Good morning, church. We see everyone here today. And Romans chapter 9, verse 1 to verse 5 for us today. And Matt got to preach a beautiful, incredible passage in Romans chapter 8. He got to preach quite a bit of Romans 8 with me, Donna Weddens, and things like that. And then I get to do Romans chapter 9, verse 1 to 5. I think, yeah, so, Roman Zia, we were talking about this, Roman, you've enjoyed the weather the last few days, we've had nice sunshine, didn't we? I think Tuesday I got my head burnt a little bit, it was lovely, and then yesterday was an intense day of rain, and you're like, okay, this is very, very different. And that's a lot like what's happening here in Romans chapter 8 to chapter 9, is we get the sunshine of Romans 8, and it's glory, and it's even in your suffering and in your sin. God will never condemn you again in Jesus. He'll never separate from you. And you're like, yes, it's sunshine. It's beautiful. My head's burning, wonderful. And then we get to Romans 9, and suddenly it's just, it's a bit jarring. And you're like, whoa, where are we here? And Jacob's not here, so I can talk about him. I went to Nottingham with Jacob on Friday and he was driving very... Claire's in the other room so she doesn't need to know either. But we were driving very well along the A50 and A500 to Nottingham and then we get into Nottingham and you're in the 30s and you have to slow down and hill starts and things like that and Jacob's just passed his test. So there was about seven and a half stalls. But don't be telling Jacob I said that, right? He might hear this, but anyway. And it feels like that. You're flying along in Romans 8. You're enjoying Romans 8. It's wonderful. And then you kind of come to a bit of a juddering halt with Romans chapter 9 because it just seems to change the whole what we're doing and what we're looking at. But it's not. You have to keep in mind, we're following a screen of thought. Paul's got a purpose for Romans 9 to chapter 11. And it's when we're going to find out when we get to Romans 14 as well. But we're here in Romans chapter 9 to 11 which is going to be a lot to do with the nation of Israel but the nation of Israel 2000 years ago and what Paul's writing about to the audience in Rome back then and there's some questions that he's imagining that the people have. Verse 1 to verse 5, it's not going to be like Romans 8, so just be aware. This is a little bit of a foundational teaching this morning, so you might not walk out prison like you did last week with Romans 8. Sorry, okay? I'll do my best, but I drew the short straw again. I get Herod with his worms. I get all the sermons like that, so Romans 9, 1 to 5. And so let's just do a brief overview of Romans so far. So Romans chapter one, verse one to 17 is the introduction. Paul is introducing the theme. He's saying, I'm Paul writing to you Romans. This is the gospel. This is why I'm writing to you. That's the introduction. Okay. That's first one to 17. Then the second half of chapter one, all the way over to chapter three is why we need the gospel. Okay. We have sin. We have unbelief, we have rebellion and stubbornness, why we need the gospel, why we need Jesus. And then chapter 3 to chapter 4 is, this is what the gospel is, this is what God has done for you in Jesus Christ, this is how you get in, by faith alone, not by works, but by trusting in what Jesus Christ has done for you. Then Romans chapter 5-8, which we've been enjoying for quite a few months now, is now that you're in Christ, what do you also have? So now that you've trusted Jesus as your savior, what do you have in Jesus? And we've been enjoying that. Chapter nine to chapter 11, there's this question about what about Israel? What about the nation of Israel? And what's going on with them? And there's a reason for that, okay? Because this God who has sent Jesus, God the son, to come in as flesh, to become a man, to die on the cross for our sins, this God pronounced himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, okay? In other words, the God of Israel. And so the question you're left with, if God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, if God is the God of Israel, then what about the descendants of these men? What about Abraham's descendants and Isaac's descendants and Jacob's descendants? Because what's happening around this time when Paul writes this letter is, A lot of people in Israel are rejecting Jesus. They're rejecting the message of Jesus. They've rejected Jesus while he was on earth. Then the gospel was preached to the nation of Israel, and a lot of them are rejecting Jesus. They're rejecting the Jewish Messiah. So they're rejecting God. The God of Israel has become a man, Jesus Christ, and they've rejected their God. So now what? What do we do with all this? What do we do with this information? And what's going to be the future? What's happening in the present? So these are the big questions of Romans 9 to 11, which we'll see the importance of in chapter 14 when we get there, okay? So the first thing we're looking at this morning is verse one to verse three, which is Paul's heart. Okay. Paul's heart for the nation of Israel. Okay. He says, I tell the truth in Christ. Is there any movements? Yeah. Thanks so much, man. Thank you. I tell the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience also bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit. So whatever Paul's about to say next, he really means what he's about to say, right? I tell the truth in Christ, okay? Number one, I'm not lying. My conscience bears with me in the Holy Spirit. So three times, he's basically saying what I'm about to tell you is really, really, really true. This is the real me. What I'm about to say, I fully believe. It's fully true. I'm not lying to you. And then he goes on to tell us what it is. Verse two, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. So we see Paul's anguish here. You see, Paul is a Jew. He's an Israelite. He's a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And he's also, as we saw from the book of Acts, the apostle to the nations. So Jesus, saves Paul and says to Paul, you're gonna be the one that I choose to go to all the nations of the earth to preach the gospel, or all the nations, not of the whole earth. He didn't go to like South America, he didn't go to Cuba to preach Jesus, but all the Mediterranean area, you will preach the gospel to these nations. And so a lot of the Jewish people begin to see Paul as a Gentile sympathizer. And remember, the Jewish people had nothing to do with the Gentiles. If you wouldn't go into a Gentile's house, you wouldn't eat with a Gentile, you wouldn't have company with a Gentile. And so for Paul, this Jew, to suddenly be in their house and eat meals with them and share the gospel with them and embrace them as brothers in Christ, He's seen as a Gentile sympathizer. But Paul wants to assure these people that I have a deep love for the Gentiles, yes, but I have a deep love for my people as well, the people of Israel. And I'm grieved by their unbelief. I'm not angry at it, I'm grieved by it. I have continual sorrow and grief in my heart because of their rejection of Jesus. Now look what he says next in verse three. I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, the Israelites. Paul's saying that he would be willing to take the wrath that they deserve if they could be forgiven in Jesus. if they would just trust Jesus as their Savior. If there was an option given, Paul, this can't happen, but Paul's basically saying, if I could die on their behalf, if I could take the wrath that was theirs, knowing that they would trust Jesus if I did, I would do it for these people, because they're my people, they're my countrymen, and I love them that much. And this is a lot like what Moses says in Exodus chapter 32 and verse 32. Moses is in Mount Sinai. of Israel have sinned against God, and God says, I'm going to punish this nation, I'm going to have nothing to do with this nation anymore. And Moses says, but now if you will forgive them, please. But if you won't forgive them, then blot me out of your book that you've written. If you won't forgive them, let me die in their place, says Moses. And that's a lot like someone else, isn't it? Who else said, let me die in other people's place? Sunday School answer, right? Jesus Christ is saying to the Father, I will die in their place. I will take their guilt and wrath upon myself. And Paul's nice and the same. And what's amazing about this is Paul's not just talking to. He's not like he doesn't share the gospel with a Jewish person. And the Jewish person's like science, very nice. It's just not for me, Paul. But have a great time. And Paul's like, thank you very much. And they leave with peace and friendship forever. These Jewish people, when Paul preaches the gospel to them, some of them believe and trust in Jesus the Savior, and the others try to kill him. And they chase him from city to city, trying to kill him. And sometimes they manage to get stones and throw it at him to the point where he's actually dead and risen again. Like, they hate him. These are his enemies in the flesh. And these are people who've made his life really, really, really difficult up until this point. You just read the book of Acts, you read the epistles, and Paul's like, everywhere I go, there's then Jewish people coming after me. There's a point in Thessalonica where he gets to Thessalonica, he stays there for two to three weeks, preaches the gospel, and he has to get out of there again, because the Jews have come from another city to get rid of him, to hurt him. And you think, what does someone do to his enemies like that? How does someone feel towards people like that? Question for you guys and for me. How would you feel towards someone like that? How would you feel towards someone who just wants you dead? They're out to get you. Everything you do, they're just watching every step to rip you apart with words and with violence and trying to stir up other people against you as well. And they're writing letters to everywhere across the Mediterranean saying, don't trust this Paul guy, don't trust this Paul guy. And you think, how would I respond to someone like that, right? Well, how would I treat somebody like that? And here's what Paul says, I would die for them. I would take their wrath. I would take their guilt upon myself and die in their place. I would be cut off from Christ in their place if they would become His. And that just blows me away. It's crazy. That's what he feels towards his enemies. And you're like, I'm preparing a sermon. It's like, do I always feel that way for Victoria? Like, do I always feel that way for the people in the church family? Do I always feel that way for the people in my neighborhood? Do I always feel that way for the people who've hurt me? That I would say I would die for them. And here's Paul, who's just following Jesus, who's being like Moses ultimately as well, but ultimately Jesus Christ. So this is Paul's heart. And then verse 4 to verse 5, he gives us Israel's heritage, the heritage of the nation of Israel, verse 4 to verse 5. All right. And he says this, they're Israelites. And what we're going to do now, for the next hour and a half is look at the history of Israel, right? Sound good? The history of the nation of Israel from its conception in 2000 BC until about 65 AD when Romans is written, okay? So I hope you've got reams of paper, two pens at least in case one runs out, and we're gonna go through this massive, all right? Israel's heritage. Some people don't know if I'm telling the truth or not. We'll see. Is he telling the truth? Okay, Paul's already asked a certain question in Romans chapter 3, verse 1 to verse 2. And the question is, is there an advantage to being Jewish? Because he's been right in Romans chapter three, being circumcised doesn't make you right with God. Having the Bible doesn't make you right with God. Being born an Israelite doesn't make you right with God. Doing the temple services doesn't make you right with God. Following the Sabbath doesn't make you right with God. So then what's the point of being a Jew is the question he's imagining someone asking. And he says, well, actually, they have great advantage. And the great advantage is they have the word of God. They have the word of God, and they've had the word of God for all of these generations, which means they have God's revelation, and God's character, and God's will, and the promises that this Messiah is gonna come and rescue the nations. That's the advantage that they have, that they have the word of God, okay? Now, we have the Word of God, so we've got great advantage, but back then, back when Paul's writing this, it's the Jews who have the Scriptures, and the Jews who always have had the Scriptures, and the Gentiles didn't have it so much, that's the advantage that they had. They had light. They had revelation from God, okay? So we get back to Romans chapter 9, and we're going to look at, this is basically the privileges of the nation of Israel. What the nation of Israel had, and Paul's just saying this is what God gave this nation over this 2,000 year period of time. Let me just pause for a second. We're not talking about modern era Israel. We give you a promise this morning that through our preaching through Romans 9 to 11, we're not going to get into that conversation at all here. The Israel-Palestine stuff, that's not going to be a conversation here. That's not what Paul's writing about because that wasn't happening 2000 years ago. He has a whole different reason for writing Romans 9 to 11 than that. So we're not going to get into political issues from the pulpit, and we know that when we're in Romans 9-11, there's lots of different opinions about what's going on, and we hope to just drive home the point that Paul's trying to make. Rather than hobby-horsing the thing, teaching our agenda, we just want to teach the Scriptures. Is that alright? Does that sound good? Okay. So eight things that Paul mentions the nation of Israel has, and this is a foundation message, and it is a sort of history tour of the nation of Israel for 2,000 years. So here we go. First thing that the nation of Israel has, the first privilege that they had, the first blessing, their blessing wasn't just for them to experience. It was they were blessed by God so that they would bless the nations. That's the whole point. They would receive these blessings from God and then bless the nations is the whole point. of what Israel was meant to be doing, okay? And just remember the Old Testament are these rivers that flow into the mainstream that ultimately fall into the waterfall of Jesus Christ. All these different streams of the prophets and the priests and the law, all these different chapters. The Bible is, who's got a Bible handy? I've got my iPad. I do have my Bible on there. So we've got the Old Testament, which is big. Okay, so this is the Old Testament, right? So this is the Nation of Israel stuff. This is what we're looking at. This is two verses Paul gives to this, okay? Two verses, and then this is the New Testament. So you've got the Old Testament is basically this. According to 1 Peter, someone is coming to rescue us from the fall. Genesis 3 happened, Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, were cast out of the presence of God, Cast out of the place of abundance, now what? And God promises in Genesis 3, someone's coming to rescue us. And so that part of your Bible right there is God fulfilling that promise. And you're watching that unfold. It's called progressive revelation as you watch God unfold His promise, okay? Then you've got the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. this little bit here, and that is the one who's been promised has come. He's here. So all these rivers in here, all these little tributaries and rivers are all flowing to this waterfall. Jesus has come. The one that's been promised has come. Look at what he's like. Look at what he does. Look at what he says. And then ultimately his death and resurrection for us. And then after the waterfall, the river continues to flow. And that's your your New Testament epistles. How do I live like this bit's true? This bit is promise, and this bit is true. How do I live like it's true? That's your Bible. We're going to cover this bit in two verses, and I hope it's helpful. Romans 9, verses 4-5. The first thing that they have is the adoption. Adoption. So the nation of Israel, it comes from one guy called Abraham. Abraham was worshiping false gods like everybody else. Everyone at this time, after the Noah's flood in Genesis 6, then you have complete rebellion once again, and everyone's worshiping false gods. Everyone speaks one language, which is probably with an Irish accent, I'm sure. And then they're all building the Tower of Babel, remember? They build the Tower of Babel, God scatters them, changes all the languages, so all of a sudden you've got Stokes. Probably not at that point, actually. But then you've got scattering of the nations, and from that whole scattering, God chooses one man, Abraham. And Abraham's chosen to be the one who will, through his line, someone will come to bless everybody. Bless the nations again. Someone will come from this one guy, Abraham, who will bless the nations. Anyone want to guess who that might be? Sunday school answer again? It's Jesus, right? So then we fast forward to Moses, who comes from Abraham. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Then eventually you get to a guy called Moses. And Israel is in Egypt under slavery for 400 years, praying that God would deliver them. And God raises up a deliverer called Moses. And God says about Israel at that point, Israel is my firstborn son. So you get that in Exodus chapter 4, and you see that in Hosea 11, God rescues Israel his son from Egypt. And God at this point adopts the nation of Israel as His people. Why did he do it? Why did God adopt this nation to be the nation that he would choose? Deuteronomy 7 tells us why. It's not because they're good. It's not because they were righteous. And it's not because they were strong and mighty. It was because they were the least of the nations. It's because they were small and puny and weak. And their father, Abraham, was worshiping idols. And then God chose him and threw him blast. Okay, so it's not picking favorites. It's privileges that God gave. That's the first thing they experienced, the adoption where God says, you're going to be my people. Okay, I'm going to give you a relationship with me. You're going to be my people. The second thing God gives them then is the glory. Now what is the glory? Well if you've read Exodus you'll see that the nation of Israel come out of Egypt and they are following a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire and that's the glory of God. So in the daytime it's a big massive A pillar of cloud that they follow through the wilderness for 40 years. In the evening, it's a pillar of fire that they follow. This is the glory. That glory then makes its way towards Mount Sinai, up until the mountain. where the glory of God is visible on top of this mountain. The nation of Israel are camped all around it and they're like, we're not going up there. If we go anywhere near that thing, we're going to die, okay? Because the glory of God is on this mountain. So Moses is told to build a tabernacle, a tent that would be all like the Garden of Eden on the inside. And then once they've built it and consecrated the priests and made the sacrifices, God's glory that was this pillar of cloud and fire that was up in the mountain, enters into the tabernacle and no one can get close to it. God's glory is in the presence of this nation of Israel. God is everywhere. We know that. He's right here. He's where you're going to be and cost the coffee after this. or at your home or in your car, he's everywhere, but his glory is in specific place at this point, his Shekinah glory. Further down the line, the nation of Israel builds a temple, and in that temple, which is made of stone, God's glory enters into it, the Shekinah glory of God. So this is a privilege, like we don't have that in Belfast. Right? Over in Belfast, we don't have the Shekinah glory of God sitting there in the Capitol. We didn't experience that. But Israel did experience that. We don't get that up in Hanalei. All right? That didn't happen in Hanalei. It happened in Israel. It happened in the wilderness with the people of Israel. And then they went to the land. This is their privilege, okay? That they would experience this glory. The third thing they experienced are the covenants. The covenants. Now, a covenant is a promise that God makes with the nation of Israel. Some of those covenants are what we call unconditional covenants. In other words, no matter what you do, I will be faithful to my promise to you, okay? So even if you're unfaithful, like Tim, sorry, you're not Tim, you're Ken. Like Ken this morning, even when we're not faithful, he will be faithful, okay? And God made some unconditional promises to the nation of Israel. Some of those covenants are the Abrahamic covenants that God through his line would bless the nations, the Abrahamic covenant. You've got the Mosaic covenant, which is conditional, which is if you obey my commandments, you will experience my blessing in the land. That's the Mosaic. The Aaronic priesthood is that there will always be a priest of Aaron. The Davidic covenant is that there will always be a Queen from the line of David. And then the new covenant, which is what we're experiencing right now, some of it, not all of it, is that our hearts would become hearts that love God and love his commandments. Transformed hearts. Rather than hearts of stone, they'll be hearts of flesh. These promises were not given to the Gentiles. They were given to the nation of Israel. So that's their privilege once again. All right. We all doing okay so far? All right. Okay. There's going to be a test on this tonight, by the way, at Growth Groups. Matt didn't tell you that. All right. The fourth thing that was promised or that was given to the Nation of Israel is God's law, the giving of the law, which is Genesis to Deuteronomy, the Torah, the law. And in the Torah, Genesis to Deuteronomy, the first five books of your Bible, God is revealing who He is. He's revealing His character, and His will, and His commandments, and His promises to the nation of Israel. He's revealing Himself. We as the Gentiles, during this period of time, we didn't know anything about the true God. We sensed that there was a true God. Romans 1 tells us we knew that he was the creator, but we didn't know anything about him. We had a conscience that kind of accused us and excused us now and then, but nothing was clear for us. We were living in fog. We're living in the dark, no idea what was going on whatsoever. But the nation of Israel had light. They had the Torah, the giving of the law, the clear revelation of who God is and what he wanted and what he promised, which is very helpful, right? And that's number four. Number five, the worship, or in your Bible it might be translated the services, the worship of the services. And again, that's just the privilege of the tabernacle and the temple. Again, we the nations, we were running around in England and in Gaul and in wherever else in the world, and we were worshiping the false gods. We were worshiping idols, and we were sacrificing to idols, and we were hoping that the rain god would give us rain. And today we were hoping that the sun god would stop it from raining, right? And we were sacrificing to the fertility god so that we would have children, and sacrificing to the god of war so we would have success. And it was always this transaction of, if I do this, would you please do this? I'm not sure you will, but you might, please. And we were worshiping idols. We were living in darkness. We had no hope. We had no knowledge of God. And the nation of Israel had this privilege that they could come into the very presence of God in that courtroom and they could offer their sacrifices to the true God. Sacrifices of thanksgiving, not sacrifices of, if I give you this lamb, will you give me this? But thanksgiving offerings to God. Thank you for all that you've done for us. Thank you for your clear of us. Thank you for all these things that we experience. because of you. So this is the the priesthood, the priesthood of Aaron, the tabernacle, the temple, the sacrifices. These were the privileges of the nation of Israel all pointing towards Jesus the Messiah. Number six, they have the promises. The promises, which is the prophets. The prophets are just full of promises. Full of them. And the ultimate promise, of course, is what? Sunday School answer once more? Jesus is going to come. The Messiah, the promised one, is going to come, and he's going to restore, and he's going to redeem, and he's going to save, and he's going to deliver, he's going to heal, and he's going to bring peace and comfort and joy and restoration. the promises were given to the nation of Israel, because it was Isaiah the prophet who was a Jew, and who did he preach to? He preached to the Jews, and Jeremiah comes and he preaches to the Jews, and Ezekiel preaches to the Jews, and he's promising them, someone's gonna come and fix all of this, and he's gonna fix you and your broken hearts. And we can read it now, like 2000 years, 2000 AD, yeah, 2024, oh yeah, I just forgot for a second. We're able to read those, but they're directed towards the nation of Israel, the promises of God. Number seven, as we get into verse five, of whom are the fathers or the patriarchs? These men and these women who were with these men, who were following God. who had a relationship with God by faith in Him. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the 12 sons who knew God, who could speak with Him and hear from Him and receive these promises from Him. They were Jewish men. They were Israelites. And then the cherry on top, or the crown, it's better, the crown and glory of it all, the capstone of all of this is number eight. Through them, according to the flesh, the Christ came. Jesus was born. He's the crown and glory of all of this. Jesus, the son of God, God overall, God in the flesh, the seed of the woman promised to us in page three of your Bible, that someone's going to come and rescue us. And this person who has come to rescue us is born from the line of Israel. He was a Hebrew. He was of the nation of Israel. The eternal God was born a man, born a Jew, born under the law to rescue them and to rescue the Gentiles as well. There you go. All right. You ready for your test tonight? I think you got to get this. Ben, all it in order with references. Awesome, man. So Paul's defending himself here from any charge that he devalues the heritage of Israel, or he makes light of the foundation that they provided for the gospel message he advocates. All of this, these eight things, are the foundation from which the gospel comes, which you and I believe. Now, we're the nations, we're the Gentiles. And because of these eight things that were given to the Jewish people, you and I can sit here this morning in Stoke-on-Trent and sing these songs. All my life you've been faithful. All my life you've been so, so good. I want to sing of the goodness of God. I want to praise Jesus. This person who came 2,000 years ago, born under the law, to rescue me. And it all happened because of the foundation that God was laying in that first big chunk of your Bible. God was revealing this. God was doing this. God was working all this out so that Christ would be born. All right, what do we have for us this morning? What do we take away from this this morning? What's the takeaway? And it's a bit tricky, verse one to verse five, to take this away. And what we thought we would just leave it with, because we're gonna, this is the foundation for the rest of Romans 9 to 11, which we'll unpack quite a bit, hopefully. But I just thought I would leave us with this thought from verse one to verse three. The heart of Paul is the heart of Christ. The heart of Paul is the heart of Christ. What do I mean by that? Well, Paul's heart, as you can clearly see in verse one to verse three, is a heart of evangelism. Paul's heart is that his people would know Jesus, that they would trust Christ as their Savior. And he so wanted that to happen that he would take all that they deserve in their place so that they could believe that Jesus was the Messiah, if it was possible for that to happen. He has a heart for these people. But the second thing we see in the heart of Paul for the heart of Christ is that this is a heart that loves his enemies. These men and these women who made his life so difficult, who brought nothing but hurt and pain and slander and grief to Paul. And Paul says, I would die for them if I could. I would die for them. And I'd just like to encourage us with that thought this morning before we wrap it up. This isn't because Paul is amazing. It's not because Paul is wonderful. Paul's a bloke. Paul's a sinner. Paul's of the flesh. Paul, just like us, would hold a grievance against someone who hurts us or wrongs us. He's just like us. But his heart has been changed and is continually being changed to be more like Jesus Christ's. And Jesus Christ's heart is a heart for the lost. Isn't it? What did Jesus come to do? I came to seek and see of the lost. Jesus Christ's heart, God's heart is a heart that looks upon a world that rejects him and says, I want to rescue you. I want to save you. I want you to be mine. I want to forgive you. I want you to know this message. And that's why Paul's heart is a heart of evangelism because Jesus's heart is a heart of evangelism. and Jesus's approach to his enemies. What was Jesus's approach to his enemies? Well, he's on the cross being tortured. I haven't been tortured by the Romans being mocked by the Jews and the Romans. What's his heart? Father, get them. Father, destroy them. Father, let pillars of fire come down and consume them. What did he say? Father, forgive them. Forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Father, forgive my enemies. Forgive those people who are hurting me. So this is the heart of God. God's heart for his enemies is to make them his people. And so Paul's heart is a heart that loves his enemies as well because his heart is being changed to become like Jesus's heart. So I just encourage us this morning, it's like a check engine sign on your car. You're driving your car and it says, and like this red light comes up on the dashboard, right? Oh, something's wrong. Yeah. that if I don't have a heart for the lost, and if I don't have a heart that is seeking to love my enemies, then there's an indication that something's going wrong here between my fellowship with God. Because if I'm walking in true fellowship with God, truly walking with Him, truly close to Him, truly being changed by Him, then I will have a heart for the lost, and I will have a heart for my enemies. And if I don't, it's this little thing that's, uh-oh, I need to run back to Jesus again. So I'm not going to berate us this morning and say, how dare you not? But what it is, is like, oh man, My heart for the lost has grown cold. My heart for my enemies has grown bitter. And that's a check engine sign. I'm not as close to Jesus anymore. I need to run back to him. I need to get close to him again. And as I get close to him again, he gives me a heart for the lost and he gives me a heart for my enemies. Is that alright to take that with you? We'll pray about that this morning. Alright, let's finish in prayer. God in heaven, we thank you so much for your faithfulness over the generations of the nation of Israel. They were often wayward, just like I am. Often full of unbelief and stubbornness and running away from you to other things, just like I do. But you were so faithful to them. so that you could bring Christ into this world and you could be faithful to us as well. Thank you that you're faithful, even when we're not. Thank you that you hold fast to us, even when we don't. You're so gracious, you're so good, you're so kind to us. You've made us your people, us who were the Gentiles, who were far off, who didn't have any of these privileges. I have now entered into the ultimate privilege of all, of belonging to Jesus Christ, of being your children, of having Jesus live in us, of being recipients of eternal life in the Holy Spirit. So thank you so much that that's ours. And for us who are yours, Lord, I pray that you would help us to check our hearts towards the lost, Help us to check our hearts towards those who've hurt us or wronged us recently. And just help us to see you, let them be indicators of our close fellowship with you. Or perhaps we're maybe getting distracted and a little bit distant from you in all of this. Thank you that when we see this about ourselves, we can just run right back to you again and receive grace and mercy, cleansing and restoration. For anyone in this room who doesn't belong to you, Lord, I pray that they would see this wonderful plan that you've been working towards since Genesis chapter 1, this promise fulfilled in Genesis 3, that you would send someone to rescue them from their sin and their idolatries and their rebellion against you. So please be gracious to us, Lord. Thank you that you are in Jesus' name. Amen.