The biblical doctrine of predestination is one of Christianity's most misunderstood tensions. and it provokes this question. If God is sovereign, are we truly responsible for our choices, both good and bad? Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl invites us to follow along in Romans chapter 10. Through this passage, Chuck exposes our tendency to engage in the blame game.
In which we shrug our shoulders when making personal mistakes and villainize others when making theirs. God's sovereign design for unlimited redemption is far superior to our own. Chuck titled today's message, Straight Talk About Responsibility. We're reading excerpts from Romans chapter 10. In uh Our study through the New Testament.
We have come to this Let's call it a counterbalancing chapter with chapter nine that emphasizes the sovereignty of God. This talks about the responsibility of humanity. Referring to the Jews, Paul writes, Brethren, my heart's desire. My prayer to God for them. Is for their salvation.
For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish. their own They did not subject themselves to the righteousness. of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
to everyone who believes. Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. Verse 8. The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart.
That is the word of faith which we are preaching. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, And believe in your heart. That God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. For with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness.
And with the mouth he confesses. resulting in salvation. Scripture says, whoever believes in him Will not be disappointed. There's no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all. abounding in riches for all who call on him.
Or who ever. We'll call on the name of the Lord. We'll be Saved. Isn't that great? Lord Jesus Christ.
Have mercy on me. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook. by going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, Straight Talk About Responsibility.
Last time we were together, we talked about the sovereign hand of God as He controls the affairs of this earth. We even got into the subject of predestination. And you who were still awake at that time will remember that God, from His perspective, reaches down into the ranks of humanity. And as he causes the affairs of life to happen, he selects those for his own.
Now it would be easy if that's all you heard to think that it is all about God and we have nothing to do. We simply are robots standing there waiting for lightning to strike. And when it does, boom, we are born into the family of God. No, there's chapter 10 of Romans to help us not think like that. Chapter 10 of Romans says that we are responsible.
As God reveals the truth to us, we are responsible to respond to what He has revealed. You see, there's every temptation in our day to fall into the trap. of blaming someone else for what isn't working for us. You noticed? I mean, today, often it isn't uncommon for the arresting officer to wind up on trial rather than the one who broke the law.
Nowadays, it's often the school or the parent who has to stand in defense, whereas it's really the problem with a rebellious kid or a kid that won't do what he ought to do in school. Back in the 60s, this sort of reached its peak. And songs were written that revealed how we tend to blame others for. our own faults and our own responsibilities. Anna Russell wrote one of those songs.
It went like this. I went to my psychiatrist to be psychoanalyzed to find out why I killed the cat and blackened my husband's eyes. He laid me on a downy couch to see what he could find, and this is what he dredged up from my subconscious mind. When I was one, my mommy hid my dolly in the trunk.
So it follows naturally that I am. Always drunk. When I was two, I saw my father kiss the maid one day and That's why I suffer now from kleptominiae. When I was three, I felt ambivalence toward my brothers, and so it follows naturally I poison all my lovers. But now I'm happy now that I've learned the lesson this has taught: that everything I do that's wrong is.
Someone else's. Fault. Oh. Of course, you're not guilty of that, I realize. That's somebody else's problem, huh?
No, actually we're all there. We're all very good at it. Even Adam was good at it. When the Lord says, Adam, why are you there? He said, The woman which you gave to be with me, she caused me to sin.
And he turned to the woman, and the woman said, it was the snake. The serpent came. He deceived me. Matter of fact, it's sometimes downright hilarious. I came across some.
Old actual quotes taken from insurance or accident forms turned in by people. who were rationalizing around the trouble they had caused. Listen to some of these actual reports. The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intentions. A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.
The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him. I was on my way to the doctor's with rear end trouble. When my universal joint gave way, causing me to have an accident. I like that one.
An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished. The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him. I saw the slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car. The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth. Is that good?
I think I turned in that one, as I recall. The telephone pole was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve out of its path, but it struck my front end. There's one more here I didn't want to miss. I like this one a lot.
I'd been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision. I didn't see the other car. I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him. We may be the clay.
God may be the potter. But that doesn't excuse us. to blame him for our wrongs. Let me just sort of set the record straight. You do what's wrong.
It's your fault. Ida Shrink tells me in the first service that he spends a lot of his time dealing with his patients. who are convinced it's always someone else's. Problem. One of his patients had become so good he had all the way back to potty training.
All the way back to mama did this, daddy did that, my teacher did this, somebody did that. I had a coach that did this, and he said, after really working with him for weeks, I finally got everybody else out of his sights, and we've begun to make headway as we deal with him. Your decisions Friend. are your decisions. You make your choices.
As a result, when you choose what's right, there are rewards and blessings. When you choose what is wrong, there are consequences, and you often pay for them dearly. The worst of which. is turning away from Christ. You choose to die like that.
You will not get prayed out of it. are removed from the consequences. You're sunk. It's curtains. Literally, all hell will break loose.
Now. When you look at chapter 9 alongside chapter 10, you can see the difference. If you take only one and not the other, you will have a misperception. In your theological understanding. Chapter 9, God is sovereign.
Chapter 9, God sovereignly chose the Jews. Just as he chose Isaac. Just as he chose Jacob. Just as he chose Moses. Just as he chose you and me who were in his family.
Chapter 9 is all about that. We are the clay, he is the potter. How grateful we are that God is doing his great work. That's the vertical side of things. When you get to chapter 10, you turn to the horizontal.
Because in chapter 10, you realize Each one of us is responsible for the truth we hear. We are free to accept it, or we are free to reject it. And so the Jews are now responsible for their action. If they reject the Messiah, waiting for one yet to come. There are consequences.
One of them is the Jew is set aside, and by the grace of God, Gentiles, like most of us, Have the privilege of hearing and responding to the gospel of Christ. How great is that? In fact, if I were to give a one-sentence statement. To describe the 10th chapter, it would be this: God has now rejected Israel because Israel has rejected the Messiah. That may not sound very diplomatic.
It certainly is not politically correct. Which makes me like it all the more. But the fact is, God is now set aside Israel because the people of Israel set aside the Messiah. It doesn't mean that he keeps his message out of their reach. Matter of fact, there are four statements that I would like to give you that emerge out of this chapter.
Sort of randomly picking the verses. Look, for example, at verse 8. Verse 8. What does it say? The word is near you.
It's in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching. So the first statement is the gospel is within reach of all. Everyone sitting here today. Finds the gospel within reach.
Christ died for sinners and was buried, proving that he had died. Christ was raised from the dead and was seen by hundreds, proving that he is alive. You believe in his death and resurrection. You turn your life over to Christ. He comes into your life and you are in his family.
You don't work hard at it. You don't promise to be sincere. You don't try to give up your sins. You don't labor and keep a tally of how often you're in church or how many sins you give up or how sincere you are. You simply come to faith in Christ who died for you and rose again.
You are in the family of God. You are called, in the Scriptures' term, saved.
Now, that gospel has come within reach of you. No Jew can say, I really have not heard about this. Paul says, I'm spending my life telling you. I've written the letter that lets you know it. All of you can read it for yourselves.
It's like a Family whose dad is the owner of a grocery store saying, We don't have a thing to eat, dad. We're starving. Oh, you've got a whole store full of stuff. Or a guy that owns a car dealership saying to his wife that afternoon, I gotta walk home tonight, I don't have anything to drive. You've got a whole lot full of them.
We are walking waist deep in the gospel. It has come within reach of us. Israel included, the word is near you. Remember, Israel, it was from you the prophets came. It was to you Messiah was given.
From your loins, Messiah came. But you've rejected him. There are consequences to that. A second fact is in verses 11 and 13. Turn there.
Scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. Verse 13, whoever will call on the name of the Lord. Will be saved. The gospel, here's the statement: the gospel is offered to all.
Now, let me go a little deeper and have you put your thinking caps on. This is called the doctrine of unlimited redemption. Unlimited Redemption. The five-point Calvinist teaches that Jesus died for the elect. That's called limited redemption or limited atonement.
His death was limited to those who are the elect. Taking chapter 9 and making it walk on all fours, they declare that the Lord Jesus' death was effective. only for the elect. I'm convinced from my study of the scriptures that whoever believes, whoever calls, that's what it says, doesn't it? It doesn't say whoever among the elect or whoever among the called, it says whoever.
In fact, I love the word all in the same section. All who call on the name, verse 16, all heed the good news. They did not all heed it. The wall received it. In fact, there's a verse of Scripture I want you to look at.
Hold your place here, just for the sake of clarification. Go to 2 Peter 2:1. Every once in a while, we'll have a group of individuals who are. Led by God to enter the ministry.
So we go through a process called ordination. Which is an official endorsement of a local church on the lives of these young men going into the pastorate or going into evangelism or whatever may be the calling. And so we will interview them and we will question them regarding their faith. One of my favorite ones has to do with this subject of theology. Every once in a while, we'll come across a person who says, I believe Christ died for the elect.
Didn't die for everyone, but just that he's a limited atonementist. And I have fun asking, not fun. No, I do. I have fun asking 2 Peter 2:1, will you tell me what this means? I have yet to get a good answer from a limited atonementist.
False prophets also arose among the people, just as there also will be false teachers.
So these are unsaved people. false teachers. who will secretly introduce destructive heresies. even denying the master Who bought them? bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
Isn't that great? He died even for those false prophets and those false teachers. Yeah. Even for those who reject him and spread the message against him, he died for them, he bought them too.
So, the second statement back into Romans 10 is: the gospel is offered. to all. The third is in verse 16.
However, they did not all heed. The good news. The gospel is not accepted by all. This isn't rocket science. If you're faithful to share the message of Christ, as I'm confident many of us are, you are reaching out to people who do not reach back.
This verse says, however, they did not all heed the good news. Even Isaiah, centuries ago, said, Lord, who has believed our report? I remember sitting down with a physician. We had developed a relationship over a period of months, and I thought this might be a great time for me to talk with him about Christ. Our relationship was fairly warm, fairly close.
I was having lunch with him and I said to him one day, Doc, I'd like to talk with you about something that's very personal, if you don't mind. He said, Sure, Chuck, whatever. Brilliant man, Harvard grad, Harvard Medical School, Mayo for his work and just had all the credentials and had an excellent practice. And I said, I want to show you a simple little diagram.
So I drew what has come to be known as the bridge illustration. Show people on one side, and you show them on the other side. And on the one side are those who were lost, on the other side, those who have been. born again and in the middle to bridge the gap the chasm is a cross. Where we walk across by faith.
And I very carefully described, he never interrupted. He blinked about a hundred times and he stared at me through those thick glasses and he listened. And he frowned. And he said when I finished. He took the snap and he goes, Not in a hundred years would I ever believe that, Chuck.
Ace smiled. I said, well, that's fair. You're wrong, but that's fair. We had a little laugh about it. I've learned, by the way, when they reject that pushing harder doesn't encourage them to.
Say yes. Insulting them. doesn't work either. I've never heard a testimony saying, I was insulted in public and was just drawn to Christ. I just love Jesus as a result of being embarrassed by this preacher in this restaurant.
I thanked him, I shook his hand, and I said, I just want to thank you for listening. You know what I was also grateful for? He heard the truth. And he's left with it. But he doesn't receive it.
Now we'll say more about this later on, but some of you need a little coaching. in not pushing. Too hard. Don't answer back, but don't you. Your wife will answer if you don't, or your husband will answer.
So don't anybody answer. The fact is, The gospel is not accepted by all. The majority will never believe the truth. Truth will always be embraced by a remnant. Never forget that.
Those believing the truth will always be in the minority.
Now there's a fourth statement, verse 21. the gospel continues to be offered to all. That's grace. As for Israel, he says, all the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. I love Paul's heart.
He's actually quoting there from Isaiah 65. I wish I had the time to turn to it. It's a magnificent section. As the prophet describes, the obstinate, disobedient people, and the world's full of them. The person you work with may be obstinate and disobedient.
The people that you live alongside of may be obstinate and disobedient. You know what? You're responsible for you, they're responsible for them. The bridge will be a communication bridge, it will be a love bridge, it will be an acceptance and compassion bridge, but please don't push them. Please don't try to force them.
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. wrote Solomon. Don't thicken the bars in the castle of the offended. Be gracious. Be understanding.
And while I'm at it, don't try to change their lifestyle. Don't try to clean up their lives so they'll be ready for Jesus. Jesus is not looking for people cleaned up. You know, it's like an emergency room saying to a guy that dragged in with blood, how come you didn't clean yourself up before you came in here? You expect me to work on this bloody body?
What's wrong with you guys? You take them just like they are and they work with them. That's what Jesus does. You made a mess of your life. Hey, I'll embrace you.
I'll accept you. I take messes and I clean people up. I love J. Vernon McGee's line, he being dead still speaks. He says, God didn't call me to clean up the fish bowl, he called me to fish.
You ever seen a pro, Bass Pro? Go out and say, I'm not fishing this lake, it's dirty. I'm just no, they go by they go right over there. Then they do what I never do. They catch a big bass and they bring it in.
They're not cleaning up the lake, they're fishing. Why? 'Cause there are fish there and they love it dirty. They like it slimy. They love it like that.
Don't you ever wonder why? But that's another subject. Back to chapter 10. Chapter 10 is an analysis of human responsibility. Look at Paul's heart.
Brothers, sisters, my heart's desire, my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. You think he was mad because his Jewish friends hadn't come to Christ? Not in your life. He's heartbroken. He remembers the buddies he traveled with and studied with when he came out of Tarsus and went to Jerusalem and studied under Gamaliel and other rabbis.
He remembers those lost friends that were classmates. He remembers fellow Pharisees when he was a member of that sect. He remembers how Maybe not all, but most of them still are lost. that haunted him at night. My heart's breaking.
Broken over the fact that so many still reject the Savior. You see, just knowing they're lost doesn't mean you stop praying, it means you start praying. It means you reach out very diligently in prayer for them. That's what he's doing in verse 1. May I give you a little extra word of caution here?
Guard against anti-Semitism.
Okay. Don't go there. It's ugly. It's not a godly response. Just because they don't believe in your Messiah doesn't mean that you turn against them.
Because of them we've got the Messiah. Because of them we have the scriptures. Because of the Jews, we have a respect for the scriptures, the Old Testament to this day. Let your heart break over the lost. Chew.
Be grateful that in grace The Lord set them aside and reached out to Pagans like us. who have nothing righteous in our background. We just by the grace of God heard the message. and came to Jesus. While God sovereignly elects, we remain responsible for responding to the gospel.
That's the core point of this message. You're listening to Insight for Living. Chucksmundahl is teaching from Romans chapter 10, a passage that reinforces the simplicity of salvation. All we need to do is confess Christ and believe in His resurrection. We're responsible for our decision.
Here at Insight for Living, we've prepared a number of study tools designed to deepen your understanding of this passage and the entire book of Romans. we invite you to take advantage of this exclusive bundle of resources. The first item in the bundle is our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbook. This spiral-bound resource for Romans comes in two volumes, and both are available today. Second, Chuck wrote a full-length commentary on Romans.
This is hard-bound, and it's from the Living Insights commentary series. Anyone who loves the Bible should own this commentary from Chuck. In his approachable style, Chuck helps us discover the rich theological treasures that are found in Romans. And third, Insight for Living has produced a collection of audio messages so you can listen to Chuck's sermons in their entirety at your own pace. and so you'll have a permanent record of this hallmark study.
To purchase this special trilogy of resources from Insight for Living, call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash offer. Before we wrap up another week of programs together, I want to conclude by extending a word of thanks to those who consistently support Chuck's teaching ministry. Because of your generosity, Insight for Living is available to millions of listeners on the radio, YouTube, our website, our mobile app, and all the different digital platforms like Instagram, X, and Facebook that are so popular these days. To send a contribution in the mail, address your envelope to InsightForLiving. Post Office Box 5000 Frisco, Texas 75034.
If you'd like to make a donation online, just go to insight.org/slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to join us when Chuck Swindahl continues our study in Romans: the Christian's Constitution. Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Straight Talk About Responsibility. Was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R.
Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
