WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.860 Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.978 --> 00:00:03.708 Day 31 00:00:04.176 --> 00:00:07.026 what shall we say about such wonderful things as these? 00:00:07.896 --> 00:00:11.646 If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 00:00:12.636 --> 00:00:17.496 Since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, 00:00:18.276 --> 00:00:20.526 won't he also give us everything else? 00:00:21.486 --> 00:00:24.846 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? 00:00:25.866 --> 00:00:26.466 No one. 00:00:27.111 --> 00:00:30.351 For God himself has given us right standing with himself 00:00:31.341 --> 00:00:32.781 who then will condemn us. 00:00:33.681 --> 00:00:35.661 No one for Christ. 00:00:35.661 --> 00:00:41.271 Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of 00:00:41.271 --> 00:00:44.511 honor at God's right hand pleading for us. 00:00:45.801 --> 00:00:48.741 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? 00:00:49.686 --> 00:00:51.786 Does it mean he no longer loves us? 00:00:51.966 --> 00:00:57.186 If we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute 00:00:57.456 --> 00:01:03.156 or in danger or threatened with death, as the scriptures say, for 00:01:03.156 --> 00:01:07.296 your sake, we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep. 00:01:08.766 --> 00:01:13.896 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through 00:01:13.896 --> 00:01:17.946 Christ who loved us, and I am convinced. 00:01:18.666 --> 00:01:24.696 That nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life. 00:01:25.266 --> 00:01:29.766 Neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, 00:01:29.916 --> 00:01:31.776 nor our worries about tomorrow. 00:01:32.496 --> 00:01:36.306 Not even the powers of Hell can separate us from God's love. 00:01:37.026 --> 00:01:40.446 No power in the sky above or in the earth below. 00:01:41.016 --> 00:01:45.396 Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate 00:01:45.401 --> 00:01:46.506 us from the love of God. 00:01:47.331 --> 00:01:51.681 That is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, with Christ as my witness, 00:01:52.371 --> 00:01:54.261 I speak with utter truthfulness. 00:01:55.101 --> 00:01:57.681 My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 00:01:58.371 --> 00:02:03.561 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people. 00:02:04.161 --> 00:02:05.961 My Jewish brothers and sisters. 00:02:07.061 --> 00:02:10.731 I would be willing to be forever cursed, cut off from 00:02:10.731 --> 00:02:12.951 Christ if that would save them. 00:02:14.241 --> 00:02:18.471 They are the people of Israel chosen to be God's adopted children. 00:02:19.491 --> 00:02:21.531 God revealed his glory to them. 00:02:22.011 --> 00:02:24.951 He made covenants with them and gave them his law. 00:02:25.611 --> 00:02:30.201 He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. 00:02:31.071 --> 00:02:36.801 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ 00:02:36.806 --> 00:02:40.911 himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. 00:02:41.736 --> 00:02:46.626 He is God, the one who rules over everything and 00:02:46.626 --> 00:02:48.426 is worthy of eternal praise. 00:02:49.146 --> 00:02:49.776 Amen. 00:02:51.066 --> 00:02:55.656 Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? 00:02:56.916 --> 00:03:01.416 No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are 00:03:01.416 --> 00:03:03.156 truly members of God's people. 00:03:04.356 --> 00:03:08.946 Being descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. 00:03:09.801 --> 00:03:13.701 For the scriptures say, Isaac is the son through whom your 00:03:13.701 --> 00:03:15.111 descendants will be counted. 00:03:15.981 --> 00:03:20.661 Though Abraham had other children too, this means that Abraham's 00:03:20.666 --> 00:03:24.261 physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. 00:03:25.101 --> 00:03:29.121 Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham's children. 00:03:29.811 --> 00:03:33.591 For God had promised I will return about this time next 00:03:33.591 --> 00:03:35.301 year and Sarah will have a son. 00:03:36.606 --> 00:03:39.216 This son was our ancestor Isaac. 00:03:40.086 --> 00:03:45.096 When he married Rebecca, she gave birth to twins, but before they were born, 00:03:45.486 --> 00:03:51.126 before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. 00:03:52.386 --> 00:03:56.286 This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes. 00:03:56.676 --> 00:04:00.336 He calls people but not according to their good or bad works. 00:04:01.416 --> 00:04:05.286 She was told Your older son will serve your younger son. 00:04:06.201 --> 00:04:11.271 In the words of the scriptures, I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau. 00:04:12.321 --> 00:04:14.391 Are we saying then that God was unfair? 00:04:15.171 --> 00:04:15.981 Of course not. 00:04:16.281 --> 00:04:21.111 For God said to Moses, I will show mercy to anyone I choose and I will 00:04:21.111 --> 00:04:23.421 show compassion to anyone I choose. 00:04:24.621 --> 00:04:26.841 So it is God who decides to show mercy. 00:04:27.501 --> 00:04:30.261 We can neither choose it nor work for it. 00:04:31.611 --> 00:04:36.411 For the scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, I have appointed you for the very 00:04:36.411 --> 00:04:41.661 purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth. 00:04:42.741 --> 00:04:47.901 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some I, and he chooses 00:04:47.906 --> 00:04:52.911 to harden the hearts of others, so they refuse to listen well. 00:04:52.911 --> 00:04:57.291 Then you might say, why does God blame people for not responding? 00:04:57.831 --> 00:05:00.351 Haven't they simply done what he makes them do? 00:05:01.341 --> 00:05:03.171 No, don't say that. 00:05:04.161 --> 00:05:07.551 Who are you a mere human being to argue with. 00:05:07.551 --> 00:05:12.351 God should the thing that was created say to the one who created it. 00:05:12.981 --> 00:05:14.421 Why have you made me like this? 00:05:15.411 --> 00:05:19.041 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right 00:05:19.041 --> 00:05:23.451 to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and 00:05:23.451 --> 00:05:24.831 another to throw garbage into? 00:05:25.881 --> 00:05:29.991 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger 00:05:29.991 --> 00:05:35.091 and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, 00:05:35.481 --> 00:05:37.221 who are destined for destruction. 00:05:37.971 --> 00:05:41.541 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine. 00:05:41.546 --> 00:05:46.431 He even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared 00:05:46.431 --> 00:05:51.891 in advance for glory, and we are among those whom he selected both 00:05:51.891 --> 00:05:53.991 from the Jews and from the Gentiles. 00:05:55.476 --> 00:05:56.796 Concerning the Gentiles. 00:05:57.096 --> 00:06:02.466 God says, in the prophecy of Hosea, those who were not my people, I will 00:06:02.471 --> 00:06:07.206 now call my people and I will love those whom I did not love before. 00:06:08.316 --> 00:06:13.716 And then at the place where they were told, you are not my people, there they 00:06:13.716 --> 00:06:15.966 will be called Children of the Living God. 00:06:16.836 --> 00:06:20.616 And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet, cried out. 00:06:21.336 --> 00:06:25.026 Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, 00:06:25.536 --> 00:06:30.246 only a remnant will be saved for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon 00:06:30.246 --> 00:06:32.826 the earth quickly and with finality. 00:06:34.056 --> 00:06:36.576 And Isaiah said the same thing in another place. 00:06:37.236 --> 00:06:41.256 If the Lord of heaven's armies had not spared a few of our children, 00:06:41.976 --> 00:06:46.386 we would've been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah. 00:06:48.276 --> 00:06:49.476 What does all this mean? 00:06:50.661 --> 00:06:54.081 Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God's standards, 00:06:54.741 --> 00:06:59.541 they were made right with God, and it was by faith that this took place. 00:07:00.411 --> 00:07:04.191 But the people of Israel who tried so hard to get right with God by 00:07:04.196 --> 00:07:06.441 keeping the law never succeeded. 00:07:07.521 --> 00:07:08.091 Why not? 00:07:09.171 --> 00:07:12.951 Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law 00:07:13.611 --> 00:07:15.201 instead of by trusting in him. 00:07:16.161 --> 00:07:18.861 They stumbled over the Great rock in their path. 00:07:19.761 --> 00:07:24.231 God warned them of this in the scriptures when he said, I am placing 00:07:24.231 --> 00:07:29.211 a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. 00:07:30.231 --> 00:07:33.501 But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. 00:07:35.121 --> 00:07:41.271 Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is 00:07:41.271 --> 00:07:43.281 for the people of Israel to be saved. 00:07:44.331 --> 00:07:46.851 I know what enthusiasm they have for God. 00:07:47.601 --> 00:07:52.341 It has misdirected zeal for they don't understand God's way of 00:07:52.341 --> 00:07:56.691 making people right with himself, refusing to accept God's way. 00:07:56.931 --> 00:08:01.071 They cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the 00:08:01.071 --> 00:08:06.351 law for Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. 00:08:07.131 --> 00:08:11.751 As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. 00:08:13.581 --> 00:08:18.261 For Moses writes that the law's way of making a person right with God requires 00:08:18.261 --> 00:08:20.631 obedience to all of its commands. 00:08:21.591 --> 00:08:26.991 But faith's way of getting right with God says, don't say in your heart who 00:08:26.991 --> 00:08:32.211 will go up to heaven to bring Christ down to earth, and don't say who 00:08:32.211 --> 00:08:36.261 will go down to the place of the dead to bring Christ back to life again. 00:08:37.341 --> 00:08:40.611 In fact, it says the message is very close at hand. 00:08:41.151 --> 00:08:46.191 It is on your lips and in your heart, and that message is the very 00:08:46.196 --> 00:08:48.591 message about faith that we preach. 00:08:49.821 --> 00:08:55.641 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that 00:08:55.646 --> 00:09:01.461 God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for it is by believing 00:09:01.461 --> 00:09:05.841 in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly 00:09:05.841 --> 00:09:08.481 declaring your faith that you are saved. 00:09:09.441 --> 00:09:14.481 As the scriptures tell us, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. 00:09:16.431 --> 00:09:19.551 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. 00:09:20.241 --> 00:09:24.171 They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call on him. 00:09:25.041 --> 00:09:32.181 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but how can they call 00:09:32.181 --> 00:09:37.371 on him to save them unless they believe in him, and how can they believe in him? 00:09:37.761 --> 00:09:42.111 If they have never heard about him, and how can they hear about him unless 00:09:42.111 --> 00:09:47.751 someone tells them, and how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? 00:09:48.981 --> 00:09:52.251 That is why the scriptures say, how beautiful are the feet of 00:09:52.256 --> 00:09:54.471 messengers who bring good news? 00:09:55.671 --> 00:09:57.471 But not everyone welcomes the good news. 00:09:58.131 --> 00:10:02.061 For Isaiah, the prophet said, Lord, who has believed our message? 00:10:03.321 --> 00:10:05.181 So faith comes from hearing. 00:10:05.811 --> 00:10:08.421 That is hearing the good news about Christ. 00:10:09.261 --> 00:10:13.611 But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? 00:10:14.901 --> 00:10:16.431 Yes, they have. 00:10:17.541 --> 00:10:22.251 The message has gone throughout the earth and the words to all the world. 00:10:23.271 --> 00:10:26.721 But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? 00:10:27.621 --> 00:10:28.431 Yes, they did. 00:10:29.301 --> 00:10:35.091 For even in the time of Moses, God said, I will rouse your jealousy through 00:10:35.091 --> 00:10:37.191 people who are not even a nation. 00:10:37.701 --> 00:10:41.121 I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles. 00:10:42.201 --> 00:10:48.111 And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying I was found by people 00:10:48.111 --> 00:10:49.431 who were not looking for me. 00:10:50.061 --> 00:10:53.271 I showed myself to those who were not asking for me. 00:10:54.621 --> 00:10:55.641 Regarding Israel. 00:10:55.731 --> 00:10:58.281 God said all day long. 00:10:58.281 --> 00:11:03.111 I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious. 00:11:04.971 --> 00:11:09.591 I ask then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? 00:11:10.581 --> 00:11:11.391 Of course not. 00:11:12.531 --> 00:11:17.031 I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a 00:11:17.031 --> 00:11:18.411 member of the tribe of Benjamin. 00:11:19.371 --> 00:11:24.021 No, God has not rejected his own people whom He chose from the very beginning. 00:11:25.011 --> 00:11:27.321 Do you realize what the scriptures say about this? 00:11:27.891 --> 00:11:28.431 Elijah? 00:11:28.431 --> 00:11:31.881 The prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and 00:11:31.881 --> 00:11:36.111 said, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. 00:11:36.471 --> 00:11:40.941 I am the only one left and now they're trying to kill me too. 00:11:42.111 --> 00:11:44.751 And you remember God's reply he said. 00:11:45.501 --> 00:11:50.031 No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to bail. 00:11:51.501 --> 00:11:55.791 It is the same today for a few of the people of Israel have remained 00:11:55.791 --> 00:12:01.491 faithful because of God's grace, his undeserved kindness in choosing them. 00:12:02.271 --> 00:12:06.801 And since it is through God's kindness, then it is not by their good works. 00:12:07.461 --> 00:12:10.941 For, in that case, God's grace would not be what it really is. 00:12:11.391 --> 00:12:13.131 Free and undeserved. 00:12:14.481 --> 00:12:15.921 So this is the situation. 00:12:16.641 --> 00:12:20.571 Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God. 00:12:20.631 --> 00:12:22.401 They're looking for so earnestly. 00:12:23.211 --> 00:12:28.941 A few have the ones God has chosen, but the hearts of the rest were hardened. 00:12:29.571 --> 00:12:34.791 As the scriptures say God has put them into a deep sleep, to this day, he has 00:12:34.791 --> 00:12:39.681 shut their eyes so they do not see and closed their ears, so they do not hear. 00:12:40.986 --> 00:12:46.476 Likewise, David said, let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap 00:12:46.476 --> 00:12:48.186 that makes them think all is well. 00:12:48.636 --> 00:12:52.806 Let their blessings cause them to stumble and let them get what they deserve. 00:12:53.406 --> 00:12:58.506 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see and let their backs be bent forever. 00:12:59.766 --> 00:13:03.516 Did God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery? 00:13:04.476 --> 00:13:05.376 Of course not. 00:13:06.336 --> 00:13:07.686 They were disobedient. 00:13:08.106 --> 00:13:12.486 So God made salvation available to the Gentiles, but he wanted 00:13:12.486 --> 00:13:16.086 his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. 00:13:16.956 --> 00:13:20.916 Now, if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned 00:13:20.916 --> 00:13:25.476 down God's offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world 00:13:25.476 --> 00:13:27.676 will share when they finally accept it. 00:13:28.986 --> 00:13:32.016 I am saying all this, especially for you, Gentiles. 00:13:32.796 --> 00:13:35.706 God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. 00:13:36.426 --> 00:13:37.386 I stress this. 00:13:37.911 --> 00:13:42.231 For, I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, 00:13:42.921 --> 00:13:48.471 so I might save some of them for, since their rejection meant that God offered 00:13:48.476 --> 00:13:53.931 salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. 00:13:54.621 --> 00:13:59.271 It will be life for those who were dead, and since Abraham and the 00:13:59.271 --> 00:14:03.561 other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy. 00:14:04.461 --> 00:14:08.721 Just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an 00:14:08.721 --> 00:14:14.361 offering is holy for if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be too. 00:14:15.531 --> 00:14:19.431 But some of these branches from Abraham's Tree, some of the people of 00:14:19.431 --> 00:14:25.821 Israel have been broken off, and you Gentiles, who were branches from a 00:14:25.821 --> 00:14:28.911 wild olive tree had been grafted in. 00:14:29.826 --> 00:14:34.536 So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children 00:14:35.076 --> 00:14:39.546 sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God's special olive tree. 00:14:40.806 --> 00:14:44.406 But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the 00:14:44.406 --> 00:14:45.756 branches that were broken off. 00:14:46.506 --> 00:14:49.026 You are just a branch, not the root. 00:14:50.946 --> 00:14:55.746 Well, you may say those branches were broken off to make room for me. 00:14:57.006 --> 00:15:01.566 Yes, but remember those branches were broken off because they 00:15:01.566 --> 00:15:05.856 didn't believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. 00:15:06.786 --> 00:15:12.096 So don't think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen for if God 00:15:12.101 --> 00:15:14.106 did not spare the original branches. 00:15:14.886 --> 00:15:16.236 He won't spare you either. 00:15:17.616 --> 00:15:20.736 Notice how God is both kind and severe. 00:15:21.546 --> 00:15:25.896 He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you 00:15:25.896 --> 00:15:27.786 continue to trust in his kindness. 00:15:28.536 --> 00:15:31.416 But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. 00:15:32.286 --> 00:15:36.756 And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted 00:15:36.756 --> 00:15:41.196 in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. 00:15:42.276 --> 00:15:45.786 You by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. 00:15:46.596 --> 00:15:51.456 So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into 00:15:51.456 --> 00:15:56.886 his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches 00:15:56.886 --> 00:15:59.256 back into the tree where they belong. 00:16:01.026 --> 00:16:05.316 I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you 00:16:05.316 --> 00:16:07.236 will not feel proud about yourselves. 00:16:07.956 --> 00:16:12.726 Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the 00:16:12.726 --> 00:16:14.916 full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. 00:16:15.516 --> 00:16:20.436 And so all Israel will be saved as the scriptures say. 00:16:21.576 --> 00:16:25.716 The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem and he will turn 00:16:25.716 --> 00:16:28.056 Israel away from ungodliness. 00:16:28.776 --> 00:16:32.916 And this is my covenant with them that I will take away their sins. 00:16:34.596 --> 00:16:38.136 Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the good news 00:16:38.526 --> 00:16:40.266 and this benefits you Gentiles. 00:16:40.986 --> 00:16:43.086 Yet they are still the people he loves. 00:16:43.686 --> 00:16:50.346 Because he chose their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for God's gifts 00:16:50.466 --> 00:16:52.866 and his call can never be withdrawn. 00:16:53.856 --> 00:16:58.296 Once you, Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people 00:16:58.301 --> 00:17:01.986 of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you. 00:17:01.991 --> 00:17:08.526 Instead, now they are the rebels and God's mercy has come to you so that 00:17:08.526 --> 00:17:10.866 they too will share in God's mercy. 00:17:11.826 --> 00:17:16.056 For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could 00:17:16.056 --> 00:17:17.556 have mercy on everyone. 00:17:19.236 --> 00:17:22.746 Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge? 00:17:23.406 --> 00:17:29.766 How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways for who can 00:17:29.766 --> 00:17:35.106 know the Lord's thoughts, who knows enough to give him advice, and who has given 00:17:35.106 --> 00:17:37.926 him so much that he needs to pay it back? 00:17:38.961 --> 00:17:44.601 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for 00:17:44.601 --> 00:17:48.591 his glory, all glory to him forever. 00:17:49.401 --> 00:17:50.031 Amen. 00:17:51.711 --> 00:17:54.591 This concludes today's Immer reading experience. 00:17:54.711 --> 00:17:55.941 Thank you for joining us.