Nothing better than to hear the message of Christ. Large numbers of people heard Him. With Jesus, there’s a new normal. Disciples had to go fish before the Spirit came to move them into their purpose. Belief in election doesn’t mean a lack of care for people. This time stirs people to the condition of their souls. Obey God and receive His anointing. (Romans 9:2, 31; Romans 10:6-7)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller, Pastor Barry Quirk
Sermon 11873
7:00 PM on 4/22/2020

P. Schaller –

I was going to speak on Romans 8 and in the prayer now I changed my message. So it’s Romans 9. Then we’ll go
to chapter 10. When we think of our country and what is happening and we’re very saddened
when we hear of somebody who by an extended way, someone in our church lost a brother.
One of our brothers here lost a brother- in-law. I heard of two in the last few days. When we
think about the message of the gospel, there isn’t anything greater, nothing better than to hear
the message of Christ and the burden we have for people to find Christ. [part of the recording
got deleted here]. No man was like him in her life (Mary Magdalene).

He was holy, godly, edifying, kind, and encouraging. He was forgiving. He was Christ. He appeared to her and
showed himself to her at the tomb in John 20. You cannot help but think of how she was drawn
to his purpose. Kind people, loving people like P. Barry as an example. When you get to know
somebody in a spiritual way, you are drawn and attracted to people. Mary Magdalene was
attracted and drawn to this man for no man was like him. A second example I was thinking of is
at the Last Supper when Jesus told the disciples I’m going to leave.

They immediately wanted to be with him. We will go with you. Has it ever happened to you? You want to be with those people. You want to be with that person. You are drawn to their kindness, to their love, their
joy, their countenance, their heart. It isn’t like that all the time with us because we do have a
sin nature. We can be very upset about things. We read in the book of Romans the Jews were
supposed to be righteous people, but they missed it because they established their own
righteousness. They became mean and angry and judgmental and disappointed and frustrated.
They were not the kind of people you’d be drawn to but Jesus, the common people heard him
gladly. Many times large numbers of people who heard about him listened to him teach.

They watched him and were attracted to him. The disciples at the Last Supper, we will go with you.
They were saddened hearing he was going away because they were attracted to him. The third
example is at the Sea of Galilee in the end of John 20 when Peter and John are fishing and the
shadowy figure on the shore at twilight at the beginning of the day – rather at dawn. He said
throw your net on the right side and they caught many fish. John the younger one, the more
quiet one, the more sensitive one, the discerning one, the very perceptive one, John, saw, knew
that is the Lord. Peter said, who is it? It is the Lord. Peter loved him. Peter loved him.

Peter threw himself in the water right away, right away. He threw himself in the water and ran to
shore right away. When Jesus comes into your life though we have not seen Jesus, when Jesus
comes into your life by the H.S. this affects you and you are changed. You are affected by the
work of grace and what is in your heart. It says in 1 Peter 2, “unto you which believe, he is
precious.” What is precious about him? His words. His spirit. His purpose. Teaching us who God
is. Being with us in the gutter, in the fear, in the darkness, in the shadowy room, in the storm at
sea, in persecution, in difficulty, in the midst of hatred, in the midst of judgmental spirits in the
midst of heresy, in the midst of unbelief and atheism and cynical people.

He prepares a table for us in the presence. In this world he is our God. He’s the God that shows us. He’s the God
that visits you. He’s the God that cares for you. He’s the God that will help you with your family
as we saw in the video in a practical way. We are just common people living in a situation that is
kind of new for us, but when you have Jesus you have a new normal. When things change you get adjusted to the new normal. When things are different you get adjusted. God is a very
present help in time of need in Psalm 27. We hunger and thirst after him like Mary Magdalene.
She went to the tomb and he was buried. That didn’t stop her. When you know him, he is
precious whether he is dead or alive.

You know him and follow after him in a life that is different from what the world has. The world does not have this. Our first point is to introduce the theme of knowing God, loving God, desiring God, and seeking God. Many of us miss seeing each other but we know each other. We know each other in the faith. It’s not the same when
we are not meeting and we long to meet and find Christ amongst us, to see Christ in us, to hear
a word of wisdom, to hear a word of knowledge, to hear a message, to have a word of kindness,
to laugh in the corner, to be giddy, to be happy, to be sad and have someone to weep with. Like
we read in Romans 12:15. To have a spirit of humility, of quietness.

The apostle John was that reserved kind of a guy that didn’t even mention his name in the gospel of John. He just said the disciple that Jesus loved. He ran to the tomb and got there first, but he waited for Peter
because John was a more sensitive kind, but this is a gift. There are many gifts in the Body.
Sometimes someone very quiet is a great blessing for you. Maybe somebody impetuous,
spontaneous like Peter throwing himself in the water and swimming to shore because he
couldn’t get there fast enough by the boat. He just wanted to see him and be with him.
Beautiful. Now we come to point #2, Romans 9.

This is a beautiful thought by the Apostle Paul. We have 9, 10, 11 are kind of parenthetical chapters in the book of Romans, and Paul dives into a very important subject and that is the unsaved Jews. The unsaved Jews. The Jews in general. What is God doing with them? Why aren’t they believing in Christ? It’s a burden for the apostle
Paul. Maybe it’s the same for us in our country in America. We may see people and realize
people are not saved and we have a burden for them. Maybe you are living in Hungary, maybe
in the Ukraine or Russia or Azerbaijan or India or China or Korea. Remember our brothers and
sisters in these places that are laboring in their faith and have the same spirit that Paul had. He
said I am burdened for my Jewish people.

Romans 9:2, I have a sorrow in my heart. I have a heaviness in my heart for the unsaved Jewish people that are blinded, that are not realizing who he is, that have not seen him. Paul could say I have seen him on the road to Damascus. I understand the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. I understand Moses very well. I know what Abraham’s
calling was. God has showed me the gospel and I see the need. I realize where the Jewish
people have stumbled. They have stumbled at the stumbling stone. It isn’t the law. It’s the faith
they have stumbled at. This is Romans 9:31. They followed after the law of righteousness, but
they did not attain it. Why? Because they sought it not by faith in vs. 32-33. What was it?

They did not realize that they were to come to God by faith and that would be, the righteousness
would be given to them as they believed God, Genesis 15:6. They stumbled there. He understood
the Jewish problem. He understood they got hijacked by the law of righteousness, by behaviors
of righteousness, by living a righteous life religiously but they missed the whole point of coming
to God by faith even as an unrighteous man. That’s what happened to Mary Magdalene. She
was unrighteous but she came to him by faith. That’s what happened to John and Peter. And
they were simple men.

They saw the resurrected Christ and went back to their common lifestyle of fishing because they had to eat. I’m so fascinated by the fact that after following Jesus for three years, they still have no livelihood. They have no income. They have to go back to what they did before in order to survive. They had to go fish because they had not yet
realized what would be happening. They would give themselves by the Spirit of God to the
ministry. By the ministry they would start to live. They would give themselves to God and
continuing in faith and by the grace of God, God would give them everything they needed. They
had not yet gotten there but they knew it. They had been taught it. They realized with Christ
everything is possible.

They had a practical need, so they had to go back. They had to fish. The
only thing they knew to put something on the table to eat, but that’s not the whole story. The
heathen temples would be emptied in Ephesus because of the gospel. The heathen temples
would be emptied in the city of Rome. The heathen temples would be emptied in Athens by the
ministry of Christ. The miracle of Christ would come into the hearts of people like Mary
Magdalene, like Paul, like John, like Peter. This would sweep through the world. The Gentiles
would believe. Changed lives would be amazing.

People would be drawn to a life of faith and a mystery of a fellowship like what happened to you and I. Amazing! It happened to us. We were born again of the Spirit. We were born again of Christ. Now we are burdened for our country. He said I have continual sorrow in my heart. Notice something. This is the end. Follow this with
me. There’s much to say about it. Follow this with me. These people are called to live by faith
and not the righteousness of the law but to live by faith. When we live by faith, we find the
righteousness that is imparted to us. The righteousness of God that dwells in us. We find a new
kind of righteousness. We find a new kind of way.

We become a different kind of people. We are scattered throughout the world. We are the born again people of God, the children of God. We don’t say where will I find the righteousness of God? is it across that ocean? This goes to
chapter 10. This is a beautiful principle. Romans 10:6 follow this with me. There’s much to say
here. Vs. 7. If I can draw this. Can I do this, P. Steve? It goes like this. Who shall go to heaven?
Who will go down into the deep? These are places. Whenever you go to a place, it takes time.
You go to heaven, it takes time. It’s not possible but who could go up there to bring down? Who
could go down below to bring it up?

Down deep is a process because it takes time to bring it up. That’s how religious people think. How much time? I could be righteous for six weeks. I could be righteous for three months. This is a mistake. This is how people think. They think we have to live our life a long time to be a righteous person. That somehow by work we will get the
kingdom of God. But it’s not true. This is a stumbling stone. This is a problem people have. They
don’t understand our faith. They don’t understand you don’t have to belong to a church, you
don’t have to do good works. They don’t understand. They think you have to go somewhere
and bring something back.

What does he say? This is what happens. Vs. 8. Where is it? It’s right here in the mouth. It’s right here. The Word is in your mouth. It’s in your heart. The Word. What is there? The Bible. What is there? God. What is there? The person. What is there? The Jews had a righteousness by law, but we have a righteousness by faith. By believing in him, God has given us grace. Now the word is nigh us. It’s even in our mouth. It’s the word of grace. It’s
by faith. “You’re not a righteous man.” In my mouth and in my heart I am. I am a righteous
man. How can you say that? By faith. I am a righteous man. How do you know? He is risen. He is
risen. I died with him. I was crucified with him but now I live but not I, but Christ lives within me.

The life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and died for me.
Notice something Paul also said in Romans 9 that this is by election. It’s by election. Let me
draw another picture with you. Follow this with me. Two principles you see. Rom. 9 his heart is
burdened in prayer. His heart is broken for his people, but he also has the teaching on election.
Sometimes there is a misunderstanding that if you believe in election, you won’t care about
people. Not true. This proves it. Paul believed in election, but his heart was broken for the
people and he wanted them to be saved.

There was a great link. I would like people to be saved. I have it in my heart because I was lost one day. Mary Magdalene would say I was lost one day. John would say I was lost one day. Peter, I was lost one day but by grace he saved me, and I wish all would be saved. We wish all would come to Christ and go deeper in life. That’s
what this pandemic does. It brings people closer to the reality of death, of meeting God, closer
to the reality of judgment, closer to the reality of who is God and after time is eternity. When I
pass into eternity, am I lost or not? Many people are wondering. We are saying like Jesus, I
came to seek and save those that are lost in Luke 19:10.

We have it in our heart also that some would believe. He says in chapter 9; I have sorrow and burden for my people to be saved. But let me say there is such a thing as election. There is an election. How can anyone be saved
without God saving them, without God knocking on the door of their heart. We say to God in
our prayer, God I don’t know who is elected but you know. It is a reality and it is your business.
Then he says in chapter 11 that Elijah thought he was the only one. Then he said God said in vs.
4. I think there might be so few but then I’m corrected that God has 7,000 that have not bowed
their knee to Baal.

We do not know how many people will go to heaven one day, but we know
they do. We do not know exactly all the details of God’s amazing work, but we care. When we
are drawn to this person and we realize the grace of God: 1) We could say to Mary Magdalene,
what did he do for you? She would say my sins which are many. They are many. Mary
Magdalene, how many? She’d say, many, many. My life is filled with sin, deep, dark black sin. I
have sinned much as a habit, as a way of life I have sinned. Where are those sins? In the
deepest sea.

When Jesus talked to you, what did he say? He never talked about my sin. He
spoke truth to me, and grace and mercy and I love him. I had seven demons and they
tormented me day and night. I had seven demons in my life. They are gone. Where are the
demons Mary? Where are the demons, Mary Magdalene? They are gone. They are gone. Who
did it? He did it. He did it. He did it. This is our privilege today. We make a big thing about Christ
in our hearts. Don’t leave me. Create in me a clean heart. Take not your Holy Spirit from me in
Psalm 51. Have this attitude. I will do anything so I can find the anointing of God in my life.

I will obey God in whatever. If you say to me go ask my neighbor for forgiveness, go see my wife and
say please forgive me, I will do anything I can in obedience to God so I will not grieve the Holy
Spirit. I will not quench the Holy Spirit because Jesus is precious to me. I want him more. The
hart pants after the water brook in Psalm 63. I want him. I will dive into the water and swim to
him quickly because there is nobody like him. That’s why Paul said my heart is burdened and I
have sorrow. I would even be a castaway myself if my people would realize and wake up and
recognize who he is. But there is an election.

God has chosen me, and I would that everybody would be saved. I would that all of Israel would be saved. Let us have the same kind of spirit in our hearts and in our lives and care. God’s work is here. It’s going on. You and I, you and I and Sharon Eyring in Albania and Dan Dunbar in Korea, the precious people like Luke and many
others in faraway places and P. Carl and P. Brian and Aneal and Benny Zachariah and Arul and Devendra
and many others. Roshan and Shaker. Many others. In Africa, many and Stan Collins and Karen
and the Moons and many others. Many people are working and laboring. John Perkins and Don Barnes and Lori and many of our sisters and brothers. James Dididas and P. Niyazi and P. Obed and many, many that are laboring in the field. We thank you, Lord for that. In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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