Romans Chapter 9:22-25

Did God send His good news, His salvation, and His blessing into the United States because we're all such good people?

No. No, it has to do with God's mercy and God's grace. And whenever you look at these issues of forgiveness and walking with Him, you come face to face with this grace and this mercy.

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. The amazing thing about God is that He doesn't owe us anything, and yet He continues to show us His love and amazing grace. Find out how this grace can transform your life as David Magee continues in Romans 9 with, By His grace, not by works. Here's David. So we're in Romans chapter 9, and we left off around verse 22.

So let's pick it up. Romans chapter 9, verse 22 reads, What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had prepared beforehand for glory? So the Lord endures with longsuffering sometimes, and often, really every time, we're just aware of it sometimes. There's been times in my life when I thought in my own human wisdom that God may have been harsh or judgmental or quick to judge, but you know what?

That's inconsistent with His nature. This plane that was flying out of New York ran into some birds and then had to do an emergency landing on the water. And of course, it was going to Charlotte, so that's in the area. So staff was concerned, praying, and then to hear that everyone survived, that not one person was lost. It was really cool because when they asked the people afterwards, they said, well, you know, some of them were praying. Now, we're tempted to go, well, because they were praying is why God saved every one of them. Time out.

Wait a minute. Were every one of them praying? No, couldn't have been.

And let's go one step further. Understanding human nature and people, there was a couple of people that were on that plane. There was probably some believers and stuff.

There was probably some serious rascals that were on that plane that were messing up and maybe even messing up at that moment. And yet, God in His mercy kept every one of them alive. So the more I know about God and the more I look into the word, the more I see how merciful He is. The more I know myself, the more merciful I see He is and how slow He really is to allow destruction and judgment to fall on we who really deserve it from time to time only so that we can be vessels of mercy. Verse 23.

Isn't that a cool phrase? Vessels of mercy, trophies of grace, if you will. Not necessarily, well, I'm getting it all right and because I'm getting it all right now, God is blessing me and no, no, no, no, no, no.

Trophies of His grace, vessels of mercy. I think if non-Christians, unbelievers understood that we were, we were vessels of mercy, trophies of grace, that somehow Christianity, a relationship with Jesus would appeal to them much more. But what happens and the thing that we share with what Paul's dealing with in here is that we often paint a picture that being a Christian is about rights and wrongs and a list of do's and don'ts.

And if somebody will go down this list of do's and don'ts and they can join our special little elite club. Again, if you doubt that, please ask people. Ask people why they don't become Christians. Ask people why they don't ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins.

And most of the time, they will begin a list of do's and don'ts. Not fully understanding the grace of God and the mercy of God. Let's look at verse 24. Even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. So the Lord, and it speaks in the Gospels and we've spoken about this before, came to the Jew first.

We've seen the life of Paul. He would go to the synagogue whenever he'd get to a town first. And Jesus came for the Jews and also for the Gentiles. Let's understand because now we kind of classify, well, there's Jews and there's kind of non-Jews and we define Gentiles as non-Jewish people and then I guess that's a representation, but it's really not that accurate.

Literally, it means out of worshipers. So you have the Jewish people who were spiritual to a degree and not every one of them, but as a group or spiritual, they attended synagogue, they engaged in sacrifices and worshiped the Lord. And then you had these Gentiles who worshiped idols, who engaged in all these pagan things and fertility rites and parties and orgies and all these things. And God came for both. See, what Paul is dealing with here is this fact of, well, God really owed the Jewish people salvation and forgiveness. And while we're very comfortable discussing that, let's make that a little more personal because I think oftentimes we believe that because of our right doing the things that we do correctly that God somehow owes us grace, mercy and forgiveness.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Did God send his salvation, the Messiah, the Mashiach Najid, the coming prince, the Messiah, the anointed one, did he send Jesus into Israel because Israel was basically filled with good people? No.

And we're okay with that one. Let me ask you another question. Did God send his good news, his word of salvation into Europe because it was filled with good people? No, no. Okay. We're all tracking together now. Did God send his good news, his salvation and his blessing into the United States because we're all such good people?

No. Now it has to do with God's mercy and God's grace. And whenever you look at these issues of forgiveness and walking with him, you come face to face with this grace and this mercy. This passage that Paul's going back and forth with in the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, it also contains a phrase that shows up again in 1 Peter.

And I want you to listen. It just speaks of the grace of God. Speaking of the priesthood of believers, 1 Peter 2 verse 9 says, of those who believe Jesus, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

What an amazing passage. This is not a holy nation. Is it talking about America? No, it's talking about God's people. God's people being a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

And when we speak of the priesthood believers, meaning that any of us can come to Jesus. Now the Lord put into place this thing we call church and it's a great place to learn about the Bible and come together in fellowship. But the reality is you don't have to come here to spend time with the Lord. You don't have to email me or call me and say, well, pastor, I need something. I got to go to the Lord with something. You don't have to go through me. That's not the system we have.

Now Hebrew scriptures in the Old Testament, there was a high priest who did go before you and help atone for your sins and have sacrifices and stuff. And I'm so glad we don't do that. I'm so glad I don't do it. Can you imagine making sin offerings for all you guys? You would never see me. You'd come here on Sunday morning, it's Pastor Dave. He's out back. He's killing something.

He'd been back there since last Tuesday. No, Jesus was the sacrifice once and for all. And because of that, heaven's gates are open wide. And at any moment, at any time, bid by the Spirit of God, you can come to him.

What a marvelous treasure. And Paul is speaking saying, you know what? Not only of the Jews who were somewhat spiritual, somewhat religious, but also of the Gentiles. These idol worshipers, these people that really weren't looking for the Lord.

I think some of us can identify with that. Some of us maybe were being spiritual, going to churches, visiting churches, reading spiritual books. Let's be honest, a lot of us weren't when all of a sudden God interrupted our life in a big way.

And life, well, life forever changed. We read about it online, watch it on television, and hear about it on the radio. Our world is filled with violence and fear. What is terrorism? Terrorism is defined as criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public. Terror is the use of extreme fear in order to coerce people.

They did a poll. This is by far the most important event to Americans. You know what my Savior tells me? You know what my Jesus tells me? In John 14, 27, he says, peace I leave with you. Peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Sadly, anxiety and fear sometimes comes into play and we don't act. Courage is not the lack of fear, it's acting in spite of fear.

And let's remember something, that it was not what they thought, it was not what they felt, it was what they did. Join David McGee as he helps you and your loved ones to walk in peace and not be afraid of what the future holds. The product Know Your Future, Be Immune to Terrorism is our gift to you for a donation of any amount to Cross the Bridge Ministries. This offer is only available this month, so call today to receive your copy of Know Your Future by dialing 877-458-5508.

That's 877-458-5508 or visit us online at crossthebridge.com. Now let's return to our study. Let's look at verse 25. As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people and her beloved who is not beloved. This whole thing, understand, this whole thing of some of the people of Israel rejecting Jesus as the Messiah was prophesied and we spoke about this before but for context's sake let's understand because sometimes we think well all the Jewish people rejected Jesus as their Messiah, that was totally inaccurate. Many of the priests, the disciples obviously were all Jewish and so the priest that says the book of Acts says that many of them came to faith in Jesus. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Did all of them? No. Did some of them?

Absolutely. Now I think it will help us to kind of look at this and understand why, why did they miss Jesus as the Messiah? Because we look at all the prophecies and Jesus fulfilled over 300 different specific prophecies in coming the first time and we look at that and go well why didn't they reckon? Because they were looking really for a political leader more than a spiritual Messiah. They were under the tyranny of Rome and they wanted to throw off the yoke of Rome and they wanted the Messiah to, I want the Messiah to look like this and act like this and this is what it looks like and this is what it acts like and that's part of Judas' his frustration I believe in part was was due to the fact that he began to suspect that Jesus was not going to liberally liberate them politically.

Friend, anytime we look to a political leader to liberate us we're headed for trouble. See because we're placing a burden on that person that there's just no way he or she can fulfill and so they were looking for this political leader and as they were looking for this political leader they looked right past Jesus the Messiah. Now this historically I mean that this is what we do a lot of times this is we're stumbling through life we're going through things and somebody tells us about Jesus and we go nah that's not it it's something else.

I'm looking for something else there's something maybe maybe success maybe I don't know maybe this maybe girlfriend, boyfriend, job, car, house and that that's what it is it's not Jesus and we look past Jesus. They the Israelites early on they wanted a king they were set up in what we call a theocracy which just means God governed but they wanted a king they said we want to be like other nations we want a king and God said okay I'll give you a king. They said well we we want a king now you know kind of like a three or four year old or something.

We want a king now. So God gave them Saul. Now we've studied through the Hebrew Scriptures if you've looked at it for very long Saul's an interesting character a lot of great leadership skills but not a real godly man. As a matter of fact it's always interesting when you're introduced to a Bible character notice what they're doing when you first see them. Some of the disciples were what were fishing and Jesus said you'll become fishers of men and those some of those became evangelists. When we look at the life of Saul what do we see with the first introduction into Saul is what he lost his dad's donkeys.

It's not like really instilling confidence is it? Compare that to David when we first meet David what was David doing? David was out in the field caring for the sheep. Didn't even come home and we see the shepherd heart and a godly leader and I believe God was going to give David as the king. The people got impatient and they got Saul. Sure made them appreciate David didn't they? First life lesson here be careful of impatience it is often your enemy.

Be careful of impatience it is often your enemy. As we look at at why they looked past Jesus as the Messiah I think they were going we want political deliverance and we want it now. That's how trouble happens as a matter of fact if you fast forward through the book of Revelation what's going to happen there?

There's going to be a group of people that says we want political deliverance now and we want this political leader and it will usher in the Antichrist. So that's part of the reason they were blinded but as we look at Hosea well let's let's read verse 26 and then we'll talk about Hosea a little bit. This is this quote in Romans 9 is from the book of Hosea verse 26 and it says and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them you are not my people there they shall be called sons of the living God. These people he was writing to speaking to probably had an understanding of Hosea and I would encourage you probably in the next week or two to you know read the book of Hosea.

It's about 14 chapters it's not that long. Hosea was a prophet and very interesting thing happened. God came to him and said I want you to marry a prostitute. It's a weird thing for God to say but that's what God said said to Hosea I want you to go and marry a prostitute. So Hosea goes and finds a prostitute and gets married and she leaves the lifestyle Gomer was her name female Gomer because when you hear Gomer you know we got to get healed because we just always think of Gomer Gomer Gomer pile he gonna kill me gonna kill me gonna kill me dead. So it's not the young people are going what is he talking about Gomer female name Gomer and what happened he Hosea had a family with Gomer and I think three kids and then Gomer went back to the lifestyle after they were married and had a family she she went back to being a prostitute and Hosea is a prophet a man of God and yet being so compassionate went looking for her and he looked and he looked and he looked and then in a market he found her basically for sale and he bought her and returned her home. It's such an awesome story about the compassion and the love and the loyalty of God but it's also fairly convicting because see that was a picture that was given if you read the book the rest of the chapters are talking about how that was God's relationship with Israel how they had he had rescued them from prostitution and idolatry and all this stuff and basically they had gone back and then he was looking for them to purchase them. Now we're all okay with that because we go okay well you know it's silly Israelites say wander around it no no no no no let's expand that a little bit that's God's relationship with his people the bride of Christ brought out of idolatry brought out of prostitution and yet we tend to wander back into those things that held us before don't we and Jesus goes into the marketplace and purchases us I don't know if you ever heard the story it's a great story there's this violin that's being auctioned and it's old it's dusty it's out of tune and it's messed up and the guy goes to auction it you know and nobody wants it so he sets it to the side and continues with the auction about that time an older gentleman walks up and looks at the violin and begins to polish it up a little bit you know listens to it and begins to tune it up then he begins to play a beautiful song on the violin the auctioneer obviously since in the moment took the violin and he said now how much am I bid for the violin and the bidding started at like five hundred dollars and somebody came up after and said well I don't understand nobody wanted that violin before but then the thing sold for over a thousand dollars the auctioneer very wise words said well it appeared worthless to the crowd but after it was touched by the master's hand everyone recognized its worth isn't that like you and I dusty beat up scarred by sin but when God gets a hold of us and he begins to do a work in our life he purchases us then sometimes people go oh yeah yeah yeah okay I see things are going well in life but again coming back to this Hosea it's all about the grace and the mercy of God the love of God I think sometimes we take the love of God for granted we don't talk about it we don't focus on it enough the love that was extended to us at the cross understand here's God here's us there's a huge gulf in the middle there's no way we can jump over our own righteousness won't get us over that would be like jumping the Grand Canyon the Grand Canyon is huge you can't jump over it I was amazed when I went to the Grand Canyon and just pictures don't do it justice look at the vast expanse and when I when first time I went there you know the kids were little and we went out there and I was just like oh my look at this you know the kids come run up let's go so this is the Grand Canyon I know we've seen it let's go take a picture but there's no way standing at that immense there's no way I could jump over the Grand Canyon there is no way in your righteousness you can achieve a relationship with God no way what if I got a big running start not gonna make it so Jesus gives his death on the cross as the bridge across that great divide why did he do that why did Jesus die for us it's love I you know years ago I read this little little track and it was talking about the love gospel and it was really just slamming a focus on the love of God or the significance of the love of God I thought man this is this is a crazy track because Jesus was motivated by love his love for us nails can't hold God to a tree you understand that when Jesus was on the cross he could have called a legion of angels he'd have been done why didn't he he was dying for us dying for you and me and it talks about we shall be called the sons of the living God we've spoken to John 1 12 says that any who receive him any who believe in him can become children of God any isn't that amazing any I'd be like walking in a room full of people and say tell him you you'd adopt anybody that wanted to be adopted at first John 3 1 says behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God therefore the world does not know us because it did not know him first John 4 16 says and we have known and believed the love that God has for us God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him reason this is coming back to this is God God loves people I don't know why you know we read that passage that God loved Jacob and and and either hated or loved Esau less than we're oh why did he not like Esau that's not the question the question is why did he love Jacob as we look at this reference back to the book of Hosea and we think about this man who was wedded to this woman who went back into prostitution and and obviously from Levitic law the man would have been in his rights to divorce her and forget about her but is that what he did no he went around calling for her looking for her and then when he found her what did he tell her how messed up she was and no he purchased her to come back home and we're given this passage in this reference to remind us of what God's heart is like friend do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven you can know right now I want to lead you in a short simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him please pray this prayer with me out loud right now dear Jesus I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things I have sinned and I'm sorry please forgive me of all those things please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name amen friend if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible you've been forgiven you've been born again Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness those who were sick not the righteous so congratulations friend you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make God bless you if you've prayed this prayer with Pastor David receiving Jesus Christ for the first time or rededicating your life to the Lord please call and let us know we want to send you our exclusive first steps package for free this package will help you grow in your new life receive your first steps package by calling 877-458-5508 that's 877-458-5508 or visit us online at 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