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FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY

Topic: Message Outlines: Chapter 11 (Include Audio)

Romans 11:33-36 (1)

by Darrel Cline
(darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)

Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 7 Study # 1
December 1, 2009
Lincolnton, N.C.
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Thesis:   The exuberance of being rightly related to God is rooted in the awareness that the relationship is with One Whose wisdom and knowledge are "rich" beyond measure.

Introduction:   This evening we are coming to the last paragraph of Romans 11. As the last paragraph, it is an expression of the pent-up enthusiasm of one who takes his own advice seriously. The issue of the section is the question of whether Paul's readers will be siphoned off into one of the myriad paths that lead to the disintegration of a productive, personal, relationship with God. At the root of all such siphoning tactics is the nefarious suggestion that God cannot be trusted to the max. And, at the root of that suggestion there will always be some "plausible arguments" put forward to deflect us from the path of Life. In this section of Romans the "plausible argument" focuses upon the present plight of national Israel in view of its "election" by God and the fact that the present plight does not bode well for those who have been "elected". This argument may seem to us, two thousand years later, to be a bit of "out of touch theological rambling", but the bottom line is that it is simply the current-to-the-time argument against drifting because of plausible delusion. The fact is that God is a God of integrity and not only can be trusted to the maximum, but must be if Life is to be the unvarnished experience. Paul's outburst here at the end of this extended argument for trusting God is his expression of pent-up enthusiasm for what God has given to him by grace.

In order that we also might share in that enthusiasm, we are going to look into its roots.


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This is article #551.
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