This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day five of our look together at Romans chapter 10
verses 18 to 21 today. We talked about five things to understand when it comes
to being an expert witness for Jesus Christ. Today the fifth thing, previous
days we talked about needing number one, a passion for salvation that grows out
of this desire of our heart.

We've talked about number two, the need to understand the barriers to salvation.
They were there in my life, your life, and they're there in the life of people
who we love. At number three, we talked about the need to understand the
essentials of salvation.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And then yesterday we
talked about understanding the process of salvation, how God sends and someone
speaks and someone hears and then someone has faith. Faith comes by hearing.

It's also important to understand a fifth thing, and that is in these last
verses 18 to 21. Why don't people accept sometimes when they hear? I would say
this is the understanding of the rejection of salvation.

Paul talks about that rejection in verses 18 to 21, he says this, "But I ask,
did they not hear? Of course they did. " And then he quotes from the Old
Testament, "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words into the
ends of the world.

" Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, another quote from
the Old Testament, "I will make you envious by those who are not a nation. I
will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.

" And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed
myself to those who did not ask for me. " Concerning Israel, he says, and then a
final quote from the Old Testament, "All day long I have held out my hands to a
disobedient and obstinate people.

" These verses are all about why people reject faith, and he just asks some
questions. Why is it that people don't accept this good news? He asks, first of
all, did they not hear?

And his answer is, of course they heard. The news went out to the ends of the
earth. That's not the problem with the Israelite nation at least.

That is not the problem that they didn't hear, they heard. So then he asks the
second question, well maybe then they didn't understand. Maybe they heard the
words but it wasn't made understandable.

And Paul says in this case, of course it was understandable. And he gives a
couple of different quotes from the Old Testament. He says, "For Moses they were
made envious by those who are not a nation.

" How could they be made envious if they didn't understand that the Gentiles
were receiving something that they didn't have? And in Isaiah he says, "I was
found by those who did not even seek me. " He's saying the Gentiles were able to
understand.

They weren't even in God's family, his chosen nation, not even seeking him. But
they understood it. So he says it's not a problem with understanding.

As he talks through these verses and he says the Gentiles were brought in and
the Jewish nation was not, it makes some people ask the question, is God somehow
provoking the Jews here? Of course not. You read the Old Testament carefully,
it's clear as a bell.

He loves the Jewish nation as a sacrificial husband loves his wife. Jesus didn't
come just for Jew or Gentile. He came for all of us.

And yes, Jesus did speak primarily to the Jewish people while he was on this
earth but he came for all of us. And yes, it's primarily Gentiles who have
responded to his invitation at this point But he came for all of us. And so Paul
asks questions, why does some reject?

Didn't they hear? No, they heard. Didn't they understand?

No, they understood. He says there's a third reason. He says they're being
stubborn.

All day long I've held up my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. When
you read this verse, what do you see? Do you see the disobedience, the
stubbornness of man?

That's not the first thing I see. The first thing that I see is the love of God
all day long, holding out his hands. This chapter, Romans chapter 10 comes to a
close with this picture of God standing with his arms open, longing to draw men
and women to himself, admitting that the problem is a disobedient and obstinate
people but still longing to draw those people to himself.

I trust God to deal with us fairly. I won't fail to be saved because I didn't
hear the message somehow. Oops, if I only lived five minutes longer I would have
heard the message.

I trust God. I won't fail to receive salvation because I somehow didn't
understand that there was just one phrase I needed that would have helped me to
understand but somehow I never heard that. I trust God.

The truth is, the reason people aren't saved is because I stubbornly decide to
keep trusting myself. The picture to me is you're standing on the beach in the
face of an approaching tsunami and everyone can see it. The beach has been
cleared by the warnings.

The beach has been cleared by those who could see the rumblings but you stand in
the face of that thinking somehow I'll be okay. It's disobedient, it's obstinate
and it's destructive. Paul talks about this stubbornness here.

He talks about Israel and it's important to understand concerning Israel how he
talks. Sometimes Paul speaks of the Israelites as individuals, sometimes of
Israel as a nation. When he's speaking of Israelites as individuals he's clear
that some are saved and some are not.

When he's speaking as a nation as he does here he speaks of the condition of the
majority of that nation as if they were one but he's not saying all Israelites
are not saved here or even stubborn here. Many like himself had come to faith in
Christ. He's talking about his own countrymen.

He's saying as a whole that they're not coming to the kind of faith that I would
want them to come to and the reason isn't because they didn't hear, didn't
understand, it's because they're stubborn. Now when we talk about stubbornness
it's a lot easier to point the finger at somebody else but these verses aren't
just about Jews and Gentiles, large groups of people. These verses are about you
and me.

I'm stubborn and all day long God holds out his hands. You're stubborn and all
day long God holds out his hands. What does God do?

God is patient. God is loving. God is not stubborn.

He holds out his hands to offer us rescue. He holds out his hands to declare us
not guilty. He holds out his hands to give us freedom.

Stubbornness can keep us from coming to faith in Christ and stubbornness is what
keeps us from growing in our faith in Christ and I'll admit it I get stubborn
about things sometimes. I don't know why. I just get focused in on my little
world the way that I like to do things it's because I don't want to change and
so I get stubborn because I've built some comfortable habit in my life that I
think I really need and so I get stubborn because things have always worked in
some certain way in my life and I can't see how they might work differently to
the best advantage and so I get stubborn because I don't understand it.

It doesn't make sense to me logically and so I get stubborn. There's a lot of
reasons we all get stubborn. It's because of our pride and all day long God
holds out his hands.

Right now just picture that here's you stubborn here's God holding out his
hands. What are you going to do? What am I going to do?

Drop your hands. Accept his love and recognize that he'll never fail you. He
will never let you down.

How right now could you let go of your stubbornness and have a new fresh sense
of faith in him? We come to the end of Romans chapter 10. It's a chapter about
faith in my life, your life, and the life of those that we love and so as we
pray let's pray for acting on these verses, these words that we've read.

As you pray and talk to Jesus right now these next few moments say this to him,
"Jesus, this next week, remind me to pray for the salvation of somebody I love.
" Like they might bring their name to mind right now. Let's act on what God has
said here, "Jesus, this next week, here's who I'm going to invite to church
because I want them to see that they're not alone.

I want them to see that they can be part of a family. This next week, here's who
I'm going to tell the good news to, help me to do it with joy. Help me to do it
with excitement because it is good news.

" And then starting with ourselves, "Jesus, this next week, I'm going to let go
of my stubbornness. " I've been thinking about how someone else has been
stubborn not to accept faith in Christ but I'm stubborn too so I'm going to lead
the way. I'm going to let go of my stubbornness by doing this and just bring it
to mind right now.

Say it to God right now. He already knows it. You already know it.

Say it to him and ask for his strength. God, we're thankful that all day long in
your grace, in your patience, in your love, you hold out your hands. Thanks for
the good news.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well next week we're going to be looking together at
Romans chapter 11 as we continue to look at God's plan for bringing people to
himself, the great good news. Join us next week.