6/14/2026
06.14.2026 - Mystery and Majesty
In Romans 11, we’re invited to marvel at God’s mysterious plan and majestic wisdom as He works through Israel and the Gentiles in ways we could never design ourselves. When life leaves us asking “Why this, Lord?” this passage reminds us that God has all knowledge, all wisdom, and that His ways, though unsearchable, are always right and good. Will we trust the God who knows all things, even when His path feels hidden to us? Listen in as we’re called away from anxious questioning into worship, faith, and renewed service to our majestic God.
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Outline
I. The Mystery Explained: Israel’s Blindness and the Fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25–32)
II. God’s Irrevocable Gifts and Calling to Israel and the Church
III. The Wonder of God’s Wisdom and Knowledge – His Unsearchable Ways (Romans 11:33–35)
IV. All Things Of Him, Through Him, and To Him – Our Call to Give God Glory (Romans 11:36)
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
Romans chapter 11. Last week we discussed the first part of chapter 11, which tries to explain to us the fact that Jesus Christ came to the Jews first for salvation, but they rejected him. That was bad news.
But the good news was, because the Jews rejected him, that opened up the Gentiles so they could receive the good news of Jesus Christ. And now in this last section of chapter 11, Paul's going to kind of summarize why that happened, but also explain the mystery, but also try to encourage us that we should be celebrating God's majesty. Have you ever thought about God? I mean, really thought about God.
Who is he? Why does he do the things he does? I mean, as you read scripture, we wonder, could God have done it a better way? Why did God have the Jews first? Jesus came to say, I came to save the lost of Israel. But why did he just come for everybody? It's a question only God can really answer. Sometimes in our lives, we see things that happen.
Why does God put me here? Why did God give me that job? Why did God give me this family? Why did God cause this to happen in my life? And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, those are all honest questions. But that's where faith comes in. Sometimes we need to realize that God is God and we are not, and that many times the only way we're going to find out what the answer to our questions are is when we get to heaven.
And then honestly, it won't really matter then. It won't matter. But sometimes with Christians especially, we become so involved in wondering why God does things or wondering why God hasn't done other things for me that we fail to do what we're supposed to do.
We fail to really live up to serving the Almighty the way he expects to be served. Verse 25, it says, I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. See, that was the whole thing.
The Gentiles were wondering, why did God reject Israel? But the truth is, God didn't reject Israel until Israel rejected God. And so that was a mystery. But the thing is, as we look at this and study scripture, we'll realize that it's really not a mystery at all.
It was all in the Old Testament, that God would not only save his people Israel, but save the whole world. They just didn't know what they were looking at. Instead, it says that the blindness has happened to Israel.
Why? Until the fullness of Gentiles be come in. That means Gentiles are allowed to be saved. They're presented with the gospel.
And when's the fullness of the Gentiles? When's that going to end? When the trumpet sounds. That's when the fullness of the Gentiles ends, because that's when the tribulation starts. That's when Israel will be once again front and center in God's sights.
And I want to tell you, if you've been watching the news, it's getting closer. Some of the things that are happening, honestly, I don't know about you, I shake my head and go, man, I thought I would never see that in my lifetime. And yet we are.
That's why scripture tells us we should always be ready for the Lord to come back. But what about this blindness in part? Second Corinthians, here's how the Jews were blinded. I think I got the right verse, 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 14, it says, But their minds were blinded.
For unto this day remaineth the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
What's the blindness? They center all on the Old Testament, still looking for the Messiah to come and fail to realize Messiah has already been here. And what's the mystery? Because Messiah came and they rejected him, now the Gentiles have a chance. And I don't know, I'm kind of glad of that.
But it goes on in verse 26, When the fullness of Gentiles be coming, it says in 26, And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, They shall come out of Zion to deliver and shall turn away their godliness. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. So there's going to come a time when all of Israel will be saved.
Now we have to understand, when it says all Gentiles are going to be saved, or all Israel is going to be saved, it's talking about the nation. They will still be, if you look in the Old Testament, even though Israel was there, there were still people punished for their sins. Now there will be individuals, just like there are individual Jews now that can get saved, Israel as a nation is going to be saved in the future.
Why? Because God promised. Verse 27, This is my covenant unto them. Isn't it good to know that when God makes a promise, God will keep that promise.
And sometimes we look at God's promises and we go, God, how are you ever going to keep that? Well, if God made a promise, God knows how He's going to keep it. And what's He say? I'm going to keep the promise when the fullness of the Gentiles become in. Are you ready for the trumpet? That's the mystery.
That yes, the Jews rejected Jesus, the Gentiles were allowed to accept Him, but there'll come a time when Israel will be offered another chance as a nation to be saved. That should be a good message we can give to our Jewish friends. Don't wait, because when they get the opportunity to be saved, it's going to be during the tribulation.
And we think we live in a bad part, bad time of world now. We think it's tough to try to lead people to Jesus now in our world. Think how bad it will be for people to learn about Christ and accept Him during the tribulation.
Don't wait. That's why we're implored. Tell people about Jesus.
Tell them that God loves them, Jews or Gentiles. But look at verse 28. And this is a confusing verse.
I hope I can explain this. As concerning the gospel, they're enemies for your sake, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake. Now, when it says concerning the gospel, they're enemies for your sake.
Now, we know that Paul had said that he was fought against by other Jews because he tried to present the gospel. But that's not really what this is talking about. When he's saying enemies for the gospel's sake, he's talking about being enemies of God.
All right? You have to look at the context. He's talking about being enemies. He's talking about election.
Both involved a relationship with God. And when they rejected Jesus Christ, they became enemies of God, of the gospel, the good news. But they're still the elect.
It's often confusing, especially to those that lean toward the Calvinistic reformed belief. Elect. How can Jews be elect? Because God elected them back with Abraham.
Just means to be chosen. That's why it says, yeah, they're enemies. They're God's enemies because of the gospel, but they're still the election beloved because of the Father's.
God made a promise to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob and all those others. He made a promise that you are my people. And when does that stop? Never.
Why? Because God made a promise that all of Abraham's offspring would be, or actually Jacob's offspring would be his people. And they're still beloved. God says, yeah, you're acting like rebels, but I still love you.
And that applies to us today. Every believer is also part of the elect, not the elect of the Jews, but the elect of God or children of God. You see, election is an individual.
Election is more group. All right. Israel was the elect as a nation and people who accept Christ as their savior become elect as a group, the church.
Okay. You're not elected to salvation. You're elected because of salvation.
Let me say that again slower. You're not elected for salvation. You're not chosen for salvation.
You're chosen or elected because of salvation. And the Jews, because they are still God's elect, are beloved by God. I just wish the Jews, I just wish Israel would understand that.
You see the things that they're doing now. Did you see about the big pride festival they're holding over, Israel is holding? Real close to the site of Sodom and Gomorrah. If that's not thumbing your nose at God, I don't know what is.
Then we had it right down here in town in Lee. I avoided that. And it just sad.
But Israel has to understand this is a mystery. Yeah, even though they're acting like enemies of God because they won't accept the gospel, they're still part of God's elect, His beloved, and He will save them. It tells us in verse 29, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
When God gives you a gift, when God gives you a calling, He is not going to change His mind. He called Israel to be His elect. He's not going to change His mind.
When He's given us gifts, we always read Ephesians 2, 8, 9. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a what? Gift of God. When you accept Jesus Christ, when you accept the gift of eternal salvation, when will God take that back? Never. Once saved, always saved.
Isn't that good to know? And even if you become like Israel and start to reject because of sin, if you're a child of God, you'll always be a child of God. But you need to get back to it, reestablish that fellowship, amen? The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God will not change His mind.
And they're irrevocable. Just back a few verses, chapters. Romans chapter 8, verse 28.
What's that say? And we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. What was His purpose? You accept Jesus Christ by faith, you're called. And He won't repent of that.
How about chapter 9? Look at verse 26, I'm sorry, 24. Even us whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. Then verse 26, and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, talking about the Gentiles, you are not my people, there they shall be called the children of the living God.
And when God calls you His child because you've accepted Jesus Christ, God will not change His mind. And I'm glad of that. Are you glad about that? Big amen.
All right, why? Because if you're a child of God, and you're always a child of God, He cares about you. And yeah, sometimes when you sin, you feel like you've been beat up by God, that's just Him taking you to the woodshed, so to speak, and giving you a whooping. It's not so you'll stop being His child, it's so you'll start acting like His child, and His calling without repentance, His gifts.
This is something we got to remember. At salvation, we have the Holy Spirit come and dwell within us. We got that, right? The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.
What else do we get from the Holy Spirit? Gifts. We're all given different spiritual gifts. And if God won't call them back, what are we supposed to do with them? Use them.
Some people have the gift of teaching, some people have the gift of administration, some people have the gift of exhortation, some people have the gift of helping. And yet many times we're so involved in our own personal life, we'll say, I'll start doing what God wants me to when I get a chance. Wait a minute.
God didn't give you a gift that He won't take back just so you can use it at your convenience. Amen? He wants you to use it for Him today, because it helps to build up the church, it helps to build up individuals. It's to be used, not just put on a shelf and say, I'll get to it one day.
And I know our first question is always this, what is my spiritual gift? When you start studying the Word of God and you start walking in His path, He'll let it be known. Sometimes we think we have a spiritual gift and when we try to exercise it, we find out, nope, that's not it. I've been having several of the men in the church do some teaching, seeing if any of them have a gift.
And it's okay if you try to teach and you realize that's not it, it's okay to say, I don't believe that's my gift. But if it's not your gift, find out what it is. And honestly, the one gift that's probably the most prevalent in any church and any group of believers is the gift of helps, just helping out one another, not to discount all the others.
But if God's given you a gift and God is not going to take it back, God expects us to use it. So use it. So verse 30 to 32, four, as you in time past have not believed God, yet now have obtained mercy through their unbelief.
Even so, have they also now not believed that through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy. For God has concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
God didn't say, well, there's going to be one way for the Jews to get saved and one way for the Gentiles to get saved. He said, no, you're all sinners. You need Jesus Christ.
It's as simple as that. So that's the mystery of God. God wanted us to be saved through the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the fact that He was a sacrifice.
He shed His blood for our sins. He was buried, rose the third day so that your sins could be forgiven. He died for your sins.
He died to take them away. All He wants from you is to believe that He did it for you. Have faith.
That's it. It was offered first to Israel and they rejected Him. Now it's offered to the Gentiles and many of them still reject, but it's still going to be open until the trumpet sounds.
Personally, I would not want to be an unbeliever when the trumpet sounds. But what are we supposed to do now? We're supposed to center really as believers because times are bad, lives are bad, things happen. Center on the majesty of God.
Instead of questioning God, center on who He really is. And that's what this next section is. We'll go through this.
As we go through this, think to yourself, did I really think God was that great? Verse 33, oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. God's wonder is demonstrated because He's God. Look at the question or the comment, the depth of the riches, both the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How much knowledge does God have? All knowledge. Why? Because He created it. So how much wisdom does He have? All.
Do you know the difference between knowledge and wisdom? There's some people have a lot of knowledge, but they're not very wise. Some people act wise and they don't have as much knowledge as maybe somebody else. Knowledge is knowing something, having facts.
Wisdom is, godly wisdom is taking those facts, that knowledge, and putting it to a proper godly use. One of my favorite illustrations I heard, knowledge is knowing a tomato is really a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad, not putting it in your fruit salad.
Who wants tomatoes in their fruit salad? But knowledge says it's a fruit. Here's another one. You may have all knowledge about how nuclear physics works and nuclear power and uranium and all that.
You could take that knowledge of nuclear energy and you could make yourself a power plant to supply energy for thousands and thousands of people. Or you could take that same knowledge and make a bomb that would blow up thousands and thousands of people. Both people would have knowledge, very similar knowledge.
But their wisdom, one uses it for good and one uses it for destruction. And people, we do the same thing. Just because you have a lot of knowledge, unless you put it to a godly right use, you're not being very wise.
And according to Proverbs, if you're not wise, you're a fool. But with God, God has all knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge for the right purposes. You see, God knows.
You know, we studied about Pharaoh and how he, God had hardened his heart. Everybody knew Pharaoh was a prideful individual, but God had the wisdom to use that for his purposes. So anytime you think you know more than God, you're going to make a decision.
This is the right decision. You better check with God first, because God has all knowledge and all wisdom. And then he takes that knowledge and that wisdom for the next part, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.
His judgments, that's his decrees, they're unsearchable. We can't understand what God does or why he does it. They're unsearchable.
So what are we supposed to do? Have faith in God. When I look at some of the things happening to our country, honestly, I wonder, why does God allow that? Then sometimes we just have to step back and go, God knows. God knows why it's going to happen.
Because sometimes things happen, we don't understand, but nothing catches God by surprise. Not even your situation. Sometimes you may wake up and you may have a health problem, you may have a job problem, you may have a family problem, you may have whatever problems, you know, a fear, an anxiety, a concern, a worry, plans, whatever.
But nothing catches God by surprise. And if we try to handle our problems without going to God first for direction, we will have problems even greater than what we started with. We need God's direction.
Why? Because his ways are unsearchable. His decisions are past finding out. God knows.
Years ago, when I lived on the other end of the state, I was going to work, and on the way traveling this one road, there was these hills, and I was a little late. And sometimes, don't tell anybody, sometimes my foot gets a little heavy, especially when I'm running late. So I'm going, and I'm going up this one hill, I'm about ready to crest over the top, and something, someone, had me step on the brake.
So I slowed down as I went over to crest the hill, and the other side, out of my view, was some kids playing in the road. That was God. Had I not listened to God, I can't imagine what would have happened.
We have to be in tune with letting God direct us in all things. Amen? Whether, whatever job we take, whatever decisions we make, if God's ways are past searching out, we need to let him be the one who directs us, and praise him for everything. Lord, this wasn't the way I wanted to do it, but it turned out the better way.
Thank you, Lord. Look at, also, here's a question, verse 34, who had known the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor? How many people in here have told God what to do? Yeah, let's say, how many people told God what to do, but it probably wasn't a good thing to do? I know this sounds kind of funny, but God doesn't have to listen to you, because he's God. God will listen to you, and when we ask in prayer for something, what? We always need to ask according to his will, because God will answer our prayers, but we need to pray according to his will.
Sometimes we try to tell God, no, God, I don't like that answer. Could you try again? God, what you really should do, I've always thought, wouldn't it be great if whenever God wanted you to do something, he just sort of like slipped a note under your door, sent you a letter addressed to you, to my child. We'd open it up, oh, that's what God wants me to do, but it's not quite that easy, but it is if you let the Holy Spirit guide you, but we have to get to the point where we realize he's God and we're not.
That means I can't tell him what to do. I can't say, God, why did you make this happen? You made a mistake. God never makes a mistake.
We just interpret in the wrong way, and if we're not careful, we become so angry at God, we stop following them all together, and that's not what God wants. God wants us to have faith in him, amen, all the time, and we can't tell God. I like this one, verse 35, who has first given to him that it should be recompensed unto him.
In other words, who loans God a little bit of money and expects God to pay you back later on. Did you ever hear of a foxhole confession or foxhole salvation? You know what normally happens there? Be a soldier in a foxhole, bombs coming, shells coming, everything, and what do they normally do? They make a deal with God. God, if you save me now, I'll follow you the rest of the time.
You're making a deal with God, and the truth is, all you have to do is say, God just save me. Your will be done. Many times we also do that.
God, you know, I'm gonna put a few extra bucks in the offering plate for you this week, and then next week, can you make my check bigger? It's like loaning God money so he'll pay you back with interest. That's what that's saying. Who's given something to God first and then expects God to give it back to you, give it back later on.
And really, it's the other way around. Everything you have comes from God. Your health, your life, your breath, your income, your home, everything we have to believe comes from God.
So if God gives me everything, what do I have to give him back? Just ourself and everything that goes with it. And we finish up with this last part. And this is a good one.
This is the praise part, verse 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things. Of, says for of him.
That means, of means origin. All things originate with God. It says and through him, that's the channel.
All things go through God to get to you. And to him, that's the results. All things are done from God through you or through him to you.
Why? So that the result is God gets the glory. To whom be glory forever. And that's what God wants from us.
To give him glory. To give him honor. To give him praise.
To give him worship. That everything we have comes from him. That we don't try to jump ahead and do things on our own.
That we realize, God, everything comes from him. Everything comes through him to us. And everything results in us giving him glory.
And it finishes with this great word, amen. That word amen means so be it. Amen? So as we look through these verses, we see that the mystery of what God has done concerning salvation to the Jew first, but also to the Gentile.
Once the fullness of Gentiles, then the Jews are going to be front and center again. But in the meantime, we have to understand who God is. God doesn't need your advice.
God doesn't need you telling him what to do. God doesn't need anything from you but your loyalty, your faith. God wants us to understand he is God.
Amen? Let's bow our heads. And just ask yourself, I know Jesus Christ is my savior. I hope you can say yes.
If not, you need to trust him by faith. But if you know Christ, you need to know God and allow him to work in your life, in all things. If we make a dumb decision or dumb action, a sinful thing, God says, just come to me and ask forgiveness and I'll give it to you.
But always remember who God is in your life. Everything comes from God, but it's directed through him for you. Everything you have comes from God.
And we should be careful not to want any more than what God has supplied us. That's when we start getting away from God, when I want more and more and more. And then just continually give God the glory for everything.
Give him the glory for salvation. Give him the glory for the family you have. Give him the glory for how he supplies for you in all things.
I don't know how the Lord spoke to your heart, so let's all go to him in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for explaining to us the mystery.
We thank you for the salvation we have through Jesus Christ. But we also thank you, Lord, for being God. A God that's close to us, a God that wants to direct us and guide us and spend time with us.
A God who we need to continually give glory to. Lord, I'm so thankful that when you said you love the world, that meant me. And each one of us in here should be able to say the same thing.
God loves me. God wants me to serve him to the best of our ability. God wants me to follow him.
Thank you, Lord, for everything. In Jesus' name, amen.
I. The Mystery Explained: Israel’s Blindness and the Fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11:25–32)
II. God’s Irrevocable Gifts and Calling to Israel and the Church
III. The Wonder of God’s Wisdom and Knowledge – His Unsearchable Ways (Romans 11:33–35)
IV. All Things Of Him, Through Him, and To Him – Our Call to Give God Glory (Romans 11:36)
(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
Romans chapter 11. Last week we discussed the first part of chapter 11, which tries to explain to us the fact that Jesus Christ came to the Jews first for salvation, but they rejected him. That was bad news.
But the good news was, because the Jews rejected him, that opened up the Gentiles so they could receive the good news of Jesus Christ. And now in this last section of chapter 11, Paul's going to kind of summarize why that happened, but also explain the mystery, but also try to encourage us that we should be celebrating God's majesty. Have you ever thought about God? I mean, really thought about God.
Who is he? Why does he do the things he does? I mean, as you read scripture, we wonder, could God have done it a better way? Why did God have the Jews first? Jesus came to say, I came to save the lost of Israel. But why did he just come for everybody? It's a question only God can really answer. Sometimes in our lives, we see things that happen.
Why does God put me here? Why did God give me that job? Why did God give me this family? Why did God cause this to happen in my life? And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, those are all honest questions. But that's where faith comes in. Sometimes we need to realize that God is God and we are not, and that many times the only way we're going to find out what the answer to our questions are is when we get to heaven.
And then honestly, it won't really matter then. It won't matter. But sometimes with Christians especially, we become so involved in wondering why God does things or wondering why God hasn't done other things for me that we fail to do what we're supposed to do.
We fail to really live up to serving the Almighty the way he expects to be served. Verse 25, it says, I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. See, that was the whole thing.
The Gentiles were wondering, why did God reject Israel? But the truth is, God didn't reject Israel until Israel rejected God. And so that was a mystery. But the thing is, as we look at this and study scripture, we'll realize that it's really not a mystery at all.
It was all in the Old Testament, that God would not only save his people Israel, but save the whole world. They just didn't know what they were looking at. Instead, it says that the blindness has happened to Israel.
Why? Until the fullness of Gentiles be come in. That means Gentiles are allowed to be saved. They're presented with the gospel.
And when's the fullness of the Gentiles? When's that going to end? When the trumpet sounds. That's when the fullness of the Gentiles ends, because that's when the tribulation starts. That's when Israel will be once again front and center in God's sights.
And I want to tell you, if you've been watching the news, it's getting closer. Some of the things that are happening, honestly, I don't know about you, I shake my head and go, man, I thought I would never see that in my lifetime. And yet we are.
That's why scripture tells us we should always be ready for the Lord to come back. But what about this blindness in part? Second Corinthians, here's how the Jews were blinded. I think I got the right verse, 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 14, it says, But their minds were blinded.
For unto this day remaineth the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
What's the blindness? They center all on the Old Testament, still looking for the Messiah to come and fail to realize Messiah has already been here. And what's the mystery? Because Messiah came and they rejected him, now the Gentiles have a chance. And I don't know, I'm kind of glad of that.
But it goes on in verse 26, When the fullness of Gentiles be coming, it says in 26, And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, They shall come out of Zion to deliver and shall turn away their godliness. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. So there's going to come a time when all of Israel will be saved.
Now we have to understand, when it says all Gentiles are going to be saved, or all Israel is going to be saved, it's talking about the nation. They will still be, if you look in the Old Testament, even though Israel was there, there were still people punished for their sins. Now there will be individuals, just like there are individual Jews now that can get saved, Israel as a nation is going to be saved in the future.
Why? Because God promised. Verse 27, This is my covenant unto them. Isn't it good to know that when God makes a promise, God will keep that promise.
And sometimes we look at God's promises and we go, God, how are you ever going to keep that? Well, if God made a promise, God knows how He's going to keep it. And what's He say? I'm going to keep the promise when the fullness of the Gentiles become in. Are you ready for the trumpet? That's the mystery.
That yes, the Jews rejected Jesus, the Gentiles were allowed to accept Him, but there'll come a time when Israel will be offered another chance as a nation to be saved. That should be a good message we can give to our Jewish friends. Don't wait, because when they get the opportunity to be saved, it's going to be during the tribulation.
And we think we live in a bad part, bad time of world now. We think it's tough to try to lead people to Jesus now in our world. Think how bad it will be for people to learn about Christ and accept Him during the tribulation.
Don't wait. That's why we're implored. Tell people about Jesus.
Tell them that God loves them, Jews or Gentiles. But look at verse 28. And this is a confusing verse.
I hope I can explain this. As concerning the gospel, they're enemies for your sake, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake. Now, when it says concerning the gospel, they're enemies for your sake.
Now, we know that Paul had said that he was fought against by other Jews because he tried to present the gospel. But that's not really what this is talking about. When he's saying enemies for the gospel's sake, he's talking about being enemies of God.
All right? You have to look at the context. He's talking about being enemies. He's talking about election.
Both involved a relationship with God. And when they rejected Jesus Christ, they became enemies of God, of the gospel, the good news. But they're still the elect.
It's often confusing, especially to those that lean toward the Calvinistic reformed belief. Elect. How can Jews be elect? Because God elected them back with Abraham.
Just means to be chosen. That's why it says, yeah, they're enemies. They're God's enemies because of the gospel, but they're still the election beloved because of the Father's.
God made a promise to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob and all those others. He made a promise that you are my people. And when does that stop? Never.
Why? Because God made a promise that all of Abraham's offspring would be, or actually Jacob's offspring would be his people. And they're still beloved. God says, yeah, you're acting like rebels, but I still love you.
And that applies to us today. Every believer is also part of the elect, not the elect of the Jews, but the elect of God or children of God. You see, election is an individual.
Election is more group. All right. Israel was the elect as a nation and people who accept Christ as their savior become elect as a group, the church.
Okay. You're not elected to salvation. You're elected because of salvation.
Let me say that again slower. You're not elected for salvation. You're not chosen for salvation.
You're chosen or elected because of salvation. And the Jews, because they are still God's elect, are beloved by God. I just wish the Jews, I just wish Israel would understand that.
You see the things that they're doing now. Did you see about the big pride festival they're holding over, Israel is holding? Real close to the site of Sodom and Gomorrah. If that's not thumbing your nose at God, I don't know what is.
Then we had it right down here in town in Lee. I avoided that. And it just sad.
But Israel has to understand this is a mystery. Yeah, even though they're acting like enemies of God because they won't accept the gospel, they're still part of God's elect, His beloved, and He will save them. It tells us in verse 29, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
When God gives you a gift, when God gives you a calling, He is not going to change His mind. He called Israel to be His elect. He's not going to change His mind.
When He's given us gifts, we always read Ephesians 2, 8, 9. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a what? Gift of God. When you accept Jesus Christ, when you accept the gift of eternal salvation, when will God take that back? Never. Once saved, always saved.
Isn't that good to know? And even if you become like Israel and start to reject because of sin, if you're a child of God, you'll always be a child of God. But you need to get back to it, reestablish that fellowship, amen? The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God will not change His mind.
And they're irrevocable. Just back a few verses, chapters. Romans chapter 8, verse 28.
What's that say? And we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. What was His purpose? You accept Jesus Christ by faith, you're called. And He won't repent of that.
How about chapter 9? Look at verse 26, I'm sorry, 24. Even us whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. Then verse 26, and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, talking about the Gentiles, you are not my people, there they shall be called the children of the living God.
And when God calls you His child because you've accepted Jesus Christ, God will not change His mind. And I'm glad of that. Are you glad about that? Big amen.
All right, why? Because if you're a child of God, and you're always a child of God, He cares about you. And yeah, sometimes when you sin, you feel like you've been beat up by God, that's just Him taking you to the woodshed, so to speak, and giving you a whooping. It's not so you'll stop being His child, it's so you'll start acting like His child, and His calling without repentance, His gifts.
This is something we got to remember. At salvation, we have the Holy Spirit come and dwell within us. We got that, right? The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.
What else do we get from the Holy Spirit? Gifts. We're all given different spiritual gifts. And if God won't call them back, what are we supposed to do with them? Use them.
Some people have the gift of teaching, some people have the gift of administration, some people have the gift of exhortation, some people have the gift of helping. And yet many times we're so involved in our own personal life, we'll say, I'll start doing what God wants me to when I get a chance. Wait a minute.
God didn't give you a gift that He won't take back just so you can use it at your convenience. Amen? He wants you to use it for Him today, because it helps to build up the church, it helps to build up individuals. It's to be used, not just put on a shelf and say, I'll get to it one day.
And I know our first question is always this, what is my spiritual gift? When you start studying the Word of God and you start walking in His path, He'll let it be known. Sometimes we think we have a spiritual gift and when we try to exercise it, we find out, nope, that's not it. I've been having several of the men in the church do some teaching, seeing if any of them have a gift.
And it's okay if you try to teach and you realize that's not it, it's okay to say, I don't believe that's my gift. But if it's not your gift, find out what it is. And honestly, the one gift that's probably the most prevalent in any church and any group of believers is the gift of helps, just helping out one another, not to discount all the others.
But if God's given you a gift and God is not going to take it back, God expects us to use it. So use it. So verse 30 to 32, four, as you in time past have not believed God, yet now have obtained mercy through their unbelief.
Even so, have they also now not believed that through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy. For God has concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
God didn't say, well, there's going to be one way for the Jews to get saved and one way for the Gentiles to get saved. He said, no, you're all sinners. You need Jesus Christ.
It's as simple as that. So that's the mystery of God. God wanted us to be saved through the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the fact that He was a sacrifice.
He shed His blood for our sins. He was buried, rose the third day so that your sins could be forgiven. He died for your sins.
He died to take them away. All He wants from you is to believe that He did it for you. Have faith.
That's it. It was offered first to Israel and they rejected Him. Now it's offered to the Gentiles and many of them still reject, but it's still going to be open until the trumpet sounds.
Personally, I would not want to be an unbeliever when the trumpet sounds. But what are we supposed to do now? We're supposed to center really as believers because times are bad, lives are bad, things happen. Center on the majesty of God.
Instead of questioning God, center on who He really is. And that's what this next section is. We'll go through this.
As we go through this, think to yourself, did I really think God was that great? Verse 33, oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. God's wonder is demonstrated because He's God. Look at the question or the comment, the depth of the riches, both the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How much knowledge does God have? All knowledge. Why? Because He created it. So how much wisdom does He have? All.
Do you know the difference between knowledge and wisdom? There's some people have a lot of knowledge, but they're not very wise. Some people act wise and they don't have as much knowledge as maybe somebody else. Knowledge is knowing something, having facts.
Wisdom is, godly wisdom is taking those facts, that knowledge, and putting it to a proper godly use. One of my favorite illustrations I heard, knowledge is knowing a tomato is really a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad, not putting it in your fruit salad.
Who wants tomatoes in their fruit salad? But knowledge says it's a fruit. Here's another one. You may have all knowledge about how nuclear physics works and nuclear power and uranium and all that.
You could take that knowledge of nuclear energy and you could make yourself a power plant to supply energy for thousands and thousands of people. Or you could take that same knowledge and make a bomb that would blow up thousands and thousands of people. Both people would have knowledge, very similar knowledge.
But their wisdom, one uses it for good and one uses it for destruction. And people, we do the same thing. Just because you have a lot of knowledge, unless you put it to a godly right use, you're not being very wise.
And according to Proverbs, if you're not wise, you're a fool. But with God, God has all knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge for the right purposes. You see, God knows.
You know, we studied about Pharaoh and how he, God had hardened his heart. Everybody knew Pharaoh was a prideful individual, but God had the wisdom to use that for his purposes. So anytime you think you know more than God, you're going to make a decision.
This is the right decision. You better check with God first, because God has all knowledge and all wisdom. And then he takes that knowledge and that wisdom for the next part, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.
His judgments, that's his decrees, they're unsearchable. We can't understand what God does or why he does it. They're unsearchable.
So what are we supposed to do? Have faith in God. When I look at some of the things happening to our country, honestly, I wonder, why does God allow that? Then sometimes we just have to step back and go, God knows. God knows why it's going to happen.
Because sometimes things happen, we don't understand, but nothing catches God by surprise. Not even your situation. Sometimes you may wake up and you may have a health problem, you may have a job problem, you may have a family problem, you may have whatever problems, you know, a fear, an anxiety, a concern, a worry, plans, whatever.
But nothing catches God by surprise. And if we try to handle our problems without going to God first for direction, we will have problems even greater than what we started with. We need God's direction.
Why? Because his ways are unsearchable. His decisions are past finding out. God knows.
Years ago, when I lived on the other end of the state, I was going to work, and on the way traveling this one road, there was these hills, and I was a little late. And sometimes, don't tell anybody, sometimes my foot gets a little heavy, especially when I'm running late. So I'm going, and I'm going up this one hill, I'm about ready to crest over the top, and something, someone, had me step on the brake.
So I slowed down as I went over to crest the hill, and the other side, out of my view, was some kids playing in the road. That was God. Had I not listened to God, I can't imagine what would have happened.
We have to be in tune with letting God direct us in all things. Amen? Whether, whatever job we take, whatever decisions we make, if God's ways are past searching out, we need to let him be the one who directs us, and praise him for everything. Lord, this wasn't the way I wanted to do it, but it turned out the better way.
Thank you, Lord. Look at, also, here's a question, verse 34, who had known the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor? How many people in here have told God what to do? Yeah, let's say, how many people told God what to do, but it probably wasn't a good thing to do? I know this sounds kind of funny, but God doesn't have to listen to you, because he's God. God will listen to you, and when we ask in prayer for something, what? We always need to ask according to his will, because God will answer our prayers, but we need to pray according to his will.
Sometimes we try to tell God, no, God, I don't like that answer. Could you try again? God, what you really should do, I've always thought, wouldn't it be great if whenever God wanted you to do something, he just sort of like slipped a note under your door, sent you a letter addressed to you, to my child. We'd open it up, oh, that's what God wants me to do, but it's not quite that easy, but it is if you let the Holy Spirit guide you, but we have to get to the point where we realize he's God and we're not.
That means I can't tell him what to do. I can't say, God, why did you make this happen? You made a mistake. God never makes a mistake.
We just interpret in the wrong way, and if we're not careful, we become so angry at God, we stop following them all together, and that's not what God wants. God wants us to have faith in him, amen, all the time, and we can't tell God. I like this one, verse 35, who has first given to him that it should be recompensed unto him.
In other words, who loans God a little bit of money and expects God to pay you back later on. Did you ever hear of a foxhole confession or foxhole salvation? You know what normally happens there? Be a soldier in a foxhole, bombs coming, shells coming, everything, and what do they normally do? They make a deal with God. God, if you save me now, I'll follow you the rest of the time.
You're making a deal with God, and the truth is, all you have to do is say, God just save me. Your will be done. Many times we also do that.
God, you know, I'm gonna put a few extra bucks in the offering plate for you this week, and then next week, can you make my check bigger? It's like loaning God money so he'll pay you back with interest. That's what that's saying. Who's given something to God first and then expects God to give it back to you, give it back later on.
And really, it's the other way around. Everything you have comes from God. Your health, your life, your breath, your income, your home, everything we have to believe comes from God.
So if God gives me everything, what do I have to give him back? Just ourself and everything that goes with it. And we finish up with this last part. And this is a good one.
This is the praise part, verse 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things. Of, says for of him.
That means, of means origin. All things originate with God. It says and through him, that's the channel.
All things go through God to get to you. And to him, that's the results. All things are done from God through you or through him to you.
Why? So that the result is God gets the glory. To whom be glory forever. And that's what God wants from us.
To give him glory. To give him honor. To give him praise.
To give him worship. That everything we have comes from him. That we don't try to jump ahead and do things on our own.
That we realize, God, everything comes from him. Everything comes through him to us. And everything results in us giving him glory.
And it finishes with this great word, amen. That word amen means so be it. Amen? So as we look through these verses, we see that the mystery of what God has done concerning salvation to the Jew first, but also to the Gentile.
Once the fullness of Gentiles, then the Jews are going to be front and center again. But in the meantime, we have to understand who God is. God doesn't need your advice.
God doesn't need you telling him what to do. God doesn't need anything from you but your loyalty, your faith. God wants us to understand he is God.
Amen? Let's bow our heads. And just ask yourself, I know Jesus Christ is my savior. I hope you can say yes.
If not, you need to trust him by faith. But if you know Christ, you need to know God and allow him to work in your life, in all things. If we make a dumb decision or dumb action, a sinful thing, God says, just come to me and ask forgiveness and I'll give it to you.
But always remember who God is in your life. Everything comes from God, but it's directed through him for you. Everything you have comes from God.
And we should be careful not to want any more than what God has supplied us. That's when we start getting away from God, when I want more and more and more. And then just continually give God the glory for everything.
Give him the glory for salvation. Give him the glory for the family you have. Give him the glory for how he supplies for you in all things.
I don't know how the Lord spoke to your heart, so let's all go to him in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for explaining to us the mystery.
We thank you for the salvation we have through Jesus Christ. But we also thank you, Lord, for being God. A God that's close to us, a God that wants to direct us and guide us and spend time with us.
A God who we need to continually give glory to. Lord, I'm so thankful that when you said you love the world, that meant me. And each one of us in here should be able to say the same thing.
God loves me. God wants me to serve him to the best of our ability. God wants me to follow him.
Thank you, Lord, for everything. In Jesus' name, amen.