Romans 11:28-34 (#43.2026.04.18)
Scott continues the study of Romans, walking through Romans 11:28-34, which focuses on the themes of God's faithfulness and the mystery of Israel's role in redemptive history. The discussion explores the relationship between God's promises to Israel and the assurance believers have in God's unchanging character. Scott explains that Israel's current unbelief is neither total nor final, but part of God’s sovereign plan, which ultimately highlights His mercy to both Jews and Gentiles.
Through biblical illustrations, Scott clarifies concepts like partial hardening, election, and the irrevocable nature of God’s promises. The episode emphasizes that both Jewish and Gentile disobedience are used by God to extend mercy and fulfill His purposes. He encourages us to anchor their hope in God's integrity and the surety of His word, which is rooted in His unchangeable nature and exemplified in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Download the Insight Sheets Here:
Blank Insight Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X0MDYscX-MdHKOXeYKKLDgS9g20Aicea/view?usp=sharing
Insight Sheet With Answers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Tfbm0qRuLsugGOsIh4j1369iFRoSyoo/view?usp=sharing
Key Topics Discussed:
- Israel’s unbelief and God’s faithfulness
- The biblical concept of mystery
- The partial hardening of Israel
- The olive tree analogy for Jews and Gentiles
- The irrevocability of God’s promises and calling
- God’s sovereignty and justice in salvation
- How God’s plan assures hope for all believers
- The enduring significance of God’s promises to Israel
Transcript
Hi.
Scott Keffer [:If you're looking for greater hope, assurance and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi and welcome to today's Episode. As always, for a deeper experience you can go to the Show Notes and download the Blank Insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there will be a link to the episode website@beholdingbibletruth.com and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.
Scott Keffer [:Well, we are journeying through the book of Romans, those who bought your shovel. We're digging deep as always and appreciate you going with me on this journey. I always liken it to the time I went speed lunking. You know, sometimes when you wonder where are you and what's going on? But I'm glad we're doing this together. Well, stand with me if you will. We're nearing the end of chapter 11. Let's read this together if we could. For I do not want you brethren to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own assessment that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved.
Scott Keffer [:From the standpoint of this gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But from the standpoint of God's choice, fathers for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient. That because of the mercy shown to you, they also now may be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So this is set in the context of asking the question, is God righteous? Is he faithful? And so this is about the righteousness of God.
Scott Keffer [:The righteousness of God in Israel's unbelief. That's how we titled it, the righteousness of God in Israel's unbelief in ethnic Israel, because we talked about the different uses of the word, Israel is not total, it's not final. And lastly, it's not purposeless. This is a good reminder that God has purpose, God has plans, and they all come to pass. They all come to pass. He nullifies the council of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever.
Scott Keffer [:The plans of his heart. From generation to generation, they come to pass.
Scott Keffer [:So what's the context here? If God has rejected Israel, then he's broken his promises.
Scott Keffer [:The promises that were made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The promises made in the Old Testament. If God has rejected Israel, what's up, right? What's up with God?
Scott Keffer [:And if God breaks His promise to Israel,
Scott Keffer [:why would he keep his promises to us? And for many believers, the idea of what is God doing with Israel seems interesting today because it's kind of in the news, but it doesn't seem relevant to us because as Gentiles, we believe we're the firstborn, right? Because we live in the time of the Gentiles. So it seems like, hey, you know, God is for the Gentiles. That's who he seems to be saving, right?
Scott Keffer [:In majority. But if God has rejected Israel by put him out. This is not about Israel.
Scott Keffer [:This is about the character of Almighty God. It's about the character, his nature.
Scott Keffer [:Is he trustworthy?
Scott Keffer [:Is he faithful?
Scott Keffer [:Because if Israel is abandoned, then you
Scott Keffer [:and me could be Next. Then Romans 8 is interesting, but Romans 8 is not unbreakable and unshakable. So this is absolutely critically important. Which is why I often say, if
Scott Keffer [:you want to understand the New Testament,
Scott Keffer [:you have to understand the Old Testament as the Old Testament defines and edifies the New Testament.
Scott Keffer [:Because the New Testament is the fulfillment. So he says we need to understand. This is a mystery. It's a mystery.
Scott Keffer [:What does mystery mean? That it needs to have clues.
Scott Keffer [:No, not necessarily.
Scott Keffer [:Not biblical.
Scott Keffer [:Biblical mystery means it was not known before because God did not choose to divinely reveal it. He had a time when it was to be revealed. So he says in Colossians. That is the mystery. What mystery? What do you mean? Well, it was hidden from past generations, Ages and generations. Times. It means times, times and ethics and generations. But it is now.
Scott Keffer [:It has now been manifested.
Scott Keffer [:To whom?
Scott Keffer [:The saints. The church, if you will. Right. The saints to whom God willed to make it known. What is the rich of the glory of this mystery among Gentiles? What's that? What is the mystery?
Scott Keffer [:Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Scott Keffer [:Christ in you, the hope of glory. Mystery for the Gentiles and also mystery for the Jews. So what's happening? Part of this mystery is there is a partial hardening. There is a partial hardening, not complete, not full, but a partial hardening of ethnic Israel, until when says the future of the Gentiles has come in. And then he says all ethnic Israel will be saved. So it's important. This is not a remnant. Because he speaks about the remnant before.
Scott Keffer [:It's not a remnant. This is the nation as a whole.
Scott Keffer [:This is important, but it doesn't.
Scott Keffer [:Not every.
Scott Keffer [:Every person, not every Jew. So there'll be a future when all
Scott Keffer [:Israel will be saved, means ethnic Israel,
Scott Keffer [:but it doesn't mean every single person will be saved.
Scott Keffer [:Not every person, not every Jew at that time. So he says, and I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that
Scott Keffer [:they will do what?
Scott Keffer [:They will look on me, on the Savior, on Jesus Christ whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly. In other words, they will see and understand that he is the Messiah, slain
Scott Keffer [:for their sin, and it will become real to them.
Scott Keffer [:So we did this last time.
Scott Keffer [:Let's see if we can do this again
Scott Keffer [:on the other piece.
Scott Keffer [:Okay, let's put a line up here and put that across the top here, Put that across the top. Okay, so this is ethnic Israel. Those who are foreign, Jewish. Makes sense. And then all the way along the top, this is ethnic gentile, or sometimes it'll use the word Greek. Those who are not born Jewish, either born Jewish or not all the others. So again, the separating line is the ethnicity, right? The ethnicity. And in here, along here, though, this is those who are in Christ.
Scott Keffer [:Messiah. Those who are in Messiah, Jesus, Abraham believed. And it was reckoned to him for righteousness.
Scott Keffer [:Right? Reckoned to him for righteousness.
Scott Keffer [:So, and what's interesting is of course this line will be broken because these are those who are in Christ. That line will be broken. So just think of all of. Just all of time, right? What's he say about here? These are believers. If we put down here, God says these are elected, chosen are the words, right? Predestined. Those who are elected, chosen, predestined. So these are unbelieving. These are unbelieving Jews.
Scott Keffer [:These are unbelieving Gentiles. Unbelieving Jews, Unbelieving Gentiles. In other words, these reject. They reject Christ. And the Lord says, because of that rejection, they are hardened and cut off. Because of that rejection, they are hardened and cut off. And that those in here, he calls a remnant, right? Those are.
Scott Keffer [:Believe.
Scott Keffer [:These would be believing Jews. These, of course, are believing Gentiles. And of course, this Was also this whole thing called the olive tree.
Scott Keffer [:Right.
Scott Keffer [:All of these are the, this is the olive tree. And those over here are rooted in the olive tree. Those over here are grafted in. Because these are not just believing gentiles. These are the wild olive tree. Right, the wild olive tree. And of course we have, we said that. How is it that we get rooted in.
Scott Keffer [:We get grafted into the tree which is below this, of course, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Right.
Scott Keffer [:And these.
Scott Keffer [:Right. All Jews had covenants, laws, promises, priesthood.
Scott Keffer [:Right.
Scott Keffer [:They were blessed. All Jews with those. Right.
Scott Keffer [:They.
Scott Keffer [:They received the covenant, promises, priesthood. All right, questions on that. Makes sense. Sort of. Yes, yes. They called in like last week when we looked at it. The olive tree are those who are saved, if you will. The believing and saved Jews have a root.
Scott Keffer [:It's their root that gentiles are called a wild olive tree. And the only way in is to be grafted in. We're not part of the original tree. We're grafted in. That make sense. And it shows the nature of. You don't take a wild olive branch and stick it on. You graft it onto an olive tree.
Scott Keffer [:It doesn't make sense. The wild olive tree doesn't belong. We get that it doesn't belong. It's not a part of. Should not be in there. Okay, so then there's three blocks underneath here. Again, same way here. Okay, so this is ethnic again, Israel.
Scott Keffer [:This is ethnic gentile. So before Christ is the first picture. The majority of those who are believing are mostly right here. And the majority, the. The gentiles who believe are there. So this line over here is essentially here. In other words, how many of the gentiles believe the majority of believers before Christ are Jewish and there's a small sliver. Who are they? Rahab, like, right.
Scott Keffer [:I mean, I can't probably can't even draw a line there, right. Of the believing of the ethnic gentiles. It's probably just a sliver of a line. Most were coming here, Abraham believed, and it was recognized as righteousness.
Scott Keffer [:Most in there are.
Scott Keffer [:Are Jewish by ethnicity. Right.
Scott Keffer [:Even the early church,
Scott Keffer [:we get early church with Jewish. Same way here. Draw it again. Now the question is, right, so this is dividing line by ethnicity. This is again saved box, if you will, believing box.
Scott Keffer [:Now the line is where the sliver. It's the sliver here.
Scott Keffer [:Now most are gentile. I get that. Most are gentile by ethnicity. Most are gentile by ethnicity. That's where we are. Right?
Scott Keffer [:That's the question.
Scott Keffer [:How come
Scott Keffer [:Very few Jews right now
Scott Keffer [:ethnic Jews
Scott Keffer [:are believers, right?
Scott Keffer [:So Christ came. And initially maybe it's a longer line because there were more. This is more Christ came, believing church. But then now where is it?
Scott Keffer [:Right?
Scott Keffer [:Forget that. So that's where we are right now. They're saying, wait a minute, where are all the Jews coming to Christ? Oh, they're not. They're rejecting the Messiah. Rejecting the Messiah. So early church, if you will. And then now there was a turning, which we'll look at. There's a turning where the apostle Paul, right, And Peter, they move toward the Gentiles.
Scott Keffer [:The message goes out to the Gentiles. We get that. He's saying, okay, there's a third block, right? Ethnicity here, ethnicity here.
Scott Keffer [:In the third block.
Scott Keffer [:It'll be all there. And as best we know, this is post rapture. Post rapture, the church is raptured out, salvation will be and all Jews will be saved. Do you mean every Jew? No, it means generally of the Jews supposed rapture. It's going to be all here. So the overall picture in all of history is this unbelieving Jews believing, right? So for a time these folks are hardened, right? This is here, right? They're hardened, cut off. But there'll be a time when all Israel will be saved. And here it was, you know, I don't know, handful of Gentiles came to Christ, right? And he had no idea, of course, because he was Jewish.
Scott Keffer [:So he's in this time, early church right now. So we see times, God has times, or we would say dispensations. These are times when God is at work. Different things are happening in these times. I'm not sure if it's if a sliver or what the deal will be, but I imagine God's mercy probably has that. I don't know if it speaks specifically about that. Maybe it does. I missed it, but it may be.
Scott Keffer [:So it's back here again. All Israel will be saved. So there's a remnant here. This is where we are in our time. This is the, this is the time of the Gentiles or this is so. Right. There's a remnant. Remnant here.
Scott Keffer [:That's what he's talking about, right? Yes.
Scott Keffer [:Okay.
Scott Keffer [:I don't know if the visual helps. So there. I don't think today, trying to think, where do the Hittites live? How about the Jebusites? How about the Gittites, the Gurites or the whatever tights? There are no, no longer around. The Israelites still around. Israelites still are around.
Scott Keffer [:So you say, why.
Scott Keffer [:Why is Paul, why is the, the spirit of God spending all of this chunk here? This is super essential for us as Gentiles. So you say, first you need to understand this because this is the plan and purpose of God and it's his faithfulness. He also says, hey, during this time, don't get arrogant, don't get become an anti Semite and don't believe we're better than the Jews because boy, right, to Jews, a stumbling block. The Messiah is a stumbling block. It's a stumbling block.
Scott Keffer [:All right, so let's see if we can dig into this.
Scott Keffer [:So what is this? This is Ketra's poor drawing and my
Scott Keffer [:crazy way to kind of understand God's
Scott Keffer [:incomparable and inconceivable plan and purpose. God's incomparable and inconceivable plan and purpose.
Scott Keffer [:So he says ethnic Jews are enemies of the gospel.
Scott Keffer [:They're enemies of the gospel for now. What's that mean? Reject. Reject the gospel. Reject the gospel.
Scott Keffer [:Right.
Scott Keffer [:So are many of the Gentiles too, but Jews particularly, right. They reject the gospel.
Scott Keffer [:So they're enemies of the gospel for now. He says there's a partial hardening.
Scott Keffer [:A partial hardening.
Scott Keffer [:And again hardening if we go over here, right.
Scott Keffer [:Hardened is what. It's. It's. It's a just and judicial hardening. Just and judicial hardening. What does that mean? They are disobedient and reject the Messiah for a time. Then God judges it and removes the ability to believe. It's a judgment against their disobedience.
Scott Keffer [:It's righteous and it's just. Right.
Scott Keffer [:It's a consequence.
Scott Keffer [:It's the, the judgment for their disobedience. It shows that God is judge overall and he's sovereign over belief and unbelief. He's just and he's sovereign over belief and unbelief.
Scott Keffer [:So they're enemies of the gospel for now. And he says this action is to
Scott Keffer [:the benefit of the Gentiles.
Scott Keffer [:It's for the benefit of the Gentiles. Now if their transgression is riches for the the world, not Jews and their failure as riches for the Gentiles, then he says, how much more will their fulfillment be?
Scott Keffer [:There's a time in the future, right?
Scott Keffer [:So Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly and said it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, to Jews, since you repudiate it and judge yourself unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are. We are turning to the Gentiles.
Scott Keffer [:We are turning to the Gentiles.
Scott Keffer [:We are turning to The Gentile. So for so the Lord has commanded us, I place you as a life of the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth. So they were disobedient. God judicially hardened them and turned to the Gentiles.
Scott Keffer [:But it was according to his plan and purpose anyway.
Scott Keffer [:He says, until a future time when
Scott Keffer [:all have come to him. All have come to him. And it's the same word for entering in, enter into the kingdom, for all
Scott Keffer [:have come to him until the fullness
Scott Keffer [:of the Gentiles has come in.
Scott Keffer [:So what's it mean when the fullness of the Gentiles. This right here. When the fullness of the Gentiles there
Scott Keffer [:is, when it reaches a certain place, then God's plan transitions, flips the switch, and then he always will be saved.
Scott Keffer [:So there's a future coming. And he reminds them, according to God's sovereign election.
Scott Keffer [:I don't like those words. I don't believe in those words.
Scott Keffer [:They're divisive and hard to understand. But he says it right here. I'm sorry. He says, from the standpoint of God's choice, up there in the Scriptures, from the standpoint of God's choice, that word is election. I think Israel.
Scott Keffer [:He says, from the standpoint of God's
Scott Keffer [:election, even though Israel is disobedient, even though they're hardened for the time, they are beloved. They're beloved. They are beloved, he says, because of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And because of his name and his glory. Because of his name and his glory.
Scott Keffer [:Because of God's name and God's glory. That's what's on the line here. That's what's on the line here. If God's name is glory on the
Scott Keffer [:line here, guess what?
Scott Keffer [:He will do it.
Scott Keffer [:So he says. Now then, thus says Yahweh, your creator of Jacob, same word for Israel, he who formed you. O Israel, do not fear, for I redeem you. I've called you by name. You are mine. Everyone who's called by my name and whom I have created for my glory. For my glory. So it's because of his glory also.
Scott Keffer [:We flipped over.
Scott Keffer [:It's also because of his word.
Scott Keffer [:God said it.
Scott Keffer [:He will do it.
Scott Keffer [:I love this. God made a covenant with himself. What? So the Lord calls Abram Abraham and says to him, look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you're able to count them. And Lord said to him, so shall your descendants be. And he says, and you'll have a lamb. Then he believed in The Lord and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. He said, oh, Lord God, how may I know that I'll possess the land which you promised? Then he brought all these to him and cut them in two and laid each up. So the Lord said, get offerings.
Scott Keffer [:And so he cuts them in two. He lays half of them over here and half of them over here.
Scott Keffer [:Why? Because in that day, if we.
Scott Keffer [:We said, we're gonna.
Scott Keffer [:We're gonna make a deal. We're gonna strike a deal. We're gonna make a covenant, if you will. You cut a sacrifice, put it in
Scott Keffer [:half, and we'd both walk through the middle of it.
Scott Keffer [:And therefore we would confirm that we both made a covenant.
Scott Keffer [:A blood covenant. A blood was shed.
Scott Keffer [:It's a blood covenant. Everybody again. That's how you made a covenant. That's how you made a deal.
Scott Keffer [:So Abram does that. He cuts the offerings in two and
Scott Keffer [:he lays them out with a path in between. Then something interesting happens.
Scott Keffer [:When the sun was going down, what happened? A deep sleep fell upon Abram. And it came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark. And behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. So he says, on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram.
Scott Keffer [:Well, that's interesting, because Abraham was snoozing.
Scott Keffer [:He was divinely snoozing. He didn't walk between the two. What does that mean? Who walked between the two? The Lord God. God made a covenant with Abraham by making a covenant with himself.
Scott Keffer [:Huh, huh,
Scott Keffer [:huh. So in Hebrews, it says, for when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he. He swore by himself. So in other words, God didn't have to do this, because all God had to say is, I'm gonna do it. He's saying, that's enough. That's enough. But really, for our sake, he swore by himself. Isn't that phenomenal? So because of his word, God keeps his word.
Scott Keffer [:And because of his unchangeable nature. See, all these build. They just build on each other. Because of the patriarchs, because of his.
Scott Keffer [:His character, because of his nature, because
Scott Keffer [:of who he is. He says his gifts and his calling are irrevoc.
Scott Keffer [:Irrevocable.
Scott Keffer [:When you do estate planning, you can do revocable things, trust and whatnot.
Scott Keffer [:And you can do irrevocable trust.
Scott Keffer [:Irrevocable means not revocable. But it's deeper than that, because this speaks to intent. It literally means not to be repented of.
Scott Keffer [:Not only not to be revolt, but
Scott Keffer [:not to be repented of, about which no change in mind can. Can.
Scott Keffer [:Can take place.
Scott Keffer [:Not affected by a change of mind. And it goes back to God is not a man that he should lie, nor son of man that he should repent.
Scott Keffer [:So it means not repentable.
Scott Keffer [:God cannot repent of having made that covenant. So he says, his gifts and his calling. What are his gifts and his calling? Who are Israelites to whom belong?
Scott Keffer [:What's he saying here? This is the adoption. The adoption as sons and covenants, the
Scott Keffer [:laws, the promises, the priesthood, Right? All of those were given to Israel. Temple service, the promises. So God's inconceivable and incomparable sovereignty and mercy.
Scott Keffer [:You keep banging that point, Jeffer, because the scripture keeps banging that point. If God is not sovereign, his mercy is up for grabs. He could be merciful with no sovereignty. He could be sovereign and not merciful. Imagine if we had God who was sovereign but not. Just imagine we had a God who is sovereign but not merciful. Scary. It would be
Scott Keffer [:so. So what's he say? Disobedient Gentiles have now received mercy through Israel's disobedience.
Scott Keffer [:What's he saying? First Peter, you were once not right.
Scott Keffer [:So he says over here he says you were not a people. What else?
Scott Keffer [:Yeah, no mercy. Now you have right? This is have received. You're not a people.
Scott Keffer [:No mercy.
Scott Keffer [:You are a wild olive tree.
Scott Keffer [:You're late to the party in the sense, right? Then he says, disobedient Israel will again receive God's mercy. So what do we have? God temporarily allowed Jewish unbelief so gentiles could receive mercy. Gentile mercy will in turn spotlight God's
Scott Keffer [:faithfulness, drawing Israel back to saving compassion.
Scott Keffer [:So Jewish rejection has now been gentile mercy. Then he said gentile mercy turned into Jewish jealousy.
Scott Keffer [:That's what he said. To make them jealous so that they would return.
Scott Keffer [:That they would return. Jewish jealousy will turn into Jewish salvation as a nation.
Scott Keffer [:So it says it's not just Jews, not just gentile disobedience. For all have sinned and fallen short.
Scott Keffer [:So he says both Gentiles and Israel have been shut up in sin. Why? To show God's sovereignty and mercy to all. To all. Mercy to all.
Scott Keffer [:God's original plan was mercy to all. Mercy to all. We came, Mercy to all. Maybe you're ever built a house building or something like that. You know, all the pieces, the stages, things have to come together, all of that. One of my biggest clients when I did planning, Jack Mascaro built the Steelers stadium. I always said to Jack, how do you build a football stadium?
Scott Keffer [:Seriously?
Scott Keffer [:He said, how do you build an airplane? I don't know, it's all project management, right? And you gotta stage things in the right order and all of that. That seems too hard for me to comprehend. When you think about a project like that, build a house, build a stadium, build an airplane, build something we can build. Who's going to build salvation for all? Mercy to all. I mean, think about it. You think about the universe, who's doing that? But then think about this is even greater. That's just showing a picture of God's purposes over time. Was mercy to all.
Scott Keffer [:Mercy to all. So walking through this and you know,
Scott Keffer [:like, oh, okay, it doesn't matter, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. It matters. It matters.
Scott Keffer [:It matters because God, if God is not faithful to Israel, the promise of Israel, why would he be faithful to us?
Scott Keffer [:And he denies his character. He denies his nature. He denies his word. So God's sovereignty and integrity is what? Our home. That's our hope. This is our hope. So I put there, God keeps his promises to Israel. So then if we look at the Hebrews passage, he said, for when God made the promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, himself.
Scott Keffer [:I mean, can you imagine God in
Scott Keffer [:his court saying, put your hand on the Bible.
Scott Keffer [:I swear by myself. I swear by myself. I make an oath, right? Make an oath. So Jesus said, let your yes be yes. Make an oath.
Scott Keffer [:He literally makes an oath. Why, I will surely bless you. I will surely multiply you. And so, having patiently waited, Abraham received the promise. He obtained the promise. So then he says, let me explain. For men swear by one greater than
Scott Keffer [:themselves, the time they would say, I swear by the temple or I swear by God.
Scott Keffer [:I swear by right.
Scott Keffer [:So we, we're swearing by something. In other words, right, I am accountable to and that thing is more reliable than me.
Scott Keffer [:I swear by right. So he says, for men swear by one greater than themselves. And with them an oath given as confirmation, as an end of every dispute. In the same way, God, well, why would God do that? Desiring even more, what did God desire to do? Show. Really?
Scott Keffer [:To show to whom?
Scott Keffer [:To the heirs of the promise. Who's that? Raise your hand.
Scott Keffer [:That's you.
Scott Keffer [:Heirs of the promise. Well, what does God. So God wanted to show to us heirs of the promise. What do you want to show us by taking it off? What's he saying?
Scott Keffer [:His.
Scott Keffer [:The unchangeableness of his Purpose. He did that for us. So he interposed with an oath. Underline, so that. Always right pointing up. So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. So God said it, then he swore by it. And he said, it's impossible for God to lie.
Scott Keffer [:So those are two unchangeable things. First of all he said it, and
Scott Keffer [:then he swore he would do it.
Scott Keffer [:Forget it. Two unchangeable things.
Scott Keffer [:Who do you do that for?
Scott Keffer [:Heirs of the promise. Heirs of the promise. That would be us. So that by two unchangeable things in which it's impossible for God to lie, we. That's us. Who have taken refuge. Have you taken refuge? You hide your future. In him.
Scott Keffer [:You put your hopes, your dreams, your rejections, your fears, your failures, your disappointments.
Scott Keffer [:Do you bring them to the refuge?
Scott Keffer [:Do you bring them to him? You hide in the shadow of his wings. So he's saying, those who are taking refuge. He says, you're taking refuge. If you've taken refuge, would have strong encouragement.
Scott Keffer [:Underline it.
Scott Keffer [:You've taken refuge.
Scott Keffer [:Ah, Lord, I put those things in your camp.
Scott Keffer [:I put those things in your presence. I put those things to you. But
Scott Keffer [:I wonder, is it working?
Scott Keffer [:Is it working out? What about the world? What about my life? What about so and so?
Scott Keffer [:What about disease?
Scott Keffer [:What about death? What about right, all this stuff? What's happening? What's happening? He said, I want you to have strong encouragement. To do what? Take hold of the hope set before us. So there's a hope? Really? What is that hope? It's an anchor for your soul. It's an anchor for your soul. How many have their soul anchored? Mind flails about, doesn't it? Not just on the sea. It flails about in the air, like. Say you have an anchor to your soul. And it's a hope that is both sure and steadfast.
Scott Keffer [:Well, where is it? It's inside of the veil.
Scott Keffer [:It's in the holy of holies.
Scott Keffer [:Who's there that's keeping me? Who's there that's keeping me? Jesus. He's entered in as a forerunner, having become a high priest forever.
Scott Keffer [:Our hope is in the holy of holies, in the presence of God, the Father Almighty.
Scott Keffer [:Sitting at his right hand is the Lord Jesus, who has you. He has you. God, the Father says, I gave you two unchangeable things, my word and my oath.
Scott Keffer [:Jesus assures it. The Lord Jesus assures it.
Scott Keffer [:It's not a wavering hope. It's an unshakable Hope. He says, check out my plan in all of history.
Scott Keffer [:Is it on target? Yes.
Scott Keffer [:Does it seem like it's not? Does it seem like it doesn't make sense? Sometimes he says, guess what? I know what I'm doing.
Scott Keffer [:I said, will come to pass.
Scott Keffer [:And if I can do this with all people in all of history, guess what I can do with you in your life? Do I have a plan? Does it have dispensations? Does it have time? Times which don't make sense. But there's a hope in it. And God assures it. The Lord Jesus assures it, none will snatch you. So he says, God's sovereignty and integrity becomes our hope.
Scott Keffer [:Is it important what God does with Israel?
Scott Keffer [:Absolutely.
Scott Keffer [:Because it assures us and it informs us and it gives us a picture
Scott Keffer [:of what's happening with us.
Scott Keffer [:There are times and epics in our life. I don't know which one you're in right now, but understand that your hope
Scott Keffer [:is in the holy of holies.
Scott Keffer [:It's in the very holy of holies.
Scott Keffer [:All right. Write down Insight or question or an INC or whatever.
Scott Keffer [:Write down something. May the unchangeable Lord of mercy, may he bless you. May he keep you. May cause his face to shine upon you.
Scott Keffer [:May he lift up his countenance and grant you shalom.
Scott Keffer [:Deepen your soul in the midst of life's uncertainty. May bless you and keep you always.
Scott Keffer [:Amen.
Scott Keffer [:Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May God bless you and keep you.
