"The Believers Heart Beat For The Lost." Series

ROM: 9:1- 5. PAULS HEART FOR THE LOST

SO IN THE LAST SESSION WE WERE TAKEN UP TO THE HEIGHTS OF GOD’S WORK IN US AND HOW THROUGH ALL THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS IF WE LOVE HIM. PAUL IDENTIFIED FOR US GOD @WORK IN THAT IT WAS GOD WHO HAS CALLED US, PREDESTINED US , JUSTIFIED US, GLORIFIED US AND IN ALL THINGS ARE BEING SANCTIFIED. NOTHING IN THE WHOLE OF CREATION CAN SEPARATE US FROM GODS WORK IN US TAKING PLACE.... 8:38 NOT DEATH NOR LIFE NEITHER ANGELS NOR DEMONS, NEITHER THE PRESENT NOR THE FUTURE , NOR ANY POWERS, NEITHER HEIGHT NOR DEPTH NOR ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WHOLE OF CREATION , WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD . BECAUSE GOD LOVES YOU

HERE IN CHAPTERS 9 – 10 – 11 PAUL’S THEME IS TAKEN UP WITH THE PLACE OF ISRAEL IN GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION AND WITH SUB THEMES LIKE JEWISH UNBELIEF AND THE PROBLEMS THAT UNBELIEF RAISED. FOR INSTANCE HOW COULD THEY MISS THE PROMISE OF THE MESSIAH? ROM 1:2, 3:21 AS HE HAD BEEN PROMISED BEFOREHAND IN THEIR SCRIPTURES. AFTER ALL THE MESSAGE WAS FIRST FOR JEW ROM 1:16. HOW COULD THEY PARTAKE IN ALL THE ADVANTAGES THEY POSSESSED V4 -5 AND YET REJECT THEIR OWN MESSIAH V5 OUTRIGHT APOSTASY.

HOW CAN IT BE EXPLAINED? HOW DO WE RECONCILE GODS COVENANT PROMISES TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL IN THE PAST AND FIT THEM INTO THE FUTURE. HOW DOES THE JEWISH – GENTILE SITUATION FIT IN WITH GODS PLAN OF SALVATION? WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR THEM BOTH? THE NEXT THREE CHAPTERS GETS TO GRIPS WITH DIFFERENT ASPECT OF GODS RELATION TO ISRAEL PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE.

ALL THIS CAUSED PAUL TO HAVE GREAT ANGUISH OF HEART AND PERPLEXITY OF MIND 9: 1-4. LOOK HOW HE PERSONAL REFERS TO HIMSELF AND HIS FELLOW JEWS 9:3.I HAVE GREAT SORROW AND UNCEASING ANGUISH IN MY HEART. FOR I COULD WISH THAT I MYSELF WERE CURSED AND CUT OFF FROM CHRIST FOR THE SAKE OF MY BROTHERS THOSE OF HIS OWN RACE. WHY SUCH ANGUISH AND PERPLEXITY OF MIND, WHY IS HE WILLING TO GO TO SUCH LENGTHS TO BE CURSED AND CUT OFF FOR THE SAKE OF HIS BROTHERS? WHY? 10:1. BROTHERS, MY HEART’S DESIRE AND PRAYER TO GOD FOR THE ISRAELITES IS THAT THEY MAY BE SAVED.

• ROM: 9:1- 5. PAULS HEART FOR THE LOST TO BE SAVED

PAUL DESIRES HIS BROTHERS TO BE SAVED THIS AFFECTS EVERY AREA OF HIS LIFE, HIS CONSCIENCE HIS MIND , HIS HEART HIS AFFECTIONS AND HIS ACTIONS HE’S PREPARED TO SACRIFICE FOR OTHERS. PAUL AS A HEART FOR HIS JEWISH BROTHERS, BUT WE MUST REMEMBER THE PAUL WAS COMMISSIONED AS AN APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES AND PETER TO THE JEWS GAL 2:8. YET ON ALL HIS TRAVELS PAUL’S FIRST PORT OF CALL WAS THE LOCAL SYNAGOGUE: ACTS 13:1 IN SALAMIS 13:14 IN ANTIOCH 14:1 IN ICONIUM 17:1 IN THESSALONICA 17:10 IN BEREA 18:4 IN CORINTH 19:4 IN EPHESUS. IN SO DOING WINNING MANY JEWISH CONVERTS TO CHRIST. BUT THE GREAT MAJORITY OF JEWS REJECTED THE MESSAGE.

YOU AND I HAVE OUR OWN NATION BEFORE US, BRITISH CITIZENS HEADING FOR A LOST ETERNITY. YOU AND I HAVE OUR OWN RELATIVES, FATHERS AND MOTHERS, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, SONS AND DAUGHTERS, UNCLES AND AUNTS, GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT GRANDCHILDREN WHO ARE WITHOUT CHRIST IN THIS WORLD. DOES THEIR PRESENT CONDITION OF BEING LOST AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF REMAINING IN (SIN) AND BEING (HELL BOUND) DOES IT CONCERN US?

I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU A TRUE STORY WHICH TOOK PLACE IN A CHURCH WHERE THE LEADERS HAD GATHERED TO DISCUSS WHAT COLOUR TO PAINT THE CHURCH SANCTUARY QUITE A HEATED DISCUSSION HAD BROKEN OUT ABOUT PAINT PIGMENTS . DURING THE DISCUSSION A MOTHER CALLED TO ASK ABOUT HER SON WHO HADN’T COME HOME FROM THE PREVIOUS NIGHT. HE HAD BEEN RECENTLY DISCHARGED FROM THE MILITARY AND WAS WORK AS A CUSTODIAN.

WHILE A FEW CONTINUED ARGUING ABOUT COLOURS, OTHERS SPREAD OUT TO SEARCH THE ROOMS IN THIS LARGE CHURCH. THEY FOUND SCOTT’S JACKET IN THE JANITOR’S CLOSET AND PULLED IT OUT, AS THEY DID PACKAGES OF SYRINGES FELL OUT OF THE POCKET ONTO THE FLOOR. SUDDENLY THE SEARCH TOOK ON A MORE SERIOUS TONE. A SHORT TIME LATER ONE OF THE PASTORS ALONG WITH THE JANITOR BURST INTO THE MEETING WHERE THEY WERE STILL DISCUSSING THE PAINT COLOURS, “CALL THE POLICE, WE’VE FOUND HIM ON THE FLOOR IN THE BATHROOM.”

THE POLICE ARRIVED AND CONFIRMED OUR SUSPICIONS. SCOTT HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SEVERAL HOURS. AN OVERDOSE OF HEROIN HAD KILLED HIM. LATER THE PASTOR REFLECTS ON WHAT HAS TAKEN PLACE, “I HAD SEEN SCOTT IN THE CHURCH CAR PARK TALKING TO SOMEONE IN A FANCY BLACK CAR. HAD I WITNESSED THE DRUG DEAL? IF I HAD BEEN MORE CONCERNED ABOUT SCOTT’S SPIRITUAL CONDITION THAN THE COLOUR OF THE CHURCH SANCTUARY, WOULD HE STILL BE ALIVE TODAY?