God Chooses Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: July 20, 2012

Date Preached: July 22, 2012

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Series Title: A Journey thru Romans

Sermon Title: God Chooses

Sermon Text: Romans 11:1-10 [NLT]

Introduction:

Have you ever stopped to think about God and what He has dealt with since eternity past? What God has done over the past eternity of time?

Well… God has done many things… God created the world and has kept it running for all of time… but when we look at what God does it all boils down to the fact that God makes choices.

I know that sounds completely simple… maybe TOO simple for many of you, but we serve a God of choices. Let me try to explain what I mean… God chose to create this world… He chose to populate it with plants, animals and humanity. God chose to clothe Himself in flesh and intermingle with His creation.

Then we see God chose to sacrifice Himself on the Cross of Calvary in the form of Jesus His Son. God chose to raise Jesus from the grave to conquer death and sin and God chose to offer redemption to sinful humanity. When we look at the Bible we can see that God has always been in the choosing business…

What does that have to do with this passage of Scripture? Well, when we read this passage, Rom 11:1-10 we will find Paul defending God’s choices!

There were those in the Jewish faith that felt that God had abandoned His people and may have thought God had forgotten about them! Many people of Paul’s day believed that God had somehow went back on His promises and covenant with His people…

However, Paul does not stand for such nonsense and he lays out a simple premise here… God chooses – we may not understand it, but God chooses!

I find when we read these 10 verses we can see 3 separate and totally different aspects of God’s choosing…

God Has Chosen (what God HAS done)

God Is Still Choosing (what God is still doing)

God wants YOU to choose Him (what God desires US to do)

So, as we take a look at this passage this morning I want us to remember that there has NEVER been a time in all of eternity when God was NOT making choices…

We may not understand His choices, we may disagree with His choices but God is always going to be God and God is going to make choices!

When we look at verses 1-2 we can see that…

God Has Chosen – v.1-2

1I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this?

The focus of these verses rest upon the phrase, ‘…His people…’ in other words the people God had chosen for Himself!

Paul wanted the Israelites to understand that God had NOT abandoned Israel. He uses himself as an example… I’m an Israelite and God has saved me…if he can save me he can and will save you is what Paul is insinuating here in this passage…

However the basis message we can see here from Paul is that God has made choices… or put it this way… God has chosen…

God’s choices are revealed thru His actions such as Creation when God CHOSE to speak the world into existence OR when God CHOSE humanity as His most excellent masterpiece above all other things in Creation.

God took the initiative and CHOSE Abram to come out and go to a land where God was going to bless him and from him build up a great nation… In Genesis 12:1 we find God calling Abram… This is God’s choice… this is God choosing out of his own pleasure and NOT because of who Abram was!

Here in these 2 verses we find Paul giving us firm indication that God’s CHOICE… that HIS CHOICE is not based on outside influences. God’s choices also cannot be revoked by our human frailty.

God also CHOSE Israel as His people, and continued to CHOOSE them even though they constantly disobeyed and strayed away from the covenant He had made with them…

Throughout Israel’s history there is a pattern of God calling His people, they would respond to the call and then rebel… and then God would call them back to Him. This is because God’s initial CHOOSING of them IS a firm and eternal choice…

That is the kind of God that we serve today! Today God’s choices remain eternal! Thru the Cross, God has CHOSEN to call humanity to Himself.