Recent Sermons

No Condemnation
Romans 8:1-3
Life in the Spirit
Romans 8:4-11
Heirs of God
Romans 8:12-17
Suffering Well
Romans 8:18-25
For Our Good
Romans 8:28-30
God For Us
Romans 8:31-39
The Doctrine of Election (Part 1)
Romans 9:1-13
The Doctrine of Election (Part 2)
Romans 9:14-29
The Doctrine of Election (Part 3)
Romans 9:14-29
Human Responsibility (Part 1)
Romans 9:30-10:4
Human Responsibility (Part 2)
Romans 10:5-17
Understanding Unbelief
Romans 10:14-21
Israel's Spiritual State: Divine Election
Romans 11:1-10
Israel's Spiritual State: Human Responsibility
Romans 11:11-24

Sermon Supplement

**For the sake of time, I did not explain this part of the text. Here is a brief commentary on these verses.

Rom. 11:7-10
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.” 

The two OT quotations at the end of this passage show from Scripture how God had hardened Israel. In the first one, starting inverse 8, is from Deut. 29:4. The context is Moses speaking to Israel after forty years in the wilderness. He reminds them that they witnessed a plethora of God’s miracles such as the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna, the quail, etc. And yet Moses says to his people, “But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.” Israel had overwhelming evidence. It was right there in front of them, but they still failed to believe God properly. Why? The issue was not lack of evidence. Rather, it was a lack of spiritual perception that only God can give. 

In terms of the second quote, it is from Psalm 69:22-23, "Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually." The context of this one is completely different than the first. In this one, King David is a righteous sufferer and his enemies are persecuting him. These words are what David prayed for against his enemies. Why does Paul quote this psalm? Paul does so to apply the words of this psalm to God. He is the righteous sufferer, and what David prayed would happen to his persecutors, Paul suggests, God has brought upon those Jews who have resisted the Gospel.