Living Hope Church

Pastor Phil Steiger: If you'd open your Bibles with me to Romans chapter nine. We're going to start here in verse six, reading this passage of scripture in just a few minutes.

But friends, quite honestly, this passage that we're reading, and even this larger section we're in from 9 to 11, even though in so many ways it feels and reads different than Romans 8 and will be different when we get to it, Romans chapter 12, we really are in an incredible passage of scripture. The kinds of things Paul is trying to say, the way that he says it, the way he uses the Old Testament, the way he talks about the power of God and our lives and our responsibility, there's a lot here, friends, this is powerful stuff. The passage that we're going to read this morning, if you're not already aware of this, you will probably be aware by the time we just read it out loud, that oftentimes this particular set of verses is used as a club in theological battles.

You whip this thing out and you start hitting people over the head who don't believe the same way that you do. I've been through plenty of those theological battles, but we've got to keep in mind, even though there's some things here that seem provocative to us, we want answers to, we need to keep in mind that that's not why Paul wrote this passage of scripture. He didn't write this scripture so that we might go after each other as Christians; he wrote this passage of scripture for other very important reasons. We remember again that in this passage, in these three chapters, we come face to face again with the sovereignty of God.

God is Lord over all, that everything belongs to him. He is the ruler of all things, physical creation and human history as well. There's a Christian theologian a little over 100 years ago, Abraham Kuyper, who put it like this. He said, "There is no inch in all creation over which God looks and does not say mine." That's a convoluted way of saying God looks at every square inch of creation and declares mine. God is sovereign over all.

And God is completely good. He is trustworthy in his goodness and his benevolence and his love. He is sovereign and he is perfectly good. At the same time, all of us are responsible for our reaction to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We continue to walk through this, these things that we're making sense of that Paul is talking about. He's unafraid to talk about it and use this language about it. And I'm not above saying here that as we go through this passage, that there is just at some point going to be mystery. If we plumb the depths of the word of God and the mind of God and the will of God and we think that we have figured all of it out, guess who became God, right?

God is sovereign and great and beyond us. And everything we can know about God is true. But at some point, friends, I know that there is going to be mystery in all of this. But that does not mean that I think this passage of scripture is not hard to understand, at least in its basics. Let's remind ourselves also as we read this passage that we've already seen Paul's heart.

As he goes into this, Paul has started with this expression of his sorrow for the lostness of the nation of Israel. His biological brothers and sisters, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has said this incredible thing about what he would be willing to do if that would then mean that all of his biological family would come to know Jesus Christ. So we're confronted with sorrow for the lost and the fact that then the gospel needs to be proclaimed so that they can hear it and have the opportunity to respond.

So he shows his sorrow for the lost and then his compassion strikes us as well, because it becomes an example for our compassion. He's driven to proclaim the gospel to Jews and to Gentiles. So that then becomes our compassion and drive, that we are driven to share the gospel in as many ways as we possibly can.

Because in large part, especially in the context of these chapters in the nation of Israel, Paul wants to make sure that we know that nobody is saved because of the family that they're born into. Just because they're a child of Abraham does not then mean that they are right with God. Because if any of us are born into a particular family, does not then mean that automatically because of your biology or place in life that you're a follower of Jesus Christ. Everyone is responsible to respond positively to the gospel of Jesus.

To put their faith and trust and hope in Jesus Christ. So in our passage of scripture this morning, the couple of things that are going to guide us through what Paul says today: first of all, the word of God never fails. Through everything that we talk about this morning, if there are two things that we come away with, I want to make sure we come away with these two things, and the first is this: the word of God never fails. Paul addresses this right here because his readers have reason to wonder about the promises of God. Where is he? What is he doing? Why hasn't it been fulfilled to the nation of Israel? God's given all of these promises, has the word of God faltered? Has he forgotten us? Is the word of God not powerful enough to do those things? So Paul at this point says the word of God never fails.

And he's going to make use of that truth in really provocative and powerful ways in this passage. So first of all, the word of God never fails. And then secondly, it is God all along. It is God's doing. All of this is God's doing. The gift of salvation, our salvation, our response, the gift of faith that he gives us, the lives that we lead, it is all the work of God. None of us are right with God because of our own righteousness. None of us are able to become good enough or be good enough in order to be saved. Every one of us is a sinner saved by grace if you are a follower of Jesus Christ. All of that is the work of God.

We keep using this term foreknowledge, because Paul has used it earlier in chapter eight: "those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son." God foreknows all these things. God knows all that happens; he sees all of time in one snapshot. So he knows when and how you and I are going to make this decision to respond to Jesus Christ. When and how people through the path of their life are going to go back and forth with Jesus Christ and then their response one way or the other. God simply knows all of these things. And all of it again is a gift of God. The way Paul's going to put it in this passage is that God puts all these things together so that his purpose in election will stand. God's purpose in election is all about the grace, the gift of Jesus Christ.

So we need to keep our eyes on those things as we go through this passage of scripture. Let's begin reading. Romans chapter nine, beginning in verse six and we're going to read through verse 13. Friends, this is the word of the Lord. "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: about this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls, she was told, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Who wants to give this one a shot?

So here's where we begin. Here's why Paul says what he says here in these next several verses: "But it is not as though the word of God has failed." God had given his promises to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. God had created his covenant relationships with his people, and in every one of those covenant relationships, God is making this two-ended legal relationship with his people. God is saying, "I'm giving you this relationship, these promises, this covenant, and I will remain faithful to it, and I'm calling you to remain faithful to the covenant as well." So especially in this context, God gives this covenant to Abraham and he promises Abraham a family beyond anything that he can possibly imagine. And he promises Abraham the land that he's going to give his children. And God remains faithful to his end of the covenant.

He does that; he gives them the land and he will still give them the land later on. God remains faithful, even though many of the children of Abraham failed in their faithfulness to that covenant. God gives the relationship, the covenant, the promises of the Old Testament law. And God says, "As I give you this law, I am going to be your God and you are going to be my people. This is who I am, what I am like, and what I am going to do for you, and this is how I am calling you to be in a relationship with me." God remains faithful to his end of the covenant; the people of God don't. God then makes a covenant relationship with David, and it's a covenant of kingship. And he tells David, "There will be your son on the throne forever and ever."

And the line of kings grows so corrupt and broken that the nations of Israel go into exile. The nations of Israel and Judah go into exile; there's not a king on the throne. When Paul writes the book of Romans, there's not a Jewish king on the throne. Is it possible that the word of God has failed? It hasn't failed because God does not break his promises. What God has done is he gave his people his son Jesus Christ, who will sit on the throne of his father David forever and ever. So we have this long story in the Old Testament of God's word remaining faithful and true and secure, and the people of God stumbling, failing, ignoring, and rebelling.

On Tuesday nights right now we're going through Second Kings. And in the stories of the kings, you see this constantly. The kings of Israel, and most of them in Judah, they not only allow but they promote pagan worship. And along the way, you've got these prophets that come along, Elijah and Elisha, and they warn the kings and they warn the people. Isaiah warns the king and warns the people. Micah and Jonah, they come and they warn and they preach the gospel. Some of them listen, but most of them do not and the nations go into exile. So some of them listen, but many do not, and this is a critical point for Paul in this passage of scripture.

In fact, in these first few verses he talks about it specifically in what we just read. Nations can face judgment while individuals remain saved or right with God. So the nations in the Old Testament of Israel and Judah both face judgment, but there are individuals, the prophets and those who listen to them, who repent and turn and are right with God. Those nations will face judgment, but there are individuals. So this is the point that Paul has now made in two or three different ways. Just because you're a child of Abraham doesn't mean you're a child of Abraham.

Just because you belong to the nation of Israel doesn't mean you belong to the nation of Israel. Just because you're biologically Jewish doesn't mean you're spiritually right with God. He continues to make this point: the word of God is true and never fails, but human beings stumble and fail and ignore God and rebel. The fault does not lie with God's word. And people do not rebel because God has predestined that some will rebel and go straight to hell. We rebel because of our sin nature; this is what our sin nature does.

We ignore God, we rebel against God, we walk away from God. This is just what sin does. Now there's a word that the Old Testament uses a lot for this truth. Paul is going to use it three times in chapters 9 and then 11, and the word is "remnant". Outside of this nation that is being judged and this group of people who have rebelled against God, we have a remnant of people who have been preserved by God and protected by God. Paul's going to actually come back to that term later on in chapter 9, then also in chapter 11.

As I'm thinking about this this week, I started reading several of the conversations that Jesus had with the Pharisees in the Gospels, because there you have some really interesting conversations. One of them happens in John chapter 5, and we're going to read John chapter 5, verse 40 here in a second. Jesus is having this conversation with the Pharisees; the Pharisees are people who know the Old Testament better than any of us will ever know the Old Testament. They can quote most of the Old Testament. They can tell you exactly where the Messiah will be born and then not care that the Messiah has been born. These people are so connected to the Old Testament; they've been hunting and searching for righteousness and for the coming of the Messiah. And when the Messiah is standing right in front of them, they refuse him.

So Jesus says something really interesting—it's really quick, but really interesting—in one of these conversations, these arguments with the Pharisees in John chapter 5, verse 40, look at this: "Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." You see that refusal; Jesus uses that word because it is an act of their will to refuse the Messiah standing right before them. They could have, they should have, yet they refuse to. So in all this talk of election and predestination and foreknowledge, even while Jesus walks among us, we see clearly that every human being individually is responsible to listen to and to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So we see that God's word simply does not fail. When Paul says this in verse six, "It is not as though the word of God has failed," the Greek word that he uses for the word "word" here is a great Greek term. It is a term that has this broad meaning and it's used in many different ways, both inside and outside of the New Testament Greek. But the way the New Testament uses it is wonderful; the Greek word is Logos. The word can mean our spoken word. It means also in the New Testament the embodiment of God's ideas. It can mean the use of reason, rationality, and logic. It can even mean power in certain kinds of ways when you're using it in terms of God himself.

And then in John's Gospel, when he writes those first few verses, opens up his Gospel, the word that he chooses to use to stand for Jesus is the Greek word Logos. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John uses that term to express the mind of God, the expression of the will and the power of God. So if the Apostle Paul is using that term and it has this theological weight to it, how on earth could the word of God fail, the Logos of God? His will, his spoken word, his written word, his word in the life of Jesus himself can never, will never fail. There's this great expression of this truth in the Prophet Isaiah chapter 55, verses 10 and 11. I love this setup to this.

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Rain and snow fall, and grass and trees and crops grow. It does what it was supposed to do. So God says, "When I give my word, it will inevitably do exactly what I intended it to do." Shall the word of God fail? Is it the case that the word of God has failed? Of course it's not.

To make that point, the word of God does not fail. God has not left his people, has not ignored his people; God is still at work. In order to make that point, Paul digs deep into the Old Testament, way back in the book of Genesis in the beginning of the nation of Israel. Literally the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to make the point that the word of God just does not fail. Here's what Paul then says in verse seven: "And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named." This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

So again, it simply cannot be simple biology. All of it, when it comes to being right with God, is about the gift of God and the promise of God and the call of God. He says it's not just physically the offspring of Abraham, but it's the promised offspring of Abraham. "Through Isaac shall your seed be called." This goes all the way back to the original set of stories about Abraham and his wife Sarah. God has made this promise that they're going to have a son, but they're pretty old. One of them is 100 years old and one of them is 99. And when Sarah hears this, she laughs at the promise of God. This simply cannot be. "Do you see me? Do you see him? This can't be."

But God said, "I'm going to give you a son about this time next year. I'm going to return and you are going to have a son." And it is through the son of the promise that your seed is going to be called. In the meantime—and friends, this is where you and I tend to get in trouble with God, is in the meantime—before we think God should have already done this, or God has said something in his word that we just don't think is possible, or God has promised something to us that just doesn't make sense. So we think, "Well, maybe God needs just a little bit of help." So Sarah comes up with this brilliant idea. She has this Egyptian maiden by the name of Hagar and she convinces Abraham, "If you sleep with her and she gives you a son, we'll just take that son and make him our own, and he is going to be the heir of the promise." Sure enough, Hagar gives birth to Ishmael, but Ishmael is not the son of the promise.

So there's this whole drama, this whole family drama that happens with all of that. And for Abraham's sake, God promises to be good to Ishmael, even though Hagar and Ishmael have been separated from the camp because Sarah's gotten frustrated—which is shocking—that Hagar has Abraham's son. They're separated. Ishmael becomes a great nation. Friends, do you know who considers Ishmael the father of their religion and of their people? Islam traces their lineage to Abraham through Ishmael and not through Isaac. So sin has consequences. Failing to trust in God has consequences. And my, oh, my, do we have consequences right now.

But what Paul has done is he's grabbed a passage of scripture in the Old Testament, Genesis 21:12: "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." Not by the works of your hands, but by my promise and what I can do—that's who will be the son of the promise. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: "About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son." That is Genesis 18:10. He is quoting these Old Testament scriptures to make the point that before it happened, God said it would happen. Before it happened, God promised it and it all came true. No one else could have possibly known this was going to happen. They're 99 and 100 years old; no one would have guessed that this would have happened. But guess what? God gave his word and his word came true.

That's what Paul is doing: he's reminding them of the veracity and the truth and the strength of the word of God. This means it's not children of the flesh, but of the offspring of the promise. It is the work of God that makes children of God. Paul continues to make this point through these Old Testament stories, that individuals, because of the promise and the gift and the goodness and the grace of God, are part of God's spiritual family because of their faith in him. Trust in the promise of God and he will come through. This is what Paul is already saying in this passage of scripture. And becoming a child of God, it again made me think about this conversation between Jesus and some of the Jewish leaders.

Answering this question—and this is an important question for all of us to answer—well, whose child are you? Who do you belong to? Are you a child of the promise or not? Jesus again has this very provocative conversation with Jewish leaders who are biologically children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but who have refused Christ. And we see in this conversation there's no middle ground. Friends, there is no middle ground. And Jesus makes this clear. The passage is long, but the conversation is great. In John chapter 8, verses 37 through 44, here's some of Christ's conversation.

"I know that you're offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father." Jesus sets them up. He says, "You do what you've heard from your father," and their reaction is, "Well, of course we're children of Abraham." They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children," notice how what Paul is saying about Abraham Jesus has already said about Abraham, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

"But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. That is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did." All right, so they're feeling uncomfortable, they're feeling backed into a corner. And this is often what somebody does when they feel backed into the corner and their face goes flush, their adrenaline starts pumping a little bit, is they get mean. That's what they do next. "You are doing the works that your father did." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, only God." You see, the story of Jesus's virgin birth was common knowledge; none of them believed it. So they're accusing him and his mom.

Verse 42: Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Think for a second: Jesus is God. And as God, the triune Godhead created all things, including every created divine spiritual being. Jesus literally created Lucifer. Before he fell, they knew each other. Jesus is speaking of someone he knows by name, someone he created, someone he cast out of heaven because he rebelled. He said, "Satan is a murderer and he's the father of lies and everything he says is a lie because that is all that is in him." When you run across ideas and worldviews that rely on violence and lies, guess whose father is behind that? Jesus makes it clear there's no middle ground. If you are the spiritual children of Abraham, you would be doing what Abraham did. You would believe the word of God, for it is true and it is life. But my word has no place in you because you belong to a different father.

What Paul is dealing with here, Christ has talked about, the Old Testament leads us to—there's so much happening in this passage of scripture. But Paul is not done; he's going to add Old Testament promise on top of Old Testament promise. We go now to verse nine: "For this is what the promise said: about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son." And not only so, but also when Rebecca, Isaac's wife, had conceived children by one man, our father Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls, she was told, "The older shall serve the younger."

Paul goes back and he grabs another story with another set of promises and consequences from the Old Testament to make this point of the word of God coming true. And he goes to the story of Isaac and Rebecca and the birth of Jacob and Esau. The story of Isaac and Rebecca conceiving is also its own kind of miracle story. She is barren just as Sarah had been, but God gives her a child, and when she becomes pregnant, God begins to talk to her about what's going on inside of her. So when Rebecca becomes pregnant with these two sons by Isaac, God comes to her and he tells her, "Two nations are striving in your womb."

Genesis 25:23: "And the Lord said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided. The one shall be stronger than the other; the older shall serve the younger.'" Jacob will later be named Israel by God, and he becomes the father of the 12 tribes of Israel, the father of the nation of Israel. Esau gets separated from his family and he goes off into the desert, and he becomes the father of the nation Edom. So we have Jacob and Esau, the individuals who are striving in her womb. They're striving even in birth, and they strive even in life. But then what God is saying is that we have two nations here that are striving and one is going to serve the other.

It's just the opposite of what we would think: the older is going to serve the younger because of what Esau does and why he gets separated from his family. Because a little later in life, we've got that famous story of Esau and Jacob. Esau is the hunter; he's been out hunting. He comes back into camp, he's famished, he's starving; Jacob is there with a pot of stew. And Jacob, his name means "usurper" or "heel grabber". As he was coming out of the womb, he had hold of his brother's heel. He's going to cause his brother to stumble. So even Jacob, in his personality, none of these people are perfect, by the way. God did not pick Jacob because he was perfect.

But here's what Esau does. Esau comes in from hunting, and in my mind's eye, Jacob's got a smirk and he's stewing the pot. His brother Esau says, "I am dying of hunger; feed me." Jacob goes, "Well, what will you give me for just a little bit of this stew?" And Esau says, "I'm about to die. I don't care what happens in the future; you can have my birthright." Jacob goes, "Okay." So even in human terms, Esau the older gives the power and the place and the position of the older to the younger. God knew this was going to happen. So in that moment, even just in the natural physical process of things, the older has given superiority to the younger.

But it's not just that. Esau has a gift because he was born first. And when the text talks about that conversation in Genesis 25, it literally says in that moment that Esau despised his birthright. What was supposed to be holy and right and good and a gift to him that he did not deserve—it was just because he was born first—he said, "I don't care about it," and he throws it away for a pot of stew. He rejects the gift of God, and Jacob takes it up. And there's just so much more that happens inside of that story. Then, as time moves on, Jacob and Esau become not just the stories of the individuals, but they become in the rest of the Old Testament the emblems of the nations of Israel and Edom.

Israel, with all of its struggles with God and yet in covenant relationship. Then you've got the nation of Edom, who actually ends up despising the people of God. They do horrible things to the people of God; they receive judgment because of their treatment of their brother nation. You've got all this going on. So Paul finishes with this phrase: "She was told the older shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." This is another Old Testament quote from another Old Testament passage about nations—about nations. Malachi 1:2-3. Right at the very beginning of the book of Malachi—and Malachi is great; it's a conversation between God and the people of Israel.

And it goes like this: "I have loved you," says the Lord. "But you say, 'How have you loved us?' Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste to his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert." The nation of Israel is in conversation with God in this book. And their first concern is: how do we know that you love us? And so the response harkens back to what's happened between Jacob and Esau. And God doesn't use the words Israel and Edom; he uses the names Jacob and Esau because they stand for the nations of Israel and Edom.

At this point in time, the nation of Edom has suffered the judgment of God. He goes, "See, you are still here. You are still protected by my covenant faithfulness." So then he uses this term that creates this stark contrast; it's the word for "hate". And as opposed to the love of this, what we have is the contrast of God's judgment over the nation of Edom. So we see it played out in the stories of Jacob and Esau, as Esau despises his gift. We watch it played out even inside of the nations. So remember, as Paul's talking about the nation of Israel, he's talking about a nation itself that can bring upon itself the judgment of God, but individuals are called into relationship to God.

So the nation of Israel is loved by God. The nation of Edom has been judged by God. We're talking again about children of Abraham biologically and children of Abraham spiritually. Nations can be judged and individuals can be saved, like Israel could be and was, like Edom was, like friends, even our nation can be judged, and yet individuals can be saved through it. Paul has said all of this has happened in order that God's purpose in election might continue. What is God's purpose in election? It's the very next phrase in the verse. In verse 11: "in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls."

God knew who Jacob and Esau were going to be and what Esau was going to do when he despised his birthright. God knows all of this. Jacob is not perfect, but he is the one who ends up seeking after God and following after God. He is the one who ends up wrestling with God and trying to figure him out, and Esau's the one who disappears. God's purpose in election is that none of us save ourselves. It is the gift of God. It is all God. We know from scripture that it is not our works that save us. Salvation is the gift of God; we receive it in faith, not because we work our way toward it. It is God who knows, and it is God who works his will. We get this in Philippians 2:12-13.

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Paul is not above putting both of these concepts together and saying, "I have no problem with this." What I need you all to do while I am not here to sort of help you through this process is you need to continue to work and press through your salvation and your relationship with God. Why? Because that is what God wants to do inside of you. Isn't that amazing? That this is what God wants to do inside of us. He is working his good will and pleasure. Friends, in the mystery of God's knowledge of all of these things,

And in the mystery of God's will, this is just true. Jesus is everything about my salvation from beginning to end. Jesus is everything about my salvation from beginning to end. The possibility of salvation, a relationship with God—guess who that's all about? Jesus. The offer of salvation that you and I are given by the word of God, by witness and testimony—guess who that's all about? It's all about Jesus. The gift of faith that I have to receive what God gives me—guess who that is all about? It's about Jesus. My acceptance of the gift of salvation—that's Jesus. My eternity with Jesus—that's Jesus. Any glory that God gets in my life and in our life as the church—that's Jesus. From beginning to end, it's Jesus.

Ephesians 1:4-6. If you want a longer explanation of some of this, we recently did a few years ago a sermon series through the book of Ephesians. But this little segment here in Ephesians 1:4-6: "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." This is what God has chosen for us, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself. What has God done? Those whom he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, Jesus Christ. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which has blessed us in the beloved.

In the end, this is all Jesus, friends. Then we can also say, in the mystery of God's knowledge and his sovereign will, Jesus calls us to respond to the offer of life. He calls us to respond. Matthew 11:28-29, part of Christ's call, he just says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." This is the Good Shepherd calling us to come and be with him, to put our faith in him, because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Friends, the yoke of this world is heavy. It's crushing, it's burdensome. It's full of stress and anxiety, and it is vain and it is empty.

But the yoke and burden that Christ gives us is light. It's life. It's beautiful. I love this passage as well: Joshua 24. Some of you might even have this little segment on a mug or on the wall of your house: "And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord"—Joshua's talking to the nation of Israel—"choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." It's up to you. There's not a middle ground. Are you going to serve false gods? Are you going to walk the way of demons? Are you going to walk away? Are you going to rebel and find death and find darkness?

Or are you going to follow the God who's brought you to the edge of the promised land? As for me and my house, I know what we're going to do: we will serve the Lord. Choose this day whom you will serve. So, friends, God's word will never fail. Paul does not cite these Old Testament scriptures to start a theological debate, to divide denominations so that only the right people can go to the right church and complain on YouTube about everybody else. That's not why Paul wrote this passage of scripture. He quotes all of this and these provocative passages to let us know that God is so sovereign and he knows all things that he can tell us that all of these things are going to happen, and sure enough, they happen. This is what the word of God is.

God reveals to us who he is. God is even revealing to us how history will unfold. And if God has said all of that in the past and it did come true, everything that God promises in his word, friends, will come true. Just as sure as all of this did happen, all of this will happen. God's word never fails. The deeds of humanity are not unknown to him. He is not reacting to what humanity does, to what you do, to what you have done, to make the best of a bad situation.

God is sovereign. And he is a sovereign Savior. God cannot lie, and his word is true. Numbers 23:19: "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and he will not fulfill it?" These are rhetorical questions; the answers are: yeah, he said it and he will do it. He will fulfill it. Now, this is one of the underlying tensions inside of this passage, especially for the nation of Israel—the Jews—as they read this: "Well, God promised us the land. We really don't have the land." Guess what God did about 60 years ago? He gave Israel the land again.

You want to know why? Because God's word is true. Because God's promises are true. And that's this little marker that says: pay attention, because everything else is still going to come to pass. I've said it, and it will come true. Hebrews 6:18 contains the phrase: "It is impossible for God to lie." Read his word, and friends, when the word of God jumps out at you and it grabs a hold of you, grab a hold of it and don't let go. That is God speaking to you. That is God laying his promises in your heart and in your life. And friends, God's word never fails.

In a world of increasingly noisy challengers to the throne of our sovereign God, he isn't going anywhere and his word will not be broken. I believe the church in our culture right now is being pulled through a funnel. And we're trying to figure out, we're watching around us, who is going to believe in the truth and the soundness of the word of God and who's not. I really believe that. And with every passing cultural crisis, we're watching more and more people decide the word of God isn't true about this, the word of God isn't true about this, the word of God isn't true about this.

Paul says, "Listen, I've given you all these examples. And this means that God's word is true and sure; hold on to it." It's been said over and over the last several years—I think it's worth repeating this phrase—things aren't falling apart; God's plan is coming together. It feels like things are falling apart often, but God's plan is coming together. This world makes promises that they cannot fulfill. The world makes promises intended for you to believe them so that the world can use you and abuse you, destroy you, and throw you away. God makes you promises so that you can be his child and have life abundantly now, and have life in eternity with him forever on the other side of death. That's why God makes these promises. Let's pray.