's a quote from 1 Samuel 12:22. Samuel said that about God's people, the great Prophet Samuel, in fact, gets quoted again in Psalm 94:14. So, I’ve got good news for everybody. Once God has chosen you, once God has ordained you to be one of his people, you will never be forsaken, you will never be rejected. If God makes you one of his people, you are his person for all eternity. Is that good news to anybody here this morning? That's how it works. So, if the Jews are God's chosen nation, he's never going to choose the Jews. That's not how it works. He doesn't reject the people whom he foreknew. And we’ve got Samuel saying that. So, even here, where Paul's not explicitly quoting, he's not saying Samuel said, or the Psalm said, but he is actually referring to other Scripture. And then the big passage at the end is 1 Kings 19:14 and 18. That's where Elijah and God have this conversation. And Elijah is like, I'm the only one left, I'm the only real worshipper of Yahweh. And God’s like, no, Elijah, I've got a whole remnant of my people. I've got 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to an idol.
And so, we were kind of seeing two big points here about the Jews. One is their disobedience before God, has caused God to go and give the message to other nations. And so, the Jews would be jealous of other people hearing from God, just like God is jealous for the Jews to worship him. But then also, we see that God has not rejected the Jews, and there’s still a remnant of his people. So, on your handout there, we have a couple of blanks right next to the Jews. What are you here to learn about the Jews today? How should we think about them? Well, let's get this down. The Jews “have been bad actors in history…” The Jews, many times in history, have been disobedient. They have acted in a wrong way before God, “but they have a future as God's people.” The Jews, they have done things that are wrong at many times. We saw in the book of Numbers how they did not trust God. Maybe you know about the exile to Babylon, where Jerusalem and the temple had to get destroyed, because they were not turned to God. Maybe you even know at the time of Jesus, when they rejected their Messiah, when they rejected God's Son. Maybe you know that the Roman Empire came in and wiped out the Jews in 70 A. There have been times where God has judged his own people because of their bad actions. But just because God has judged them does not mean that they are, God still has a future for them. They're still his chosen people. Now, if that sounds harsh for us to say at church that the Jews have been bad actors in history, that's exactly how it's meant to sound. It's meant to sound harsh, okay? This is the message of Scripture, that the Jewish people who had all the revelation of God, all the promises of God, all the blessings of the Law and the covenant, even though they had all of that, they disobeyed against God and worshiped other things. And Jesus, if you read Matthew 21, Matthew 22, Matthew 23, Jesus goes off on the hypocrisy of the Jews. How about Stephen, the first martyr of the church? Who's ever heard of Stephen before? What was Stephen saying, for all of Acts Chapter 7 there? He's like, well, let me tell you, we've always been hard-hearted, we've always been stiff-necked. We've never listened to God's prophets when he sent them to us. And what did the Jews do? When Stevens pointed out how wrong they have been towards God on many occasions in history, what did they decide to do in Jerusalem at that time? They put Steven to death. And so, there has been a rejection of God by his own people. But even though God's people have rejected him, God will not reject his own people. And God has a remnant of Israel to this very day. Paul's like, I'm a part of that remnant. I'm a Jew. I'm a believer. I'm under the seat of Abraham. And I'm also of the tribe of Benjamin; God is still saving Jews. Some of them even go to our church here in Huntington Beach.
And so, this, to me, is a way that all of us need to learn to think about the Jewish people. And this was so important to Paul that he goes on about it for chapters, and eventually, even though the Jews are hating him for sharing the gospel with the Gentiles. he still cares about the Jews. And he still talks about God's plan for a future for them. And he still prays for them to be saved. So that's the big overall idea that we're learning here. Hey, the disobedience of the Jews led to the Gentiles being saved. But hey, don't count the Jews out. God's got a remnant of his people in a plan for their future. But see, we’ve got to see past all the Greek, all the Hebrew references, all the Jews and Gentiles, and we’ve got to see what who God is here. At the end of Romans 11, we're going to be like, wow, the wisdom of God, wow, the glory of God. So, what is God doing? And this was hard for me. I'm not as familiar with these verses as other verses in the book of Romans. So, I had to really study; I had to really get into what is this actually teaching me, and for you to think here at church this morning.
And go back to verses 19 and 20, in Romans 10. And now that you kind of understand the context, and you understand what Paul is saying, look at all the “I”s there in verse 19, in the quote, “I will make you jealous.” And then God's saying to the Jews, I will make you angry. And they sure were angry in Paul's day. Or look what God says through Isaiah, “I have been found by those who did not seek me,” in verse 20. “I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” This is what was awesome for me studying this passage is at some point, it wasn't like I was reading Greek or, or seeing how Paul was quoting Moses or Isaiah. At some point, I'm seeing God talk. And God saying, hey, I'm going to save people who aren't even looking to be saved. I'm going to answer prayers that aren't even being prayed here. I mean, look at what he says there. “I have been found, but they weren't seeking me. I have shown myself to those who did not even ask for me.” Like God is a saving God, God's not limiting who's going to be saved. God wants all people to be saved. And so, God in his love, he's going to have people who are not his people, God is going to save many Gentiles, Gentiles who are not seeking him, Gentiles who are not asking for him. But guess what? God is revealing himself. God is making himself known. So, you see that God is a mighty Savior and the ladies who are here at the conference. I know one of the passages you looked at is 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, where it says that the once you were not a people, but now you are whose people; you are God's people, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, we are a people treasured for God's own possession, whether we are Jews or not. We are all one people of God. Anybody want to say amen to that? Anybody want to admit here today that you weren't seeking God, but he was seeking you? Anybody want to admit you weren't asking for God to save you. But God showed himself? Let's just circle that line right there in the middle of verse 20. “I have shown myself,” that's what we want to see God is doing. Because the real purpose of talking about the Jews and Gentiles is this idea of grace.
Go back to Romans 11:5-6. And what is Paul's commentary? All of these objections, all the quotations of other scripture? What does Paul have to say at the end of our verses? No, there is a remnant of Jews and those Jews are chosen by grace, it is by grace, that “it can't be based on works, otherwise, Grace would no longer be grace.” See, grace, is what God does. Grace is God's goodness, God's undeserved favor given to people in my prayer for our church today, as this would be a place where grace can still be grace, where we don't make it about us, and what we do and what we're doing. But we keep it about God, and what he has done, and what he's doing. Because everything good we have ever received, all comes from God, and it's not on the basis of what we've done. It's all on the basis of him. So, we need to make sure that grace is still grace here today. Because if you've made your life about you and what you're going to do, even if it's good things for God, then grace is no longer grace. Because grace means that God is good. God takes the initiative and, even despite who you are, God is going to love you anyways, because God has chosen you to be one of his people. And that's a goodness that God just decided to give to you, not because of you, or anything you could do, but just because of who he is. Here's God's saying, I have shown myself.
Turn with me to Acts 26. It's just a few pages over to the left. And here in Acts 26, Jesus talks to Paul when he stops him on the road. Okay, so we’ve got to get this idea that God is the one showing himself, and he's doing it to the Gentiles because of the disobedience of the Jews. And that's what Jesus explicitly says to Paul. Remember Paul was Saul before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Saul was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was one of the Jewish religious leaders. He hated the Church of Jesus Christ. He was the guy who saw Stephen get killed and oversaw that and thought it was good as the first Christian getting martyred. And so, Saul, he was against the Jesus and the church, and he's gone to Damascus to persecute more people. But Jesus stops him in his tracks, and he blinds him with his glory. And Jesus says, look at how Paul recounts it here in Acts 26:17, when he's quoting Jesus. And I love what Jesus says, whenever he stops, Paul, he says, back when he was Saul. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I love how Jesus identifies with his people. When Saul is persecuting Christians, Jesus says, you’re persecuting me, because when you do it to one of the least of these, Jesus says, you do it to me, that's how close Jesus is with his people. And so, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me.” And then he says, here's what I'm going to do with you starting in verse 16, “but rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant, and a witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, I'm delivering you from your people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you.” And here's why I'm sending you out to those Gentiles. This is Acts 26:18, “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Paul, I'm going to send you out to the Gentiles, you as a Jew are going to go to the other nations. Why? Because I'm going to send you to open their eyes, I need to show myself to them. That's what Jesus is saying here. People are blind, they are lost, they are in the darkness. And I'm going to call them out of that into my marvelous light, I'm going to look at all kinds of people from all kinds of places, and I'm going to make them my people. And, and that some people who are under the power of Satan, they're now going to be under my power, and they're going to be forgiven for their sin, and they're going to be set apart through their faith in me. See, God used to speak to the Jews through prophets. But these days, God speaks to all of us through his Son, Jesus. And Jesus sent Paul because Jesus wanted to show people who he really is. And you’ve got to get this straight in your brain because I grew up going to church, and I grew up in a Christian family. And I grew up being blessed to learn a lot of good things from the Bible, I was blessed to go to churches, where they actually taught me the Bible, even when I was a kid, and you can get it twisted. You’ve got to check your heart here today, you might think that the reason you know about God is because of who you were born to in your Christian parents, or what kind of church you went to. You might even get grace all twisted up to think it's because you're smart, or you because you understand, or because you know those verses, or because you see it like this. And you might think that you seeing who God is has something to do with you. But the truth is, you were blind. And now you can see, because God showed himself to you. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? And see when we sing that line that “I once was lost, but now m found, I once was blind, but now I see. We know. That's grace. We know that's amazing. Is that still amazing to you today? Or are you becoming like the Jews became many times throughout history? Of course, I'm one of God's people, why wouldn't I be one of God's people? It's crazy that the Gentiles, who have been grafted in, now are getting puffed up with the same spiritual pride that the Jewish people had. Where we think that somehow we deserve to know who God is. Somehow everybody here deserves to see. And it's because I grew up this way or I went to this church or my parents or this, that that's why I get to see. No, let's just make it very clear that God is the one who has shown himself to us that I could not open my eyes. I can remember the day that I saw Jesus dying on the cross. And it wasn't some Bible story. It wasn't some flannel graph illustration. No, the day I saw Jesus dying on the cross, it was my sin that put him on that cross. And he was dying in my place. And I knew when I could see Jesus dying on the cross for me, I knew who God was that God loved me. But God took sin so seriously, that he would kill his one and only Son to pay for sin. And I knew I was a sinner, and I wanted to believe in Jesus so bad, you want you know why? Because God showed himself to me, not because of anything about me. That was a moment of grace. I could have easily hardened my heart, I could have easily continued in disobedience. But God is the one who showed himself.
Let's get this down for point number one: “Remember how God revealed Himself to you.” Remember how God revealed himself to you. I want you to go back before you knew anything about the Bible. Before you had favorite scriptures, before maybe you knew something about it, but you couldn't see it clearly. You couldn't see who God was, and how you needed Jesus to die for you and rise again. What was it that God used to open your eyes? What scripture did he use to help you see? Was it a sermon? Was it a conversation? Was it a circumstance in your life? What did God use? How did God reveal Himself to you? Because it's not that you sought God, but God sought you by sending his Son Jesus to die in your place. So how did God show himself to you? Watch out, you learn knowledge and it puffs you up. Grace is no longer grace in your life. Now it's you being somebody and thinking, you know, something, rather than being a poor, blind beggar who had no hope. But God opened your eyes to see and called you out of the darkness and into his marvelous light. God is the one who revealed himself to you. So how did that work? Maybe we need to go back, some of us who have been believers for a while, to make sure that we don't start to think that we have well, I know Moses, and I know all about this and look at what I know. No, the reason I know is because God showed it to me, he made it manifest. And in fact, I don't just know information. I just don't know what the Bible says, I actually get to know God. And why would a God like him let a sinner like me have this awesome relationship that I get to have this eternal life through his Son Jesus? Why do I get to have that? Because God chose me because he wanted me to be one of his people. It's not based on anything about me. It's all based on God. Can you still see that is grace, still grace for you?
See it maybe as I'm saying that, and it's great to see all of you here at this nine o'clock service, as I'm saying that, I bet there are people that still can't even see God like that here in the room. And maybe you're here because you know something needs to change in your life. You know, there's something about God that you want in your life, but it's not clear to you. And I wonder if there's even people today who don't need to point number one. Remember how God revealed himself to you. Maybe you need to pray here this morning, God, I need you to show yourself to me, I can't, I'm not getting it yet. I can't see it. Clearly, I'm learning a little bit. You're showing me some things. But I want to know you. If you search for God with all your heart, you will find him. That's a promise throughout the Scripture. In fact, if you want to know who God is, and you ask him to show himself to you, man, I would love to talk to you after the service. There are plenty of people here that would love to share with you what God has shown us. And we can pass it on to you. I was just somebody who used to be blind, and now can see sharing with you what God has shown me, because God is the one. Anything that we can see and really know about him, it is spiritual, and he revealed it to us. He showed himself, he took his life. And he took it over to the Gentiles. And he has shown so many people who he is through his Son, Jesus. And so, through the disobedience of the Jews, many have been brought to faith because God has shown himself to people who weren't looking for him, who weren't asking for him. But that's just who God is.
Now, go back to Romans 10. It's just a few pages over to the right and look into chapter 11. Another thing that God says here is that I want you to clearly see. Grace begins with God's revelation of who he is through his Son, Jesus, but then also and that just because the Jews disobeyed and it went out to the Gentiles, while he's still got the plan for the Jews, and when Elijah is feeling like well, it's only me and I'm the only one out here still fighting the good fight of faith in the rest of Israel. They're all against you. What's God's reply there in Romans 11:4? Here's what God said to Elijah that Paul thinks is worth bringing up again. God replied to him, “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. No, no, Elijah, it's not just you. I don't know, if some days and I feel like this more and more in the United States of America, more and more in my lifetime. Do I feel like it's kind of me or us against the world? I don't know if you ever feel like that. And if you feel like I'm trying to live for God, but there are so few of us out here these days. Elijah, he definitely felt like that. And what is God saying to him? Elijah, you're not the only one I have kept looking at that line right there I have kept for myself, I have people that I am keeping for myself. When God chooses you to be one of his people, when God calls you, and saves you, when God opens your eyes and brings you out of the darkness and into the light. Good. Not only does God show you who he is at the beginning, but God keeps you all the way until the end. And even when it seems like the church is going apostate, or a lot of people aren't believing, does God still have his people who believe in him? Does he still have a remnant? Yes, because it's all by his grace, from the beginning to the end, from the Jews to the Gentiles, and yet still with the Jews, God has a remnant of people by his grace.
So, let's go to 1 Kings 19, and let's get the full story of what's going on here between God and Elijah. I want you to see the full context, because I think it's a great example, both for you personally, and about how God has a plan for the future of the Jews. So, 1 Kings 19 is coming off of one of the most epic chapters in all of Scripture, the prophet throwdown in 1 Kings 18, I don't know if you know about this, I hope that you do, but it happened on Mount Carmel, where Elijah, and threw down with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah. It was 850 false prophets versus one prophet of YHWH. And the competition was very simple. All Israel went to Mount Carmel, which some of us have been to here from our church. It’s the highest point in the nation of Israel; it's up in the north there, and you can still go there. And they have a little place there in honor of Elijah, to this very day, and you can go and get this epic view. And so, all of Israel goes, and they're going to watch a whole different kind of super bowl here, where there are prophets over here, 850 of them. And then there's one guy who people don't know about, Elijah. And they have both an altar, and they're going to put a sacrifice on the altar, and whoever's God consumes the sacrifice with fire, well, that's the real God. And so, it's very simple. When fire falls from heaven and consumes the sacrifice, then we'll know who's really God. And so, the 850 prophets, particularly the 450 of Baal, they get down to business and they start calling and chanting, they even cut themselves and bleed for Baal, and Elijah. I love this guy, Elijah. He's like, hey, you prophets of Baal, maybe you need to shout a little bit louder. Maybe he's in the bathroom right now. Maybe he can't hear you. So, I mean, he's just letting them bleed and shout and chant and doing whatever they're doing. He's like, guys, you know, maybe he's on a bathroom break, like, keep it going, keep it going. And eventually, Elijah is like, alright, enough of that. Everybody, gather around, how wet can we make this altar, right? Now let's pour as much… how much water do we have? Let's just dump it. Remember, the goal is for it to catch fire. Let's throw as much water on this thing as we can. Just so everybody's very clear. And then he asks YHWH to show everybody who's really God, and fire falls from heaven and consumes the sacrifice. And all of a sudden, people can't go limping between two opinions anymore. They can't say, Baal is God. No YHWH is God. And what happens is Elijah takes the 850 false prophets down till the brook, the little river that's right down there below Mount Carmel that you can see to this day, and the river runs red because he kills the 850 false prophets, which is what the Law says in Israel you're supposed to do when someone tells people to worship other gods. So, you're talking about one of the most epic moments, one of the great spiritual victories where YHWH is glorified to all the people in Israel that he's coming off a mountaintop experience and now he's about to have the greatest low of his life. I don't know if that's ever happened to you where you've experienced great victory with God? And then you get to your lowest of lows. That's where we pick it up in 1 Kings 19. Ahab, who's the king, the bad king at that time? He told Jezebel… Who's ever heard of Jezebel before? Have you heard about this lady? Pretty sure she wasn't at the women's conference this weekend. All right. They have told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. So Jezebel, she's not at the prophet throwdown somehow. And now she here's how he killed all the prophets, 850 prophets, with the sword. And then Jezebel, this one evil lady, she sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Here's Jezebel, giving Elijah a 24-hour death threat. And it says in verse 3, then he was afraid. So, Elijah had great faith to call the fire from heaven to stand against the 850 prophets. But all of a sudden, he lives in fear of this lady Jezebel. And it says that Elijah, the prophet of God ran for his life. And he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. And he came and sat down under a broom tree and look, where Elijah is that he asked that he might die, saying, It is enough. Now Oh, YHWH take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. Wow, this guy in chapter 18, is showing all Israel that YHWH is God. And now in 1 Kings 19, he's like, I'm at the end, you might as well take my life I've got, I've got nothing left. See, if you've ever felt like you're reaching your end, if you've ever felt like man, I've seen God do some great things. But now I feel like it's just time for me to die. If you've ever gotten down to that low, that's what happens to Elijah here. And look what God has to say. And God has to show Elijah and let this encourage you here today. I love this in 1 Kings 19:5-8, “And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’ And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.” I want to know what kind of cake is that angel baking, everybody. He ate one time or two times and you go for forty days, that sounds better than Kirkland trail mix to me. What is going on there. So, there's this awesome supernatural sustaining of his life, and now we get to the mound of God. Let's go back to Sinai. 1 Kings 19:9, “there, he came to a cave, and he lodged it and behold, the word of the Lord came to him. And he said to him, What are you doing here? Elijah?” Here's God's question, Elijah, what are you doing here? “He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, that God of hosts for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant. They've thrown down your altars, and they've killed your prophets with the sword. And I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away.” Do you see how for Elijah it stopped being Grace there at some point?
Do you see how it's I, even I, and it's no longer about you, but it's become focused on me and what I've done for you. It's not about how you were just awesomely showing the whole nation who you are. It's about Elijah at this point. I even I. So, look what God does here. I just love the description here of what happens. 1 Kings 19:11-18. “And he said, ‘Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.’”
Elijah, this is not the end, you’ve got to go, you’ve got to make disciples, I need you to anoint kings, I need you to set up what's going to happen. Next, I need you to set up the next prophet, Elijah. And hey, you think you're only the one left? I've got seven thousand that have never worshipped that idol. They've never bowed down to it; they've never kissed it. I've got seven thousand men who are a remnant of my grace, still worshiping me. Next time you think you're the only one, or you feel like you've reached the end, let me just tell you, God has a lot more grace in store for you. God is the one who keeps people for himself. God will keep you to the end. And right now, God is keeping a remnant of his people of grace throughout the world.
Let's get this down for number two: you will “trust God will keep you for himself.” Trust God will keep you for himself. And trust that it's not just you that God is keeping. You're not the only one. God is keeping a staggering number of seven thousand men that God has kept, that Elijah somehow is not thinking about in his pity-party, or he's become so “I” and “my” focus, that he can't see the other people. He doesn't know about them. And so, you watch out, make sure this doesn't happen to you. Were you going up jealous for God, and you go live for God, but somehow, grace is no longer grace to you anymore. And you start making about, well, I did this, and I did that. And even me, even my, and gods like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm the one who's doing it all. I'm the one who's keeping you, I have even more for you to do. And there's grace for that, too. In fact, I've got a whole bunch of other people that I've called by my grace, as well. One of the big problems that we have in our life is we have too high of a view of our problems, and too little of you have God's grace. And it's easy for us to talk about grace quickly. But do you really believe that God's grace will keep you all the way to the end, even when you feel like you've done all that you can, even when you feel like the burdens are too heavy? Is there grace for that? God is keeping people for himself.
Go with me to Ephesians 2. Let's just go back to the great grace-passage that so many of us love, because we got to just remember that God has us as his people, not because of us, but because of a God when it comes to us. God is giving us his grace, in spite of who we are. We were dead in our sins. We were children of wrath by nature. We were under the influence and power of Satan, all of us who we were lost and blind in our sins. And then it says in Ephesians 2:4-5, those two beautiful words that define all of our lives. “But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” And by grace, you are being kept to this very day. It's not just you, you in fact, you’ve got other people that you should be thinking about. You’ve got other people that you should be making disciples of. It's not just that there's not only is there grace for you to live your life, there's a whole remnant of grace. There's a whole group of people, that Jesus is opening their eyes and Jesus is saving, because Jesus is building his church among the nations. And so stop thinking about yourself, Elijah, and go and make some more disciples. Go and anoint some more kings. I'm not done with you yet, Elijah, I'm going to keep you for myself by my grace. And so, God is keeping a people for himself. Some of them are Jews, but God is heaping a remnant of grace throughout the world that is the Church of Jesus Christ.
And if you are one of God's people, I want to do something this week at our church that I think is so important. And if you look at the back of your handout, I want you to have a conversation about God with your fellowship group this week, okay? And I found this to be a challenge at our church in Huntington Beach, okay. We always have application questions we encourage you to look at and consider how you can be a doer of the Word and not just to hear of the Word. And we gather together in our forty-two Different fellowship groups, and they meet at the Underground, and they talk through the sermons, and we go through. And there are some things that people are good at talking about. For example, if you ever want to get an amen in your fellowship group, just go to your fellowship group and say something like, “Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys. But I know one thing about me is I'm a sinner, and I need grace.” And what are you going to get from everybody else in that group? You're going to get an amen. So, if you ever go to your fellowship group and throw yourself under the bus, you will find that the rest of the group is under the bus right there with you. Okay? So that's a great view, it's sometimes easy to admit our feelings, it couldn't be hard. But sometimes we can confess our sins. And that's very helpful. And then sometimes in the Scripture, it's very clear, go and do this. And then you go to your group, and you say, well, I'm going to go do this, and everybody else is like, wow, that's crazy, because that's what I'm going to go do too, and it's very encouraging. But see, what we want to do now is not talk about us. Because I'm not here, because I did anything. I'm not here, because I'm somebody special or unique. No, I'm here solely by the grace of my God. And I want to make sure one thing. I don't want to mess up in my life, I don't want to mess up his grace, I want it to be grace is how my story started. And Grace is what is keeping me all the way to the end. I want grace to still be grace in my life, I want to be amazed that God is still good to somebody like me, and I want to talk about what God's doing, and get over talking about myself. And so, we're going to try to do something that's hard, which is to have a conversation about God, not about you.
And so, this requires you to really think about who God is, and not just to kind of feel or just say something that you personally relate to, but to really think how has God shown himself to you if you're a Gentile who's been saved? Or you're a remnant of grace as a Jew. How did God open your eyes to see Jesus? That's the first question. Two questions there on the back of your handout. Number one, how did God show himself to you? And this is not just your testimony? It's like think specifically, how did you come to know who God is? What was it somebody who shared the Word of Christ with you? Was it a particular Scripture that showed you something about God, you were previously unable to see until the Holy Spirit revealed it to you, made it known to you. It was manifest to you because God was actually the one revealing himself? How did God show himself to you? And then the second part, second question here is, how is God keeping you for himself as one of his people, as a remnant of his grace? How is God keeping you? Have you seen ways that you might have gone to the left or to the right, but God kept you on the straight or narrow? Or there are Scriptures that are promises that are beloved to you, and you bring it to mind, and you're like, I know God is going to complete the good work he has begun. I know, God is able to keep me from stumbling. I know, based on this verse, this is God's promise to me that he will keep me and I will get there to the end. And I will see God in all of his glory. And I’ll worship Jesus in his presence and I’ll be before the throne of God above. And I'll say, there's only one reason that I'm able to be a sinner like me in a place like this. And that's because grace stayed grace in my life. That's why I'm here in God's presence. We're all going to say, someday, how amazing grace really has been. And I'm so glad God showed himself to somebody like me. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, I pray that this week in our church, there could be such a rich conversation because it's not just about us turning from our sins or seeking to obey your word, but it's about you. And so, Father, please let this church be a place where grace continues to be grace. Please don't let us make it about our knowledge of the Bible. Please don't let us make it about us trying to do good things. Please don't let us end up thinking I was very zealous, but now it's just me out here. I, even I, only. Father, I pray that you would show us today through these verses in Romans 10 and 11. That the only reason anybody here can see you is because you showed yourself to us. We weren't asking. But you revealed yourself, you drew to us by your Spirit, and you opened our eyes so we could see Jesus in the Gospel. Father, may you get all the glory for what you have revealed to each and every one of us. And then, Father, the fact that we get to be some of your people, that we get to be your remnant here on earth, whether Jew or Gentile, we’ve got to be the church of Jesus. And we have this promise, we have this confidence that you are going to keep us as a people for yourself for the glory of your Son, Jesus, you're going to give all of your people, Jew and Gentile, to your son Jesus as his inheritance for all of eternity. And it all be to the praise of the glory of Your grace. Father, I just pray that we here at our church won't do what the Jews did, where they made it about themselves being your people, rather than about you being our God. So, you hear this prayer right now, Father, will you hear this prayer on behalf of everybody here today? That we are proud people, even though we have so much sin, we can still think we're doing something. We can still think, look what I'm doing for God. Look what I know about God. And I pray that even today, right now, you would open our eyes to see. The only reason I know God, and the only reason I'm doing anything good is because God has been so good to me. And God has shown himself to me. And I pray that we would sing together now, grace, grace, grace, that is greater than all of our sin. Grace is the theme of our story. It is our song, and it will be the reason we stand before you in glory. So, Father, please hear this prayer and let this be a place where grace is still grace. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.