Well church let’s stand if you would as we get into a new section I know that we were a couple of weeks in Romans chap 11: 1- six and uh now we start a larger section don’t worry we’re not going to cover it all today uh but we’re going to be looking at the section of verses uh 7 to 18 and we’ll just get into the opening verses and we have a message titled today under the shadow of the almighty there’s a reason why we’re using this as a title for those of you who don’t know the Romans epistle

written by Paul from Corinth when he was in Corinth Greece he writes to the Believers in Rome and it’s not that it’s to the church in Rome like it was perhaps at the church at Ephesus or Philadelphia or someplace like that where it’s localized when he wrote he wrote to the church The Book of Romans but it was to all the various home groups we would call them uh many many groups that had gotten together they had gotten saved they were growing in the grace and knowledge of of the word of God which you got to remember back then

they’re studying as New Testament Believers they’re studying the Old Testament you got to remember that they’re studying in the Old Testament and they are seeing that Jesus is in fact the Messiah Yeshua hamashiach that Jesus is Messiah and they’re reading listen instead of you and I reading the book of Romans there was no Book of Romans yet they’re reading books like Isaiah they’re reading Jeremiah they’re reading Ezekiel and they’re finding they’re seeing that it’s none other than

about Jesus Christ and I think that’s an awesome argument by the way every Christian in my opinion every Christian should be able to find Jesus in the Old Testament that should be 101 Christianity so in the first eight chapters he’s talking to these Believers about God’s great wisdom and God’s great power he also talks about the dangers of rejecting Christ he talked about those in chapter 1 for example that stepped away from knowing god intentionally seeing Nature’s testimony of God’s

existence and departed from him and wound up making sexual pleasure their God I know that would never happen in America but everything was sexualized to the point where listen I don’t know if you know this or not I hope you never find this out but there is uh God the god of the Bible is the is the god that created sex but when Satan gets his hands on it he pollutes it God God created it it’s to be uh enjoyed in marriage that’s God’s model he designed it all outside of that is destructive and what’s amazing somebody might say

that’s a religious statement listen you may think so but go ahead and live your life and if you live your life outside of God’s rules you only hurt yourself and today today we live in a culture that is over sexualized and yet the most polluted the most confused the most messed up culture Book of Romans what about those who say I can get to Heaven by being good enough I’ve got the morality I’ve got the I’ve got the knowledge about God or the gods and uh I’m going to go there on my morality

book of Romans says no you’re not can’t do that the Bible tells us that it’s Jesus Christ in the Book of Romans who died on the cross it’s Christ who rose again from the dead it’s the book of Romans that tells us that we are actually listen Justified Listen by God himself he gave us this through Abraham that we are justified by faith and not of Works in other words no human effort can get you into heaven there’s no human effort that can get you saved that can get your sins forgiven there is one who made the

effort and I might add he made it once and once and for all and that is Jesus Christ the Bible says he came into this world Old Testament he was born in Bethlehem Old Testament that he would perform Miracles and raise the dead and Open the Eyes of the blind cleanse the lepers Isaiah chapter 35 Old Testament that he would be pierced in his hands and in his feet and in his side old Testament Psalm 22 and that he would be none other than the very very God of gods the Bible tells us in Proverbs 30:4 that who is he who has held the

wind and his fist and the hollows of the Sea and the fold of the robe of His Garment what is my name and what is the name of my son if you know it where Jesus Christ is the second person of the Holy Trinity of God and it is Christ who was preached among Israel when the gospel was being given it was given listen to the Jewish people first it was preached in Jerusalem that same Christ that was born in Bethlehem died on that cross in Jerusalem all according to Bible prophecy and so in chapters nine we saw Israel’s past chapter 10 Israel’s

present but Church listen up Romans chap 11 is Israel’s future but you got to listen you got to admit before we read this right now now you got to admit that if Romans 11 is about Israel’s future we’re starting to see critical signs in our world right now that the future of Israel is about to get underway once again God is going to be refocusing once again on his people Israel so I’ll read verse seven if you’ll read verse eight nice and Loud if you would we pick it up where we left off he says what

then Israel has not obtained what it seeks but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded just as it is written God has given them a spirit of ster eyes that should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day wow verse n and David says let their table become a snare and a trap a stumbling block and a recompense to them let their eyes be darkened so they do not see and bow down their back always verse 11 I say then have they stumbled this is Israel has Israel stumbled that they should fall

certainly not the word in Greek is perish the thought but through their fall to provoke them to jealousy salvation has come to the Gentiles now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles how much more their fullness for I speak to you g Iles in as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles I magnify my Ministry if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are of My Flesh and save some of them for if they’re being cast away is the reconciling of the world what will their acceptance be

but life from the dead the first frot is Holy the lump is also holy and if the root is Holy so are the branches and if some of the branches were broken off this is a reference to the unbelieving group of Jews that they did not believe and you that is we Gentiles being a wild Olive Tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the Olive Tree Hey listen before we leave verse 18 this is a very U this is remarkable to me we’re looking at a statement made 2,000 years

ago Verse 18 right now speaks to what’s happening in the world today and sadly mostly in America and that is this thing that I keep bringing up every week to you so I drill it into your head and that is this false doctrine of replacement theology the Bible warns us right here and in other places that you better not get all cocky and Upp about you being a Believer but the Jews being lost the Bible here warns you in verse 18 you better watch out because God’s got his purpose working and we better not boast about

our salvation and think that God has done with the Jew because now he’s got us it’s the fact that God has set the Jew aside at this time that we might be saved you and I and know let’s remember this that in every generation since the first generation 21 centuries ago there have always been and there will be and there are today a remnant of Jews that believe in Jesus as Messiah it’s not that the Jews can’t it’s that much has been given to them but much was rejected by them but always there’s a

Remnant let’s be honest much has been given to America but not everybody believes but there is a Remnant and I’m looking at the remnant right now Gentile or Jewish either way father God bless the going forth of your word in Jesus name and all God’s people said amen Well church we’re looking at this message as I said a moment ago under the shadow of the almighty and by way of introduction I just want you to think about this for a moment under the shadow of the almighty you see Jack how does that

apply to Romans chap 11 verses 7 to 18 well it is true that I’m borrowing from the scriptures from Psalm 91 one of the great Promises of the Bible you might want to look at this or mark it down Psalm 91 says he who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty and I teach today by way of contradiction the Jews had excess this is the Book of Psalms Church you’re looking at a verse that is 3,000 years old Israel had this promise they had this verse in their synagogues all

around the world and the invitation by God Is He Who dwells in the secret place he who dwells it’s a remarkable meaning to that word the word to dwell is a is a a powerful statement because it means this it means a place to sit it means a calm or quiet place you might want to uh mark this down because I’m actually going to challenge you to make this your homework uh by the end a place to sit in the calm and quiet so he who dwells it’s given as a promise and an invite to the nation of Israel to the

Jewish people but it’s not limited to them so mark this down a place to sit in the calm and quiet a place of recreation not Recreation but Recreation technically Church Recreation means Recreation that’s what it actually means and then restoration or to recline or to take ease it is God’s will that you dwell under the shadow of the almighty and that dwelling is to take ease and to listen find a place to sit that is calm and quiet and right now you just me saying that you’re probably in your head

hearing words like yeah right or sure this has become almost something impossible to us in our culture he who dwells now watch this he who dwells in the secret place this is the key to where we’re going in the scripture today and no one’s exempt no matter how young or how old you are no one’s exempt from this please make note of this he who dwells that is he who finds a secret place a quiet place is going to is going to benefit greatly by the workings of God so I want to ask you do you have in your life a

quiet secret peaceful place to go to to be with God and you might say Well Jack I’m not sure if that’s what it means because maybe that’s like a spiritual thing no it actually means both that the believer is got to steal away and get alone with God and in doing so there is a result from that happening so for me personally I’ve got my place do you have your place do you have actually do you have a place you should have a place if not that’s your homework today you need to have a place and I know if

we can have a place in our house you can have a place in your house look when we bought our home it was 1100 square ft we enlarged it by 300 ft it ain’t a big house and in a little house little house is a tough house because in a little house after living in it since 1986 there’s boxes sitting around there’s boxes in The Grudge I don’t know what’s in those boxes I’m assuming it’s important it’s been there for years decades don’t even know but here’s the thing I do have my

little place where I hide out with God but even if I didn’t I could get rid of some of those boxes you might say today Pastor I don’t have any room carve out a place if you got a house like mine get some boxes and put them out at the curb and say free because you don’t know what’s in in them anyway you haven’t opened them up in years it’s nothing and make a actually make a physical place where you can get alone with God have your Bible have a concordance have some markers have have a lamp or a light and be there

with God make a place listen when when God was working in the life of Abraham Abraham found a place in the middle of the Wilderness he built an altar and he made that little spot a declaration of his love for God Jacob did the same thing what’s powerful about it is that he who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty it’s a picture that God is showing us you come to me you pursue me you come after me and you dwell with me and I will wrap you up I will protect you and we all need

protection but we often go about it the wrong way God says you come to me church family listen we should do it starting today 30 days we should do this test and that is carve out a place to get alone with God and start to physically practice abiding under the shadow of the almighty and listen You’ll Find that it’s very difficult at first it kind of goes like this okay Lord here I am Pastor Jack said to do this so here it is my first day and um all right dear God lord when was the last time I mowed the

lawn or changed the oil in my car have you noticed are you laughing because that’s odd or are you laughing because you know what I’m talking about the moment you want to be distracted just pray if you want to have your phone ring pray no one’s called me in months pray to God Almighty and your phone will ring something will happen and it’s a discipline you you got to work at it to dwell under the shadow of the almighty means we go there and we stay there and after listen after he has commissioned us then we get out and we

live our life it’s called Christianity and without that private time with him it’s not going to work you can do all the religion you want but it’s never going to work God is saying you come under my watchful arms are my wings he says under the shadow of the almighty and there’s a picture of that where a great protection of an eagle is wrapping you up and you’re safe and in that time God will begin to speak to you I don’t listen I don’t approve but he never asked me so if I were God I would yell

at us why because uh it’s too hard to hear from God sometimes you might say I don’t know if I’ve ever heard God speak well one of the ways to hear him speak is to get alone and to open up the Bible and begin to read and let him interrupt you and he’ll interrupt you with a very still Small Voice that’s the part I don’t agree with I want to hear him loud I want to hear it I want to hear a boom when he speaks to me why cuz I don’t want to have any doubts about it but he doesn’t speak like that he will

impress something upon your heart as you dwell with him he’ll make an impression upon your heart and it’ll be a thought maybe I should do this or I think I’m going to pray about that and as God is impressing upon your heart do you know what happens you wind up going and breaking away from those distractions church it’s a discipline are we disciplined in anything think about it disciplined we should all be exercising some forms of discipline over our life for example uh in America um I was looking we have old life magazines

remember life magazines and I noticed that when you look through life magazines from they go back as as far as the uh isra the birth of Israel 1948 forward everybody’s skinny no everybody’s skinny the the the uh the ads the the the the stories the account the pictures everybody’s skinny and the 50s everybody’s skinny in the 60s everybody’s skinny in the 70s everybody’s skinny they got their shirts off and they’re playing volleyball skinny and then in the 80s and in the 90s there’s no more

skinny something happened something changed and I wonder if what changed is that were we living to eat or are the old days did we live for God or something else and the reality is you eat to live you shouldn’t live to eat and we lose our disciplines and one of those disciplines that we’ve lost I think in our time and that’s important to this text that’s before us is that we get alone with God why because the Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 26 verses 3 and four you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is

stayed anchored to on you because he trust in you watch this trust in the Lord forever for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock Say Amen to that this is the strength and the power of our God and he’s awesome and that he is one who cares he loves and he’s Desiring to protect you as a Believer and you say Jack why are you saying this because this was God’s promise to Israel and even though a Remnant believed of Israel God wanted it for the nation and the nation did not believe and thus we’ve been studying this so as

we look in verses 7 to8 we realize this under the shadow of the almighty is where God desires you to see beyond can you write that down if I fellowship with God if I have private time with God I’m going to see beyond I guess Beyond would mean that you’re not going to be deceived you’re in the word of God God is speaking to you because Israel had everything that you have in your lab Israel had the entire Bible from Genesis to Malachi Old Testament but what happened was they didn’t believe in the gift of Salvation

Church listen up they didn’t believe in the grace of God they said we will work our way we will be good enough we will keep the law Now watch how this plays out you’ve got to see beyond that you’ve got to see that God’s law is Holy that it’s pure and it’s perfect but only Jesus could fulfill the law the Lamb of God and so we see beyond This Way Beyond the Edge that’s what I have for verse seven to see Beyond the Edge spiritually speaking church for us to make sure that we do not make the mistake that Israel

made we’ve got to get to the edge as far down the line as possible and look Beyond to see what God has next why you want to know because God has something ready for today for tomorrow for next week next month for all of us time is not running out for God time’s running out for the world time might be running out for you but what God is doing is God is leading us down a path that he has pre-ordained and it’s pretty exciting to be a believer right now if you haven’t caught on and I want to be standing right at

the edge and I want to see what God has for us next now look at verse 7 Paul says you can almost see his hands go up what then Israel has not obtained what it seeks but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded meaning this Israel tried to establish its own righteousness by its morality and by its desire to do good and then earn God’s favor listen up everybody you don’t have to be Jewish to make this mistake if you think today I can earn his pleasure I can I can earn his acceptance Israel’s leadership taught

them that and that could have never happened so listen they were seeking but they didn’t obtain and then it says listen it’s remarkable because it says the elect have obtained it who’s the elect the Bible’s crystal clear on this the elect of God are all those who are are you listening are all those based upon God’s predestination his forn knowledge and predestination it means that God knew everything about everyone before they were ever born and he built into us free moral agency he gave us the ability to choose

but God knew all about your choosing before you ever created nothing surprises him he knows Jew and Gentile alike if they believe in Christ as Messiah he know knows he knows Jew and Gentile alike that when the gospel was presented to you that you would say yes so he gets all the glory for providing salvation God knows that you would say yes to him maybe today you’re here and you’re thinking well I’m just here for church or I’m just here because somebody made me come I don’t care anything about

saved and and my question to her was take your Bible and throw it away of course I got her attention she said I I can’t do that I said of course you can’t do that the reason why is let me ask you this question do you believe that Jesus is Lord yes do you believe that he died on the cross for your sins yes do you believe he rose again from the dead for you yes then welcome to the family of God but I don’t feel it I don’t feel it show me in the Bible where it says feel it and thou shalt feel it not in there

the just shall live by faith faith God said this God did this listen see what I’m telling you right now you get it but to the Jews and it’s and the Jewish leadership they said no way to that no way to that it’s too easy it’s insulting to our effort and the leadership I stress that the leadership 21 centuries ago during the time of Christ said notice him but not all there’s always a remnant of Believers of every generation remarkable and then we also learn this in verse eight that we can go beyond under the shadow of the almighty