 So Romans 9, we're going to look at verses 1 through 5 as we continue our series through the book of Romans. We'll begin reading together at verse 1, I'll read to verse 5, and we're looking at the heart of the Apostle Paul who loved the lost. And what I really want to share with you is going to really be found within the first three verses. I'll conclude all five verses, obviously, but it's speaking about loving the lost and the motives of ministry, the motives of evangelism, the reason that you share the gospel. Paul speaks to us about that here in chapter 9, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 5. Paul says, I tell the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises of whom are the fathers, and from whom according to the flesh Christ came who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen. So Paul is writing here in chapter 9 and begins to clearly put forth God's complete sovereignty. That's what we'll be looking at as Paul begins to clearly put forth God's complete sovereignty over all creation. Now the word sovereignty, let's define it because sometimes we use words that not everybody may understand or understand in terms of its context. God's sovereignty speaks of his supreme power or his supreme authority. This is to say that all things are under God's rule and control and nothing happens without his direction or his permission. So God is sovereign. Now to say that God is sovereign is to declare that he is the Almighty, the possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can defeat his counsels, thwart his purpose, or resist his will. So God is sovereign. He's in complete control. So God is the creator of everything that exists outside of himself. As the creator, he has the right to do whatever he desires with his creation. It's kind of like you have a son who's 13 years old and you say to your son go clean your room, go clean the room and he says I don't have to. That's my room. I don't have to clean my room. It's my room and then you as a father or mother say I don't remember your name on the title deed of this house. I don't remember that room being yours. It's actually lent to you until you get to a certain age and then goodbye. Because that's my house, right? You're not paying rent here. You're not paying for the, you know, the monthly mortgage. You know, this is my house and I have a right as the owner to do as I will. Well, we are basically saying that we have that kind of authority. Well, when you make that infinitely greater, God is the creator of the universe. And as God being the creator of the universe, nobody tells him what to do and how to run his universe. Why? Because it belongs to him in Job 41 11. He said, who has preceded me that I should pay him everything under heaven is mine. Psalm 50 verses 10 through 12, every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you for the world is mine and all its fullness. Everything belongs to the Lord. So he not only owns everything, but he rules over all things and as such he does what is pleasing to himself and he doesn't seek my counsel. Psalm 47 2 says the Lord most high is terrible. He is a great king over all the earth. So Paul is going to be speaking about God's sovereignty. At the time of his writing, God is now working amongst Gentiles. Originally God had been working just with the Jew with when Jesus was ministering and it speaks this way in the book of Matthew. He says to his disciples go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel because that's the ones that he had come to minister to but now God is expanded and it's not just to the nation Israel that God is reaching out, but it's now to the whole world and so God is now working with the Gentiles. So people are wondering seeing that God is working amongst Gentiles has he abandoned his work amongst the Jews? Again the answer is going to be found in what is called the sovereignty of God. He always has chosen to work according to his own plans and this is what we're going to be seeing. Now he's speaking here in chapter 9 and he's going to be sharing how his heart is towards those who were lost thus revealing the heart of God to those who were lost and so he begins in verse 1 by saying I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience also buried me witness in the Holy Spirit. So he begins by saying I tell you the truth in Christ. I am not lying. So Paul makes it clear that he is not preaching with insincere motives but he is preaching and teaching with a purity in his heart. Paul is one who would speak concerning the conscience and he would say that he strove to keep his conscience clean. Now conscience is that which distinguishes between what is morally good and morally bad. So for Paul keeping his conscience clean was of utmost importance. In Acts 24-16 he said it like this I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. Now that's where an effective witness actually originates. It's not the techniques that you use when you share but it's the attitude of the heart that God honors. Sometimes we do our best to study certain techniques or ways to share our faith. We here in the church on occasion will give classes, instructions encouraging you to learn scriptures to learn how to share your faith. It's important to know how to do that but it's more important to know why you do that. And so Paul would begin by speaking concerning the motives of his heart and that he has a clean conscience as he goes about taking the word of God to people. So an effective witness originates in the motive of the heart. It begins with purity, pure motives, this desire to glorify God. You see some might question his motives as he takes this message of the gospel out. Some might be thinking he's trying to undermine the law of Moses to establish himself as one greater. That couldn't be further from the truth because Paul was very clear that he had no insincere motives. That's what he's saying. I tell the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. My motives are pure. What is it that motivated Paul? The love of Christ. He says in 2 Corinthians 514 the love of Christ constrains me. It wasn't simply Paul's love for Jesus because when we begin to speak about how much we love the Lord there's a tendency in our part to forget how much he loves us. We love him because the Bible says he first loved us. We simply are responding to the love that God has already shown to us in Jesus Christ. And so he was one who knew that God loved him. And being a sinner who had sinned in a terrible way, he gives his testimony many times how he hated this Christian faith, how he was putting people in chains, bringing them back to Jerusalem, trying them as heretics and being there at their death. That was Paul. He was guilty of being a violent man. But God showed him mercy. And the mercy of God has a tendency and the love of God has a tendency of impacting us so much that we want to share with people God's love. It's that woman who is there at that dinner that is given for Jesus at the house of Simon the Pharisee who walks in and stands there looking for Jesus. He's there at the seat of honor at the table and she makes her way over there to where Jesus is begins to weep and begins to have the tears dripping off of her chin and onto the dusty feet of Christ. And without a moment's thought kneeling down, she undoes her hair, begins to dry the feet that had been moistened by her tears, begins to kiss those feet that had brought good news to her, transformed her life. And that Simon the Pharisee who is there watching this thinking within himself if this man truly were a prophet, he would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him. She's a sinner. Even somebody who can't see very well can see that this woman is a woman of ill repute. This woman is a prostitute. How dare she come into this place and how dare she touch this rabbi. And if he really were the holy man that everybody says that he is, then he wouldn't allow her to come near him. Why would Simon think that way? Because Simon was a Pharisee, a religious individual whose life was separated away from sinners and thus he called themselves as they called themselves at that time Pharisees. And he couldn't see this. He couldn't see the reasonableness of somebody being allowed to touch this rabbi the way this woman was allowed to touch Jesus. Jesus said I have something nasty to Simon and he says well say on. And Jesus says there are a couple of men who owed another man some money. One owed a great sum, the other a lesser. But the one who has owed the money completely forgave both of those who were indebted to him. I want to ask you a question. Which one is going to love him the most? And Simon says well I suppose the one who owed the most. And this you have rightly said Jesus says. See this woman? See Simon you don't even look at humanity anymore. You're too busy looking at what you perceive them to be. You see this woman? You know when I walked in you didn't give me a kiss of greeting. You didn't anoint my hair with oil. You didn't wash my feet. You didn't do any of the customary things that a host owes to a guest. But I want to point out that she's not only washed my feet with her tears. She's kissed my feet. She's dried up with the hair of her head. I'm going to tell you something Simon. The one who owes much will love much. When you have been forgiven and when you come to understand how deeply you've been forgiven and why you've been forgiven changes your life. There are a lot of people who profess Christ today and who am I to say they know him or do not know him. But who do not seem to understand the connection between love and forgiveness. Too busy wanting to stretch God's grace to continue walking in sinful ways and not understanding that if Jesus had not broken into their lives they were on what we used to call the highway to hell. They were going to hell. But God broke into their life and stopped this crazy direction with his goodness and his grace. And these people have come to understand that God loves them. Paul said the love of Christ constrains me. It wasn't just the love Paul had in response. It was the love that initiated the response in the first place. And so as a result of that Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 2 we have renounced the hidden things of shame. Not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. We renounce hidden things of shame. We don't walk in craftiness. We don't twist God's word to make it say what we want. And so this is a man who could preach with purity. He had a clean conscience. His desire was to see all people come to faith in Jesus Christ as a Jewish believer. He had a great desire for Israel to come to faith in Messiah Jesus. And that was his deepest and most sincere concern the salvation of the nation of Israel. And so he says I tell the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit verse 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. Now wait a minute. Paul had just been making some very strong statements. He's been making it very clear through the book of Romans that the life of the believer is entirely different. He made it clear that heaven is our home. That we're saved by grace. That we live in hope. That we are heirs of God. He's made it clear that God is on our side. That we are inseparable from the love of God. That we are more than conquerors. All of this should work together to produce unbelievable joy. But Paul is saying I have sorrow and grief. Is it possible to have all of those things that God says we have and still have a burden? Is it possible to have God's joy, God's confidence, his power, his presence and still have sorrow and grief? And if so, what is it that would cause such sorrow and grief to a believer? Well sorrow and grief can be produced in your heart when you have a burden for those who are lost. It was such a great desire for Israel's salvation in him that it broke his heart because so many people rejected Jesus Christ. He said I have an unrelenting pain and I have an unrelenting sorrow over these people. Well that's what causes you to pray for your loved ones, isn't it? A simple love for them. Don't give up. Don't stop praying. Don't stop seeking the Lord for your mom, for your dad, for a brother, for a sister. Don't stop. My friend Bill, very dear friend of mine, I've known Bill since I was five years old. I have a picture somewhere of Bill and me in kindergarten. He lived two houses down across the street from me in Norwalk. My friend Bill, we grew up together. My dearest friend for many years. He and I began drinking together. We were arrested together. We smoked our first joints together, dropped acid together. He was a dear friend of mine. He became a police officer. Think about that for a minute. He arrested people just like him and just like me, a pastor. Think about that for a minute. Bill was the one who took me to church. He took me to a little church called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. Bill was the one who argued with me about Jesus Christ and how Jesus could change a life. Bill and I went in the military together on the same day in what was called a buddy plan. We both had been drafted and we both went in on the same day. We went through basic training together for two months. I was shipped off to Georgia, Fort Benning, and he remained at Fort Ord. He went through AIT, advanced infantry training. Eventually went to NCOS school, non-commissioned officer school, became a sergeant. Went through jump school, was permanent party in Germany. Well, I went and was permanent party in North Carolina. I didn't see him for a couple of years because we were separated. He being in the military and stationed in Germany, me being stationed in the states and all. He comes home from Germany. I see him. He's walked away from the Lord. And so he and I don't see each other very frequently after that. Several years passed by, he calls me up and he says, Dave, I'm listening to you on the radio. I listened to you on the station called K-Wave. By that time, he's now a police officer. He works out of LA. Eventually became a trainer. He trained police officers and weapons and a variety of things. And we don't hear from each other for some time. We'd hear each other from each other sporadically. One of my friends, Bobby, gets married wearing his wedding together, things of that nature. We don't see each other. But I pray for him, not every day, not every moment, but often, when I think of my friend Bill. Because Bill is a guy who helped me to come to faith in Christ. He speaks to me. He says, David, I was listening to you on the radio. And you said something about you and me. When we used to go to church together. He goes, I don't remember ever going to church. Going to church with you. All of that is so far gone. I said, no, Bill, you did. We used to, and I'd share with him. And he'd say, I don't remember any of that. That's not part of my life anymore. So I'd still pray. Lord, in Jesus' name, touch Bill's life. Bring him back. Bring him to you. He obviously didn't know you the first time he said he did. Bring him to a full faith in you. And I'd leave it alone. So three, four years ago, we're doing a Sunday night baptism. I used to tease all the time. I'm surprised I didn't do it this time. Where I'd say, there's only one requirement, two requirements. Be saved to be baptized. And secondly, please, no speedos. No speedos are allowed. I would say that just to tease people and make sure no speedos showed up. And so I'm walking outside towards the pool when this guy standing off to the side speaks to me and says, where's your speedos? And I pointed the guy next to me and I said, he's wearing them. I don't. And I just kind of laugh and I walk by. Well, 40 minutes later, I'm walking back in the same area and the guy is still there. Now, when guys hang around for 40 minutes in the same area, usually there's some kind of weirdness going to happen. So I put the guy in front of me and we keep walking. And as we're walking, this guy says to me something like, hey, and he's still there and he's talking to me. He says, hey, have you seen Bobby lately? And I look at him and I don't recognize him. So I said, Bobby, he said, Bobby Trujillo. I said, you know Bobby? Because Bobby and I have been friends since we were 14. Went to high school together. You know Bobby? Do I know Bobby? And I look and it's Bill. And I said, what are you doing here? And so he says, well, I was stationed in the Middle East. He had retired out of the police force. He's training officers in the Middle East. He says, it's 116 to 120 degrees. I'm in a tent. I'm wearing all of this equipment, armor and weapons. He says, and I'm thinking, what am I doing here? So he says, I prayed and he said, I haven't been praying, but I prayed, God, if you get me out of here, I'll go see David. That's the truth. So he says, so he says, here I am. I'm just keeping my promise to God. He got me out within two weeks. I said, really? And so I bring him into my office. I sit him down. We visit and I say, all right, God brought you here. What do you think he wants for you? He goes, I don't have a clue, man. He says, all I know is I have kept my word to God and that's it. I said, what I think he wants is for us to get together. Let's get together monthly. You and me have lunch. Let's talk. So he says, OK, he brings Bobby with him. So over the course of a year and a half, we meet every month just sharing, having lunch, visiting. He starts asking questions about the Lord. He's now attending a Bible study at Bobby's house because Bobby's a believer. I finally say to him, all right, Bill, what has God told you? Why are you meeting? Have you committed yourself to Jesus Christ yet? He says, I believe I have. He says, I've come to Christ. And so I said, I'll take yet your word, but we keep meeting every month. He starts bringing questions because he's reading his Bible now. Then he brings a Bible that says, look at this. I found this when I was moving. It says, July 1970. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, Bill Solly. He says, I had this in some books, a stack of books. I've been meeting with Bill every month now for about four years. He is now taking missions trips to Haiti. He builds homes for children in impoverished areas in Mexico. God grabbed hold of his life and brought him home to himself. Don't give up. Keep praying. Keep seeking the Lord. Don't give up. The enemy whispers in your ear. The enemy whispers in your ear. Give up on him. He's never going to come to Christ. He comes with two full pages of questions every time he comes. And I told him the other day, I said, man, I said, you're getting deeper. He says, how do you know that? I said, yes, your questions are getting harder. That's how I know. He carries with him little tracks that he hands to people on the side of the road when they're asking for something. He rolls his window down, gives them money and gives them a track. And I've seen what God can do. Hold fast to him. There needs to be a continuing prayer for people who are lost. Don't give up on your mom. Don't give up on your dad. Don't give up on your brother. Don't give up on your sister. Don't give up on your aunt. Your uncle, your neighbor, your co-worker. Listen, the enemy wants you just to give up. But in Jesus Christ, we do not give up. We hold fast and we proclaim the word why because it changes lives because our kids and our family can be saved because our friends can come to know God. He can forgive anybody of their sins. Everybody. Why? Because the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to do that. There's nothing God cannot do if you just open your heart and say, God forgive me, a wretch, whatever I am. Forgive me, Lord. And he can transform you. Paul had a burden. We need to have burdens, too. Do you have friends, family, coworkers who don't know Jesus that you've given up on? Teachers who are just constantly poisoning their students with nonsense. Keep them in prayer. Keep them in prayer. Paul hated Jesus so much that he arrested people and he witnessed against them so they could be put to death. But a man who violently opposed Jesus Christ was brought to faith in Jesus Christ. I believe that God still does that. I believe that he can, and God still does. And so he has a consuming love. This is an unrelenting pain and sorrow. It was a love for them that consumed his life. It drove him on. Their salvation meant that much to him. He wouldn't give up on them. Sometimes it might even cause you to cry over the loss. Like it says in Psalm 126, 5 and 6, those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. He loved his kinsmen. His experience was that all too often, he and the message were rejected. It says in Acts 14-9, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came to Lystra and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 2 Corinthians 11-24, he says from the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes, minus one. They weren't always open to what he had to say and sometimes they violently opposed him. But effective ministry begins with a genuine concern for the lost and a desire for God to be honored. And Paul genuinely believed that it was necessary for these people to be born again. So Paul begins by testifying to his continual sorrow at national Israel's rejection of Messiah. To his sorrow, the vast majority of Jews rejected Jesus Christ. They were spiritually blind and it caused him sorrow because he loved his Jewish kinsmen. As you read your Bible, you can't help but notice how Paul would first preach to the Jews. He'd never enter into a town or village without looking for a synagogue and he'd reach out to the Jews living there. The Book of Acts reveals that he began this from the time he was first saved. In Acts 9-20, it says immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. In Acts 13-5, it says when Barnabas and Paul arrived in Salamis, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. So his greatest desire was that the Jewish kinsmen to deliver Messiah. As he witnessed the common response of rejection it caused him great sorrow. That word sorrow is a consuming grief and pain so that burden drove him in his service to the Lord. He went everywhere encouraging people to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice in verse 2 again how he says I have great sorrow and continual grief. Now notice instead of bitterness of spirit he reacted with sorrow and grief. You see sometimes we might take rejection personally actually become bitter towards the people who reject us. Paul didn't react that way to rejection. He responded by loving them even more. You might have somebody that you share your faith with and they call you names and they don't want to have anything to do with you. And so in your heart you become bitter to them and you might even say under your breath you don't want to go to heaven then go to hell. And you're all mad because you've been rejected. They're not really rejecting you, keep that in mind. They're rejecting the message. They're rejecting the Messiah. They don't want you because you're associated with him. If people hate you Jesus said don't be surprised they hated me before they hated you. And that's how it works. So he says I have responded to rejection by loving them even more. Notice what he says. Look how his love is expressed. I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. I would exchange my life in Christ so that they would have it. I would exchange it with them. He was so certain that salvation was only in Jesus that he would have exchanged his own salvation if somehow it would result in his fellow Jews being saved. That's incredible. That reveals his understanding of salvation as well as the grace of God. It reflects God sending his son as well as the son-yielding of his life that others might live. He knew exactly what it meant for people to be saved and he had this passionate love and it's that passionate love that made him a great evangelist. There was a Scottish man by the name of John Knox who preached in the 16th century. And it's recorded how that on one occasion he was there in Scotland and he prayed with great emotion, give me Scotland or I die. Give me Scotland or I die. You want to be used by the Lord. There has to be a passion and a love for the lost. A willingness to be rejected so that the seed can be planted. A willingness to love somebody even when they don't love you and a belief in eternity that either they're going to be with the Lord or they're going to be judged by the Lord. The most famous scripture we know for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not want, should not perish but have everlasting life. Even in the greatest, most hopeful scripture, God's love there's a warning that those who don't receive him and believe in him will perish without him. And Jesus' first message that he ever gave, it's recorded in Matthew chapter 4 was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders in Matthew 23 he kept on speaking to them directly. He even called them strong names if you will. Your white wash tombs he said to them. You're white on the outside but inside you're filled with decay and dead men's bones. You're the kind of people who preach one thing and do a different thing and Jesus hated hypocrisy. He would speak firmly about it, why? Because he wanted people to be right with God and to live right for God. If you have a passion for the Lord and a passion for the things of God in response to the love God has had for you then again some of the things that you have to wrestle with or grapple with with your friends especially those who are lukewarm Christians those things are going to pass by. You're not going to be arguing about things that don't matter. You're not going to be concerning yourself over things that don't matter. What really does matter? Eternity matters. Life's being transformed, that matters. Going to heaven, that matters. There are things that matter a lot more than some of the things we argue about amongst ourselves. So he had a passionate love. Now as he's speaking concerning his kinsmen I want you to notice and we'll close by looking at verses four and five how he speaks of them. My kinsman according to the flesh who he says are Israelites. That means they're descendants of Jacob to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen. So he lists Israel's spiritual heritage and benefits as Israelites. They have adoption as a nation they were adopted by God to become his children. Exodus 422 says you shall say to Pharaoh thus says the Lord Israel is my son even my firstborn. He speaks concerning glory. That speaks of God's presence with them as he revealed his shekinah glory to them. I used to think it was his shekinah glory but no it's his shekinah glory. In Exodus 1610 it says Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel that they looked toward the wilderness and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. He speaks concerning covenants. Over the history God made various covenants with the nation. He had what is called the Abrahamic covenant. Abraham was the physical father of Israel the spiritual father of those who believe. The mosaic that's when God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Davidic that's when God made promises that one day David would have a ruler on the throne who was Messiah. He speaks of the giving of the law of temple service which speaks of the Levites and their service to God. He speaks of the promises which would speak not only of the spiritual ones but also the temporal promises where God said he would bless them and prosper them and things of that nature. All of this ultimately comes through Jesus and his reign in complete fulfillment because the promises included and notice this the Messiah, his kingdom and eternal life in him. That's what he's saying in verse 5 when he says of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh speaking of the incarnation Christ came who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen. The fathers are called the patriarchs including Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but he's also pointing out that Jesus Christ took upon himself human flesh and was born to a Jewish mother. Paul makes it clear that Jesus is God in the flesh. Notice what he says who is over all the eternally blessed God. In Hebrews 1-8 it says but to the Son he says your throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is a scepter of your kingdom. To the Son he says your throne O God. You see the supreme blessing is being rejected by Israel and it broke the heart of Paul and it breaks the heart of God himself. Rejected Messiah but Paul said I love these people so much I would give up my own life for them. He didn't have to somebody already did their Messiah but Paul's intense passion for them drove him to take the gospel to places people had never heard the name of Jesus in. He was the kind of man who couldn't be still he's the kind of man who even when in jail would witness to the guards and then would write concerning how the name of Jesus has gone out through all the Praetorian guard because he would minister the word of God faithfully because he had an eternal sense he knew that it's either being with God or in opposition but you can't be both and for Paul he said listen there's a passion in my heart a desire to see them write with God that is so intense I had exchanged my life my spiritual life for the nation to know their Messiah because they have so many advantages but they're missing the key they're missing their Messiah oh how I wish he was saying how I desire and how I pray and how I strive for them to know who Messiah Jesus actually is why because to know him is to know life is to have life that God has given to us passion desire love response to grace all of this drives us as we share our faith in Jesus to those who don't know him