Romans In Isaiah 48 Series

Romans in Isaiah 48

(Isaiah 48:1-19)

1. This has been an eventful week. We were shocked by the Boston Marathon bombing; floods reminded us of 2003, and many of you had flooded basements and streets.

2 The church had a number of water issues.

4. Our motto this week was “Let’s get it over with!”

5. Yet sometimes we feel opposite: we have good times & want to extend them.

6. God is to extending the good; he does it in particular with the truth of the Word

7. Today we will examine extended truths, truths that speak of God’s character

Main Idea: Much of what Paul writes in Romans comes from Isaiah: God’s truth is eternal, so it is no surprise that we see the major tenants of the Christian faith are found in the Old Testament.

I. The Stubbornness of the Ancient Jewish PEOPLE (1-8)

A. The people did not TRUST God alone despite fulfilled prophecy

• They had some faith in God, but also trusted in pagan gods…

• Some people say they are 60% Christian and 40% something else

• We need to put all our eggs in one basket; that basket is Jesus

B. God KNEW they would be stubborn when he chose them

Deuteronomy 9:6, ““Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.”

Sometimes a guy or gal marries a stubborn person and then complains they married a stubborn person; we say, “Duh!” But this is exactly what God did!

C. This FORESHADOWED their widespread rejection of Messiah (Romans 11:7-10)

Romans 11:7, “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened…”

By not forsaking the people who have stubbornly and repeated rejected him, God has a great opportunity to showcase his Sovereign Grace…

• God passes over the unwilling and seeks those whose hearts are soft

• Pastor friend: small, dead church…. Build around people rather than coerce

D. CONVICTION differs from stubbornness

1. Conviction is grounded in God’s truth (sure about some things)

2. Stubbornness is grounded in personality (yours or others) and self-referenced, usually tied in to emotion

3.

4. Conviction helps us resist the lures that dangle themselves before us

• The lure of unbelief

• The lure of the world (conformity)

• The lure of religion and gaining a sense of security through it (idolatry)

• The lure of complacency

Application: God loves stubborn people, and so must we. It is hard to love people who get on our nerves, who have attributes that irritate us. Some of us are introverts and easily over stimulated; some of us are extroverts and find introverts boring; others are ambiverts (both) and can’t understand why everyone is trying to make everyone else like them. But however we are, we are called to love. God loves even the stubborn.

II. God Continues to REFINE and Preserve the Jewish People Nonetheless (9-15)

A. The Lord continues to APPEAL to Israel (9-11) -- he has and is refining them…

Historically, especially in ancient times, the way to remove the dross was to crush the raw ore and then heat it to the melting point of the metal. This requires a really hot fire. Silver melts at around 1800 degrees Fahrenheit and gold at almost 2000 degrees. At those temperatures the impurities, the dross, either burns up or floats to the surface to be removed. One of the techniques for separating silver from lead was to use a series of pots all heated up to high temperature. The lead that floated to the surface was skimmed off and moved to the next pot on the left while the silver was moved to the pot on the right so that the silver in the far pot was quite pure.”

[Chip Blackshear, Sermoncentral]

B. God is the mighty CREATOR and can therefore accomplish his plans (12-15)

C. Of the three servants, Messiah, Israel, and Cyrus, CYRUS is “him.”

D. Romans: God is still working with Israel

Romans 11:11-12, “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!”

1. Jealous (Romans 11:11)

2. Preparing to re-attach the branches (Romans 11:12-29)

3. We think in terms of years or decades: God –centuries and millennia!

E. God’s stubborn determination to KEEP his Word despite ourselves

God is patient with us, despite how we let him down. Like this motel owner:

A man wrote a letter to a small hotel in a Midwest town he planned to visit on his vacation.