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One of the worst mistakes a student of the Bible can make is to write off Israel or to

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blur the distinction which God has made between that Old Testament people and his New Testament

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people, the Church of Jesus Christ.

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It leads to a maze of confusion and contradictions in trying to understand what the Bible teaches.

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It is to really miss the mark as a Bible student to confuse Israel and the Church.

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I heard recently about a husband and wife who were desperately trying to make a certain

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train and they rushed and rushed, got to the train station, onto the platform just in time

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to see the caboose disappear down the track.

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The husband, in a certain tone of voice that might be described as impatient, said to his

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wife, well if you had been on time we wouldn't have missed the train.

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And she set her cases down on his toes and said to her, well if you hadn't rushed me

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so much we wouldn't be so early for the next one.

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Well there's a certain logic there I suppose.

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The point is that they missed the train.

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And if you want to miss the train of the Bible, just write off Israel.

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You say that God has finished with Israel, there's no future for it.

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On the other hand, if you want to make the train, realize that God has a future for his

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people Israel.

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The best is yet to come.

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That is the theme of Romans chapter 11 that we've been looking at.

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Today we come to the final section of this chapter and actually also of this whole part

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of the book of Romans, chapters 9 through 11, which deal with the subject of the sovereignty

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of God.

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Our text today begins with verse 25.

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For I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your

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own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the

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Gentiles has come in.

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And thus all Israel will be saved.

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Just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion.

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He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

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And this is the covenant with them.

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This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

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From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

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But from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

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For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

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For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their

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disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient in order that because of the mercy

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shown to you, they also may now be shown mercy.

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For God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to all.

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O, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are

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his judgments and unfathomable his ways.

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For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor, or who has first

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given to him that it might be paid back to him again?

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For from him and through him and to him are all things.

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To him be the glory forever.

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Amen.

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In working out the ages of history, God has a purpose for the Jew as well as for the New

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Testament Christian.

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The Jew has now been set aside in judgment or in the terms of Romans 11.

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The natural branches have been broken off of their own olive tree.

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The focus of God's present working in the world is the church, which is being called

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out from both Gentiles and Jews.

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But the day is coming, dear people, when national Israel will again be the focus of all his

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working in the world.

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For the Jew, the best truly is yet to come.

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Chapter 11 gives us six evidences of the fact that God still has a purpose for his people,

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Israel.

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We have looked at the first four.

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They are the pattern of the apostles' conversion, the principle of the remnant, the purpose

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of the church, which is, as we saw last week, to stimulate or to provoke Jews that some

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of them may be saved.

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That is the purpose of the church at least in relation to Israel.

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Then the promise which God has given of continuity, a promise illustrated first by some dough.

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He says the first piece of dough, verse 16, is holy and so is also the lump.

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The first piece of dough, the first fruit, refers to the patriarchs.

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God has set apart the patriarchs unto a special purpose.

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Part of that purpose was that his blessing would come upon not only them but their descendants.

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God says just as he has set apart the patriarchs for himself, they are holy, so also the lump

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is holy, set apart for himself.

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That is the nation as a whole.

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He describes it further as an olive tree which has presently lost its natural branches.

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They have been pruned out and wild olive branches have been grafted in, referring to Gentiles

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who are saved in this age.

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But he clearly says that there is a continuance of those natural branches for just as God

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took them out, he is also able to graft them in again and he will.

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Now we come today to the fifth point on the outline you have before you.

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It is the fifth evidence of the truth that the best is yet to come for the Jews.

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I state it this way, the prophecy of restoration found in verses 25 through 32.

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The apostle really points out two things here.

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First the future prediction and then the present condition of Israel.

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During this future prediction he uses a couple of interesting terms, the mystery and the

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fullness.

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This mystery that he speaks about in verse 25 is not the kind of mystery that Agatha

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Christie would write.

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The mystery is, in the terms of the New Testament, something that was previously concealed but

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which is now revealed by God.

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It is a truth that is undiscoverable by man.

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It is a truth that was hidden in eternity but which God has chosen now to reveal in

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history for our understanding.

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Now the mystery that he talks about here is that of a partial hardening which has happened

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to Israel.

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It is the hardening of Israel during this age.

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If you go back to the Old Testament and if you had only the Old Testament you would have

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difficulty seeing that.

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Now with the New Testament light that we have we can go back into the passages of the Old

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Testament and we see the hardening of Israel.

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We have further illumination with the New Testament revelation.

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But this is something that was not revealed before, that Israel would be hardened against

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God.

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However the apostle makes it clear that this hardening is one that is qualified.

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It is limited.

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In the first place he says it is a partial hardening.

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That has to do with the extent of it.

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In other words not every Jew is hardened in this age.

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We have seen before that there is a remnant of Jewish people who truly believe in their

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Messiah and are saved.

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Not many of them but a few.

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We have but a handful in our own fellowship.

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Most of us are Gentiles in our ancestry.

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But there are a few who come here who are completed Jews as we use that term.

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The hardening to Israel in this age is a partial one because there are some who see the truth

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of their Christ and receive him.

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But it is not only limited in its extent it is also limited in its duration.

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This hardening of Israel is not a permanent one.

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In the terms of verse 11, they have not fallen so as never to rise again.

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This hardening is a temporary one.

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He says until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

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What does that phrase mean?

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The best understanding of it is the completion of the Church which is primarily Gentile.

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The fullness, the completion, the consummation of the Church.

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We saw last week in Acts 15 verse 14 that right now God is working in the world taking

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out a people for his name from among the Gentiles primarily.

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A few Jews but primarily Gentiles.

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That's why this is called the fullness of the Gentiles this age.

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This word fullness is used back in verse 12 of Israel.

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There is a fullness of Israel that is yet to come.

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But right now God is working on the fullness of the Gentiles, the completion of the Church.

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This phrase needs to be kept distinct from another one that is found back in Luke.

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I would like for you to turn just to look at that one in Luke chapter 21 verse 24.

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Jesus is pronouncing here woe upon Jerusalem because the people have rejected.

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And in verse 24 the last half of the verse he says and Jerusalem will be trampled under

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foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

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Here the phrase is the times of the Gentiles that is not equivalent to the fullness of

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the Gentiles.

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Please keep that in mind.

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Actually the times of the Gentiles began 600 years before Jesus was born.

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In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar brought the armies of Babylon and raided Jerusalem.

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After plundering the city they took back captives to Babylon.

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But from that time forward Jerusalem has been trodden under foot by Gentiles.

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About 20 years later he came back and completely destroyed the city.

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But the time began in 605 when he came the first time and took captive the city.

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Interestingly one of the young men who was taken as an exile back to Babylon at that

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time was Daniel.

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In the book that bears his name Daniel gives to us an outline of the times of the Gentiles.

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It occurs in two visions that are recorded in the book.

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You'll recall that Nebuchadnezzar had a vision of a statue.

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He could not understand it nor could his wise men of Babylon interpret it.

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Therefore Daniel was called.

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And Daniel gave to him the interpretation.

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Later there was a vision about some fierce beasts.

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The two visions basically are parallel saying much the same thing.

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It's an outline of how the times of the Gentiles would fall out in history.

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The statue was made of a gold head, a silver chest, thighs that were bronze, legs that

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were of iron and feet of a mixture of iron and clay.

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And Daniel by the Spirit of God gave the meaning of that statue.

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And he said to Nebuchadnezzar, you sir are the head of gold.

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In other words that represents Babylon.

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The chest of silver represents the kingdom, the empire that followed Babylon and which

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destroyed Babylon.

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Daniel is still living remember that night when it happened.

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The Medes and the Persians are represented by that silver chest.

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And then the kingdom that followed the Medes and the Persians was the kingdom of Greece.

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In fact did you know in the book of Daniel there is a specific prophecy regarding Alexander

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the Great which was literally specifically fulfilled in him.

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And by the way that is the reason that liberals have such a hard time with the book of Daniel.

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They keep wanting to change the date and make it later so that they say Daniel is recording

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history because they can't stand the fact that a prophet of God could predict ahead

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of time what was going to happen.

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But in fact we know that Daniel was written earlier than what they say.

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In the 500s the book of Daniel was written, not in the 300s.

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Greece then fell to the fourth world empire, the fourth Gentile power structure and that

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was Rome represented by the legs of iron.

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And as you know if you're a student of history or even a casual reader of history Rome was

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never really destroyed but Rome simply decayed and fell apart.

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Finally there is one aspect of that statue that is yet to be fulfilled and that is the

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feet, the mixture of iron and clay and that represents what we call the revival of the

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Roman Empire, a European entity and power that will dominate the world in the tribulation

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period.

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In the second vision, that of the beasts we see Antichrist arising within that power structure

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of the revived Roman Empire.

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And so Daniel, way back there 500 years and more before Christ, not only said there would

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be the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon but he then outlined for us what Jesus calls

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the times of the Gentiles and that time of the Gentiles will not end until Antichrist

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comes and is dealt with by the return of Jesus Christ and his kingdom is established on the

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earth.

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When he establishes his kingdom in Israel, specifically in Jerusalem, that city will

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no longer be trodden underfoot by Gentile powers.

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In fact Jerusalem will become the glory of the whole earth.

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It will be the capital not only of Israel but of the world for Jesus Christ will reign

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there personally.

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That will be the end of the times of the Gentiles when he comes back.

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But my point is that that is not the same thing as what Paul is talking about in our

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text in Romans chapter 11.

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When he speaks here about the fullness of the Gentiles, the apostle is talking about

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what God is doing right now in this age.

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The calling out of a basically Gentile church as a bride for Jesus Christ.

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That church began on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and indwelt believers

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permanently for the first time.

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And the church will be completed on that day I believe when the rapture occurs.

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Because essentially here is what is going to happen.

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The very last person who has been chosen of God to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ

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will trust the Savior and at that moment this prophecy will be fulfilled.

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The pleroma, the fullness of the Gentiles will take place and the church will leave.

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And beginning at that point God will begin to deal again with the nation of Israel as

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his primary focal point.

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And so there is a prediction here regarding the future.

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Israel is hardened in part until the day when the church is completed.

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But then in verse 26 it says, and thus, and really the word should be and then because

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this is a temporal idea, a progressive idea, and then all Israel will be saved.

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When it says all Israel it doesn't mean that every Jew who has ever lived will be saved.

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It means the nation as it will be in that day will be converted as a whole.

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No longer will there be only a remnant with the majority hardening their hearts, but the

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nation he says will be saved.

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He goes on to say, just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will

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remove ungodliness from Jacob, and this is the covenant with them when I take away their

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sins.

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In other words, he's reminding us again of that truth that we saw in Zechariah several

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weeks ago when we saw that when Jesus comes a fountain will be opened in Jerusalem for

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the cleansing of that people and their sins the nation will be taken away.

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And they will be restored by their deliverer who will come and rescue them from the hands

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of anti-Christ and the armies of the world which will be gathered together surrounding

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Jerusalem ready to destroy every Jew upon the face of the earth.

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The deliverer will come from Zion, the heavenly Zion, and will save them.

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And not only physically but in that day as I've said spiritually they will be converted

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to the Lord.

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Now it's also good to keep in mind that after the church is taken out there will be

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144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, read about it, Revelation chapter

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7, who will be saved by the Lord and sealed for ministry during the tribulation period.

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And they will go throughout the whole earth proclaiming the gospel.

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Sometimes you hear people say, in the gospel the kingdom must be proclaimed to the whole

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world and then shall the end come.

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As though that is something that has to be fulfilled in this age.

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My friend God has not committed himself to the gospel being preached to every person

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on the face of the earth before Jesus Christ comes back for at the church.

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What it says there is that the gospel of the kingdom, the return of Jesus Christ that he's

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coming to establish his kingdom, that gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth

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by whom?

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By the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who proclaim that word around the world and as a result

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of that there will be an untold multitude, especially of Gentiles, who will be saved.

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They're not a part of the church.

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It's after the church is completed and gone, but they will be saved.

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And we see them standing before the throne in Revelation.

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What a marvelous scene that is as people from every part of the globe stand before the Savior

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having been saved during that tribulation period as a result of the preaching of the

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Jews.

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If we say that the gospel of Jesus Christ has to be preached to the whole world before

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Jesus can come, that destroys the eminency of Christ's return, that he could come at

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any moment.

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And as a matter of fact, that means we're even losing ground because of the population.

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And actually what it means, he will never come.

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God has not said that every person will hear the gospel before Jesus comes in the rapture.

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Those who hear it, among those who hear it will be those that God has chosen to be a

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part of the church and they will be taken out when it's completed and then God will

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go on with his work in Israel.

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That's the prophecy that we see suggested here in Romans chapter 11.

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Now he comes in verse 28 to their present condition and he looks at it from two vantage

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points.

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He says from the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies.

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The Jews are enemies for your sake.

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In other words, the Jews have constituted themselves enemies of the gospel.

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When the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, the typical Jewish person will be vehemently

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opposed to that, will be angry and offended and will stumble at that message because the

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Jews as a nation have constituted themselves the enemies of the gospel.

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But he says from the standpoint of God's choice, God's election, they are beloved

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for the sake of the fathers, for the sake of the patriarchs, the ancestors of the Jews

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and God's choice of them and of the Jewish nation.

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God loves them even though now they are enemies of the gospel.

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Really God's attitude toward the Jewish nation today is one of stretching out his arms to

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a disobedient and obstinate people.

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Read about the end of chapter 10.

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God loves the Jews and my friend, let me tell you something.

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There is no place at all among God's people for anti-Semitism.

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A Christian who is anti-Semitic is a Christian who is ignorant of the Bible.

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I would like to put that in stronger terms but I will censor myself.

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God loves the Jewish people and we ought to love the Jewish people.

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He says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

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The gifts refers to chapter 9 verses 4 and 5.

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The special privileges that they had.

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And the calling of God refers to his choice of them, his effectual calling that we looked

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at several weeks ago now.

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He says all of that is irrevocable.

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God will not change it.

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He has chosen to do certain things to and through the Jews and he will do that.

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He says for just as you once were disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because

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of their disobedience.

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In other words, the gospels come to the Gentiles because of the Jews disobedience.

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So he says in verse 31, these also now have been disobedient in order that because of

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the mercy shown to you, they also may now be shown mercy.

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One of the applications I see in that verse is that there ought to be a place in our hearts

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for Jewish evangelism.

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There ought to be a burden in our heart to see the Jewish people converted to Jesus Christ.

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Now we recognize as a nation, they will not until a certain time, that we ought to be

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investing some of our missions dollars as well as some of our personal witness in Jewish

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people.

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He says because of the mercy that is shown to us now, that they may be shown mercy in

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their disobedience.

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Verse 32 summarizes, for God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to

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all.

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Please do not read into that verse some kind of a universal salvation.

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That in the end, everybody is going to be saved.

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Everybody is going to be okay and get to heaven.

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That is not what that verse says.

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The all here refers to all without distinction, not to all every individual.

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In other words, God has shut up, that means taken in a net like fishing or shut up into

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a prison.

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God has shut up all, whether Jew or Gentile, no distinction, in disobedience so that now

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he might show mercy to all, whether Jew or Gentile.

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That's the point.

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There's an application here my friend for each of us, and especially for you who may

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not have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Because whoever you are, whether religious or irreligious, moral or immoral, a church

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member or today maybe the first time you've been inside a church, whoever you are, God

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declares that you, that all of us, are sinners.

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That in his holy eyes, there is none of us that is worthy to stand before him to be allowed

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entrance into heaven.

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Now why has God shut up all of us into that same cell?

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Why are all of us in the same net shut up into disobedience?

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Is so that any of us may call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.

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And if you will call upon him today, you will be saved, whoever you are, whether Jew or

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Gentile.

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God can show mercy to you today because of the cross of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Let's come now to the final of the six evidences for the future of Israel.

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We have seen here that there is a prophecy of their restoration.

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There's going to be a day when the deliverer will come and then all Israel as a nation

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will be saved.

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The final evidence is the person of God.

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This is not an argument as such, rather this is a hymn of unbroken praise.

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And yet it serves as a basis for all that has been argued to this point.

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Because you see whether or not Israel has a future depends upon whether God is wise

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enough and powerful enough to pull off what he says is going to happen.

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And so what is said here really is a basis for all of the arguments up to this point.

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As we think about the praise that is offered to God here, I think W.H.

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Griffith Thomas has made an excellent statement in saying, the remarkable way in which the

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divine will is to be accomplished and evil, overruled and made subservient to God's purposes

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constrains him to this note of praise.

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The divine intention is to be realized, note this, in spite of and even by means of human

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disobedience.

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That is a profound thought.

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I don't have time to read it again.

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What he's simply saying is that despite man's disobedience, indeed even because of man's

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disobedience, God is going to realize his purpose and be glorified.

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The hymn of praise that is offered up praises God first for his knowledge and wisdom and

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then for his power.

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God's knowledge is his divine intuition, says one writer, which foreknows the outcome

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of all the factors in history before they come to pass.

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In other words, it means that God knows everything.

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God does not have a thought process like we do.

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God does not learn.

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God does not accumulate knowledge.

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God knows everything that can be known all the time, at every instant.

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He just knows it.

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Nothing passes his scrutiny.

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That's God's knowledge.

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God knows everything in history because he knows past, present, and future.

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There is no time involvement with him as an eternal being.

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It also means that God knows every possibility.

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It means that God knows what would have happened if what did happen had not happened.

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Don't ask me to repeat that.

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But God knows all possibilities as well as all facts of history.

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But then it speaks about God's wisdom.

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God's wisdom has been defined as his designing of all the elements of his knowledge into

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a revealed purpose for mankind.

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In other words, knowledge is what God knows.

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His wisdom is how he designs what he knows to accomplish a specific purpose.

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What is really being said here in these chapters is that God takes the free action of many

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and he transforms even those free actions into a means for accomplishing his own purpose.

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Warren Wiersbie has said that only God could take the fall of a nation and turn it into

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the salvation of the world.

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Now he describes God's wisdom, God's knowledge by calling them the depth of his riches.

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In other words, there is an inexhaustible fullness here.

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That's so difficult for us to identify with, isn't it?

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Because there's always a bottom line to our checkbook.

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There's always such a thing as a moth in the pocketbook.

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We run out of our riches.

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But God's riches can never be overdrawn.

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They're inexhaustible.

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In chapter 10 verse 12 he speaks about the riches that he has and which abound for all

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who call upon him.

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He says regarding God's wisdom and knowledge that it makes his judgments unsearchable and

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his ways unfathomable.

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In other words, beyond tracing out, as the NIV puts it.

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What God does defies human explanation as well as human understanding.

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And by the way, God doesn't owe any of us an explanation for anything he does.

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There is a gospel song that is sometimes sung which states that someday I'm going to get

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to heaven and ask God why.

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What a foolish, stupid idea.

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That little finite man is going to come before God someday and ask him that question.

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God doesn't owe us in time or in eternity an explanation for anything that he does.

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He is God, my friend.

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And he is sovereign.

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And he does what pleases him.

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How unsearchable are his judgments, unfathomable his ways.

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He's independent of man.

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God is always the initiator, man is but the responder.

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He quotes from the Old Testament in verses 34 and 35 and he says, who has known the mind

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of the Lord?

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Who can stand up and say, let me share with you today what God's thoughts are in this

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matter?

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Who can say, I have entered into the mind of God and here is what God thinks, except

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to the extent that God has told us what his mind is.

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We know that much, but that's all we know.

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00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:14,120
He goes on to say, who became his counselor?

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00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,520
Each of you is going to put up a shingle out here and say counselor and someday hear a

404
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,800
knock at the door and God's going to come in and say, listen, I need some advice about

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00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:21,800
the universe.

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Will you help me?

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00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:30,880
Can you imagine God going to a psychiatrist?

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00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:34,920
God doesn't need man's advice.

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God doesn't need our counsel.

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00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,720
Who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again?

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00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:47,080
In other words, who has loaned God something and now he comes to God and says, God, you

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owe me.

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God has not debtored any man.

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Anything that we possess is given to us of God, including the breath in our lungs.

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No one is given to God and has a claim on him.

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He's independent of man.

417
00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:13,800
He created man.

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Then he praises God for his power.

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Verse 36, oh, these are tremendous words and we often read them quickly because we don't

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take time to think about how important prepositions are.

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For from him and through him and to him are all things.

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He praises God first for his power in creation.

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He says God is the source.

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God is the cause of all things.

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He praises God as creator.

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Back in Romans 417, we looked at this verse some time ago where it says, he calls into

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being that which does not exist.

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What an interesting idea.

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When God wants something to exist, you know what he does?

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He doesn't go to a manual somewhere and look it up and say here's the process.

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Oh, that's how we do it.

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Turn the page?

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00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:16,720
No.

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When God wants something to exist that doesn't exist, he says, exist.

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There it is.

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That's how matter got here in the beginning.

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That's how there's energy.

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God said exist and it did.

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00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:39,000
When he got done, he wasn't tired either.

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From him and through him.

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Here he praises God for his power and providence.

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In his government, in his administration of things, he praises God as the sustainer.

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As it says about Jesus in Hebrews 1-3, he upholds all things by the word of his power.

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In Colossians 1-17, in him all things hold together.

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This is not creation now.

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This is the sustaining of what God has created.

447
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:19,480
Scientists try to figure out what in the world is it that holds the atom together?

448
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,400
The only answer to that is theological.

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00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,000
Of course, scientists refuse that because they can't put theology in a test tube.

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It doesn't show the weakness of theology.

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00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:31,440
It shows the weakness of science.

452
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,680
I'll tell you what holds the atom together is Jesus Christ.

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It's the power of God.

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It is divine energy that holds together the very basic elements of the universe and which

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sustains God's creation.

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God decides where it's going to rain.

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He decides where it's going to be dry.

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He decides when that dandelion is going to grow up or when that bird over there is going

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to get fed or those animals over there are going to get what they need.

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God takes care of all of that.

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There's a psalm that beautifully depicts God's providential care of his creation.

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And then he praises God thirdly for his power and judgment.

463
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:23,540
He says, from him, through him, and to him are all things.

464
00:40:23,540 --> 00:40:26,360
In other words, this is the goal of history.

465
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:33,560
All of time is moving in this direction to God.

466
00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,880
Everything is moving toward the judgment.

467
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:42,920
So he praises God as creator, as sustainer, and as judge.

468
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:51,920
The apostle Paul stood before the pagan crowd in Athens and he said to them, God has appointed

469
00:40:51,920 --> 00:41:02,600
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.

470
00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:08,720
And he has given assurance of this to all men in that he has raised him from the dead.

471
00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:11,560
They all began to laugh and say, oh, come on, Paul.

472
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:12,560
Resurrection?

473
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,760
You've got to be kidding.

474
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:15,760
That's the world's attitude.

475
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,160
Doesn't change a thing though.

476
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:24,200
Because my friend, all of history is moving to the judgment bar of God.

477
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:25,360
All of it.

478
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:31,680
And that includes you.

479
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:36,160
What has been said here regarding the creation can be said of the individual life.

480
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:37,920
It finds its source in God.

481
00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:44,340
It lives by the resources of God and will return to God for a final accounting.

482
00:41:44,340 --> 00:41:47,680
And it makes no difference whether the person wants to admit that.

483
00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:48,960
He may deny God.

484
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:52,960
He may refuse to believe that there is a God.

485
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:54,560
That he will someday stand before.

486
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:58,520
But it does not change an iota of the fact of God's word.

487
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,880
God says that even the breath that we have is from him and someday we will stand before

488
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:05,000
him and give account for our lives.

489
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,980
The books of our lives will be opened.

490
00:42:08,980 --> 00:42:12,560
Are you ready to stand before God and give account?

491
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,520
Because you don't have a choice about that.

492
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:22,680
Someday you must stand before God.

493
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:26,880
There's another application here that's very wonderful for the Christian.

494
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:33,800
And that is that the God who planned the dispensations and who is wise enough and powerful enough

495
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:40,640
to carry all of them out is wise enough and powerful enough to give your life direction

496
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:44,160
and purpose to.

497
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:46,560
Is he your Lord today?

498
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:48,940
Is he your master?

499
00:42:48,940 --> 00:42:51,340
He closes with a doxology.

500
00:42:51,340 --> 00:42:55,560
He says to him be the glory forever.

501
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,800
Amen.

502
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:05,440
Bishop Mool said, the supreme son of the spiritual universe, the ultimate reason of everything

503
00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:10,600
in the world and the work of grace is the glory of God.

504
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:14,280
Oh, that's a tremendous statement.

505
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,880
Everything that exists is for the glory of God.

506
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:20,120
And that includes you.

507
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:26,720
And my friend, in the end, whether lost or saved, you will bring glory to God.

508
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:30,200
You have no choice about that.

509
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:35,200
Because every knee is going to bow and confess Jesus Christ's lordship someday for one thing.

510
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:42,680
And another thing, even those who must, because of their rejection of God's truth, spend

511
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:49,600
their eternity in hell, in their suffering will be given glory to God because of his

512
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,520
holiness.

513
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:57,520
Even as those of us who by the grace of God will be in heaven, through our faith in the

514
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:05,480
Lord Jesus Christ, will bring glory to God because of his kindness and his mercy toward

515
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:06,480
us.

516
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:07,920
The objects of mercy.

517
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:13,840
Every person someday, ultimately, will bring glory to God.

518
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:18,960
How much better it is for us to be in step with God now.

519
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:26,160
How wise is the person who doesn't miss the meaning of life.

520
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:34,640
How wise is the Christian who is in step with God and whose life motto is 1 Corinthians

521
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:36,680
10 13.

522
00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:43,360
Whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

523
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,920
What a great way to live.

524
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:49,520
What a great way to die.

525
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:56,480
The one who refuses to do that only suffers loss himself and faces ruin.

526
00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:01,240
What a privilege it is for us to live in harmony with all of God's creation and live for his

527
00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:02,240
glory.

528
00:45:02,240 --> 00:45:07,680
Because my friend, the animal creation, the material creation is all bringing glory to

529
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:08,680
God.

530
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:14,440
Yes, it has been subjected to futility, Romans chapter 8, because of man's fall.

531
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:19,480
But God is nonetheless glorified in his creation, whether it be in this world or out there in

532
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:23,960
the stars of the heavens, they declare his glory.

533
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:31,120
And my friend, the angels of heaven are giving God glory, praising him today.

534
00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:33,600
It's man who's in the middle.

535
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:37,240
That's where the battleground is.

536
00:45:37,240 --> 00:45:41,480
Will you get in step with all the rest of creation and today give your life to Jesus

537
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:48,520
Christ and begin bringing glory to God by every decision that you make?

538
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:50,840
That's my challenge to you.

539
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:58,760
To him be the glory of your life, I pray, forever.

540
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,680
Amen.

541
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:11,280
Father, we are overcome as we ponder these truths.

542
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:20,920
Our words cannot fashion phrases and sentences which are adequate to talk about these.