Pastor Cameron: 00:06

With you. I'll have you take it out and turn to Romans chapter 9. And, I didn't I considered not changing the clock in the back of the sanctuary so that I could, without guilt, have an extra hour, to preach this morning. But against my better judgment, I did change it. So, because the goal today, the goal today is to get through Romans chapter 9 and chapter 10.

Pastor Cameron: 00:46

And sounds like you all know me well enough by now. No. We're we're gonna we're gonna move. We're gonna I'm telling you that because we're gonna move quickly. And here's the here is even the way in which we're gonna move through it.

Pastor Cameron: 01:00

Okay? I'm gonna give you the reader's digest condensed version summary of chapter 9 and chapter 10 right now at the beginning. Right? Then we're going to go back, we're gonna maybe walk through some of the, more salient points of those two chapters. And then we're going to end with some application, for that we pull out of those 2 chapters that, hopefully, the lord will speak to us.

Pastor Cameron: 01:34

Not hopefully. The lord, intends to speak to us through that. So the book of Romans is in or the letter to the Romans is in some ways Paul's, Paul's kind of like journal or diary in his mission to share the gospel with the Gentile people. That would be the people who aren't Jewish. And the interesting thing about that is that Paul himself is not a Gentile.

Pastor Cameron: 02:07

He is a Jew. And not only was he a Jew, but he was like, the most Jewish of all Jewish people. Meaning he was educated in one of the most, like, prestigious ways that a Jewish man can be educated. He was zealous, it says, for the Jewish faith. He was a teacher in the Jewish faith.

Pastor Cameron: 02:33

And so much so that, when when, people started to follow the way, which was the way in which they described, Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus as the Messiah, and and and now following Jesus, that Paul was so zealous for Judaism that he began to persecute those who were following Jesus, whom he originally thought was a false messiah. Until, of course, Jesus met with him on the road to Damascus in acts chapter 9 and transformed and changed his life and the trajectory of the church in general, and thank the lord that he did that. Right? Because we we are products of Paul's conversion to Jesus Christ. You and I are.

Pastor Cameron: 03:24

And, and so when Paul goes to write a letter to the Romans, he he, he is kind of kind of outwardly reflecting on this inner turmoil or anxiety that he feels about his very important mission to take the gospel to the Gentiles, but also his heart's anguish that his people, the Jewish people, have somehow, by and large, missed it. And so that's kind of the whole point of chapter 9 and chapter 10, is is Paul trying to understand, reflecting on how the majority of the Israelite people who for generations have been watching, have been waiting, have been prophesying, have been expecting the Messiah to come somehow could have just completely, for the most part, missed it. Most of the religious leaders, Pharisees, Sadducees, high priests, many of the rank and file of the Jewish culture and Jewish faith had just up and said, yeah, Jesus, we don't buy it. It's not him. Not the Messiah.

Pastor Cameron: 04:56

We don't get it. Doesn't look like we thought he would. Doesn't act like he thought we would. Doesn't sound or talk or spend this time with the people that we thought we would. So by and large, we reject him as as Messiah.

Pastor Cameron: 05:10

And for Paul, this causes a significant amount of anguish. He's he's trying to make sense out of how these people whom he loves so much, this the Jewish people, could have missed the coming of the Messiah. It's kind of a familiar feeling maybe for some of us who have, family members, friends, people that we love that are close to us, who have, despite our best efforts to both articulate and incarnate the gospel of Jesus Christ, seem to have somehow missed Jesus along the way. Paul's anguish can be shared by our by a with our own anguish. And so Paul goes through these range of reflections and emotions.

Pastor Cameron: 05:57

He gives some answers in Romans chapter 9 and verse and and verse 10 and chapter 10, and ultimately concludes in the end that the reason more Jews have not believed is not because they weren't told about Jesus. It's not because God was not merciful to them in drawing them to himself. It's not because God somehow decided to choose, the revelation of Jesus Christ only to the Gentiles and not the Jews. It's not that either. That when it all boiled down at the very end, the reason it seems that the majority of the Jewish people missed Jesus as he was in the flesh among them is because of the stubbornness of their own hearts and their unwillingness to surrender to him.

Pastor Cameron: 06:56

Is that the missing of Jesus was not about somehow, no, that god's mercy wasn't upon them or they were never told or, they didn't have an experience, but because it was something inside of them. It was a stubbornness. It was a hardness. It was an unwillingness to recognize Jesus for who he truly is and was. You can put a pin in that statement until we get to an application section at the end here this morning.

Pastor Cameron: 07:34

Paul actually goes on to say in, Romans chapter 9 that that Jesus himself became a stumbling block for the Jews to actually believe. They instead wanted to earn their salvation all on their own. And in the process, showed that they were unwilling to receive the proclamation that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And Paul ends this section in Romans 9 and 10 with this kind of contrasting the way that the gentile people and the Jewish people received Jesus or how they responded to Jesus. Verses 20 and 21 of chapter 10.

Pastor Cameron: 08:43

Remember, we're going to come back to these. He he, the prophet Isaiah was quoted as saying, and Paul Paul, uses this in reference to the Gentiles. Remember, the prophet Isaiah was a Jewish prophet prophesying into the future about the ministry of Jesus. And Isaiah says Isaiah boldly says, as speaking from the lord, I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me, speaking in reference to the Gentiles.

Pastor Cameron: 09:25

But concerning Israel, the lord has said, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. So the gentiles who were seemingly in the course of history not seeking the Lord found him by faith. And the Jewish people whom God had been holding out his hands and covenant relationship for all of their existence showed how abstinent and hardened their hearts were by rejecting him across the board. So that's like the summary of chapter 9 and chapter 10. But what you really see here and what you really like what what what is what is throughout both of these chapters is how much anguish this causes Paul.

Pastor Cameron: 10:28

How much pain it causes Paul to see the people whom should receive Jesus with joy and exuberance and faithfulness, showing how hardened and darkened their heart were to the actual Jesus. In fact, in the first five verses of chapter 9, Paul says this exact thing. He says this. He says, I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying.

Pastor Cameron: 10:58

My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. Verse 2, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Listen to what Paul says. He says, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers and sisters, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Paul is like, it hurts so deeply that the people of Israel have rejected Jesus.

Pastor Cameron: 11:30

That I could find myself wishing to be cursed and cut off from Christ myself for the sake of them. Whatever it takes for them to come to the knowledge of the Messiah. I could wish that I myself were cut off and cursed from Christ if my family member would receive him. If my spouse, if my child, if my neighbor, if my friend. Theirs, Paul says, theirs is the adoption as sons and daughters.

Pastor Cameron: 12:02

Theirs is the divine glory. Theirs is the covenants. Theirs is the receiving of the law. Theirs is the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced all the human ancestry of Christ who is God over all forever to be praised.

Pastor Cameron: 12:20

Amen. Paul says, they had it all. They had every bit of evidence. They had every bit of information. They had every bit of wisdom to point them to Jesus as the messiah.

Pastor Cameron: 12:37

They had the covenant. They had the patriarchs. They had the law. They had the temple. They had the worship.

Pastor Cameron: 12:42

They had everything they could possibly want. How could they miss it? It hurts so bad, Paul says. And so then he goes on this quest to say, how could this have happened? How could this have possibly happened?

Pastor Cameron: 13:01

And so he asks some questions of both himself and just kind of, like, out there. Right? The first question he kind of asks is, like, well, maybe god's word failed in this. And then he kind of almost answers he answers that question right away in verse 6. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 13:26

He says, it's not as if. It's not as though god's word had failed. God's word hasn't failed. Why? Because, well, not all Israel, he says, is actually Israel.

Pastor Cameron: 13:43

It's kind of like, well, what do you mean here, Paul? Right? Well, we you we have to kind of have somewhat of a memory or remembrance of how Paul has been talking about the gentile people who have been coming into faith earlier in the book of Romans. Right? Remember in, in chapter 3.

Pastor Cameron: 14:08

Right? I believe it was chapter 3 where, no. Chapter 2, the end of chapter 2, where Paul begins to talk about the conversation of circumcision and how circumcision was the the the one of the covenant markers of of those who were part of the nation of Israel, part of the Jewish faith. But then he was like, listen. Circumcision happens on the outside of your body, but what god desires, right, is actually a circumcision of your heart.

Pastor Cameron: 14:41

That your that your heart would be transformed, not just your body, that your heart would be transformed favorably disposed to responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he was like, even the Gentiles who reject the physical act of circumcision, but receive the spiritual act of circumcision where their heart is transformed, they are considered more a part of Israel than the Jews who have rejected Jesus, but who have all of the marks of traditional Judaism. And so when Paul says something like, hey. Listen. Not all Israel is actually Israel.

Pastor Cameron: 15:26

What he's saying here is like, hey. Look. There are people who have entered into the covenant relate who have entered into covenant relationship with God, who are now the sons and daughters of God, who are now the people of God, and they have entered in through the covenant of faith in Jesus Christ. They are now part of Israel, But they're not ethnic Israel. They're gentiles who are now part of Israel through their faith in Jesus.

Pastor Cameron: 16:02

And so Paul says, hey, look, it's not as if God's word has failed to save are and now they are becoming part of Israel. They they are fulfilling the covenant of salvation. They are coming into the people of God. And then Paul goes on in the rest of chapter 9 to use some interesting examples of how of how this is a good thing and how this is actually, this is actually, like, somewhat of a pattern with the way that god, affects salvation in the world through election, not necessarily by right. K?

Pastor Cameron: 17:09

It's not that the Jewish people had a right to salvation simply because they were part of the Jewish nation. No. Salvation salvation has come to the people who have been elected by God through faith in Jesus Christ. And the elect are not necessarily just those who are a part of, the nation of Israel. And how does Paul communicate that?

Pastor Cameron: 17:40

He communicates that through reminding the reminding his readers about 2 really specific people in the lineage of Jesus himself or in the lineage of the Israelite people. One of them he mentions by name, the other he mentions as the son of Abraham. Right? He's referring to Isaac. So if you look at let's look at, these 2 these two examples in Romans chapter 9.

Pastor Cameron: 18:16

So if we if we take this idea from verse 6 that not all Israel is Israel, in fact, now some Gentiles are Israel, then then Paul goes to show 2 examples of how this shows that god's word didn't fail. Just as the gentiles were added to the covenant people of god in somewhat of an abnormal manner, so the line of the Israelite people was carried on in an abnormal manner through Isaac, the son of Abraham, and through Jacob, the son of Isaac. Okay? So let's look at here. Verse, 6.

Pastor Cameron: 19:00

It's not as though god's word had failed. For not all who were descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. So God's promise to Abraham as the father of the Israelite nation is that the is that the nation of Israel would be, would be created through his descendants, through his lineage, through Abraham's lineage. K?

Pastor Cameron: 19:45

Now what's so significant about Paul using that language here? What's significant about it is what we understand about Jewish faith and Jewish culture and the line of descendants and lineage in, in the Jewish nation Is that the, the, the descendants or the inheritance or the lineage or the if you go into and and trace like any of the, you trace the lineages at the beginning in the beginning of books or in the Old Testament you say, and and this guy begat this guy, and this guy begat this guy, and this guy this guy this guy this guy this guy this guy and you trace it all the way down through history. Right? See, all of the promise was always passed on to the first and eldest son of the father. So it was the first son, the eldest son of the father that was always the carrier or the the bearer of the covenant promises.

Pastor Cameron: 21:00

And so and so Abraham's promise of being established as a nation would be passed on to Isaac. And then Isaac's, and and so then that Isaac would hold that promise. Right? And then and then it would be passed on to Isaac's first son, Jacob. And then it would be passed on to Jacob's first son, and it would create the descendants, the covenant, the covenant people of god.

Pastor Cameron: 21:27

Right? Except here's the thing. Isaac was not the first son of Abraham. Isaac wasn't the first son of Abraham. Remember, Isaac and Sarah couldn't get pregnant or didn't get pregnant.

Pastor Cameron: 21:44

And so, Isaac, or I'm sorry. Abraham ended up sleeping with his servant, Hagar. And she bore a son whose name was Ishmael, right, who created a separate line and to whom today the the Muslim people trace their lineage. And, and then Isaac came. Isaac came later.

Pastor Cameron: 22:16

He was not the first son of Abraham. So by by rights of the culture, the covenant promises of God should have gone through Ishmael. But what god said to Abraham in regards to his son, Isaac, was no. No. No.

Pastor Cameron: 22:35

No. It's not Ishmael that my promise is gonna pass to. It's Isaac. So so god so god himself leapfrogged the cultural value of the first son because he elected the line of Jacob or he elected the line of Isaac. He did not elect the line of Ishmael.

Pastor Cameron: 22:59

Now he does the same thing when it comes to Jacob and Esau. The very same thing. Verse 10. Not only that, but Rebecca's children had 1 in the same father, our father, Isaac. Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that god's purpose in election might stand, not by works, election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told this, the older will serve the younger.

Pastor Cameron: 23:44

This is this is not how it worked, right, in Jewish culture. This is not this this is not how this was supposed to happen. But but god but god elected that it was through Jacob's lineage, not Esau's lineage, that the promises of the covenant would pass. And so and so there was even in the course of history of the Jewish people, there was a, there was, for lack of a better term, a precedent of God's covenant promise of salvation and blessing to be passed over those that were expected to receive it and given to those whom god elected to receive it. And so and so Paul uses the example of both Isaac and Jacob as somewhat of a case study to say, hey, look.

Pastor Cameron: 24:49

Just because the Jewish people rejected the Jewish Messiah does not mean that god's word has failed. Because god has elected at the very foundations of the earth for the Gentiles to also receive the Messiah. God has elected the Gentiles to also be brought into the covenant people of God. Just like God has always worked through election for salvation, he is working now even in the relationship between Gentiles and Jews for the election. Now some of us will say, well, I mean, that seems kind of unfair to people like Ishmael and people like Esau, who should have been born or who whose covenant prom who should have received the covenant promise.

Pastor Cameron: 25:45

And you even have a statement here. I think it's in verse 13 where you're like, that doesn't sound like the God that I have been told about in Sunday school and church. Right? Just as it is, he just talks about how the younger will serve, the older will serve, the younger in verse 12, referencing Jacob and Esau. And then in verse 13, just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I, what?

Pastor Cameron: 26:16

Hated. Okay. You're gonna have to explain yourself, lord. And we we and I say that tongue in cheek because the Lord doesn't owe anyone an explanation. The Lord owes no one an explanation about whom he elects.

Pastor Cameron: 26:40

Right? About whom he shows mercy to and whom he doesn't. Okay? We will say this. Okay?

Pastor Cameron: 26:47

In regards to Ishmael and Esau in particular. Okay? Is that this? It is it is clear even in scripture in the Old Testament that God's blessings still passed through Ishmael and still passed through Esau. In fact, if you, if you read in the in the Old Testament about even, like, for instance, Ishmael, is that the or we we could say it like this, is that the hatred of Esau was not a proactive disdain for him.

Pastor Cameron: 27:26

It was not as if, like, now I will make Esau my enemy, the lord says, and at every turn, I will make sure that he is cursed and not blessed. For instance, Ishmael himself was still given a ton of material blessing by the lord. If you read Genesis chapter 17 verse 20, Genesis chapter 21 verse 13, it says it's Ishmael's line, his lineage, his descendants were still blessed mightily by the lord. The phrase here, the Lord hated Esau, was simply I'm gonna say simply, simply a way of saying that his line was not god's elected purpose for the nation of Israel. It's similar to how Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 14, verse 26, that in order to follow him, we must what?

Pastor Cameron: 28:23

Our families Hate our families, which doesn't represent an active disdain for our families being like, Sherry, like, girl. Yeah. I just I hate you. But what it represents is an understanding, right, that that in in the pursuit of following Jesus, in the pursuit of our discipleship to Jesus, that not even our most close human relationships are considered equal. In comparison to my love for my savior, in comparison to the following of Jesus, it is as if I hate my own family, Jesus says.

Pastor Cameron: 29:18

Not an active disdain, but a recognition of prioritization. So the question there is Paul answers kind of his own question of our our own question about Isaac and about Esau. Well, what shall we say then in verse 14? Is is God unjust? Seems like God's unjust.

Pastor Cameron: 29:50

To choose Jacob, to choose, Isaac rather than choosing Esau and Ishmael. And then he answers his own question out of the history of the Israelite people. Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses, verse 15, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Pastor Cameron: 30:16

It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on god's mercy. He's like, it's not as if Ishmael was bad. It's not as if Esau was bad. It had nothing to do with what they earned or didn't earn in my sight. It was all dependent on my on my election of them through my mercy.

Pastor Cameron: 30:39

Is god unjust essentially by choosing people outside of the natural lineage or descendants or line? Not at all. Because Paul said, god is not bound to show mercy to anyone. God God God is not in God is not inclined nor nor nor can we demand that God show mercy and justice as if we were the ones that determined what it meant to be just and merciful rather than him. Jacob wasn't chosen because he was better and neither was Isaac.

Pastor Cameron: 31:33

It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on god's mercy in verse 16. It is an act of god's mercy that calls the Gentiles from their destruction. Just as it is an act of god's mercy that calls the Jews to a place of belief in the Messiah. In verse 25, as we jump down, he continues to he continues to, make this argument about God's mercy. He says this, He quotes the Prophet Hosea.

Pastor Cameron: 32:11

He says, I will call them my people who are not my people. Who is he referring to? The Gentiles. Right? I will call them my people who are not my people.

Pastor Cameron: 32:22

I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one. This is a demonstration of god's mercy towards the Gentiles as he draws them close to him. And then he says the same thing essentially about the nation of Israel. Those who are the covenant people of God in verses 27 through 29 of chapter 9. He says this, though the number of Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.

Pastor Cameron: 32:58

For the lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality. But unless the lord almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah. Mercy. The mercy of God. Because the Gentiles who were outside of the covenant people of god, god drew them to him through Jesus, an act of mercy.

Pastor Cameron: 33:28

And the Israelites who had completely rejected God and who and who deserved the wrath and justice of God, he preserved a remnant of them who believed that they may come also into his kingdom. Mercy. So on one hand, mercy was demonstrated through god's drawing of people. And on the other hand, mercy was demonstrated through god's restraint of his judgment. Salvation through god's election was an act is an act of his mercy, always has been.

Pastor Cameron: 34:11

So in verse 30 through 33 of chapter 9, Paul comes to kind of like this conclusion point or the summary statement. He says, well, what then shall we say about all this? What shall we say? That the gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it. A righteousness that is by faith.

Pastor Cameron: 34:39

Verse 31. But Israel who pursued a law of righteousness has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

Pastor Cameron: 35:01

As it is written, see, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them to fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. The gentiles have obtained a righteousness that has come by faith alone. Israel pursued a righteousness that comes by, adherence to the law, and they have failed to obtain it. Israel tried to pursue it by works, and they tripped, and they stumbled in their pursuit of righteousness over the stumbling stone whom Isaiah had prophesied about for generations would be the Messiah himself. The cornerstone, the foundation, the one on whom which everything else would be built.

Pastor Cameron: 36:03

The very thing that came to save the Jewish people is the very thing that the Jews rejected. They tripped and stumbled over the very thing that they were actually pursuing because it didn't look like they thought it should. And so Paul comes back into chapter 10, once again, in this, like, deep anguish over the whole situation. Verse 1 through 4, he says this, brothers, my my heart's desire and prayer to god for the Israelites is that they may be saved. I want them to be saved for I can testify about them that they are zealous for god, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.

Pastor Cameron: 36:57

Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from god and sought to establish their own, They did not submit to god's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. They tried to gain a righteousness of their own. And in verses 5 through 13, they they, they they they missed the very thing that was required of them or that was necessary in order to receive the faith that they were trying to gain through adherence to the law. You see here it says, Moses describes it in this way, the righteousness that is by the by law.

Pastor Cameron: 37:48

The man who does these things will live by them, but righteousness that is by faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down. Or who will descend into the deep, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. Meaning, do not say about your the process of gaining righteousness. The process about, gaining salvation is that it requires that we do something in relationship to Christ. We go up and grab Christ.

Pastor Cameron: 38:12

We go down and grab like we Jesus Christ. But Paul says, but what does the word actually say? The word is near you. It is in your mouth. It is in your heart.

Pastor Cameron: 38:27

Verse 9, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and that you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That salvation comes, right, not through righteous works or acts of the law, but it comes through a confession of heart and mouth that Jesus Christ is lord. And that was a stumbling block for the Jews. What do you mean? What do you mean we can't earn this through adherence to the law?

Pastor Cameron: 39:08

What do you mean we can't just be good enough? What do you mean we can't just do more good things than bad things? What do you mean we don't just have to keep going to the temple? What do you mean we don't have to just keep doing this, this, this, this? You're telling me that it comes as a confession of my mouth, the content of my heart, that I believe that Jesus Christ is lord, that is what brings me into salvation.

Pastor Cameron: 39:33

And what Paul is being saying like, Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly it. For it is with your heart that you believe, Paul says in verse 10, and are justified. And it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Pastor Cameron: 39:55

As the scripture says, anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same lord is lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved. Now listen.

Pastor Cameron: 40:25

Here's a question. Some questions for applicate not one main question for application, and it may it may it may pertain to you, and it may pertain to someone that you love or care about like it like it was for Paul. Both both realities, I think, are are present here in the room this morning. Because some of us have completely tripped over Jesus on our way to earning, thinking that we can earn our salvation through our good conduct. That Jesus has, even for us Christians, become now not just a stumbling block for ancient Jews, but has become a stumbling block for us.

Pastor Cameron: 41:14

And in the midst of the pursuit of salvation, we have tripped over the source of salvation just trying to make ourselves a little bit better than we were yesterday. The question is is how or why do people miss Jesus? Just like it was for Paul, how could these people miss Jesus? They had everything. They had the covenant, the patriarchs, the law, the promises, the worship, the temple.

Pastor Cameron: 41:45

They had everything. How could they possibly have missed Jesus? And I ask the same question. How can we miss Jesus? How do we miss Jesus sometimes?

Pastor Cameron: 42:04

Well, for the Israelites, there was there was kind of 4 main reasons here in at least Romans 9 10. This doesn't encapsulate all the reasons, but I believe that the reasons haven't changed. For the ancient Jews, they haven't changed for us here today either. Why do people miss Jesus? Number one thing is that Jesus looks they want him to look a lot differently than he actually does.

Pastor Cameron: 42:30

They want him to look way differently than he actually does. Do we have in our mind, right, who Jesus would be hanging out with if he lived here in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, or Warren County, Pennsylvania, who he would be hanging out with, who he would be spending his time with, what he would be saying, what things would actually make him angry about the world today, what things wouldn't make him angry about the world today, the things that he would ignore, the things that he would pursue, the things that he would teach about, the things that he would just kind of, like, not not say anything about. See, often, the case is is that we miss Jesus because we want Jesus to align with our version of him rather than aligning ourselves with who he truly reveals himself to be. And so we take the way he's revealed in the gospels, and we're like, well, it that's kind of like an analogy and a metaphor. I really choose to believe that Jesus is more like this.

Pastor Cameron: 43:38

Right? Saying instead that, like, my interpretation of what Jesus would do and how he would act and how he would show up and what he would say is is more accurate than the black and white letters that appear before me on the page and that the Christian and that Christians have believed for 1000 of years about him. And so when we we want our version of Jesus or we want Jesus to align with our version of him, rather than humbly approaching him and say, Lord, Lord Jesus because when we say Lord Jesus, what we're saying is, it's not you that changes Jesus. It's me. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 44:26

Lord Jesus, transform my opinions, transform my preferences, transform my thoughts, transform what is important to me, transform my relationships, transforms the way I use my money, transform the way I live my life and spend my time, transform every single thing about me so that it aligns faithfully and perfectly with you. I hold nothing of my own in this life. All I desire is by your spirit to be transformed into the image and likeness of your son, Jesus. It's not about me. It's about him.

Pastor Cameron: 45:10

And if we're unwilling to do that, then the actual Jesus becomes a stumbling block for us. Being like, man, I would believe Jesus if he was just more Republican. I would believe in Jesus if he was more democrat. See, we want Jesus to align with our political beliefs. We want Jesus to align with our view of others.

Pastor Cameron: 45:44

Right? Don't we want Jesus to think about other people, specific people, the same way that we think about them? Especially those that we don't like or that have done us harm. I'm validated in the way I think about that person, because I know that Jesus would think the very same thing. There's danger there.

Pastor Cameron: 46:08

Right? Tread very lightly on the on on those sentiments. We want Jesus to align with our view of sin and holiness. Rather than asking the introspective question, asking the Holy Spirit, holy spirit, would you please let me see my sin like my heavenly father sees it? Rather than saying something like, well, it's not that big of a deal, or I'll get to it someday.

Pastor Cameron: 46:56

But, lord, no. Let me see my sin as you see it. We want Jesus to align with our view of sin and holiness. We want Jesus to align with our view of others. We want Jesus to align with our own political beliefs rather than saying, no.

Pastor Cameron: 47:12

You are Lord. I am not. Transform me so that you may be glorified in me. So people miss Jesus because they want him to look differently than he actually does. People miss Jesus, number 2, is because they wrongly understand what is necessary for salvation.

Pastor Cameron: 47:39

They think, they think they haven't missed him because their outward conduct is good. Everyone thinks they're a Christian. They say Christian things. They do Christian things. They have Christian priorities.

Pastor Cameron: 47:57

The outside of the cup is perfectly clean. But the inside, where the living water is, is dirty still. Sometimes, we miss Jesus because we are so committed to just being a good person that we forget to be that Jesus calls us not to goodness, but to holiness. Not not to rearrange our moral and ethical life so that we just look better than the world around us. But that's so our conduct is so spirit filled that it is not goodness in a moral and ethical way that we live our life, but it is holiness that sets us apart from the world around us.

Pastor Cameron: 48:47

We are literally not of this world any longer. We are we are citizens of a different kingdom. We are citizens of heaven. Right? And and and and our line our in our lives, they they align with kingdom and heavenly principles, not worldly, ever.

Pastor Cameron: 49:17

And so we just keep doing and doing and doing and doing in order to earn more and more and more favor before God, thinking that someday the amount of good things that we do will outweigh the amount of bad things that we do, and that is what is necessary for us to be saved. Just like the Jews who tried to attain a righteousness that came by adherence to the law. And Paul was like, no. Righteousness comes only and fully through a heart that is justified through faith and a mouth that confesses that Jesus is Lord. Number 3.

Pastor Cameron: 50:06

Why do people miss Jesus? They've never been told about him. Now listen. If this is your excuse, it's not anymore. Why do people miss Jesus?

Pastor Cameron: 50:25

Well, one of the reasons is because they'd never been told. Paul says this, right? How can they believe this is on Romans chapter 10, verse 14? How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?

Pastor Cameron: 50:45

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news? Paul recognizes here, right, that sometimes people have missed Jesus because they have not been told about him. And he says, so now there is a requirement that that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god, and people must be sent to tell others.

Pastor Cameron: 51:15

And that sometimes becomes the way in which people miss Jesus is because they haven't been told. How can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? Now when Paul says here, he says, and how can they preach unless they aren't sent? How could they how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Listen.

Pastor Cameron: 51:36

Get this get get this into your brains right now, because I can see the justifications right now for you're not sharing your faith with other people. It's like, I'm not a preacher. You're the preacher. That's what we pay you big bucks for. It's to preach to the people.

Pastor Cameron: 51:52

Right? Listen, okay? Before you get that idea in your head, right, you need to hear this loud and clear that even in the Greek, the word preaching here is not the office. It's the act of proclamation. It's not the office of preacher that, that is is the requirement.

Pastor Cameron: 52:12

It's the action of proclamation, the action of articulation that is that is highlighted here. Preaching here is not the act of the professional, but the action of articulation that Jesus is Lord. What does this whole point? What does this whole point here describe for us? It's this.

Pastor Cameron: 52:42

Now listen, the gospel must be articulated. It must be articulated. It must be spoken. What is it that must be articulated? Well, what Paul says is, is that the word of Christ must be spoken, Right?

Pastor Cameron: 53:02

He says in verse 17, consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Well, what is the word of Christ? He already told us in chapter 9 through 13 or chapter 10 verses 9 through 13, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, if you believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Pastor Cameron: 53:35

So so so listen. Alright? Listen, incredibly important here. Proclamation of the gospel is equal parts incarnation and articulation. Hear that?

Pastor Cameron: 53:53

Proclamation of the gospel, preaching of the gospel is equal parts. Incarnation, we must be living the reality of holiness and the gospel. We must be living the reality that Jesus is Lord. Living it. We must incarnate that reality.

Pastor Cameron: 54:18

Okay? But it is not enough to incarnate it. Why? Because how can they believe if they have not heard? How can they not how can they how can they hear if someone does not preach to them?

Pastor Cameron: 54:41

How how can someone preach if they are not sent? To the holy spirit of God, you are being sent not just to incarnate the life of Christ in you, but to articulate it to those around you who see the incarnation. You'll be like, man, there's something wrong with that guy. There is something different going on up in that guy. What in the world is it?

Pastor Cameron: 55:11

Alright? Let me tell you what it is. Jesus is my lord. I don't live according to the way that the world lives. I don't believe that that I should put a whole lot lot lot of, like, effort into trying to be a good, moral, ethical person according to the world standards.

Pastor Cameron: 55:30

Because I believe it's only by grace that I've been saved through faith in Jesus Christ so that no man can boast. Right? Jesus Christ is my Lord. I surrender all of my life to him. I In humility, I approach him and say, Lord, I want to hold nothing that is my own.

Pastor Cameron: 55:44

I wanna do what you do. I wanna say what you say. I wanna think how you think. I wanna love how you love. I want my relationships to reflect in him.

Pastor Cameron: 55:51

What do you think? Do you see that in my life? Yeah. I see that in your life. Well, there you have it.

Pastor Cameron: 55:55

That's what's different about me. Jesus is my lord. How can they believe unless someone tells them? People miss Jesus because we fail to speak. We think that, well, I'm just gonna live by my live by example.

Pastor Cameron: 56:16

I'm gonna preach I'm going to preach the gospel at all times. And if necessary, use words. Listen, don't take like, great quote. Okay? But wrong.

Pastor Cameron: 56:26

I don't care. I don't care, I don't care how great of a church father he was. Right? It's wrong. He's wrong.

Pastor Cameron: 56:33

I'll tell him in heaven myself. You're wrong, brah. Wrong. You gotta say it too. You gotta preach the gospel with your mouth.

Pastor Cameron: 56:45

Listen. Articulation of the gospel without incarnation of the gospel is hypocrisy and judgment. If you're just content with talking about the gospel, but your life is not a living example that Jesus Christ is lord, you it's gonna come across it's that's not gonna just come across as it is hypocritical and judgmental. And you gotta get saved from your sin. I'm not gonna get saved from my sin, but you gotta get saved to yours.

Pastor Cameron: 57:14

Listen. Articulation without incarnation is hypocrisy and judgment. Incarnation of the gospel without articulation is fear and irresponsibility, and you will be held accountable. 4th and final is this. Why do people miss Jesus?

Pastor Cameron: 57:36

They don't want to know. We gotta have room for this in our theology and our belief and our understanding of people who are not who who have not received Jesus. It's that there are some who simply do not want to know, who openly reject, who have said, I'm good, Whose hearts are obstinate and hard, just like the Israelites were. And Paul's Paul talked about them at the end of chapter 10. I have held my hands open to an obstinate people who have consistently rejected him.

Pastor Cameron: 58:09

This is the message of Paul in the first and second chapter of Romans of Romans, right? What we talked about, right? They have darkened their hearts. They have not They have suppressed the knowledge of God. They have rejected the knowledge of God.

Pastor Cameron: 58:23

They have said no to the things of god. They have openly said, I have no interest. No. Thank you. All day long, I have held up my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people, the word says.

Pastor Cameron: 58:39

There are people that do not want to know. And guess what? It is not your responsibility to make them know. It is it is your responsibility to articulate and incarnate, and the holy spirit of God will draw all men, women, and children to himself when Jesus Christ is glorified and lifted up. So how do we respond if the people we love are among those who miss Jesus?

Pastor Cameron: 59:16

Don't overthink this one. Okay? Because for Paul, the number one thing that he did was pray. It wasn't it wasn't as if, oh, jeez. I've done all that I can do in my own strength and power.

Pastor Cameron: 59:32

I guess I'll ask god in prayer to help me out as a last resort. Right? Okay. No. Because there's nothing that you can do in your own power because you are not the one who saves.

Pastor Cameron: 59:50

It is god who saves through his holy spirit. Right? So let's start there, rather than ending there, as a last resort. Right? It says, Paul Paul, Paul's great sorrow and unceasing anguish.

Pastor Cameron: 01:00:07

In verse 1, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Right? What did it do? It led him to verse 1 in chapter 10. Says that, brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

Pastor Cameron: 01:00:31

It was his zealousness. It was his anguish. It was his unceasing pain that they were missing Jesus that led him to a place of prayer. That led him to a place where all he could do is assault the throne of god with prayer. The very one of the very first things that Paul says in Romans chapter 1 is this.

Pastor Cameron: 01:01:01

1st, I thank my god through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his son, is my witness. How I constantly remember you in my prayers at all times. And I pray now at last, by god's will, the way may be open for me to come to you. That Paul's posture towards an unbelieving people was prayer.

Pastor Cameron: 01:01:28

1st, towards an unbelieving people was prayer. 1st, not last. The second thing, we must we must pray, number 1. Number 2 is that we must incarnate the gospel with faithfulness. We must incarnate the gospel with faithfulness.

Pastor Cameron: 01:01:53

We cannot live in wickedness and sin and expect those around us to see the glory of Jesus. If we want our prayers to be heard in heaven in an effective way, we better we better make sure that we're doing our part to live in holiness so that those around us can see a difference in our lives. Number 3 is this, So we we pray. We incarnate with faithfulness. Number 3, you articulate the gospel when invited.

Pastor Cameron: 01:02:39

And there's 2 people that are normally gonna invite you to incarnate the gospel or to articulate the gospel. It's this. It's either the holy spirit or them. Or there's gonna be there there there may be a moment where where they're not saying anything. They're offering no invitation to hear about the hope that resides within you, but the holy spirit is like, tell them now.

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:05

Tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them.

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:06

Tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them. And you're like, Right?

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:16

You've been there, haven't you? Been there? Yeah. You you hear it? You've heard it before?

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:21

Yeah. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them. Tell them.

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:23

Tell them. Tell them. And you're like, you're like getting, you're sweating. Right? You're like, I don't know what to say.

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:31

Right? The holy spirit will give you the words that you need. Right? You know, I don't really know how to say this, but I just gotta tell you, like, let me just tell you what Jesus has done in my life. Let me just tell you what Jesus has done in my life.

Pastor Cameron: 01:03:57

And then sometimes so the Holy Spirit's gonna invite you to articulate the gospel, And then sometimes, sometimes there when when people see incarnation faithfully over time, they invite the articulation. We see this, like, out on the food truck all the time. Why do you guys do this? Why are you why are you out here? You know what that question is?

Pastor Cameron: 01:04:27

That's not a question about our ministry philosophy. Right? It's not a question about why we're taking time on a Sunday to go out and, like, feed people. That is an invitation by a person and by the holy spirit to say, well, we're out here because we believe that every single person has value in the eyes of God, that every person is a child of God, that God desires, that every single person, no matter where they are, where they live, what they look like, what their background is, that God wants to be in relationship with them. And we wanna be here so that when someone has a question about whether or not God loves them, that we have an answer.

Pastor Cameron: 01:05:10

But we got to we got to faithfully incarnate that so that we earn the right right to, with authority, articulate that for them. That's why it's important. You may be a person who has missed Jesus, stumbled over him in your quest to just be a good little boy or good little girl like everyone told you you always should be. And you faked your way through every bit of righteousness and holiness in your entire life, but you recognize the emptiness that exists in your soul because Jesus does not reside there by faith. You might have missed Jesus because you want him to look like the Jesus that you have in your mind, not like the Jesus that he's revealed himself to be.

Pastor Cameron: 01:06:16

And need to come to a place of surrendering your own view of who you want him to be so that he can do in you what he desires to do. You may have missed Jesus because up until this point, you've been like, yeah, it's just not for me. Just not the life I want. But now here, even in this moment, you get this deep foreboding sense that the Lord is like no more. I am calling you to myself.

Pastor Cameron: 01:06:47

Lay down your obstineness and your hardheartedness. Come and receive all that I have for you in life and in the spirit. You may have missed Jesus completely, but guess what? He he's here. He is here this morning, and he's ready not to be missed by you any longer, to to be received by you in faith.

Pastor Cameron: 01:07:14

So I don't know the reasons that you may have missed Jesus. I don't know the reasons you may have loved ones that have missed Jesus. But what I do know is this, is that your prayers are effective in softening their hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit so that they might see Jesus for the first time. But if this morning is the morning where you're ready to stop stumbling over Jesus, Where you're ready, to to stop openly disregarding him. Where you're ready to see him and grasp a hold of him by faith for the first time, then the lord will show himself to you in such significant ways that your life will be changed and transformed forever.

Pastor Cameron: 01:08:10

Our desire as a community of faith here is for you to take that critical step towards life in Christ. To allow him, by faith, to transform who you are. I wanna invite the worship team come to come back up. They're gonna lead us in worship here at the end of our service. And as they and as they lead, I want to make opportunity for you to respond to the way that Jesus is working in your life, in your heart, through his holy spirit, even now?

Pastor Cameron: 01:09:00

That if you if you feel Jesus being like, let go, like white knuckling the steering wheel, right? And Jesus is trying to just pull you away. Be like, Come to me. Jesus says in his Gospels, Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon yourself and learn from me.

Pastor Cameron: 01:09:32

For I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Weary souls, come and find rest by faith in Jesus this morning. If you would like to, for the first time, articulate a faith or desire to confess that Jesus is lord, I'm gonna invite you to come up as we sing this morning. Yes in front of everyone. Right?

Pastor Cameron: 01:10:08

While the rest of us are singing, come forward. Come and kneel before the Lord at the altar. Allow us to pray for you and allow us to pray with you. Allow us to stand with you as you confess for the first time that Jesus is lord. Confessing with my heart, confessing with my mouth, believing in my heart that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead, and you will find rest for your souls.

Pastor Cameron: 01:10:39

Let's stand in worship of our king and respond to the call of the gospel. Heavenly father, it is by the blood of Jesus Christ that you have washed our sins. Yes. White as snow. Lord, we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Pastor Cameron: 01:11:04

That is what we articulate, Lord, with our mouths this morning. That is what we sing about this morning. It is the glory of Jesus and the glory of Jesus alone. Lord Jesus, we pray. Overwhelm us with your love, Lord.

Pastor Cameron: 01:11:25

We give ourselves to you. In Jesus' name, Amen.