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uh Chong from Singapore visiting us for over the weekend. Once again, it's my joy and privilege to be standing here uh sharing with you from the word of God. We are still in our series on the book of Romans. Whether by design or by accident, I'm not too sure. But this morning I have been assigned what I think is the hardest passage from Romans. Peter is giggling there which is uh chapter 9. The title uh itself gives you a clue about the difficulty surrounding Romans 9. Salvation my choice or his. In other words, was my salvation based on my own free will or was I predestined to be saved? I thought I became a Christian out of my own free will. Now you're telling me that it was actually God who chose me. Last Sunday, Moren came to me and said, "Oh, next week you're preaching about uh predestination." She sounded very excited. While in my mind, I was thinking, I wish I share some of your excitement. Indeed, the debate over free will versus predestination has been raging for ages between theologians and philosophers. We are faced with many difficult questions such as if I were predestined to be saved, doesn't doesn't that make me some kind of a spiritual robot? You mean to say that I don't have a choice uh in this matter? If God predestines some people to be safe and not others, why then do we need to bother with evangelism? On the other hand, if I became a Christian out of my own free will, doesn't that diminish the sovereignty of God? You mean to say that the almighty sovereign God has no say in the matter? So whichever side you stand, can you see the theological mindfield that we are about to step into? Les you think that uh you're going to get some great answers to these ageless questions. I think I better read you the fine prints before the sermon and to water down your expectations. You're not going to get all the answers you are seeking. I will try to offer you some perspectives on predestination before the end of the sermon. But I hesitate to be drawn into this difficult debate between free will and predestination. not when I'm given only 40 minutes but mostly because our primary focus should be to understand uh the passage before us Romans 9 remain our main focus this morning and we shall concentrate first on understanding these 33 verses and in the end to try to derive some points of application from these verses. Shall we pray? Our
father in heaven, we ask that your spirit be our teacher this morning. Illumine our minds so that we can better understand your truth from your word. Stir our hearts so that we can apply these truths in our lives. Shape our will and cause us to follow your son ever more faithfully. your son, our Lord Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. For we ask this in his name. Amen. The SS19 life group to which Leon and I belong has so far gone for two movie outings. On the second outing, we went to see Lelay Miserab. And over the years, many people had told me a lot about lay miserup, a novel written by Victor Hugo in 1862. But I never really found the time to read the book. And so watching the movie was quite an an eyeopener. But the movie itself wasn't all that great in my opinion, but it wasn't all that bad either. But later I found myself in love with the story. And that was when I chanced upon a 2 and 1/2 hour lay miserab musical on YouTube. It was a special a 10th anniversary concert performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1995. And it was much better than the movie I saw last year. I would like to show you a clip from this musical as a backdrop uh to Romans 9. But before that, I must explain to you what you are about to see, especially for those of you who are not so familiar with the story of lay miser. The setting is France in 1815 after the French Revolution. A large part of the plot revolves around two opposing characters. On one hand, we have Shan Vjon, a just released convict who had served 19 years in prison, 5 years for stealing a loaf of bread, and 14 years for trying to escape. Soon after his release, he was offered food and shelter by a kind bishop. But during the night, Vojon stole the bishop's silver and ran away only to be caught by the police who brought him back to the bishop. Surprisingly, the bishop lied to the police and said that the silver was his gift to Valjon. And with that, he secured Vojon's release. And this act of love and kindness prompted Vojon to rethink about his life. and he decided to break his parole and not in order to turn over a new leaf to start a new life under a new identity. In pursuit of Vjon who has broken his parole is shave a police officer on the side of the law with a cold heart and a determined mind. And fast forward 8 years to 1823. Chaveet is still in pursuit of Vojon. In the clip that you're about to see, Chaveet sings of his unyielding determination to capture the fugitive Vjon. If you listen to the words carefully, Shave believes that he is on the side of the righteous. He is convinced that his is the way of the Lord and he compares himself with the stars that fill the darkness with order and light. And like the stars, he's proud that he holds his cause and his aim. To him, Vojon is a criminal who has fallen from God. And those who falter like Vojon must pay the price. And so we have here two opposing characters. Vojon, a recipient of grace, a changed man, and Shave, a representative of the of the law, a hardened man. Shall we have the video now?
Out in the darkness, a fugitive running. Fallen from God,
fallen from grace. God be my witness. I never shall yield. Till we come face to face. Till we come face to face. He knows his way in the dark. Mine is the way of the Lord. Those who follow the path of the righteous shall have their reward. And if they fall as a loose, the flame the sword
stars in your multitudes
scarce to be countered, filling the darkness with order and light.
You are the sentinels, silent and sure, keeping watch in the night, keeping watch in the night. You know your place in the sky. You hold your course and your aim. And each in your season returns and returns and is always the same. And if you fall as a loose of a bail, you fall in.
And so it must be. But so it is written on the doorway to paradise that those who falter and those who fall must pay the price.
Lord, let me find him that I may see him safe behind.
I will do it
till
this I swear
this I swear by the star.
Okay, thank you. Now putting aside lay miserab for a while, let us now get on with the text before us. A first reading of Romans 9 is likely to give you a picture of a mesh of theological arguments and counterarguments punctuated by numerous references uh to the Old Testament. One difficult question leads to another and by the end of the chapter most people get rather confused by this cascade of questions. Now to help us navigate through these 33 verses, let me divide them into various sections so that we can better understand the flow of the text and this is how we can organize Rome Romans 9 cutting it up into five parts. Now let us quickly go through these five parts. Paul began by talking about the people of Israel, his people, the Jews. They were the chosen people of God, the favored race to whom God has converted many privileges and blessings listed here in verses four and five. They were the priv they were the children of privilege because they were direct descendants of Abraham to whom God made several promises through a covenant or an agreement. This covenant is known as the Abrahamic covenant and can be found in Genesis 12. The covenant is described as an unconditional covenant meaning that nothing is required of Abraham. The the three main features of the covenant are number one the promise of descendants Genesis 1 uh 12:1 I will make you into a great nation. Number two, the promise of blessings. Genesis 12:3, I will bless those who bless you. And number three, the promise of land. Genesis 12:7, to your offspring, I will give this land. In the same section, Paul also expressed his great sorrow and unseasing anguish for his people because God has rejected them due to their repeated rebellion against God. In the second part, Paul then explains that the rejection of the Israelites did not invalidate God's promises to Abraham. God's word did not fail. How so? The answer is in verse 6b. For not all who are descendant from Israel are Israel. Now this is a bit hard to understand. The first Israel in the verse uh refers to Jacob who is the son of Isaac who is the son of Abraham. Israel is Jacob's other name. The second Israel here refers to the people of God. So in other words, the the people of God are not necessarily Jacob's physical descendants which Paul explains in verse 8. The Israelites thought that they are the only rightful people to claim God's promises to Abraham being his physical descendants. But Paul is saying hold on not so fast because the truth of the matter is that the offspring of Abraham are not uh necessarily they are the physical descendants of Abraham but rather the true children of God are the children of promise which later includes the Gentiles including us. And this is the thrust of part two. I shall elaborate on the term uh children of promise later. Paul then backed up his explanation with two examples from Genesis. The first example in verses 7 and 9 is the example of Isaac and Ishmael. Even though Ishmael is not explicitly mentioned here, both Isaac and Ishmael were Abraham's children, although from different mothers. As we all already know, Isaac was chosen over Ishmael. Isaac was the child of promise, not Ishmael. In the second example in verses 11 to13 is Jacob and Esau who were both children of Isaac and his wife Rebecca. As we also already know, Jacob was chosen over Esau. And these two examples were meant to illustrate to the Jews that you may think that you are the rightful heir, but God has other plans. The choice of Jacob over Esau is the harder one to accept. And this is where the issue of predestination creeps in. God elected Jacob instead of Esau. Although Esau was the firstborn, the natural choice. Paul writes in verse 11, "Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad in order that that in order that God's purpose in election might stand." Now many people have trouble with this the fact that God had already made his choice even before they were born and before they had done anything good or bad. As a matter of fact, between the twins, Jacob was the bad one. His name means deceiver. He lied, he cheated, he manipulated. And yet God chose to bless him. Uh Paul already anticipated this objection. And in part three, he explained that God's choice is not based on human desire or human effort. From verse 16, the true children of God are children of mercy, which is the thrust in part three. We are the children of God by his mercy, not because of what we are or what we have done. Verse 15 is a quote from Exodus 33:1 19. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion which God first said to Moses. This is from Exodus 33:1 19. Now here Paul anticipated an even bigger objection in that if God makes his choice purely based on his mercy, how can those not chosen be blamed? From verse 19. Now in part four of this chapter, Paul countered this by saying that God has the sovereign right to make choices as he pleases. We are his children by his sovereign will. And Paul then gave gave the example of the porter having the right to make from the same lump of clay some vessels for noble use or for special uses and some for common use. from verse 21. The example of the porter and the clay that Paul used is actually taken from Isaiah chapter 29 and 35 and 45. Paul was referring to God's sovereignty. The true children of God are children as a result of his sovereign will. Now, as we move quickly to the last 10 verses, it is God's sovereign will that his salvation will be extended to include the Gentiles, including us from verse 24. The inclusion of the Gentiles was already prophesized in the Old Testament, which Paul then quoted from Hosea 2:23. I will call them my people who are not my people, and I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one. The next verse is taken from Hosea 1:10 which says almost the same thing. In the fifth and last part, Paul then concluded the discussion by pointing on to the importance of faith in God's scheme of things. Faith is central and necessary when we relate to God. In Hebrews 11:6, it says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please God." In verses uh uh 31 and 32 towards the end of chap Romans chapter 9, Paul then explained that the Israelites pursued righteousness by trying to obey the laws, but they failed because ultimately you would break the law. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God from Romans 3:23. They failed because they pursued righteousness by works rather than by faith. Nobody has ever or will ever please God by works or human effort. The Gentiles on the other hand, even though they did not pursue righteousness, but they attain it because they pursued it by faith. We are all thus the children of God by faith, not because of works or because of anything that we have done. And this is a quick review of Romans 9, which you might find a little dry. But in any case, I trust that you now have a good grasp of the general flow of the text. We can actually wrap up the sermon here. But if I were to do so, you might protest silently and say, "Hey, we have not even answered the difficult questions in this passage." Now, earlier on, I mentioned that Romans 9 consists mostly of a series of theological arguments. It is a cascade of difficult questions. Now, in this next segment of the sermon, we shall go deeper and examine the passage from the perspective of these arguments. Generally, there are four main issues of contention in Romans 9. Number one, God made promises to Abraham to his descendants. So did God go back on his promises when he rejected the Jews from verse six. Number two, God elected Isaac over Esau who was the firstborn. So was God unjust in his decision? From verse 14. Number three, God's election is based on his mercy, not human effort. So how can those not chosen be blamed? From verse 19, God as the potter shapes the clay in any way he pleases. So isn't God biased in his actions? From verse 21. The first three are rather explicit. They are mentioned in the text itself. The fourth the fourth point is more implicit and even more difficult to understand. Paul put them all this together and this is the greater challenge of Romans nine. The first argument is not really so hard to overcome. We have already seen in verse 8 that the children of God are not children by physical descent, but rather the children of promise. God never intended for his people to be confined only to the Jews, the direct descendants of Abraham. The prophet Hosea prophesies this in his book in his u book of Isaiah as we have seen earlier in verses 25 and 26. If only the Jews had read the book of Hosea more carefully. Hence God's rejection of the Jews did not void God's promises to Abraham because the Gentiles soon became the beneficiaries of these promises even today even us. Of course, throughout a large part of their history, the Jews were the chosen people, the favored nation. They were the children of privilege. As we have seen in verses four and five, Paul listed seven specific privileges the Israelites enjoy especially in the early part of their history. Dias is the adoption to sunship. Dias the divine glory, the covenant, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, the promises. and theirs are the patriarchs. We don't have time to go through these in detail. Indeed, the Jews in the days of Paul were a proud race and they were supremely confident of their special status and this was in spite of the fact that they were under Roman rule. To them, it was just a matter of time before the Messiah would come and kicked out the Romans. Now to digress a little bit, this confidence that they brief was somewhat shaken in the year AD.70 when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and scattered the Jews all around the Mediterranean and throughout Europe. But look at this uh uh stone carving that we can see in Rome today near the Coliseum. It depicts Roman soldiers cutting away artifacts from the temple in Jerusalem that they had just destroyed. But still, wherever they are, the Jews in Europe, in the Mediterranean, all over the world kept their traditions and they observed the law for almost 2,000 years. Then came World War II and the Holocaust, which almost completely shattered Jewish confidence. Anti-semitism was on the rise in Europe. Hitler murdered 6 million Jews. And by that time, the Jews just couldn't understand why God would allow such terrible things to happen to his chosen people. If you have seen the movie Fiddleler on the roof, you have not seen it, you must see it. There is an interesting scene exactly onethird into the movie where Rap Tevier, the lead character, he has just been told of some impending troubles by some anti-Jewish elements that will soon be targeted at his Jewish community. Now with a frustrated voice almost an angry voice rapier looked up to heaven gesture with his hands and said dear God I know we are chosen people but once in a while can't you choose someone else they were so frustrated with all the anti-Jewish uh uh what do they call uh activities they call programs the thing is if rapturvier had read Romans He would have realized that indeed God had already chosen someone else. God had already included the Gentiles in his kingdom. For the Jews who insisted that they were the only chosen people, Paul explained by using the example of Isaac and Ishmael. Why Isaac and Ishmael? You see, in Genesis 16, it is recorded that Sarah, the wife of Abraham, had been barren and she could not bear a child for Abraham. And so, she thought of a good idea. She asked the Egyptian slave girl, her name is Hagar, to do for her what she could not do biologically herself. In this medieval painting dated 1637, we see Sarah bringing Haga to Abraham. Sorry, this is a church, so I must uh censor part of the painting.
Anyway, you see Abraham as an wrinkled old man, which is not too inaccurate because he was 86. Then Sarah also looked very old. She was 77 at this point in time. But Haga looked very young, most likely in the late teens. But as a slave, she had no say in the matter. Abraham, on the other side, on the other hand, readily agreed to this plan. Not surprising, of course. And the product of the union between Abraham and Haga was Ishmael. 13 years later in Genesis 17, God granted Sarah a miracle and she God opened her womb. She conceived and bore Abraham a son, Isaac. Now, in this Sunday school uh picture, meant for school kids. Abraham certainly looked more dignified and Sarah not not so old and baby Isaac very big. But jokes aside, the point of this example that Paul used is this. Ishmael was the product of a human scheme, while Isaac was the product of God's plan. God promised Abraham many descendants in Genesis 12, and Isaac was the fulfillment of that promise. It was Paul's way of explaining that Isaac was the child of promise and the true children of God are the children of promise not children by physical descent as we have seen earlier in verse 8. The second example that Paul used the example of Jacob and Esau is harder to explain. God chose Jacob over Esau even though Esau was the firstborn, the natural choice. In the case of Isaac and Ishmael, we could accept that Isaac was the preferred one instead of Ishmael because Ishmael's mother was Egyptian. But in the case of Jacob and Esau, they were both the children of Isaac and Rebecca. Now, was God unjust in his decision? Paul tried to offer his counterargument by citing God's mercy as the basis of his choice. I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy from verse 15 as we have seen earlier. But to many Christians today, this explanation is somewhat not very satisfactory, not very convincing. And therefore, here I would like to offer you a viewpoint that you may have not come across before. a viewpoint that may help you to understand God's choice of Jacob over Esau. And that concept is the concept of the upside down kingdom of God. Throughout the Bible, we see numerous examples where God acts in a manner that is agreed that is against the grain of human logic and expectation. You expect God to move this way, but instead he goes the other way. What do I mean? You see, in God's economy, anyone who who loves his life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it. John 12:25. In God's calculus, the last will be first and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16. In God's management, he chooses the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. 1 Corinthians 1:27. I changed the tenses there a little bit. I can quote other verses, but don't you see everything is turned upside down in God's kingdom. You had better get used to this concept. And that is why I started the sermon by showing you the clip from lay miserab. The story of vjon versus shave is really a reflection of this upside down kingdom of god. Shave thought that he was on the side of the righteous on the side of the law. He believed that his uh was the way of the lord. He he felt as sure as the star in the sky. But later in the story, he ended up a bitter man and end and met with a tragic end. On the other hand, we have Vojon, a fugitive on the run, a hardened criminal trying to find his footing. But it was Vojon who was touched by grace and was renewed. Why does God do things the upside down way? The logic is really not so difficult to understand. Those who think they are wise, those who like to come first, those those who who love their lives. These are people who are usually self assured, self-made or self-sufficient. And in such people, there is usually very little room in their heart for God. On the other hand, those who are suffering, those who are in pain, those who are oppressed, these are the people who cry out to God, "God, I need you." It is not surprising, therefore, to note that when Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, when he was on earth, he didn't mingle with the rich and famous. He didn't rub shoulders with the privileged and the powerful. Instead, he reached out to the sick, the prostitutes, the marginalized, and the weak. Between Jacob and Esau, Esau was the firstborn. He was his father's favorite. He is a hunter, strong and confident. On the other side is Jacob playing second fiddle. He's not so strong and he's rather cunning and he likes to cheat and lie. Now, between the two in the upside down kingdom of God, whom do you think God would favor? If you approach this second argument from this upside down perspective, you will be able to better appreciate God's choice of Jacob over Esau. But Paul merely cited God's mercy in his counterargument in this second argument. Perhaps it's more Calvinistic, and I'll explain that term shortly. But by doing so, he sparked another argument. The third argument in our list. If God's election is based on his mercy and not human effort or human strength, then how can those not chosen be blamed? From verse 19, as we have seen earlier, I shall also deal with the fourth argument. At the same time, if God as the porter shapes the clay in any way he pleases, isn't he biased in his actions? Imagine I have a lump of clay. Out of this lump, I make a vessel, say like a dust bin, and I place it in the toilet so that people can throw their rubbish in it. And from the same lump of clay, I also make a beautiful bowl to be placed in the living room for the guests to admire. But imagine the vessel in the toilet telling me of, "Hey, why did you make me into a dust bin?" And this is what Paul meant when he explained God's election based on his mercy and his sovereignty. Maybe the example of the potter and the clay is not such a good one because not many of us are into pottery. Let us take a more contemporary example. Let us say you want to buy a puppy and so you drop by a pet shop. You look at all the puppies in the cages. You examine the prices and you finally make your choice. And as you're walking out of the pet shop with your new pet, imagine all the other puppies barking in pro in protest. Hey, this is not fair. Why didn't you choose me? Now, most of you will agree that it is really no ground for objections by the vessel in the toilet or by the other puppies in the pet shop. So, why is it that some people find it hard to accept Paul's explanation to these two arguments? The answer I propose to you is the question of rights or more precisely the perception of rights. What and where are my rights? Today everyone is marching and demanding their rights. The workers want their rights to fair wages. The gay community wants their rights to uh be married legally. The immigrants want their rights to live and work without being harassed. Even the prostitutes want their rights to conduct their business in safety. Everyone knows his rights and demands that he be allowed to exercise these rights. Which is generally a good thing. Never before in the history of mankind have people enjoyed so many rights. We have more rights than ever before. I have my rights as a citizen of this country. I have a right to vote and to choose my leaders. Well, even though some people have subverted the electoral process with blackouts and with ink that can be easily washed off, but then I have also the right to protest and to descend. Even though the police may have other views about such rights, this country has a long way more to go in its development as a democratic country. In any case, we have so many rights today. We even demand the right to have these rights. Even though that may sound confusing, so much so that when we approach the almighty God, the creator god, we think that we can demand our rights. How can God blame us? Isn't he unjust? But the truth is, we cannot be more wrong. What about God's rights? What about his rights? his sovereign rights as the creator god, the almighty God. We have inflated our rights to the extent that we have also diminished the status of God. We forgot that as condemned sinners, we really have no rights before God. In the early example of the porter making vessels out of clay or the person buying a puppy from the pet shop, we laughed at the idea that the vessel in the toilet can complain or that the other puppies can protest. We should also laugh at the idea that we can object to God over his actions. There is no doubt that the porter has every right to work on the clay in any way he pleases. The customer has every right to choose whichever puppy that he likes. All the more God has every right, every sovereign right as God. In summary, it is easier to deal with the arguments in Romans 9. If only we will learn to cut ourselves down to size in relation to the almighty creator God. As wretched sinners, we have no rights before the Christ holy God. At the same time, our mind needs to elevate God's position to his rightful place as the supreme creator of heaven and earth. It is only when we begin to acknowledge God as Lord that our lives will begin to change dramatically as we come before him at with a humble heart and a contrite spirit. God says in Isaiah 66:2, "These are the ones I favor. I look on with favor those who are humble and contrite in spirit and those who tremble at my word.
By now, some of you who have come to hear about predestination must be rather disappointed because I hardly touch on the subject. As I said earlier, I rather not be drawn into this difficult debate between free will and predestination. At the same time, I also suspect that there must be some who still harbor some reservations despite all our early explanations. They might ask fine if God has his sovereign right as creator. What about my free will? Didn't everyone here embrace God's salvation of his own of his own vition? And these are valid questions. And therefore I shall briefly touch on the question of free will versus predestination. But first for a little bit of history. There are those who believe that God predestined everything. He fixed everything. He has mercy on whom he he wants to have mercy. He hardens whom he wants to harden. As we have read earlier, Christians who believe that brand of theology are known as Calvinist after John Kelvin, a French theologian who was active in the 16th century. On the other hand, on the other end of the spectrum, those who believe that human beings can freely respond to or reject the the grace of God, they are known as Armenians after Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch theologian who also lived in the 16th century. Now, this is a huge subject and we are merely scratching the surface of the surface if you know what I mean. To cut the long story short, who is right and who is wrong? The Calvinists or the Armenians, each school comes armed with a set of irrefutable verses. So, did God predestin us to salvation? Or do we come to the saving grace of Jesus by our own free will? But before I we attempt to answer this to be sure Paul's writing here in Romans 9 is largely Calvinistic. In fact, even before Romans 9, there is already a hint of his cal uh his uh predestination theology towards the end of chapter 8 29 and 30. Let me read it to you. For those God forneew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. Additionally, if you read Ephesians chapter 1, Paul has a lot more to say about predestination. Now, against these verses, the Armenians can quote you even more verses that support the position of free will. So, back to the question, who is right, the Calvinists or the Armenians? Now, I'm going to offer you a viewpoint that may surprise you and that is both are right. The Calvinists are right and so are the Armenians. God is sovereign and he predestined us for adoption to sunship through Jesus. At the same time, we exercise our free will when we accepted Jesus as savior. But how can this be? How can predestination coexist with free will? It will require more than one sermon to expound this. But let me perhaps relate to you an incident some time ago that may help to illustrate how it is possible that uh predestination and free will can coexist. One of the members of the SS19 live group, her name is Christine Lie, L AI, okay, who worships most of the time in Pantai. Her husband Peter Lim works as an administrator in the church office there. Many years ago, I still remember this, at a lifeg group meeting, Peter Lim proudly declared, "I'm the man of the house and I make all the decisions on all the big matters." And then in the same breath, he said, "But my wife is the one who decides which matter is big and which is small."
We all burst up laughing like you are doing now. But seriously, if you think about it, predestination is control. Free will is choice. And here is a lovely couple in a happy marriage where you find control and choice, coexisting harmoniously.
This t-shirt also illustrates predestination and free will working in tandem. On one side, it says Armenianism. I chose the shirt. On the other side, Calvinism, the shirt chose me. You see, predestination and free will, they are really two sides of the same coin. They are they need not to be mutually exclusive. God dwells in the supernatural eternal realm. And on that side of heaven, predestination is his operational dynamics. He chose us even before the creation of the world. Ephesians 1:4. We on the other hand live in the natural temporal world. And on our side of heaven, free will is our modest operandi. You will be ill advised to take predestination from the other side and try to understand it from this side. The result is intellectual confusion and endless debates. To put it simply, we exercise our free will within the context of God's sovereign will at the point of our conversion. That is the time when predestination and free will meet and agree. And this is as far as we go on this topic. To conclude the sermon, I badly need to talk about how we can apply what we have learned from Romans 9. Or else all of discussions so far would end up as mere head knowledge. How do we make this chapter practical and relevant to our lives? And this is perhaps the greatest challenge when it comes to Romans 9. I have only one point of application to share with you, an urgent point of application. Whether you think you were predestined for salvation or whether you think you exercised your free will when you were saved, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we are all condemned sinners given another chance by God's amazing grace. We are condemned on the basis of law but are redeemed by God's grace. Law versus grace. And which is what the book of Romans is all about. More specifically, the inadequacy of the law versus the supremacy of grace or as I have painted earlier, shave versus vojon. And because we are condemned sinners given another chance, there can only be one response from us and that is immense gratitude. Gratitude to God should permeate our soul and define our thinking. As I often said, recipients of grace must be ready to dispense grace. When we are thankful to God, we become less judgmental, more forgiving, and more gracious. Indeed, the measure of uh forgiveness of sorry, the measure of great gratitude to God is measured by our willingness to forgive and to be gracious. We are like prisoners on death row who has been granted a reprieve by the judge because someone else has paid our penalty. How thankful we should be. Ask any cancer survivor, someone who has been cured of this dreaded disease, he will tell you how he now lives with renewed vigor and renewed purpose, we should live likewise. I and I trust that this will be what you will take home with you from Romans 9. Shall we close in prayer? Our sovereign father in heaven, your amazing grace, how sweet the sound that save a wretched like me. May these words be the motivation in our lives so that we may continue our remaining journey here on earth with a deep sense of gratitude to you and with a renewed sense of purpose in you so that your name be glorified. For we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
We want to thank the Lord for our brother's message, brother Leedians. In response, uh let us sing the song Amazing Grace as we sing it to thank our Lord for his mercy.
Amazing.
