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Salvation for Everyone
Romans 9
We went to a leadership conference at Willow Creek Church, I mentioned this last week,
where Bill Hybels is the pastor. We know Bill Hybels because we studied his book called Just Walk
Across The Room and meet a friend, tell a friend about Jesus. One of the people there, her name was
Catherine Rohr, I was really interested in her because of her story. Catherine Rohr is the founder and
CEO of what is called Prison Entrepreneurship Program so it is PEP. Catherine Rohr was making a
three figure income and she was working as a capital venturous. She was working in private equity,
you know a trader, and she was doing very well. She was in a very successful business making a lot
of money. Then she found Jesus because money can’t do anything for the big hole in her heart and
she learned that it is not enough to say you’re a Christian. She had to go out there and put her talents
to work. Well what could she do? She was a money manager. She’s an investor. What do you do?
How do I forward the gospel and how do I help people with those kinds of skills? Well she prayed
about it and God gave her an idea which really turned into a vision. And the vision was that she
found, as she thought, and as she prayed, and as she looked how to apply her skills for the Lord, she
found that a high percentage, a very high percentage, of those people who had served prison time as
felons, and then they came back out to try to start a new failed and they would go back to prison. It’s
a very very sad story. So she decided to do you know what? I think I’m going to try to help those
prisoners by teaching them some financial skills so they can get a job. Now this sounds outrageous
because this woman is in her twenties, very attractive, and for her to go into a penitentiary really and
to teach convicts sounds a little bit upside down at the least but this woman talked to some people,
got some help. You can imagine this is a huge story I’m telling you. I’m just going to tell you a bit
of it. She finally got the okay to go in and talk to a group. Now get this. The group of men that she
was talking to were people who were you know good behavior, had good records, and at some point
probably were looking to be paroled. So they went through quite a vetting process you know, and a
sifting process, so that the ones that came were the ones who were really really motivated to learn to
change their lives.
Well I don’t know if you know this or not, it was kind of news to me – I mean – but you
know when you actually go and fill out an application for a job, did you know that there is what is
called a felony box? And if you’re a felon, you’ve got to check the box. If you check the box, guess
what happens to your application for that job? Many times in the circular file. Nice seeing you.
Well this woman knew that and so she wanted to give them some skills. She had a vision of teaching
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these guys financial skills that she possessed. So the select group was chosen. They came into a
room. She started to teach and she experimented with it.
Well now today some years later she has 1,000 senior business executives involved in
helping people who are felons learn financial skills so that they can come to the outside and get a job
or be an entrepreneur and start their own business. They have at least 24 students from Stanford, you
know prestigious schools, also who are very capable on financial issues helping to teach. So what
happened is she has had 370 graduates, 43 of those are entrepreneurs who have started their own
business. Get this now – this is an important statistic to make – 98% of those going through her
class, and graduating, and coming to the outside, stay on the outside; 98%! It’s amazing and there is
only a 5% return going back to prison. Wow! Can you imagine this! Her name is Catherine Rohr.
She has a program called Prison Entrepreneurship Program. She is putting her talents to work for
God. Isn’t that amazing! We saw this young woman and she actually brought some of her students
to the summer conference that we were at. And the students have to say um I’ve been out of jail for
two years. I’ve been out of jail for one year. I’ve been out of jail for six months. I’ve been out of
jail for four hours; one of the men there. They were all well dressed; suits and ties. They looked like
executives, and man did we all feel proud of Catherine Rohr and those men, and who would have
thought that a woman in her 20’s could do something like that.
Now the reason I’m talking about this is because today’s message – take your Bibles – open
up to Romans chapter 9. Salvation is for everyone is the title of this message. And I want you to
know, and be sure and take out your sermon notes – you’ve got to take a few notes on this too –
Romans chapter 9. Lets everybody turn there first. I have a few scriptures on the screen but not
enough. Romans chapter 9. Now today I’m going to be talking about the remnant. A lot of people
say who are the remnant? Well Catherine Rohr and people like her represent the remnant. The
remnant are individuals who are part of a group that believe God, and they take that faith they have
in God and they turn it into active participation in God’s kingdom helping somebody else. That is
what the remnant is.
So take out your sermon notes. You’re going to need your sermon notes on this and I want
you to follow along with me. So the question here is, would you read this question me? Who are the
remnant? Would you write in the word “remnant” there and read this with me. Who are the remnant
and why should I care? You know whenever I study the Bible one of the questions I ask is why
should we care about this? And there is always a good answer. Okay here comes the answer.
Would you read this with me? Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the
Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant – did you see that? Only the remnant will
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what? Be saved.” Romans 9:27 (NIV) If you have your Bible, I want you to underline will be
saved. Because why should we care who the remnant is? Well anybody here interested in going to
heaven? Oh yeah. Well you are part of it. Now there is a way of learning. Hey how can I know I’m
part of it? Well we’re going to talk about that.
The remnant isn’t some league group. It’s a group of people like us who love Jesus. We’re
saved by the grace of God and we love the Lord. And then we take what we know about the Lord
and we use it for the Lord’s sake so we’re not only hearers of the word, we are doers. We’re not just
hearers, we’re doers you know. We’re connected to the vine. We’ve got the sap flowing through us
and we’re going to let that flow out to other people. So that is why you’re interested in who are the
remnant because it is the remnant who will be saved and that is the word of God. The millions of
people saved at the end of time are called the remnant and we could go through this whole big study
for two months. We’re not going to. We only have a few minutes. And why are they called the
remnant? And here is why because they love Jesus with all their heart, and they have faith in Jesus,
and they are Jesus’ children. They are God’s children. Their faith is not by mouth but it is active. It
is alive. It’s working. It’s doing stuff. They are compelled you know to not be couch potatoes. Get
up off the couch and do something. Help somebody. Hey is there any injustice out there? Why
don’t you go and help somebody turn that thing around.
By the way, does Los Angeles need some justice? Just ask our police officers. We need a lot
of justice around here. Now the kind of justice I’m talking about is when people are treated in justly.
The common person. Maybe they have a need. Maybe they can’t speak for themselves. Maybe
some of you should speak for them. I’m kind of hoping and praying that the Lord really put
something on your heart today and you start something. You go I can’t start something. If you say
to yourself, I can’t something that’s a good start okay because I’ll talk about that in a minute. See the
remnant are the people who truly love the Lord, will follow him, and will do his will. They not only
follow him but what do they do? They do his will. It’s not like yes I’m a believer. Okay yeah.
Okay and what ministry are you doing? Oh I’m not. I don’t have a ministry. Well are you a
believer? Yeah. You doing anything? No. Why? Well I’m busy. You know I’ve got a job. I’ve
got the kids. I’ve got the wife. I’ve got the car. I’ve got the house. Here is the thing, when all life is
said and done, and truly and truly we look back on our lives, it’s what we have done for other people;
our families included huh that really matters. All the stuff you accumulate that doesn’t mean
anything. It’s how we touch other people that matters. Isn’t that true? I’m pretty sure most of you
here can think of people who have given you a leg up, have helped you in some way. We need to
return a favor.
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Now get this – underline this part – the remnant are not perfect. But you know what? They
serve the perfect Savior. They are not saved because of what they do. They are saved because of
who they know. They know Jesus. Do they stumble and fall? Yes. Does Catherine Rohr whom I
just talked about does she make mistakes? Yes. All the time. If you’re living and breathing and
doing stuff, guess what? You’ll make mistakes. Are you still going to heaven? Yep because your
heavenly ticket is not based on your performance. It is based on what Christ has done for you.
That’s why we are going to heaven but don’t lay back and go hey let the good times roll. I’m going
to heaven because it is not based on my performance. The only thing is at the end of time Jesus says
hey remember those gifts I gave you. What gifts? Well for Catherine Rohr for example the financial
gifts you know, the big head you know how to handle money, you know how to figure all those
numbers out. Yeah. What about them Lord? What did you do with them? I made a bunch of
money. Wrong answer. No. The Lord is going I don’t care. I’m not talking about that. How did
you put that to work for my people that needed you? By the way, who are God’s people? Everybody
is God’s people. Every single person are God’s people. Those are God’s people out there. We’re
God’s people in here. We’re in here because we’re privileged to be here today. Thank God we can
come and worship. Then we’ve got to get out there and help somebody and put into use what God
has given us.
See now here is what chapter 9 is about. I’m trying to get to Romans chapter 9. I have been
suffering over this for a long time you guys for you. It’s your fault but I want to tell you something.
The Lord gave me this word, and it’s not the full word because you can’t talk about God’s word in
just a few minutes but I want you to read chapter 9. So here we go. See, we are saved as individuals.
Not collectively. God goes to each person. Every person has to give their heart to the Lord. Isn’t
that true? We want our children to give their hearts to the Lord. We dedicate Ethan here. We
dedicate him. We want him to give his heart to the Lord. We want the mom to give her heart to the
Lord. We teach this. We come to Jesus as individuals. Each person is responsible for their choices
and their behaviors and applying the gifts that God has given you. Now please don’t sit there and say
I don’t have any gifts. Yes you do. You may have one gift. Praise God! That’s the one you use.
Now by the 1st Century this is where we get to Romans chapter 9. Now by the 1st Century
and the time of Christ a shift occurred from people individuals being saved to a group being saved.
So if you happened to belong to the right group, who were called the Jews, hey you’re in
brother/sister. You’re saved. So the Jewish group was very proud of themselves. They had the
commandments. They had the prophets. They had the teachings. They had the temple. Hey they
had Abraham. They had Moses. Wow! They had all the big shots. David. They had everybody.
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But the Apostle Paul came and says you know what it’s not the group you belong to that matters. It’s
who you serve. The Jews felt in the 1st Century that everybody was lost except them and they were
so prejudice against other people. They wouldn’t even eat with other people groups. So they were
pretty prejudice you know. Now the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 says I’m not
ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of all people beginning with the Jews
and including the Gentiles. So the Apostle Paul says look it you just can’t be a Jew any more and
think only Jews are saved because I the Lord God have come to save all people. Now if you’re
reading your Bibles and you read Romans 9 you need to read Romans 9, 10 and 11. All of those
little chapters go together. That’s how you get the complete pictures.
Now I want to show you this. See the remnant are the children of the promise. This is what I
want to show you. Here is how you tell the remnant. The remnant are the children of the promise.
So the question is what is the promise? Well here is the promise. Would you read the promise with
me? In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the
promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. Romans 9:8 (NIV) So it’s not that you were
born in a particular people group and now you can go I’m in the group. I’m saved. Because the
Apostle Paul says it’s not the natural children who are God’s children. Who are God’s children? It
is the children of the promise who are God’s offspring okay.
Now you have your Bibles open because we have to figure this out a little bit. What promise
are we talking about? Well this is a promise – I’m going to give you a little hint. You are children of
the promise in this way. God said to Abraham I will make of you a great nation and your children
will be like the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven. And then it says, Abraham believed God and
it was credit to him as righteousness. So what did Abraham do? He believed. So as we come to
Jesus, we believe right. That’s our first step. We say yes Lord I believe. How many believe in
Jesus? All right here is the deal. When you believe, you have faith and faith is a verb. That means
that if you have faith it’s kind of like having energy you want to act on it. You’ve got to do
something. You can’t just say I’m too busy. I’m too tired. I have too many children. I don’t have
any children. I’m married. I’m not married. I’m tall. I’m thin. I’m everything. No, no. You know
what whatever we are, we are who we are, and God wants us that way because you have a particular
purpose in God’s bigger family. What is our purpose? To be children of the promise. What’s the
promise? The promise is God says, I will be your God. God is promising this and you will be
blessed. So actually every single one of us in this room are extremely rich, extremely blessed. We
have everything we need, and now the Lord says, there is one other thing though. When you have
faith in me, you’ve got to exercise it. Next year we’re going to talk about exercise. If I want to have
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big muscles, and if I say yep I’m going to exercise but I never do those curls right, huh, hey I’m up to
about 20 pushups now, if you can do 20 pushups, don’t raise your hand but you’ve got to start
somewhere right. Start with one pushup, two okay. So we have to exercise our faith in God. We’re
children of the promise.
Now here’s what I want you to do. Look at your Bibles now. Look at your Bibles and look
at chapter 9 verse 6. It is not as though God’s word had failed. It says for not all who are descended
from Israel are Israel. Did you hear that? That’s like saying hey I’m a member of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. Wow! We believe in Jesus and we’re looking forward to his second coming.
Okay that is good but you know what it would read not all Seventh-day Adventists are Seventh-day
Adventist. Huh! Pastor, what did you just say? Not all people who are Adventists are Adventists.
Look at verse 7. Not because they are descendent are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary.
It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Now verse 8. Would you read verse 8 with
me? By the way, I think I have it here. Wait. Verse 8 here we go. Let’s read it together. In other
words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children but it is the children of the promise who
are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. Okay let’s look at that again. I’m going to read it again. In
other words, see it is not the natural children who are God’s children. It’s not just because you were
born as Jews that makes you God’s children. No. And it’s not that well I was born a Seventh-day
Adventist. You know my grandpa was a Seventh-day Adventist. My daddy was a Seventh-day
Adventist. No. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist. And you know what the answer to that is? So. Great.
Glad you’re fellowshipping. I want you to. And the reason I’m a Seventh-day Adventist pastor is
because we’re really learning to love Christ in the way he wants us to love. Not that we’re above
anyone else but we’re doing a few things right here and it is good and you’re in the right place. But
you see the children of God are the children of the promise and that is us. And that’s all people
outside of us who are also children of God. You know in heaven that is not just going to be Seventhday Adventists. Is that shocking to you? How many are shocked? Good. Nobody raises their hand
in case you’re listening to this on tape. We’re going to have all of our brothers and sisters there.
Amen. Huh isn’t that true. Everybody is going to be there. Here’s the deal. Everybody is going to
be there because the only ones named in the Bible who are actually going to be there are called the
remnant. That’s who is going to be there. We might have all these titles and labels and stuff and
different denominations and things like that but the ones who are there are the remnant. These are
the ones as I said before who actually take their gifts and use them like the woman I just sited at the
beginning of this message. They are putting their faith to work that’s what makes them part of the
remnant.
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Now do you know this one you guys? There has always been a remnant. Did you know
that? Turn your Bibles now to Romans 11 quickly. Hurry. How much time we’ve got? We’re
already out of time but keep turning. There has always been a remnant. Turn to 11 chapter 11 verses
1-5. I want to show you this. It’s really important. I asked them did God reject the people? By no
means. Did God reject the whole Jewish nation? The answer to that is no. He says I’m – Paul says I
myself am an Israelite descendent of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject this
people whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah.
Now listen to this. How he appealed to God against Israel. Verse 3. How he appealed to God
against Israel. Verse 3. He said, “Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have torn down your
altars. I’m the only one left. And they are trying to kill me. Verse 4. And what was God’s answer to
him? Read this with me okay. Verse 4. Here we go. Here’s the answer. I have reserved for myself
7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So keep going. So to at the present time there is a
remnant chosen by grace. Okay so throughout history there has always been people who have
remained loyal to God, constant with God, believing in God, serving God throughout time. They are
called the remnant and that remnant theology runs all the way up to now. And we can distinguish
and know who the people are. These are the people who believe the Lord. Live for Christ. Christ in
their life. Put their faith to work because they love Jesus just like this woman I sited.
Okay the natural question is here how can I have faith like the remnant? Would you read this
with me please. How can I have faith like the remnant? That’s really the natural question. Okay if
there is a remnant which there is they are the ones who are going to heaven truly and truly. It’s not
some people group. Just because I signed on and I’m part of a faith group – it’s good. I want you to
be part of the faith group but it’s not just the faith group that matters. It’s the individual in the faith
group because salvation is an individual issue. Now we help each other don’t we. I mean we have
the body of Christ. We need to cooperate with one another, encourage one another and lift up one
another. That’s what we’re to do. Okay question is how can I have faith like the remnant? Good
question. Okay would you read this with me? That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (NIV)
Okay let’s confess and we’re going to say Jesus is Lord. Let’s say that together. Jesus is Lord.
Absolutely. We believe it. He is Christ in our life. He is the leader of our life. And then it says if
you believe in your heart. Now this is where it gets a little more tricky because when you believe
you act on your belief okay. Remember I – this is an old – I can never think of a better illustration
forgive me – if you believed that this building was on fire, what would you do? You’re out of here
right. I wouldn’t have to go over there and say you guys act on your belief will you. Huh. Will you
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act on your faith? Do you believe it’s on fire? Yeah. Why aren’t you leaving? Well we like to
inhale the smoke. Okay well that works for about 30 seconds you know and then you’re dead. Isn’t
it true that when you believe something you act on it? See that’s why faith is a verb. Faith is a verb.
It means you do it. I’m hoping and praying that God will lay upon all of us here a burden to see an
injustice out there or to see somebody to help or to see something we can improve and then you
know what happens? You get really fearful. And you go I’m afraid God. I’m afraid. Why are you
afraid? Because I can’t do this. Okay when you get that far, okay you’re on the right track because
you said the right things. You can’t do it. That’s exactly why God is calling you to do it. You’re
going pastor are you going crazy? No. Because see what this is not to glorify you and it is not to
puff up you and to use necessarily your strengths okay but it is to glorify the master. See when
Catherine Rohr goes into this prison setting and is teaching these prisoners, who is she glorifying?
Not herself. She is going there with the authority of the Lord. She is going there humbly. She is
going there to do some good. That’s what we need to do. We need to have active faith.
This is the little book I got from the leadership conference and I wanted to share one more.
This man’s name – this is another part of the remnant. Here is some more remnant guys. And this
man’s name is Gary Haugen. He is the President, CEO of International Justice Mission.
International Justice Mission. Now what he does is it’s an international human rights agency that
rescues victims from violent forms of oppression such as slavery, sexual exploitation, all types of
forms of oppression, policy brutality in other countries. Not in the United States. This is other
countries. It’s like well hey why do we care about other countries. Why should we care about other
countries? Why should we care about it? So I’m asking you why should we care about other
countries? Okay I didn’t hear anything. It is so quiet in here I’m going to go to sleep. Why should
we care? Hey man. Let them do their own deal. I’ve got my own stuff. Well let them do that. Why
should we care about them? They are God’s people which makes them our brothers and sisters
suffering. They belong to us. They are our family. These are human beings. These are all God’s
children. Remember this. Whether or not they have received the Lord they are still God’s people.
These haven’t figured it out yet so they need us to go over there and help them out a little bit. See.
So this man is reaching out. He’s a lawyer. He saw a need. I mean to go to another country
is weird because you have to know their laws, speak their language. So he gave an example. I saw
this man. He gave a video example. It is really nice. And the example was there was – there are
children in India who are taken from their parents 10/11 year old girls. Then they are brought to a
brothel. And then they are made to work in that brothel for as long as they live basically. This is
happening across the board. This organization goes in there equidistantly with cameras, tape
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recorders and so forth, gets the evidence, goes back to the local authorities and then the local
authorities come in and make the bust. Boom. And when you saw these little kids 10 year old, 11/12
year old girls being used as sex slaves – come on! We have to do something about that. This man
Gary Haugen gathered together a small group of people and started it. Today they have 300 lawyers
working on it huh. Boy you put those lawyers to work huh. They are good guys. By the way, there
is one in my family so you know we like them.
Now look it. You might be sitting there saying look it I don’t have any financial credentials.
I’m not a you know a financial planner or anything like that. Also I’m not a lawyer. I couldn’t
possibly start anything like this and what we say together is okay. That’s right. I’m not a lawyer
either. I’m not a financial planner either you know. I’m just a person. We’re people here right. So
what do we do? Where do we start? We want to be part of this group. We want to be part of the
remnant. Huh. We want to? Absolutely. You are going to be. And by the way, when these people
like Gary Haugen when I mention these people, they’re not saints. These people make mistakes.
They fall down but they get up and they do something else. They do it right. They serve the Lord.
They’re trying to help others.
Now look here. We use what we have okay. We don’t use what we don’t have because you
can’t use what you don’t have okay. So you have to use what you do have. Everybody has
something. We’ve all got something that we can use in the service of the Lord and help our brothers
and sisters somehow. So where do you start? Don’t do this. Okay I’ll tell you how not to start.
Okay don’t go sitting around trying to conjure up an idea. If it is your idea, guess what? It’s your
idea. It’s going to way too puny and has no power so forget it. So if you’re trying to rack your brain,
don’t do it. Where it always starts where everything always starts. Everything starts with prayer. A
decided prayer life of people going God I don’t have much but what I have and what I am I’m giving
it to you, what do you want to do? And then you wait. You go back the next day. God, here I am
again. I don’t have much but what I am and who I am and what I have I’m giving it to you. You
listen. Nothing happens. You go back the next. God here I am again. Don’t have much. I’m not
much but what I have I’m giving it to you. And you keep doing that. You know what God is going
to answer your prayer. And he may answer on the first time. He may answer on the 70th time. It
doesn’t matter because prayer is all about serving God so maybe you all learn how to be a servant of
God and then God goes okay I can use you now. Okay I’ve got an idea. And then when you get the
idea, you’re going to fall off your chair and you’re going to say God this can’t be real. This is
impossible. I can’t do this. And God is going okay now you’re on the team. Now you’re on the
team man. Because he will give you something that is so incredible and so big and so hard and so
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impossible that when it is done, guess who gets the glory? God. We don’t. We don’t care about
that. We’re the servants. We just care about serving the master. Man it’s good. So you start with
prayer and as you pray then you do the other step. Here is the other step. Ready for step two? Just
look around. Just look around. Don’t be trying to conjure up your idea. No. Just look around
though. Be interested. Look around and see stuff. Listen. Observe. See what you see. Bring it to
God in prayer.
And then the final thing is act on what God is asking you to do. So you pray. You look
around and then you act. Pray, look around and then what? Act. Now I want to see something
today. We need to have a call of action. We have to have a call you know. We have to say Lord I’m
going to do this today. So if you think in your mind if you would like you don’t have any ideas. I’m
not asking you for ideas but are you willing to pray that God might use you to do something, just
raise your hand. That’s good. And if you believe that God can do something with you, would you
just stand up right where you’re at. Would you just stand up right where you’re at? Just stand up a
minute. Just stand up. And you all don’t have to stand unless you really get this. It’s in your heart
and you want to do something. You feel like God can use you in some way. Let’s pray together.
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