Romans 10:16–21Scripture
Everybody turn your Bibles to Romans 10. We are closing out chapter 10 and we are moving into chapter 11, and it has been a wonderful chapter. But we're going to look at verses 16 through 21. I'll read that, we'll read that together, and then I'll share with you a few thoughts. The closing of chapter 10 is actually pretty challenging, because the apostle Paul, as he's talking to the church in Rome through a letter, he is speaking to them as a nation. He's speaking specifically here of the Jews, or Israel, and he uses several, like he quotes several Old Testament texts to kind of make his point. And the point he's been making up to this point is that the message, or the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is for all men. So don't forget that as you go into this, because the point he's trying to make is that the gospel is for everyone. It is not just for the Jews, it's not just for the Gentiles, it's for everyone. Now how is that relevant for us
Point 1Don't hoard the good news
Today? Well, I will say this: if you've been in the church any amount of time, you can inadvertently get to a place where you hoard the good news and keep it to yourself. You develop in your heart an us-and-them mentality. We begin to compartmentalize our lives in circles of those who have the gospel and separate our lives from those who do not have the gospel. Can you relate this morning? We so isolate ourselves, where everything we do is hanging with church people but never really associating and positioning ourselves to bring the good news to the world. Can you relate? And so before we get into this position where we begin to bring an indictment against the nation of Israel, particularly the Jews, who God has given the word, who's given the promise, who's given the good news, and then not only has he given it to them, they have known it, they have understood it, and they have been faced with the decision, to the degree that they do not go into all the world and preach the good news they've been given specifically as a nation, and he rebukes them for this attitude. And today many of us could relate to this, because we are too guilty, we are also guilty of not sharing the good news when we have been blessed with the good news, or sharing the promises when we have been blessed with the promises. We hide in corners and houses with people who know the good news, failing to tell those who do not, and bringing that good news with our feet. If that's you, then instead of sitting here and being judgy concerning the nation of Israel, you should be sympathetic, and you can consider today how you might be like them, and then consider the rebuke of Paul as he uses the word that was given specifically to them to challenge them and help them to see their ways right.
Let's read Romans 10:16 through 21: "But they have not all obeyed the gospel." Who? The Jews. "For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?' So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Why have they not, why have they not obeyed? Because they have not heard. They have rejected the words that have come from Christ. Remember now, for the Jew, Christ is the stumbling block. So how will they obey? Well, but they follow a lot of the laws. How have they obeyed if they reject the word of Christ because he is not the Messiah? Do you get where he's saying here? All these wonderful things you do in the name of God, at the same time you're rejecting Christ, who is God. You can't be someone who accepts Christ but then denies him, and you can't obey unless you hear him, and you can't hear when you reject everything Christ has said. That's kind of what he's getting at. He's challenging them. So "faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ," whom Israel rejected. "But I ask, have they not heard?" Now listen, Paul does this: he poses a question in the minds of the people that are in the room and then he answers it. So if you have talked with anybody, in any form, of any size group, whether that be a group of 10, whether it be a group of five, whether that be a group of a hundred or more, you can know by the people you know what kind of thoughts are going to be circling in their mind. And so he begins to deal with the thoughts by posing a question, right? He says, "But I ask, have they not heard?" Is that why they don't obey, that they haven't heard? They must not obey Christ because they haven't heard Christ. And he said, "No, they have heard.
Their voice has gone out to all the earth." Now that seems confusing. He's quoting something here, we're going to talk about that in just a minute. Here it is, those who go out and bring the good news, it is specifically those who preach. That's how he's using it here in this context. "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." In other words, the gospel has been preached to the utter ends of the earth, and they have heard, but they have not obeyed. So the Jews have heard, but they've rejected what they've heard. Are you with me? Then it goes on, verse 19: "But I ask, did Israel not understand?" That's the second excuse. "Well, I didn't hear you." How many of you have kids, and you say, "Go clean your room," and then you go into the room later and you realize it's not clean, and you say, "Why didn't you clean your room?" And they say, "Oh, I didn't hear you." You ever heard how that has that ever happened to you? Or you tell your kids to do something, they never respond, then you realize they haven't done it, and you correct and rebuke them for not doing it and they're like, "Oh, I didn't hear you." He's taking that excuse away, because how many of you know we use excuses to prevent ourselves from doing what we ought to do? We are guilty. We are as excuse-ridden as the Israelites. How many of you get caught doing something you shouldn't do and then you make an excuse immediately? It doesn't matter how old you are,
You can be 98 years old and get caught doing something wrong and watch how fast an excuse comes up.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:07
And so what Paul is doing is he's dismantling the excuses, and he is saying this in essence: you are without excuse. That's what he's doing. So then we get to 19: "But I ask, did they not understand?" Well, they must not have heard, and Paul goes, "No, they heard." And then he's dealing with the other, "Well, they must not have understood," and then he says, "No, they've understood." And then he uses Moses as an example. He quotes Moses saying this: "I will make you jealous," speaking of God, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry." Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." How can you disobey if you don't understand? They understood. They not only heard, they understood, but they still rejected what they heard and they understood. Are you with me today? How many of you can say you fall into that category? Paul brings here then a serious rebuke for this type of attitude. Everybody turn your Bibles to Genesis 3:12. All right, I'll do it too. Genesis 3:12 says this, and see if this doesn't strike you. The first time man did something wrong, listen to his response: "The man said, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me,'"
Excuse, the woman. Now listen to this, in case you think that he's blaming the woman, he's actually blaming God. "The woman you gave me." This is a you problem, God. If you wouldn't have made her out of me, this would have never happened. How many of you blame God for the things you do? We're guilty of doing that. This is insane. "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Not taking any ownership for what he had done, just blaming it on God and the woman. Blaming it on God and the woman. This is really one of the most embarrassing parts in the Bible for men. See, listen, to some degree or another, innately in men is spinelessness.
The only thing that straightens a man's spine is Christ. All mankind is spineless.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:18
The only thing that straightens and solidifies a man and makes a man is Christ. Men will sell other people down the river for a better position at work. We are known to step on people to get higher. How many of you this Thanksgiving, in conversation around your table, present company included, has communicated in such a way, and I'm saying this with conviction, this is why I'm saying it, have spoken of other people in such a way that you lower them and exalt yourself? Oh, come on now. Oh, if you had family dinner, there was all kinds of murder happening at your Thanksgiving feast.
It is amazing how we cannot celebrate our victories without demolishing other people's name.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:26
Are you with me? Without passively celebrating how awesome we are. It's amazing when we feel led by God to do something, how we will profess to the world what we're going to do so people will celebrate us rather than God. We're a lot like the Jews. And it is funny because in our group we sit and we murder them with our speech while being just like them with our life. Are you with me here today? And so the challenge that goes to the Jews is basically this, by Paul: you're not all that and a bag of chips. Christ is. That's the point of the gospel.
The point of the gospel is you got problems and I know how to fix it, and his name is Jesus Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:44
So instead of trying to celebrate you, let's celebrate Christ. That was the problem with the Jews. They felt so honored and privileged for having the word, for having the promises, for having those things, that they felt special, and that specialness led them to forsake Christ.
God was always with them, and when he showed up as Christ, they missed him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 14:20
It is amazing when you become common with a thing, how easy it is to miss that thing which you've become common with. Let me break it down for you in a personal way. How many of you treat your husband or your wife like you did on the first date? Let me back off that. How many of you treat your kids the same way the day after they were born? How many of you allow busyness and stress to affect how you talk to those you claim to love? Listen to me, I'm, oh man, I'm, Paul's coming at you. We'll blame it on him, he ain't here. That's excuse, yeah, right, we blame it on him. Yes, excuse, but I'm going to blame it on him. Excuse me. That's in my sermon, in case you're wondering, it's "Excuse Me." I'm not like, "Excuse me," I'm like, don't blame me. It is amazing how many of you were patient with those you first met. How many of you are more patient with the stranger you first met than the people you've done life with for years? Why? Because you're a lot like the jews. That which dwelt in their presence, that which led them by pillars of fire at night, that which descended into tabernacles, that which was present in the word that was given to them, that which was prophesied by men who God sent as mouthpieces, that God, that same God that was always with them, they missed him because they were so common with him. Have you become common with God? Has worship become a common thing for you? What about when we open the Word, are we literally just checking our watch for when that will end? How common, what is this, is it just something you do to check off your list? It is amazing how relationships tend to, the longer we're in them, foster apathy and disregard for the other person. And yet that's what Paul's speaking to. How many of you remember, and I'm not saying everything has to be an emotional experience or emotional high, but how many remember the first day you came to Christ? You had that moment, he pricked your heart, and compare that to the way you feel when you wake up on your Monday. It is easy to become common with something. It is easy, and then to make all the excuses in the world for that behavior. So Paul is confronting the excuses as to why
Point 2They have heard the gospel
Israel hasn't believed the gospel. The first thing, and you can write this down, I have three points to make it easy: they have heard. That's what he's saying. Paul says in verse 18 concerning the nation of Israel and their belief, he says they have heard it. They've heard it, they have heard the gospel, they've heard the truth.
They cannot play the card like kids do, "I didn't hear you." They have heard it in verse 18. He is answering an objection in the minds of the people. He does this in Romans 9:14 and 9:18. Let's look back to 9:14–18: "What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?
By no means!" That's where he does it again, he poses a question in the minds of people and then he answers it. Is there injustice on God's part because he's sovereign and he determines, and there's unconditional election, and God is sovereign to choose who will go to heaven? Is he unjust? By no means. And then we go on to verse 19: "You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault?'" Since he's sovereign and he decides, that's the great mystery, isn't it? "'For who can resist his will?'" And then in chapter 10, we move after experiencing the sovereignty of God, then we move to chapter 10 and then he begins to talk about the Jews' responsibility of how they handled that which they have heard. Now how can these two things coexist? That's what Paul's trying to talk about. How can the sovereignty of God, the fact that it is him that gives faith and him that pricks hearts and him that transforms lives and him that brings repentance and him that gives that as a gift through the Holy Spirit, how is it that can exist and then also we're held liable and responsible for our choices? How do these two things coexist? I don't know, you tell me how the Trinity works. You seem to accept that one just fine. We don't tend to make some different theological position based on the fact that we don't understand it, we just take it as it is. And so he's saying, because of chapter 9, 10, because of chapter 9, and we know that God is sovereign, and we know it, we don't understand unconditional election, we understand all that, don't let you get to a place where you don't think we're responsible, because those that go to hell are being punished not because it's God's fault but because they are responsible. Are you with me now? Some of you are like, that didn't make sense, right? That's why we receive the gospel by faith.
The goal of a believer is not to read the Word and then create a version that you can understand, because it dumbs down the gospel.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 21:05
That's why Paul is saying you can't blame God for this, you're responsible, but he's sovereign. How does that work? I don't know.
That's just what it says. The Scripture I can think of is "his ways are higher than our ways." You will not fully understand this, and don't be guilty of dumbing down the gospel. But he still talks in chapter 10 that Jews are responsible for hearing and understanding and rejecting it. Somebody actually said in a book I read recently, I'm not sure who, because I read too much and I can't keep it all together. I can't even remember the name of my favorite actor. I just remember what he looks like and what movies he plays in. I can't even remember his name, I have to ask my wife every time. So it is what it is, and I can't remember the name of who said this, but in other words they said it this way: in general, God is responsible for all those who will be in heaven, and we are responsible, and those who go to hell will be responsible for going to hell. Are you with me today?
You can't take responsibility for getting to heaven, God did that, but if you go to hell, you're responsible.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:22
God ain't responsible. That's the craziness of mixing God's sovereignty with your responsibility. It makes no sense, makes no sense. Just thanks be to God if you're someone he has called. Thanks be to God. Romans 10:18 says, and I'll just, for a reminder, "But I ask, have they not heard?" Indeed Paul says they have heard. Now Paul isn't raising the question for himself, he's trying to get them to a place where he can answer the question they have to make this point. He actually quotes Psalm 19:4, right? Psalm 19:4, in case you're wondering. I think I have it up here. I think that's probably 19, I probably just typed it in wrong. Is that it? "Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun." In other words he's saying, so the argument is, well, they must not have heard, that's why they don't obey. And he goes, no. And he uses an Old testament text to say no, this news has gone out to all the earth. It's gone out to all the earth. Now he's speaking in elaborate fashion here, because how many of you know there are people who have not heard, but he's talking about the expansiveness of the word going out, and he's saying specifically here the Jews have heard. They've heard, specifically to the Jews they have heard. Now Psalm 19 is referring to a general revelation, actually. If you do any research, this is like, look at the mountains and look at the sun and look at the trees and look at the birds and look at all that, generally speaking you can know that there is a God. But here he is actually using it and connecting it to those who go out and preach the gospel. How many of you know these are two different things, because you can have general revelation and not have specific revelation. General revelation helps you understand there is a God. Specific revelation comes through the preaching of the gospel, which is Christ, and that saves. So he's using this text about general revelation to talk about the gospel going out to the utter ends of the earth. That's really important. In other words, he's saying there's not a person on earth who does not have the witness of creation that God is real and he is there, and Paul uses this Scripture and connects it to the preaching of the gospel as an illustration. He uses it as a figurative analogy of the gospel preaching that goes out far and wide. Now not everyone has heard the gospel preaching, but Paul uses this as a form of hyperbole, or exaggerated statement, to make a profound point to the Jews. The voice being spoken about in this verse 18 of Romans 10 is the voice of preachers. That's what he's using it for. He actually says something similar in Colossians 1:6, and it'll be up here. He's combating the argument, and here's what he says: "the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth." You hear what he's saying, this good news has gone out to the world, and he's combating this argument, "we haven't heard the gospel, that's why we're still in unbelief," and Paul is going, no, you have, and you don't get to use that excuse. God actually, it was so radical in the first and second century, it was so radical that at pentecost people heard the good news in multiple languages from multiple nations, they were saved, some lingered a day or two and continued learning that they might be taught, and went back to their respective nations and brought the good news as housewives and farmers and people to their nation, in one day, from one sermon. Don't let Pentecost and the tongues of fire and the different languages being spoken, don't get hung up on how all that worked, and just understand that God was speaking to multiple nations in their actual tongue that they might hear the gospel, be transformed by the gospel, and take the gospel by their beautiful feet to their nation. This was a radical evangelical explosion the world has yet to see again.
It was radical. Let's read about it, Acts 2:9–11. Acts 2, I'll try to turn there. I should have marked all this. Listen to this is so exciting. I hate geography, but I kind of like this. I hate geography, my wife loves it. That's why she loves to hike, she's trying to map out the whole earth with her feet. Maybe that's why I hate it, is I'm trying to go backwards. I think if I go backwards I can undo any hike that I have ever been afforded to have to suffer with my feet. Anyway, what was I talking about? Acts 2:9–11 says this, this is really cool: "Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia," I don't even know how to say this, Phrygia, thank you, "and Pamphylia, pamphylia," huh, Pamphylia, we'll go with that sounded better, "Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews," this is talking about the pentecost, "and proselytes, Cretans," anyway we use that as a slam sometimes, bunch of Cretans, anyway, "and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." And "all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?'" Okay, so I have a slide for you, maybe you can take a picture of it, maybe you can write it down if you're super fast at writing. Let's do a geography lesson. This is the expansiveness of what Paul is saying: have they heard? And he said, listen, the word has gone to the world, and it was initiated at Pentecost. It's gone to the world. Listen to the parts of the world that it went to post-Pentecost, the day after Pentecost when they returned home, all these people. Listen to the expansiveness of the spreading of the gospel. You know, Parthia is present-day Iran. Ask bonkers, think of the distance. Elam is southwest Iran. Mesopotamia is the area between the Tigris and the Euphrates River. Mesopotamia actually literally means, I found out, it means "in between the rivers." That's cool. Judea is from the Euphrates to Egypt, covering Palestine. Cappadocia is modern-day Turkey.
This is crazy. Is this not crazy, where the gospel was taken back? And let me tell you who it was taken back by: lay people. Where are you taking the gospel? Cappadocia is modern-day Turkey, Pontus is northern Turkey, Asia refers to the coastline of Turkey and the Aegean Sea, whatever Ebony said that word is inland in Turkey, and the other word is on the mediterranean coast of Turkey. Egypt was one of the major hubs of Christianity in the first century. Libya and Cyrene are west of Egypt on the North African coast of the Mediterranean sea. Rome is in Europe, and that's the capital city of the known world at this point. Cretans are in the middle of the Mediterranean Ocean off the south coast of Crete. Arabs probably refers to the south of Damascus but could go as far as east of the Jordan River. Go get your Bible, take a picture of that, go get a biblical map and just go map that out and listen to the expansiveness of the gospel. Now Paul is speaking and insinuating, you are without excuse. It's a wide dispersement of the gospel. God uses Pentecost to immediately unleash the gospel to the world in one night, into the known world at that time. Listen to these two quotes, I love it. One is by Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century, end of the first and the beginning of the second century. He says this: "There are no people, neither Greek nor barbarian, or any other race, no matter how ignorant of the arts or culture, whether they dwell in tents or wander about in covered wagons, among whom prayers and thanksgiving are not offered in the name of the crucified Jesus to the Father and Creator of all things." In other words, he echoes Paul and says there's not a place you can go, not a village you can find, not a realm of the world that you will not hear people professing Christ. You are without excuse. He is saying that even if you go out in the middle of nowhere, there are already people praising the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how wildly, widely and quickly the gospel spread in the first and second century.
It was radical, and it's not this silly gospel message we preach today, "Jesus loves you just the way you are."
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:40
It's not that. It's not that. It is not that message, because that message will get you to hell. That message will cause you to never turn your life to Christ, because you're good just the way you are. By the end of the second century, in the beginning of the third century, there's a man by the name of Tertullian, and he says this: "we are but of yesterday, but we already fill your cities," in other words speaking about the movement of the church and the movement of Christ and the movement of Christians and new believers, "We are but of yesterday, but we already fill your cities, islands, camps, palaces, Senate, and forum." Many people debate what caused Rome to fall, and there's much speculation about it. I would propose to you it was Christianity that did it, because Christians filled every part of Rome except the pagan temples. It was radical advancement of the gospel, and lives were being changed in the whole world without Twitter or facebook or transportation or planes and trains and automobiles. The whole world knew.
So in case you're wondering, the gospel is not limited by you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:44
It's not limited by you. Number two, he debunks the idea that they don't understand. Well, if they've heard, then Paul, you say that everyone's heard, the whole world's heard, so if they've heard they must not have understood. See what the arguments are trying to do is remove responsibility from man, especially after chapter 9 where we can blame everything on God, even the wife he created for us. We want to blame everything on him. Just because he's sovereign doesn't mean you get to blame it on him.
God's not responsible for you going to hell, you are.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 37:33
Are you with me today? It wasn't God who sinned, it was you who
Point 3They understood and still rejected him
Sinned. And then he says they not only heard but they understood, verse 19. Let's look at verse 19, I keep having to go back and forth, this is insane. Okay, verse 19, just as a reminder: "But I ask, did Israel not understand?" Then since they heard and they didn't obey, they must not have understood. And then he gives this example of Moses. Well, they're saying surely they didn't know. Paul answers the question by quoting Moses and Isaiah. Now don't let this be lost on you, this is really important. With these two examples he is underscoring that they are responsible for what they understand. They understand. He quotes Moses saying of Israel, you understood but did not receive the gospel. You understood it but you rejected it. Listen, they understood who Christ was but they rejected what they understood. They had the law and the prophets, and the prophets spoke of the Messiah in great detail, and they had the detail and they understood the detail, but they rejected him as the Messiah. They understood, they understood what the prophet said, and they rejected it. Many of you sit in church year after year and you understand but you reject it. Many of you understand Christ but you reject him, and Paul is saying you are without excuse.
We're all without excuse. Everyone in this room today is without excuse.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:35
Penance won't save you, your tithe won't save you, your service here won't save you, your good deeds will not, you being good enough, being a good boy or a good girl, won't save you. You staying off the naughty list will not save you. See what I did there? It won't save you. Christ saves. Romans 10:20: "Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, 'I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.'" He's speaking of the Gentiles here. Isaiah 65:1, let's look at that, because that's what he's quoting here: "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation that was not called by my name." The Jews knew this. Israel knew this, and they knew who was being talked about here. They understood. They not only heard it, they understood it, and Paul is throwing this up saying, "You've heard this, you've memorized this, you understand it, you reject it." Oh man, this is just like busting chops. Paul is crazy. Paul, this is why he got beat up a lot and thrown into prison and hit with rods and stoned, this is why he was tortured, because no one likes to be called on the carpet for what they do. How many of you have ever met somebody that's really excited when you rebuke them? They're like, "Oh man, thank you, that was awesome, do it again, please." No, we tend to kill the messenger, because we would rather stay broken and live a delusional life than to be changed. Let me put this in shoe leather for you. People know that certain foods kill them slowly. People know what is a good diet and a bad diet. News flash. What is the chips you got me last night, funyuns. Funyuns are great but they're not healthy. What is it Tim Hawkins, I think he says, "Oh dear Lord, please change the molecular structure of this Funyun into a carrot on the way down to my esophagus to my stomach." No matter how much you pray, that is not happening. That's the way we live our life, though. We would rather kill ourselves slowly and have fun doing it than be changed. Why? Because you're broken and you need someone to change your heart, change the way you think, change, which will change your actions so that you can live and have life and not death. How many of you know you can change your idea and thought life about food, but if you continue to eat bad food it will still have the effect that it has? Notice that life is attached to doing as much as knowing. So at the very beginning he is saying to the Jews, he is saying they do not obey, so they have death. Notice that life and death is attached to the obeying and the doing, but notice that the obeying and the doing comes from right knowledge and right understanding and, quite honestly, more specifically, the saving effects of Jesus' death and resurrection and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, of which the nation of Israel did not have. Notice here, they had, they heard, they understood, and they did, but they were dying and they were moving toward death. Notice they had all the keys. They heard, they understood, and they did. Some Jews do better than you. They heard, they understood, and they did. What was missing? Christ's sacrifice, which brought the Holy Spirit, Spirit, and empowered our hearing and our knowing and our doing to have a life-giving effect that without Christ you cannot have. Notice that this versus Christ, this without Christ, you know what it is? It's a cheap imitation, and the enemy walks around like a lion, like Christ. Notice that the greatest challenge we have as Christians is not to point out sin and debauchery, that's easy. That's easy.
The greatest challenge we have is to discern God from good, because the enemy doesn't come in a way that you can see.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 45:36
He comes into the church, and that's why the apostles are constantly warning about false prophets and false teachers who teach something that the people love and are hungry for but brings death. And the same people who are feasting on this thing they love that looks good will actually say, and fight to the death against true believers, and say that they're more spiritual than them all while they're feasting on something that kills and brings death. And then true believers will sit back and go, "Well, we don't want to be offensive." Tell that to Paul, who died because he was offensive with the gospel. "Well, we don't want to be divisive." I didn't know being united to Christ and the truth was divisive. Isn't the person who is living a lie and not believing the truth really divisive?
How come that gets superimposed on people who stand on truth? "Well, we don't want to be offensive." "Well, we don't want to be divisive." "Well, we don't want to call people out for believing a lie." "Well, we don't want to have a ministry where we just point out people that are false teachers." Good luck reading the Bible. You have a duty to your children to point to them what is true and to point to them what is false, and if you can't discern the difference, you might not be saved yourself, because the Holy Spirit helps you know the difference. You might be saved but you might be untrained and undisciplined and make that the extent of your discipleship. Oh, I'm preaching now. "Oh well, I'm really busy." Are you too busy to go to heaven? I'm not even trying to be offensive. You guys have no problem, people have none of you, everybody in other churches who have football season passes, you have no, I'm not anti-football. You other churches and other people who have football season passes, we're too poor for that, we don't have that, but everybody else in every other church who go sit in the snow and the rain to watch a football game, who invest thousands of dollars into that, who sweat and bleed and sit in lines and do all of that because you value that, you have no problem spending money, you have no problem suffering, you have no problem
Point 4Time is not the problem, priorities are
Investing time.
Time is not the problem. It's that you don't want to spend the time on the things that matter.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:06
"Oh, I don't have time to go to a small group," but I spent 15 hours this week at a football game, preparing for it ahead of time, doing the tailgating food thing, going inside there, waiting in long lines to get home, cleaning up the, I mean cleaning up the car, unpacking the car, cleaning up the grill, doing all that. I spent 12 hours today, but I can't go to a small group. You're like, "Well, Shawn, that's rude." You know what's rude? No, it's not making Christ a priority. "Well, I can make Christ a priority in my home by myself." Be careful, because that's where you might be. By the way, the Bible is replete with the importance of being in fellowship with one another, not just for you but that you might edify the body. How dare you subtract yourself from edifying the body with your gift, through conversation and your spiritual gifts. How dare you, how dare you. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of people coming and playing church on Sunday and coming and checking in and checking out. I'm exhausted with it. What is that? I'm tired of pretending like you love God and you love what God loves but you have nothing to do with the body other than 45 minutes on Sunday. That makes no sense to me, and we're at a place where I'm going to start calling lies on that. I mean, it's just a lie.
"Shawn, you're just mad." No, I'm heartbroken. I'm heartbroken because I'm missing out on people who claim to love Christ and the church but don't have time for it. I'm tired of the conversation, and honestly, we need you. Amen. We need you. And honestly, the older you get, the more you want to check out and just have it be you and God, but the older you get, the more need we have for you. Yeah, young people need you. They need your counsel. Yeah, if you're older and you have experience, people, young people coming up to you and longing to connect with you, what do you think that's for? Because you're cool? No. God wired it in such a way where young people need older people and they want connection, but sometimes the older we get, the more we disconnect and you fail the body. I'm not backing off this. You disconnect, you're a lot like the Jews. You and God, we're tight, it's me and God, I don't want anybody else coming in, I don't have time for anybody else. We're Jonah in it, we're Jonah in it up every day. I got it, for me it's just me and God, that's all I need. Don't ask me to go try to connect with other people so that they will know God too. I don't have time for more people in my life. Are you with me? "Well, I'm introverted." No, you're God's child. You are not the introversion. Listen, who you are is who God says you are, and you can be introverted and being with people can be exhausting. That doesn't give you a pass. I'm introverted like 98%, and when people are around me I enjoy their company. Can all the introverted people raise their hand? We enjoy people's company, correct? It just is exhausting, but that doesn't give me a pass to never hang out with people. If you're a believer, it don't matter if you're introverted or extroverted. We need some extroverted people to be quiet in group so some introverted people can impart some wisdom, and we need some introverted people to come to group and share something and sometimes have to talk over extroverted people because they'll never shut up. Are you with me? And the tension that exists in this kind of world, and listen, everybody's grabbing their head and freaking out, but I'm just telling you, listen to me, listen to me, the tension that exists develops character in everyone. But see what we've done is we would rather, we would rather exchange effectiveness for our part we play in the body for comfort and for ease. Since when does becoming a Christian equate to an easy life? You're like, "Well, come up with another initiative, because I don't think small groups is the way I'm going to connect with people." But if you're here at this church, if you want to go to another church, you can do that, and you can go to the carnivals and you can be just as unconnected, although you commit time to that, or you can go to the events for the men's group and you can hang out and eat hot wings but never talk about God and you can be just as disconnected from men there too, because even coming and doing something doesn't mean it's true connection, and I'm not going to substitute false connection for true connection. The only way I know how to have connection where we're united is to be united through the studying of the Word, because we're not united to one another, we're united to Christ, and that's the unity that the Bible talks about. And how can we be united to Christ if we don't talk about Christ when we're together? So it is our initiative, if you will, to meet in homes to break bread and to hang out. Now if you don't want to do that, and there will be people who don't, and you will come on Sunday and you will try to check out and you will not be the body of Christ, and you will make, you know what you will make, you know what you will make, guess what you will make, excuses, just like the Jews, and you'll have all kinds of good ones. And as a matter of fact, some of you will break bread and you will murder me today because you didn't like what I had to say around your dinner table, because it made you uncomfortable to be rebuked for not being a part of the body yet claiming you are. But the reality is
God has called us to something greater than a football game, and he's called us to some kind of fellowship that's greater than a group of friends and Friendsgiving,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 56:04
and he's called us to something greater than some kind of superficial connection that we tend to commit all kinds of time and energy for to the world.
When we have rejected the body of Christ, we've rejected Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 56:15
We have stumbled over Christ, and we've been busy with other things. Sound familiar? And before you indict the Jews, just know you might have been guilty of stumbling over him because you value you more. You can't say you love Christ and
Point 5God held out his hands to them
Reject the hand and never want to be with it. Moving on. Number three, they had been invited. Romans 10:21 says this: "But of Israel he says, 'All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.'" What did he do? What did he do? He held out his hands, he invited them, "Come." Why is Paul saying this? Because he's saying, well, they must not have heard, because they didn't obey. No, they heard. Well, they must not have understood. No, they understood. Well, they must not have been invited. Paul goes, no. God held their hands out while they rejected him. He invited them. Why is he saying this? God had to make himself known to the Gentiles or they would have never found me. Romans 10:21 is actually referring to Isaiah 65:2, let's look at that, I think we have it: "I spread out my hands," that's what he's talking about, he's quoting this, "I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices." If this is you, repent. If you made everything else a priority and not God, repent. If you've busied your life with everything else to where God takes second place and you don't even have time to read the Bible, repent. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and you will be held liable although he is sovereign. So what's our responsibility? One, you know, I just saw a post from Union Seminary on Instagram where they were, they were at this Union Seminary, they were bowing down before flowers. I kid you not, this is not a joke. This is a seminary on Instagram. They were, the students were bowing down before flowers to confess their sins to the flowers before the flowers became angry at them. I had to do some research because I thought this had to be a lie. It's true, and there's no excuse for this. Because, you know, secondly, you understand. Why do teachers incite, or why do teachers incite stricter judgment from the Lord? Because they know, they've heard, and they understand. James 3:1, I don't know if I put it up here, there: "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." Why? Because you know and you understand. You understand. For many of us, our increased exposure to the Word of God raises our accountability to it. I think that's why some people don't go to small group, because what it does is it begins to eliminate your excuse for the way you behave, because it covers you with more Word and more understanding, and where there is more Word and where there is more understanding, there is more responsibility, and you will be judged harsher.
How are you stewarding the truth entrusted to you?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:01:07
We heard this morning strange words toward the Jews for the way in which they stewarded the truth entrusted to them. How do you steward the truth entrusted to you?
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