From Valley to Victory, Part 12

On his mission to torture and kill more Christians, Paul experienced an incredible salvation encounter with Jesus. Later, Paul tells us that he is completely willing to give up his salvation so that his fellow Jews could experience the grace and mercy that he had received. What passion and sacrifice he had for the power of the Gospel. Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, local pastor, international evangelist, and author.

How about you? Are you willing to give up your eternity in heaven so that your friends, your family, and your neighbors, even your work associates, would meet Christ? Stand by for challenging words from Dr. Youssef as he looks at the life of Paul and how he fought against the early church, and then came to a point where he would give anything for others to experience the truth of Christ.

Listen now as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's Leading the Way. The very last verse in Romans chapter 9 verse 33, see I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble, a rock that makes them fall, but the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. This is the very core of the Christian faith. This is the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is the very foundational stone of the entire chapter, Romans chapter 9.

Now, in the last message, we ended up on a very high note. In Romans chapter 8, nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord. And then he begins to think, his fellow Jews, his kinsmen, they're rejecting the Messiah, their Messiah, and he begins to be climbing down that mountain with a very heavy heart. In reality, the more Paul thought about them and their rejection of their Messiah, and the fact that they will be judged for eternity, the more he thought about it, the more he got depressed. I know some of you will identify with what I'm going to say.

Listen carefully. Here's a godly person who comes to the Lord and is so excited about his or her salvation, and is so excited about the forgiveness of their sins, and that they're eternally saved and on their way to heaven. And then they begin to think they have a father or mother or brother or sister, a dear friend, a son or daughter who have rejected Jesus. Think about this with me. I know some of you are there.

I know you. Some of you are here in that point. You have deep love for them, your dear ones, and you feel deep longing in your heart for them to repent and turn to the Lord and be eternally saved.

So you would say, I will do anything. I'll give anything for them to come to know the Lord and experience the joy of salvation. I mean, you are bewildered.

You are perplexed. You're earnestly praying, and you are looking for every opportunity for them to respond to the Gospel. You even try to bring them to church to hear the Gospel message. I want you to imagine now, in the midst of that agony, in the midst of that grief, in the midst of their sorrow, they meet some of Job's comforters.

You know what I mean by Job's comforters? They say, you know what the problem is? God is just not fair. You know what the problem is? God doesn't care.

You know what the problem is? God is not going to answer your prayer. Here's where Paul dedicates the rest of chapter 9.

This is from 6 to 33. He dedicates the rest of this chapter in answering Job's comforters, these critics, these professional church critics, those who accuse God of not being fair and not being just. And I have four things. Four things. First of all, the promises of the sovereign God will never, never, can you say never?

Never fail. This is verses 6 to 13. Secondly, the character of the sovereign God is that he is more than fair and just. Verses 14 to 18. Thirdly, the sovereign God is not answerable to us. Verses 19 to 29. I'm going to come to each one of those. Fourthly, the sovereign God had Jesus in mind all along. Since before creation, he had Jesus in mind.

Now let's look at these four very quickly. First of all, the promises of God, the promises of the sovereign God, they will never fail. They will never fail. To be sure, the people of Israel were favored by God.

Make no mistake about it. In fact, he numerates them in verses 4 and 5. He shows those favors. Seven of them all together, if you're counting, they're the physical descendants of Abraham, they're adopted by God, they entered into a covenant with God, they received the law, they had a temple to worship in, they were given promises of the Messiah, and there had the patriarchs through whom Jesus physically descended. Amazing privileges just like the privileges of a child of a covenant in the Christian church who grow up to know Jesus, to hear about Jesus, to be instructed about Jesus, to know the righteousness of God, and to know the Word of God. These are privileges that some people throw away. How can a child of privilege become a child of prejudice? How can a child of blessing become a child of blasphemy? Paul said, it is not because God has failed to keep his promises, no, and a million no's.

Then what? Verse 6, for not all who are descendants of Israel are true Israel. Don't miss this.

Don't miss this. A lot of people do. Here's what Paul is saying, that it is from the beginning, there's always been two Israels.

How many? Two Israels. And then he goes on to explain what he was talking about, illustrates it. One is the physical descendants of Israel, and those that believe by faith just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. What's Paul saying? He's saying all of God's promises were not for the nominal Israel, but for the spiritual Israel. Just as salvation is not for the nominal Christians, but for the believing Christians.

God's promises have always been, and always will be, for the faithful remnant within Israel. And then here he comes and says, I want to prove that to you. I'm going to prove my point of distinguishing between the nominal Jews and the faithful, believing Jews, and there are two separate people. Because those who believe like Abraham are the true descendants of Abraham.

And then he illustrates it. He illustrates it from the scripture, from the Old Testament. He says Abraham had two sons, right? Isaac and Ishmael.

Although he had more kids from Keturah, whom he married after Sarah died, but those are the two who the scripture focuses on. Isaac is the spiritual heir, not Ishmael. Not Ishmael. Isaac. Isaac.

Why? Because Isaac was the son of promise. The same thing happened to Isaac himself. He had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Both were his children. Both were as bad as each other. Both were born within minutes of each other.

Both had the same father and the same mother, but Jacob was the spiritual heir and not Esau. There's something here in verse 13, and if you have your Bible underline it, verse 13, because it requires an explanation. A lot of people stumble over this word hate. Did you get that? The word hate?

He says, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. I want to explain that. It's very important.

Very important. In reality, there is no English equivalent to that word. That is, in the original. In the Hebrew speech, it's called hyperbole. Hyperbole. It's like when Jesus said, listen carefully to what Jesus said in Luke 14, 26, unless you hate your father and mother, you're not worthy of me. And we say, no, wait a minute, no. This is the God of love who went to the cross, out of love, is now talking about hate?

Chill out because I'm going to explain it to you. Okay? The best way I can translate it for you, the best way I'd explain it to you is that he's saying, you must place your salvation ahead of your loved ones, ahead of everything in life. If you really want to receive my salvation, it has to be your number one passion. It's the number one desire. It's the number one longing in your heart. It has to be the huge priority over and above all relationships. Salvation has to be an overriding passion of yours.

That's what he's saying. He doesn't mean, or it doesn't really mean at all that you have to hate your father and mother. How can you do that when he said honor your father and mother? Esau and Jacob had the same parents. Yes, but in his foreknowledge, God knew that Esau is going to disrespect and dishonor. In hardening of his heart, he is disrespecting, dishonoring his birthright and he doesn't take it seriously.

In fact, he sells it out on eBay for a bowl of soup. In the same way, the promise of God to Israel didn't fail. The promise of God to Israel never failed. You have to understand, it was a promise for those spiritual Israel.

Why? Because all along, God's promises were intended for the faithful remnant within Israel. Those who are truly the descendants of Abraham are those who have the faith of Abraham, not necessarily the race of Abraham. The promise of the sovereign God will never fail. Secondly, the character of the sovereign God is more than fair. He is more than just.

Fourteen and all the way to eighteen. Now that we understand God's promises never fail, but rather they are fulfilled, they are fulfilled in the spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then why these Jewish leaders are falsely accusing the Apostle Paul of being a traitor to Judaism? Listen carefully. The objections that they have and the objections that they're raising that Paul is answering here in this chapter is, is it fair of God to choose Isaac over Ishmael?

I hear the same argument today. Is it fair on God's part to choose Jacob over Esau? Paul says, you are asking the wrong question.

You are asking the wrong question. The question is not whether God is fair. The question is, does God have mercy at all? Verse fifteen, the sovereign God says, I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy.

The question of the critics is ill-conceived question. When it comes to God's salvation, forget about man's logic. God operates on his own set of logic. Because if God exercises justice, none of us will make it. None of us.

We are up the creek without a paddle. If God exercises justice with me, I'm up to my eyeballs and alligators. And beloved, let me confess to you, I've never prayed for justice for me. I prayed it for others.

Man, I got a list of people I want God to sock it to them. Praying for justice will be only foolish. Only a fool prays for justice.

And I can tell you, my mama never raised a fool. Forget about it. I am pleading for mercy, not justice. That's what I plead with God for mercy. Beloved, God owes us nothing except judgment. That bell-hopped God that is preached in many a church today has no resemblance to Yahweh, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The promises of God, the promises of the sovereign God will never fail. Secondly, the character of the sovereign God is very fair. He's just. Thirdly, the sovereign God is not answerable to us.

Look at verses 19 to 29. Here comes the next critic. The question of the next critic. If God is going to have mercy upon whom he's going to have mercy, why even pray? Goodness gracious, I'll save a lot of time. Why witness?

Why get attacked by my co-workers for trying to live my Christian life and witness to them about Christ? Well, if he's going to do that, just forget it, right? Have you heard that? Oh, I'm glad Paul answered that question, not me.

If it was left up to me, I'd have messed it up. But here in verses 19 to 29, he's saying, if you're asking God to respond to the fallacial demand that God is answerable to us, then you're compounding the problem. Here's a use of translation. Paul is saying, chill out for a minute and think of your pathetic knowledge of God. You know, I don't know, all these years I'm working with Christ, all these years I've read through the Scripture every year, I feel like a little boy playing in the sand.

I haven't even got my feet wet yet. God's knowledge, way, way, way, way beyond our ability to comprehend. In verses 20 to 21, have you ever seen a piece of clay that was made into a mug? Looking at the potter says, hey, I don't like that. You should have made me a beautiful vase.

Oh, vase, excuse me. Beloved, listen to me. In his graciousness, God allows us as his children to ask why. And listen to me, there is nothing wrong with asking why. Nothing wrong with that.

And that's not what he's talking about. The problem arises when we demand that God gives us an answer. Demand that God be answerable to us. Listen, I know because we live in democratic culture and society and I thank God for it, but because of that, we feel that we elected officials to office and if they don't do what we ask them to do, we can vote them out.

Here's the problem. Because many people in the church think and believe that they voted for God. They think they voted for God. There is going to hold them accountable. And that is false teaching.

And that false teaching I alluded to in the last message. They actually saying, I voted for God. I chose God. He did not chose me. I am the one is up to me to walk with God. I've got news for you.

If it's up to me to walk with God, I would have been lost a long time ago. We decided. We chose him. And we're the center of the universe.

No, you're not. God is. God is. God is the center of the universe.

Amen. Give him praise. Beloved, Paul is saying that we must let God be God. And if he is indeed the sovereign God, he will always make perfect sense to himself.

And we will understand it one day, if not in this life, we'll be at eternity, but we will understand it one day. Now for those of us who get angry with God sometimes because of sin and dreadful sinners, and I already told you I do that. But I want to tell you, Paul has a word for us here. He's saying, be very patient, be very patient for God's judgment of sin and sinners is on its way and is going to be absolutely spectacular. And because of this judgment is going to be so severe, you don't want to be anywhere near the people who are going to be judged because God is who he is.

He does what he does when he does it and how he does it. Here in this passage in Romans chapter 9, Paul is quoting from the Old Testament, which is Paul's Bible at the time, saying the Gentiles will come to God through faith and they will become his people. But his own, just like John said in John chapter 1, his own received him not. There will not be his people on that dreadful day. Far, far, far, far from being a traitor to Judaism, Paul is only proclaiming what the Old Testament prophets have prophesied about the Messiah. The fact they did not want to accept them is not God's problem, it's their problem.

He's indeed longing for them to stop hardening of their hearts and come to Christ. The promises of the sovereign God will never fail. The character of the sovereign God is more than fair and just. The sovereign God is not answerable to us. Finally, God the Father had God the Son in mind all the way, even before the creation, but certainly we see the beginning of it in Genesis 3.15. He had Jesus in mind all the time.

They just couldn't see it, they didn't want to see it. You know those last four verses, 30, 31, 32, 33, you see them in the Bible? I'm going to give you a word picture that describes those verses. Two men standing at the bottom of Stone Mountain, Georgia. One takes the cable car and goes all the way to the top of that rock and there he's resting, relaxing, and basking in the sunshine. The other one is down there at the bottom of that rock, trying to climb up with his fingernails.

This is a word picture of what Paul is trying to say in those four verses. Every person, whether a Jew or a Gentile, has to decide whether they will be hoisted up by the power of the Holy Spirit and rest completely on the rock of Zion, the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, or they want to spend their days trying to kick at the rock and then trying to climb that rock with their fingernails. You can only imagine the results, the consequences. If you decide that you'll do it your way and try to climb the rock with your fingernails, I plead with you. I plead with you. The reason I'm broken is because I don't want anyone to suffer for eternity, not at the sound of my voice anyway.

That's what I'm responsible for. I plead with you. Don't climb on your fingernails. You're going to be crushed by the rock. Come on the cable car, the Holy Spirit of God, let him lift you up, hoist you up and take you to the Lord Jesus, the rock of ages. And there you're going to find peace, joy, and above all, eternal life with Jesus. I want to tell you this as I conclude, something I've given a lot of thought to through the years. I really have many, many years. Why do people, or some people at least, stumble over Jesus, the rock of ages? Why do they stumble over him?

I came to final conclusions through the years. They want to climb that mountain with their fingernails. These fingernails of personal pride, whether it be pride of ethnic heritage or pride of religious heritage or pride of theological heritage, there's fingernails of pride of self-importance.

I can do it. But my beloved friends, until you put aside your pride and allow God's cable car, the Holy Spirit, to just lift you up, judgment will overshadow you, not only in this life, but forever. Dr. Michael Yusef, continuing his inspiring series on leading the way from valley to victory. And if you find yourself at a point where you want to move beyond what's holding you back from experiencing a full life in Christ, Dr. Yusef would like to share how you can take those next steps. What must I do to be saved? You know, the gospel is much simpler than we make it. There are some people who say you have to jump through some hoops in order to get saved.

But the scripture is so clear. It is a recognition that I'm a sinner and that I cannot save myself. And the consequences of my sin is eternal hell for eternity tormented. But then realize that Jesus came from heaven, lived a perfect life, died a criminal's death, rose again in order that anyone would come to him, would ride on his coattail to heaven. And so salvation is very simple. Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner and I cannot save myself. Only you can save me because you Lord Jesus died on that cross for me.

Come into my life. And the moment you do this, the Bible said the Holy Spirit is going to come into your life and he's going to help you grow in Christ, is going to convict you, encourage you and give you peace. If you made a decision for Christ today, or if you'd like to speak further with a leading the way pastor or counselor, you can start by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org slash Jesus.

You can also read through some very informative FAQs ltw.org slash Jesus. And write to us. We love to get your prayer requests. We love to hear how you came to the Lord or how leading the way is feeding you spiritually. Right to leading the way post office box 20100 Atlanta, Georgia 30325. That's post office box 20100 Atlanta, Georgia 30325. This program is brought to you by leading the way with Dr. Michael Yusef. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org or through your favorite social media platform.