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The River ChurchSermons

Romans 9-16

Israel's Future

Matt Montgomery · Sunday, 12 October 2025 · Romans 11:1-36 · 43:15 · 6,875 words

Romans S25 · 11:1-36

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

The sermon looks at Romans 11, showing that God's promises to Israel are still true and that salvation comes by grace to anyone who calls on the Lord. It calls believers to guard against hardened hearts, live in a way that makes others jealous of their faith, and share the gospel by loving example. The message asks listeners to examine their own relationship with Jesus and commit to being a church that stirs revival by reflecting Christ's love.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

jealous 14 jew 25 fact 17 olive 6 promise 19 kill 10 fake 5 ye 3 gentile 11 jesus 59 israel 10 remnant 5

Topics

The Gentiles 2 Sin 2 Israel 2 Election & Predestination 1 Prayer 1 Government & Authority 1 Faith 1 Salvation 1 Grace 1 Baptism 1 The Gospel 1

Scripture referenced 14

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 11 2:32 Romans 11 4:04 Romans 10:13 5:46 Romans 10:1 5:56 Romans 10:13 5:59 Romans 10:2 6:49 Romans 10:5-10 10:51 Ephesians 2:8 11:20 Romans 10:18 18:26 Luke 14:16-14 19:53 John 7 33:21 John 10 33:21 Colossians 1 36:45 Revelation 21 37:27

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:38. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

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Thanks again for joining us and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

Thank you for your word this morning.

Let our ears hear exactly the message you want us to hear.

Speak through me. Take me out of it.

Let your words flow 100% from you, Lord.

I just thank you for all you do.

We praise you. We honor you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

So as I started studying this week, I realized yet again I get a tough message.

So it's a message that I think is very, very important even for today.

One thing that I've noticed is...

And as a country and as a nation, I'm seeing a lot of anti-Semitism.

I'm seeing a lot of things that are happening even in churches today where people are turning.

They're using the excuse, the Jews of the Old Testament are not the Jews in Israel today.

And I'm here to tell you that's hogwash.

God's promises are true.

God's promises are faithful.

He made promises to them.

So as we study, I want you to understand if you're upset.

And you don't like the message, you can email Chuck.

And he'd be happy to talk to you about it.

But I'm going to preach from the heart because I think it's important.

And I think we need to understand exactly what Paul's trying to portray here.

It's not unlike what we're going through today.

People in the church were wondering if the Jews could even accept Christ.

So as we read, we're going to read out of chapter 11 this morning.

And I want to start with the exact message that God's plan is for the Jew...

...but it's also for you.

I know it rhymes.

But there are so many questions that people have.

And I think Paul's just trying to put some things in place.

You know, unfortunately, as churches, we can get carried away with any little thing.

If you read in the Corinthians, you'll see they're even arguing over what pastor was baptizing.

I'm better and I'm better because, you know, this pastor baptized me or this pastor baptized me.

And Paul said, well, thank God you're not saying my name.

Because I don't...

I don't want to be responsible for that because everything is done in the name of Jesus Christ, right?

If we're not proclaiming Jesus, then it's wrong.

And as churches, we get caught up sometimes in looking at outside sources.

People become more important than what they should be.

And I'm here to tell you, the River Church is centered on Jesus Christ.

I will tell you the pastors have a heart for you to see Jesus, not them.

I will tell you as I stand here this morning, I don't want anybody to look at me.

Especially the girl who went to high school with me.

Because she knows who I was.

And she knows where I came from.

But I know who I am through Christ.

And through the eyes of Christ is how I want people to see me.

And that's really the message we're going to look at this morning.

So in chapter 11, we're going to read and we're just going to start with the very first verse.

Because I think we need to understand God's true saving grace, right?

So the church is in turmoil.

They're trying to act like the Jews can't even accept God.

And that they got something special because they're Gentiles now.

And they're open to...

Being chosen by God is what their thought is.

And then he's done away with the Jews.

And now all of a sudden they're important because he's opened up the gospel.

And Paul's trying to say, wait, time out.

We have to look at the whole picture.

So he says,

So he's cutting them off right away and saying, listen, I am a Jew.

I'm a Jew that's saved.

So understand God's promises are not done with the Gentiles.

But he's saying, I'm a Jew, right?

I have had my life changed.

And I think that's imperative that we understand the issue at hand.

But secondly, the illustration is the fact that he uses himself.

So using yourself, which I do quite often in ministry,

because there's no easier person to pick on myself other than my two daughters back there

who become sermon illustrations quite often.

And I have a shirt that says, anything you do and say will be...

against you in a sermon illustration.

So I use it quite often, those poor girls.

But my dad did it to me, so I think it's okay if I do it to them.

But I think we need to understand, let's look at...

When we talk about the bottom line of salvation, that it's available to anybody,

let's look at Romans 10.13, if you put that up, please.

And it says,

I asked then, has God rejected his people by no means?

Well, that's actually verse one.

Can we go to Romans 10.13?

On the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So knowing everyone is what?

I always love the words whosoever, everyone, anyone,

because it's not specific to one party.

Anybody that comes to Christ and calls on his name can be saved.

So I think he's setting the tone quite early with the fact that

it doesn't matter if I'm a Jew, it doesn't matter if I'm a Roman,

the fact is salvation is everything.

And we don't have salvation without grace.

So I think...

I think he's making a very specific point here.

So he goes this further.

As we start reading ahead, we're going to start looking at

how he explains things that have happened, right?

So God has not rejected his people, verse two, that he foreknew.

Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah?

How he appeals to God against Israel.

Lord, they have killed your prophets.

They have demolished your altars and I alone am left.

And they seek my life.

But what is God's...

I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed to the knee of Baal.

So I think that's so important that we look at this.

He's reminding them of history.

And the Jews, Elijah's in turmoil.

He's like, I'm the only one left.

They've killed everybody.

There's nobody else to proclaim your gospel.

There's nobody else to talk about you.

The people have turned from you.

And God says, time out.

There are 7,000 pure men that have not bowed down to the idol.

Keep doing the work of God.

So I think what he's saying is, we have to look at it the same way.

You know, those that have a hardened heart towards the Jews,

I think we need a cleansing of the heart.

Because they're a whosoever.

They're an everybody.

They're a person that matters.

No matter who we come into context with and who we look at,

they have the ability to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

Why, you say?

Well, Paul himself said, I am a Jew.

Those that may not know me, my family comes from Jewish heritage.

I'm hard to believe.

I know.

I didn't find out until later in life.

But one thing I will know, I remember it being very specific of my grandmother talking to me

about the important things, the feast, Passover, things like that, that meant something to her.

It was the rhetoric of religion and not the belief in her God.

And somewhere along the line, that's been lost.

And we'll see why, right?

But I think we need to understand that these are God's chosen people who have a specific promise.

The promise, the Abrahamic covenant.

Abraham, God came to him, said, I will make you the father of many nations.

That covenant is still standing today.

It follows through the lineage of Isaac.

And then from Isaac, it gets expanded to Jacob, where Jacob then is called Israel.

His name is changed to Israel.

And I think we need to understand how important that is.

Without that blessing, without that lineage, we have no Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament, 100% is pointing.

It's way to the Messiah, the coming of the Messiah.

If you read Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, you will see the prophecies so specific

that you can't deny that Jesus is God.

And many Jews, I have a friend, Al David, who is probably one of the greatest men I know

that is sharing the gospel on a daily basis to Jews.

What happened to him is as he's growing up, he only got to read the first five books of the Bible, the Torah.

They never, the rest of the Bible is for the intellectuals or the rabbi.

When he finally was able to pretty much pick up scripture and read it,

he looked at me and said,

it is undeniable the specifics that answer all questions to lead you to God.

And I think as Christians, we need to see that.

Where are our hearts this morning?

Are we studying so well and in the word of God so deeply

that we know without a shadow of a doubt that we know that God is God,

that Jesus is God?

Can we lead others by example?

So he says, listen, just as Elijah, and there was only one,

you know, God says, don't quit.

But then he goes a step further in verses five through 10,

where he says, so to at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace.

So this new remnant, the old remnant was the Jews.

This new remnant is the Gentiles, right?

And he says, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.

Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

Now we all know,

the verse, it's not of our works, lest any man should boast.

We're talking about Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

So he's letting them know, hey, this has nothing to do with you.

It has everything to do with the grace of God.

What then?

Israel failed to obtain what it is seeking.

The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened as it is written.

So I think this is one of the scariest things I've ever thought about in the Bible.

There's two things that scare me.

This, the hardening of someone's heart,

or hardening of them to where they don't even realize they're away from God.

And the second one is when they think they're doing things in the will of God.

And in the end, Christ says, but I don't know you.

And they said, but God, I cast out demons.

I worked miracles in your name.

I did all these things in your name.

And God says, turn away from me, you worker of iniquity.

I know you're not.

See, it's a heart matter.

We need to know that our hearts are pure and in relationship with Jesus Christ.

You can't fake it.

You can fake it here on earth.

I spent a lot of years.

Faking it as a pastor's kid.

Spent a lot of years running from God.

I can tell you that right now.

Because I didn't want to get hurt.

I didn't want the church to hurt me.

Isn't that a sad statement?

You know, as a church, we should have a heart of love.

We should have a heart of compassion.

We should do anything and everything we can to be the example that we need to be.

And that brings up the next verses.

So as we're looking at this, he says,

And if you go right now and you were to talk to most Jews,

the ones I know, 90% of them don't know about God at all.

In fact, most of them claim to be atheists.

They keep the religious sect of it.

They keep the holidays because that's what they've been taught.

But they don't even believe in God.

How did that happen?

In Revelation, it says, I put a scale over their eyes.

And at that time, I'm going to remove those scales and they'll know me.

But don't think for a minute this can't happen to the Gentiles.

You see, we can get to a point in our life that God will turn his back on us.

That's a sad statement.

That's a scary, scary thought for anybody and everybody sitting in this room today.

I know personally, I felt there's times where my prayers go straight to the throne of God.

And there's other times I feel like I am buried under the ocean.

And it's at those times that I'm farther away from him is when I meet him the most.

I will tell you, God doesn't fail.

His promises are true.

That's why he reminded him of Elijah.

He's going to again remind them of the promises from Abraham.

And he's going to let them know that no matter what, God will follow him.

So as we move on, we're going to look at this.

He actually compares it in a great way.

He compared it to the fact that, you know, you're a remnant and you're being moved.

But now he moves to a tree.

Anybody in here garden?

Have you ever grafted plants together or helped grafts grow?

All right.

One thing I found very interesting in Israel, as you're grafting an olive tree,

olive trees get old, they stop producing.

And what they'll do is they'll cut off the old piece and they graft in a new piece of an olive tree.

And it will grow.

It will blend together and it will mold itself.

And all of a sudden it starts producing fruit again.

Pretty amazing.

It's pretty awesome.

In fact, something so amazing is they found seeds that were from the Maccabee days that were dried out dead.

But there's a promise of God that says nothing in my seed shall fall veil.

Or meaning it won't fall to anything.

They took those seeds and now they are growing, which they never should have grown.

And they are growing right now outside the Garden of Gethsemane.

In fact, you can check into it.

Pretty awesome, awesome thing when you think about it.

How a 2,000-year-old seed started growing.

But again, I believe it's because Jesus makes a promise.

And when Jesus makes a promise, it has to come true.

So now we're looking at this grafting.

So he says,

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

By no means.

Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous.

I love that he says that.

This is not jealous as in a possessions thing.

But what he's saying is, we need to make them jealous.

They need to see a difference in our lives.

They need to understand that Jesus changes everything.

And if they can truly see the change in you, then he's going to know.

And they'll be jealous of the fact that they're not changed.

So he takes it a step further.

Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles,

how much more will their full.

Inclusion means.

So it's not about riches.

I think the Jews have been very blessed by God.

Look at most of your banking community came through the Jewish realm.

If you look at a lot of things that are successful, it's the Jewish community.

But it's not about that.

What he's saying is, if they fail and we get rich, that doesn't do us any good either.

It's not about that.

It's about the riches of Jesus Christ.

He says,

Now I am speaking to you as Gentiles in as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles.

I magnify my ministry in order.

I am here somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.

As I was reading this, I thought, Matt, when's the last time you made somebody jealous of wanting Jesus through your life?

It was a hard look in the mirror this week.

Is my life so reflective of the love and life of Jesus Christ that someone is jealous or would want that?

That's a hard look.

That's a hard inspection on your life.

So he's saying, I want them to be jealous.

I want them to want my Jesus.

For if the rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life?

Life from the dead.

See, if we can change that and they change, the entire world changes.

If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump.

And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

And I think he goes to the next step where I think is the most important part.

When we get into verse 18, and he's going to say this as we read 17.

Some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among others and now share the nourishing root of the olive tree.

Do not be arrogant toward the branches.

If you are, remember it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you.

And I think he's trying to put it in perspective.

It's not about you.

Because just because you're a branch, I can cut you off.

You mean nothing.

You are nothing without the roots.

And who's the root?

So we have nothing.

We can't even grow.

We have no nourishment.

We have nothing without the life of Jesus Christ.

So I think he's making the point very clear to the church.

Stop arguing about the Jews.

Stop arguing about the Gentiles.

Stop thinking you're special.

It's time to take a real close look at your life and understand that you are responsible to be the example that's going to make others jealous for Jesus Christ.

And you're not doing it.

You're failing.

So he's getting into it.

You see, God made a promise.

Let's go to Luke.

Can you pull up Luke 14, 16 through 14?

Or 16 through 24?

But he said to him,

A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.

And at the time of the banquet, he sent his servants to say to those who had been invited,

Come, for everything is now ready.

But they all, like, began to make excuses.

The first said to him,

I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it.

Please have me excused.

And another man said,

I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them.

Please have me excused.

And another said,

I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

So the servant came and reported these things to the master.

Then the master of the house became angry and said to the servant,

Go out quickly to the streets and lanes in the city,

and bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and lame.

And the servant said,

Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.

And the master said to the servant,

Go out to the highways and the hedges,

and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

See, you've got to understand here, I'm going to end there,

but what he's saying is, we've got to stop making excuses.

I mean, this is from Jesus Christ himself.

It's a parable that he's telling the people,

but we're full of excuses, but we're not really full of action.

And God's going to fill his house one way or another,

whether we do it or not.

Just as this verse says, fine, go out into the hedges.

Just like the Jews wouldn't do what they were supposed to do

when his back was turned,

he's forewarning the Gentiles or the Christian church

that if we don't do what we're told to do,

the same will happen to us.

We will be grafted away as well.

And his glory is going to be his glory no matter what,

because God has promises to fulfill.

So it's promises we see.

We also have to understand that there's a purpose.

See, this purpose was that Jesus would come through the lineage of David,

that it would come from the very beginning,

from the Abrahamic line all the way through David

into the kingship that the Jews are looking for today.

You see, the Jews are waiting for their king.

What they call their Mashiach is actually their master, their savior.

And what their savior means to them is they want a ruler.

They want to rule.

They want to be in control.

And God said, wait a minute, I'm going to give you that, but in my time.

In fact, in Revelation, he talks about his timing.

He talks in my day and in my time.

And then when the hour is at hand, which no man knows,

I will fulfill my ministry, right?

So we know that Jesus came to do what?

To seek and to save that which was lost.

But he also gave us a commandment.

Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

So when you read that again, go ye.

Who's ye?

Every single person in this room.

So it's not about the pastors.

It's not about the deacons.

It's not about the church leaders.

It's about every single human being that sits in these seats.

We have a responsibility to share the gospel.

We have a responsibility to share the gospel.

If I can't make somebody jealous of Jesus, I'm doing something wrong.

And that's my goal.

I want to create jealousy for Jesus.

Never thought I'd say that.

But this week's been a pretty interesting week.

And God has tested me and put me in places where I had opportunities to talk to people

that I've never been able to talk to Jesus about before in my entire life.

And it was one of those situations where,

do I have enough guts to bring up Jesus on this phone call?

Now understand, when I'm not preaching or not doing other things,

I have a real job.

I'm not saying this isn't a real job.

But my real job is to bring up Jesus on this phone call.

My real job is I work in government security.

Not allowed to talk about any religion.

Definitely not allowed to talk about political aspects at all.

But a weird situation came up on our relationships with Musad and Israel.

And it opened up this whole door for me to puke in this whole message to him.

And I thought, here we go.

So I did.

And I thought, oh, I'm going to get in trouble.

And it was a rough week.

I had a tough week.

The government's in shutdown.

Everybody's in turmoil.

Everybody's freaking out.

Every time this happens,

the world comes to an end.

It's a chicken little thing.

The sky is falling.

But God opened this door to just talk about Jesus.

And for like 45 minutes,

I sat on the phone with a bunch of government agencies from across the world

talking about Jesus.

And I thought, these people must think I'm crazy.

And they do.

Because two confirmed it.

But it gave me a chance.

It gave me a chance.

Because I got so excited when it opened up that I became a different person.

My voice went higher.

They're like,

you were just sleeping five seconds ago.

What's going on?

I mean, they saw a difference.

And I'm like rambling scripture.

And I'm like, I'm going to get fired.

But at the end of the day, I was having fun.

But one of the guys came to me and said,

I have never seen anybody have zeal for Jesus.

And I thought, that's terrible.

Now, my girls and I, we were out to lunch one day.

And we used to go to the same restaurant all the time.

And I remember talking to,

there was like two or three people that always waited on us.

We always went to the same place every week and just conversed.

And we'd run there.

And I'll never forget the waiter telling me,

I hate working Sundays.

I said, why?

He said, because of Christian.

I said, what?

He goes, oh, they're terrible.

He goes, they're the most demanding people I deal with in a week.

They are the worst tippers of everybody that I deal with in a week.

And nothing is ever right.

And I went, that doesn't make Jesus jealous.

In fact, we're doing the opposite.

We're making people hate Jesus.

And that made a big difference in my life.

This was years ago.

So I started over tipping, trying to make up for it, which I don't have.

Somehow I'm going to fix this.

And then I try to be super nice.

Well, now I'm everybody's friend when we walk in there.

And now they expect a bigger tip.

And I don't have the money to tip them like I used to.

So I'm like, hey, I'm a letdown, but I'm going to love you.

But the fact is, it's what they can truly see in you.

They got to find Jesus in you.

Sometimes it's the little things.

It can be a card, a phone call.

It can be anything.

But let me tell you, you can't fake love.

I've tried it.

And it failed miserably.

And when somebody left the church because they said,

you didn't really truly love me and my family, it killed me.

See, you can't fake love.

People know if you care about them genuinely.

Go out of your way.

Make a difference.

So as we read this, we're seeing, you know, he's going to deliver them.

He's making a promise.

He's going to follow through on the fact that my people will find me.

In fact, in Revelation, when it talks about the end times,

they will finally see that the Antichrist is the false God.

And what happens?

They run to the mountaintops.

And proclaim the Messiah.

And many of them will die because of it.

In fact, it talks about in the end times, one-third of the Jewish population will be killed.

Are we willing to give our lives for Christ?

That was a hard one for me.

Especially with things going on around this world.

Are we willing to die for Christ?

My mind was taken back to a picture in 2015.

I'll never forget it.

They posted it all over the TV.

When Islamic extremists were coming in and ISIS was taking over the Middle East,

they lined up men in jumpsuits.

Orange jumpsuits with knives to their neck.

And they forced them on camera and said,

if you do not denounce Christ and follow Islam, we're going to behead you.

One by one, they were killed.

And as they were being killed, they cried out,

Lord Almighty, Lord is great.

Do I have enough intestinal fortitude to do that?

But as I looked at that picture,

all the accusers or those causing death were all dressed in black.

But there was one man in the middle.

No face mask, no hiding, who was the leader of the group.

He was all in camo.

And I looked at him and I thought, that's Paul.

Paul was the one killing the Christians.

He was the leader of that group.

And then you look at Paul and the changes in his life is what he's really trying to get through to the churches.

I was that guy.

I'm a murderer.

I'm a terrible human.

I'm the least of these is what he calls himself.

Out of all the apostles, I'm the worst.

I'm the least.

His heart was 100% driven to Jesus Christ.

And he also understood,

how important it was to be an example that it wasn't of anything else,

lest you could boast about it.

It was 100% about Jesus.

And his purpose was an understanding.

And as we look throughout history, now we see Israel kind of died, you know,

and it used to be a fact that people would say, see,

the Bible's not true because Israel doesn't even exist anymore until 1948.

Now we have a major war where Hitler's trying to kill every Jew he can get his hands on.

And that's not the only time it's still going on today.

People, I hate to tell you Jewish and Christian.

Christians alike are being killed in the masses throughout Syria,

throughout Middle East, Pakistan, India.

It's happening in Northern Africa,

probably six countries in Northern Africa right now,

where they are killing anyone that doesn't believe in Islam.

See, we are very spoiled in America because we don't see that.

Worst thing we saw was a church get attacked last week or two weeks ago down the road.

And that is a big shakeup in us.

But the realism is this is a true thing happening all over the world,

where Satan is trying to win the battle.

And what amazes me is every time this happens,

a great revival and a great awakening happens.

When I look at Charlie Kirk, the Kirk incident, good, bad, and indifferent,

I will say that the revival that has come out of that

and the people that have returned back to church because of it is immensely awesome.

Because Jesus is real.

And Jesus is the only answer.

And I've asked myself many times, I told my girls years ago,

as a pastor, I might have to give my life one day for Christ.

You say it in jest.

But as I get older, the more I realize it could happen.

Am I willing to go to the death for Jesus?

And many people ask me, and I have a Jewish friend that asked me off of that phone call,

he goes, why do you believe so heavily in Jesus?

And I said, listen, I look at the lives of the 12 disciples.

It's as easy as it could be.

Number one, he's written about by Josephus.

He's written in Roman history.

There's true accounts of the death, burial, and resurrection.

There's over 500 people that see him alive outside the Sanhedrin.

Where they all meet up.

And then there's many accounts of him going into the ascension into heaven.

It's in history.

Not just the Bible.

It's in true history.

So that's one reason.

Number two, I've never seen 12 men in my life give their life for something they didn't truly believe in.

And if you read the deaths of the 12 disciples,

and what they went through, and what they had to endure,

you've got to believe Jesus is true.

Because you wouldn't give your life that way.

Otherwise, I know I wouldn't.

So as we look at this, we understand that it involves the glory of God himself.

Again, it goes back to grace.

And as we finish up the chapter, we're going to look at that.

And it says,

As regards to the gospel, they were enemies for your sake.

But as regards to election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

So they're still loved.

You're loved.

You're lucky.

You get to accept Jesus and have a way or an entrance into the door.

Because again, Jews used to go to the temple.

They were in the temple.

They were able to get atonement for sin.

And the Gentiles were left outside.

And they closed the door.

But in Matthew, and then in John chapter 7, or John chapter 10,

Jesus says, I'm the door of the sheep.

I'm the shepherd.

I'm that door.

You now can get in the door.

So it's open to all of us.

So he's saying, for the sake of the forefathers,

for the gifts and the calling of God is irrevocable.

It cannot be taken from you.

And if you look at the word for irrevocable,

from the Greek means never ending truth.

It can't be removed.

So we know, for just as you were at one time disobedient to God

and now have received mercy because of their disobedience,

so they too have now been disobedient in order that by mercy shown to you,

they also may know now receive mercy.

For God has consigned all to disobedience.

That he may have mercy on all.

And I love how he says that.

We're all consigned to sin.

Because once one man's sin entered the world and death by sin,

so the judgment.

So he's saying, hey, once disobedience end,

it's only because of the mercy of God on us.

And I love how he finishes this.

He said, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God,

how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways.

For who has known?

Mind of the Lord.

Or who has been his counselor?

In other words, quit being a fool.

Quit trying to tell God what to do and let God tell you what to do.

Or who has given gift to him?

Have we given God anything that's worthy of him?

He only asked for one thing.

He asked for your heart.

He asked for your praise.

We have nothing else to give.

In fact, everything else is fodder in the eyes of God.

And he says that he might be repaid.

We can't repay him.

We cannot repay him for salvation.

But we can live it.

For from him and through him and to him,

are all things.

To him be glory forever.

And I love how he finds that because he has to remind him yet again,

nothing you do matters except for following Jesus Christ.

And it always goes back to grace.

See, we as Christians sometimes expect God to jump through hoops to make things real for us

when really we're the ones that should be jumping through the hoop to prove that he's real.

You know, it's God that always makes the move.

He reaches out to us.

He's given us many opportunities.

He gives us the word.

But at the end of the day, as in verse 36, he's going to proclaim his glory.

And in Colossians chapter 1, it says,

For by him, here all things are created in heaven and that are in earth,

visible and invisible, power and thrones, dominions and principalities or powers.

All things were created by him and for him.

See, our job is to rejoice and praise Jesus.

I'm actually excited about heaven.

I don't know about you guys.

Anybody love heaven?

Getting up for work every day?

Everybody love the grind?

I cannot wait to have my job in heaven be standing at the throne of Jesus and praising him.

But I also know my job here on earth is when I read Revelation 21 and I read about that white throne of judgment

and those that think they're saved aren't and those that never knew him are being damned to hell.

And yes, hell is real, just as heaven is.

And it breaks my heart.

And not only because of what they're going to have.

But the fact that they are separated from Jesus for eternity.

See, when Jesus is on the cross, out of all the pain he endured and everything he went through,

do you ever hear him complain or scream ever?

Not once.

Not written in scripture.

But there is one time when my God cries out, my Lord and Savior.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

See, that forsaking, that separation from God, when God turns his back and you are no longer able to go to him,

is the scariest thing in the entire world.

And if for nothing else, it should bring terror.

Tears to your eyes and should change your heart to go out and lead people to Christ.

Doesn't mean you pound this down their throat.

It means you actually have to love them.

You have to care for them.

You have to be involved in their lives.

And you have to show them so that they, as Paul says, may be jealous.

They're going to strive and want it.

They're going to want Jesus in their life.

So if there's anything I can say this morning is, number one, if you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior,

I beg you to know him this morning.

Because there is no other way.

There's nothing better in this entire world.

Money comes and goes.

Looks come and go.

Everything comes and goes.

But Jesus is eternal.

And his promises are true.

Just as they were promised in the very beginning with Abraham,

they are following through to the promises of the Old Testament and the New Testament

into revelation that he is coming again.

No man knows the time or the hour either.

So it's imperative that we understand that Jesus is coming back.

It's our job to take as many people with us as we can, as Paul said in this scripture.

And for the rest,

if you do know Jesus and you haven't had your heart in a place where it needs to be,

or if you're just going through the motions and you're coming to church because it's something you do,

I pray that that changes in your life.

I pray that you really will have a heart for Jesus Christ.

I know I've been there.

I like to call myself the multi-time Jonah.

You know, Jonah went, got puked up on the beach and went and did what he was supposed to and then complained about it.

Not me.

I got puked up on the beach.

I swam back out, jumped on the fish's belly and start complaining there that I got puked up to begin with.

And I still don't want to follow through.

What Jesus has for me.

And finally, the Lord had to hit me over the head with a few things to make me follow through and do the things I was supposed to do.

And they're like, really?

Yeah, I'm a pastor's kid.

We're not all terrible, by the way.

But yeah, I was a pastor's kid and I just didn't want anything to do with it.

I was frustrated.

I was hurt.

People in the church had hurt me.

We had gone through a bad situation with my father and the church turned literally on us.

All I ever wanted to be my whole entire life was a pastor until 12 years old.

And then when the church turned and changed,

treated me so horribly, I never wanted to be involved again.

But my parents, thank goodness, forced me to go.

I don't know where I'd be.

So we have to have a very, very good understanding in our hearts this morning.

Are we the kind of church?

Are we the kind of people who will love through everything and everybody?

And will they be able to be jealous because of us?

If not, I'm going to have the deacons up here.

I'll be in the back myself.

You have plenty of people to talk to.

Reach out to Chuck.

If you're not saved, don't wait for Chuck.

Make that right today.

I love Chuck, but I would love you to come to Jesus today if you don't know him.

No time like the present.

But those that need to get things straight, I say do it today.

Let's be a church that causes a revival so great that this community will never know what hit them.

And I thank you for your time this morning.

Let's go to prayer.

Jesus, we love you.

We honor you.

We praise you.

We can't thank you enough, Lord, for your word.

Your scripture is so true.

Your promises are true.

And we can stand on them firm and fast.

Lord, we're humans.

We sin.

We know we're full of sin.

We know that your way is great.

We know that the wages of that sin is death, Lord.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Lord, let our eyes be fixed on you.

Let our feet and our minds and our hearts and our souls be at the throne of Jesus every day.

Let us always share the gospel every chance we can that others will become jealous and know who you are.

We thank you for this church.

We thank you for this community, Lord.

We thank you for all you're doing in their lives.

Watch over and keep us.

And Jesus.

precious name. Amen.