Eastwood Baptist Church, Gatesville, Texas, 2518 E Main Street, Gatesville, TX (2026)

The church began its meetings in a white two-story house that stood in the midst of a grove of oak trees. Today, that beginning has been blessed and cultivated into a church building complex that includes a 300+ seat worship center completed in late 2003, education and office space and a fellowship hall. Eastwood has exciting, Christ-centered, blended worship services, a children's program, a youth program, Sunday School, and various Bible studies for members and guests of all ages.

09/08/2026

Sunday's Sermon...
Living in View of God’s Mercy (Romans 12:9-21)
As we work through the section on “practical Christian living” in Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians, remember that everything Paul says about how we are to live among Christians and non-Christians should be done “in view of God’s mercy.” (That’s how this section starts, in Romans 12:1.) It’s by God’s mercy that we’re saved, and mercy should be at the foundation of all our relationships with others, within the church and outside the church, even our enemies. Keep the foundational principle of mercy in mind as we read our text for today, Romans 12:9-21.
This section starts with the command: “Love must be sincere.” What does sincere love look like? As we know from 1 Corinthians 13, “Love does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” No matter what our spiritual gifts are, no matter how we are called to serve in the church or in the world, we’re to “be devoted to one another in love.”
I read several years ago that when people are looking for a church, when they go visit a church, their main concern will be, “Will I find real community here? Will people love me here?” If someone comes into this church, and they’re needy, or they’re a different color, or they’re struggling with sins or addictions, or their home life is in shambles—will we love them? Let’s make sure we do!
Although Paul spends most of this section looking at the horizontal relationships of our lives, how we interact with Christians and non-Christians around us, there’s still a vertical component too, in verses 11-12: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Paul is picturing people who love others because they’re on fire for Christ. (The word translated “fervor” comes from the Greek word, ZAYO, which literally means boiling hot.)
How do we keep our fervor? Well, for one thing, our fervor is based on our hope, our confident expectation, that a future is coming where Christ will reign, and we will reign alongside him, over the new creation. That hope should be a source of joy no matter what our circumstances here. Because of that hope, we can be “patient in affliction.” The word “patient,” HOOPOMENO, means persevering with strength no matter what the pressure. And we’re to be “faithful in prayer,” knowing that the Holy Spirit is praying with us (Romans 8:26), and that God really does hear and respond to our prayers.
After that spiritual advice, Paul returns to discussing our interactions with other Christians. We are to share with the Lord’s people who are in need. (Even as he wrote Romans, Paul was taking up a collection among the Greek Christians for the relief of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.)
And we’re to practice hospitality. Today, for us, that usually means inviting church members to your home for a meal, or going out to eat and buying them a meal. But it might also mean letting a believer move in with you for a while, or hosting a missionary. Christian missionaries back then were often going to new towns, and these missionaries usually didn’t have much money. So if they could find Christians who would house them for a while, that would facilitate the spread of the gospel. (Paul was planning on stopping in Rome on his way to Spain, so he would need the Romans’ hospitality!)
As an evangelism aside, I got into a brief online discussion one time with a guy who said that Paul seemed to have little knowledge about the teachings of Jesus or the life of Jesus presented in the gospels. I disagreed. For example, Paul’s account of the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 is very close to Luke’s account of the Last Supper (as you would expect if Paul was a traveling companion of Luke). Also, this section of Romans 12 sounds like a paraphrase or summary of Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Also, Paul knew all about Jesus’ death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead.
Paul had different purposes in writing his letters than giving an account of the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were already doing that! But I think it’s clear that Paul knew Jesus pretty well, and we should be prepared to give an answer to people who say that Paul’s Christ is different from the Jesus of the gospels!
In verses 14-21, Paul encourages Christians to cultivate three main virtues: forgiveness of our enemies, being humble, and trying to live in peace with all people.
Being humble means we willingly associate with and willingly serve all kinds of people, even people who are poor, or a different color, or who are struggling with sin.
Trying to live in peace with all people means refusing to engage in tit-for-tat fights; it means forgiving people. Sometimes Christians are genuinely wronged, maybe financially defrauded by another person who claims to be a Christian. It probably would be better to take the financial loss and move on than to sue that person in a court of law. We want to be models of Christ in the church and to the world!
When people harm us, we’re to forgive them and pray for them. Don’t try to take revenge. Leave the matter of justice ultimately up to God.
I read a great story about Dolly Parton last week. She was a committed Christian, and she tried to live out the values we’ve been talking about this morning. She first came to national prominence when a successful country singer, Porter Wagoner, invited her to be part of his television show. They sang together from 1967 to 1974, when Dolly decided to leave the partnership and become a solo artist. But Porter said she was still under contract to him, and he sued her. He wouldn’t release her from her contract until she paid him $1m. She borrowed the money and paid the obligation, and she said it took her years to get that debt paid off. That really strained their relationship, although Dolly wrote a song about how she would always love him. (You’ve probably heard the Whitney Houston version of that song.)
Eventually, Porter Wagoner fell on hard times and offered his music catalog for sale to try to get out of debt. By that time, Dolly had the resources to buy the catalog, and she did. And then she turned around and gave the music rights back to Porter for free, as a gesture of forgiveness and gratitude! And later, when Porter was dying, Dolly went and helped take care of him until he passed.
That’s what Paul is talking about in this passage. Be grateful to people. Forgive people. Try to live at peace with people, even if it costs you something.
V. 26 is interesting: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” The quote is from Proverbs 25, and the “heap burning coals on his head” is apparently an ancient image of one who has felt a sharp pang of guilt and is sincerely demonstrating repentance over a wrong they have committed.
In other words, as we respond to people with love instead of revenge, with charity instead of resentment, with generosity instead of bitterness, people may be so surprised and so convicted that they repent!
As you interact with your neighbors and coworkers and family members, they should see a humility and a mercy and a generosity in you that draws them to Christ!
And let us, as a congregation, be careful to show love to all people who join us for worship. We should seek to draw them into connection and community by our generosity and our hospitality.

09/04/2026

I re-wrote the song "Happiness Is the Lord" for this week's children's sermon, trying to base it on the Beatitudes.

Happiness Is the Lord (Sermon on the Mount Version)

C
Happiness is being poor in spirit,
G7
Having a wallet with nothing in it,
C F
Losing your loved ones, but you don’t fear it
C G7 C
Happiness is the Lord.

C
Happiness is showing mercy,
G7
Even to those who really hurt me
C F
I’ll be rewarded, wait and you’ll see
C G7 C
Happiness is the Lord.

C F Em Dm G7 C
Real joy is mine, no matter if teardrops start
E Am D7 G
I’ve found the secret – It’s Jesus in my heart!

C
Happiness is facing persecution
G7
Forgiving those who drive the nails in
C F
Just like my Lord, who died for my sin
C G7 C
Happiness is the Lord.
C G7 C
Happiness Is the Lord!

08/31/2026

Yesterday's sermon...
Using Your Spiritual Gifts (Romans 12:3-16)
As I noted last week, the first part of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians (chapters 1-11) is a theological discussion centering on the topics of sin, grace, and faith. In Romans 12, Paul transitions to practical applications, starting with a command to present yourself as a “living sacrifice” to God, which will “tune in” your mind so that you can follow God’s will as you go through your day.
Next, Paul turns his focus to the relationship of the believer to other members of the church, in Romans 12:3-16, which is our text for this morning. As we read this passage, begin thinking about the part that you are playing (or could play) in building up the strength and work of Eastwood Baptist Church. Let’s read Romans 12:3-16 now.
Paul sneaks in a little autobiographical comment in verse 3: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” Paul had been extremely prideful in his early life. He says in Philippians 3, “If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”
Paul was prideful about himself until he met Jesus. After that, he considered all his previous accomplishments as nothing but a huge waste, and he committed his life entirely to preaching Christ crucified and raised from the dead.
Paul encourages us to “think of ourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of us.” The fundamental attitude we should have in our interactions with others is humility. We can’t brag on our abilities or accomplishments, because everything we have is a gift from God, even our faith!
For Paul, the individual believer’s relationship to the church as a whole is like the relationship between a part of the body to the whole body. Paul had developed the same analogy in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where he used some humorous imagery: “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?”
It takes all the parts of the body working together for the body to function properly. In the same way, each of us is to use our spiritual gift for the building up and proper functioning of the church. “Spiritual gift” is the translation of the Greek word “CHARISMA,” which literally means “grace gift.” God gives to each believer one or more special gifts for the building up of the church. But we always want to use our gifts out of humility and for the good of others. If someone has the gift of prophecy or healing or speaking in tongues, they might be tempted to take pride in those gifts, to think that they’re better Christians than others because of they have those gifts. They might start exercising those gifts in a showy way to bring attention to themselves. Paul warns against that. We’re to understand that the gifts are gifts of grace. We didn’t get them because we’re especially faithful or especially mature. We must always exercise them in such a way to impact others positively rather than to draw attention to ourselves, or even worse, make others feel bad for not having those gifts.
Paul then lists some of the gifts and how they’re to be used, starting with “prophesying.” We tend to think of prophesying as telling the future, and there can be an element to that. I was with my nephew (a Circuit Rider missionary) at a prophecy session several years ago, and he laid his hands on me and told me he saw me in a room full of toys. He didn’t know what it meant–maybe I was about to find a new playfulness or joy in my ministry. I now have a whole bedroom full of toys for the grandkids and play games like “Pretty Pretty Princess” with them. That prophecy was fulfilled very literally!
My neighbor’s son went on a mission trip to NYC when he was in college, and after he left, my neighbor told her husband, “Nathan is going to become a full-time missionary in NYC.” And he is.
My niece was about to graduate with a nursing degree from Oral Roberts, but she was torn up because she had gone through the clinicals and really didn’t want to become a nurse. While sitting alone in her car in an otherwise deserted campus parking lot, a homeless guy walked by, looked back at her, came over, and knocked on her window. She rolled down her window just a crack to talk to him. He told her, “Your name is Lauren, isn’t it? God told me to tell you that you don’t have to become a nurse.” Then he walked off. I think those are genuine examples of a supernatural gift of prophecy. How do you know if a prophecy is genuinely from God? Genuine prophecies seem to help people understand what God’s plans are for their lives. Also, a genuine prophecy will never contradict biblical principles.
Pastor David Jeremiah told a story about a church member who came to his office and announced that God had revealed to him that he should divorce his wife and marry another woman. Pastor Jeremiah said, “You might be hearing a supernatural voice telling you to do that, but it isn’t from God, because it violates the Bible’s principles regarding marriage.”
If your gift is “serving,” then serve, faithfully and humbly. The word “serving” can mean “giving charitable aid” or just performing an act of service. Every member of the church should be on the lookout for opportunities to serve others.
If your gift is teaching, then find people to teach. We have more opportunities to teach than ever before. Jerry Casey told me he started a little online Bible teaching session that eventually was reaching dozens of people every week.
Some people are given the gift of encouragement. The Greek word is “parakaleo,” and it means to be called alongside someone to give them direction, strength, encouragement, and counsel. The Holy Spirit is the “parakaleo” that God has given to us. (See John 14:16.) In an age when a lot of people spend a lot of time tearing other people down, the gift of encouragement might be especially important. (Don’t we have better things to do than picking fights with people online?)
Some people have the gift of giving, which they should do with sincerity and generosity. A theologian I listen to, N. T. Wright, recently said on a podcast, “Money is a neutral thing in itself but it always poses a temptation. The safest thing you can do with your money is give it away!”
Leaders are to lead with diligence. The Greek word translated “diligence” (“spooday”) means acting with diligence, seriousness, honesty, and care—and with speed, which seems pretty foreign to the bureaucratic world we live in today. Christian leaders should be models of effective, honest leadership.
Some people are given a special grace to show mercy. Corrie ten Boom tells a great story about forgiveness near the end of her book, “The Hiding Place.” After WWII, she was going around preaching in Germany. At the end of a service a German man came up to her and said, “I was one of the prison guards at the Ravensbrook concentration camp, and I want to ask your forgiveness for what we did to the prisoners.” Although he didn’t remember her specifically, Corrie remembered this guard. He had continually tormented Corrie and her sister Betsy. The man held out his hand to her, and Corrie couldn’t respond. She was too bitter. She couldn’t forgive him.
And the Holy Spirit said to her, “Just extend your hand. I’ll do the rest.” And when Corrie reached out her hand to the man, she felt this electric thrill through her, and her bitterness was broken, and she was able to sincerely forgive him.
This list of spiritual gifts is not exhaustive. (See 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4.) But whatever gifts that God gives us, we should exercise those gifts with real love and humility, looking out for the good of others, trying to build them up in their faith.
There’s an important idea in v. 11 that’s easy to miss: “keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” As we serve those around us, we’re serving Christ. So we want to serve with real love, real humility, real generosity, and real excellence. Keep in mind the words of Jesus: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

08/24/2026

Yesterday's sermon...
Offer Yourselves as Living Sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2)
In most of Paul’s letters, he’ll have a theological discussion at the start of the letter, and then a section of practical applications towards the end of the letter. We can see that pattern clearly in Romans. Romans 1-11 is the theological section. When we get to Romans 12, we clearly transition from theology to practice.
Paul starts the “practical” section of his letter with foundational advice for living a Christian life that’s pleasing to God, in Romans 12:1-2. When I was in junior high, I memorized those verses from my King James Bible: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” That translation is still serviceable, but let’s hear it in a newer translation, the NIV, as the sermon text for this morning. Stand with me as we read Romans 12:1-2.
Paul starts this section with the transitional word “therefore.” Paul is signaling, “Before you read my practical advice on Christian living, keep in mind everything I’ve already taught you: that all people are sinful, that we can’t please God by our own righteousness or religiosity, that God calls us to have faith in Christ, and if we’ll do so, God in his mercy will erase the record of our sins and receive us as his children. Christ himself will begin interceding for us. The Holy Spirit will begin living in us and transforming us. Nothing will ever separate us from God’s love. God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
Knowing all that, knowing most of all the “mercy of God,” we are urged by Paul to offer ourselves to God as “living sacrifices.” The Jews, Greeks, and Romans all were familiar with how to do animal sacrifices. You secured an acceptable animal, took it to the temple, killed it, placed it on an altar, and burned it with fire. By making the sacrifice, you were trying to remain in fellowship with God (or the gods); you were trying to get God’s forgiveness or blessing.
Paul comes along and says, “God doesn’t want animals. He wants you!” No doubt Paul had in mind scriptures like Psalm 51:16-17, where David tells God, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
If you do an animal sacrifice, the animal doesn’t have any choice in the matter. But we’re to be “living sacrifices,” which means that we consciously submit ourselves, we consciously sacrifice ourselves, to God’s service. I suggest starting each morning with a prayer that goes something like this: “Father God, you’re my Creator and Redeemer. I submit all that I do, all that I say, and all that I am, to you today. I’m presenting myself as a living sacrifice to you. Let me live to bring you glory, and to extend the reign of your Son into my world.”
Paul says being a living sacrifice is “your true and proper worship.” We tend to have the idea that worship is something that only happens at church on Sunday, during the song service. Paul would say worship is when we’re bringing glory to God, and we can do that every day. We can bring glory to God, we can magnify Christ, by loving and serving people every day.
Janet is bringing glory to God when she takes donuts to the flagpole and prays with the high school students there. Patty is bringing glory to God when she goes to visit Nancy at the nursing home. Jill and Britt are bringing glory to God when they arrange for people who don’t have cars to get transportation. Duane and Easton bring glory to God when they go out on Monday evenings and invite people to church. Ed and Crystal bring glory to God when they get food ready for church meals or for shut-ins. Sue and Leah bring glory to God when they pass out food at the Care Center.
For you students, being a living sacrifice means doing your schoolwork with diligence and excellence. It means being helpful to your classmates and teachers. It means telling your classmates about Jesus and inviting them to come to church. Doing those things brings glory to God!
For working adults, being a living sacrifice means being productive and honest at work, always ready to help and serve your coworkers and customers. It means saying positive words to people. It means modeling a joyful and faithful life. It means telling your coworkers about Jesus and inviting them to church when you have the opportunity. Doing those things brings glory to God!
No matter where you are in your life, no matter what your circumstance, you can be a living sacrifice. I heard a great testimony last week from a cancer doctor (Stephen Iacobini) who had been an atheist for many years. He went to see a patient that he had become friends with at her home. She was within a few days of dying a very painful death. And she still had this bright and joyful attitude.
Dr. Iacobini asked her, “Why are you so happy? I’ve never seen anyone in so much pain have the attitude that you have.” And she said, “I believe God gave me this cancer in part so that I could show you how to die, and how to live.” And she encouraged him to believe in God and his grace, to believe in the cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, and her testimony was so compelling that he did. He rekindled a faith that he had lost decades before. That dying woman knew what it meant to be a living sacrifice.
Paul says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” The world will pressure us into a pattern of selfishness, pride, and resentment. It will hold up s*x and money and power as the things you should focus your life on. Those things are good, but they’re not the ultimate good. When pursued as the ultimate good, they become false gods that enslave us.
God can free us from old patterns of thought that lead to broken relationships, addictions, pride, greed, faithlessness, dishonesty, immorality. When we place ourselves under the lordship of Christ, when we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, God will begin renewing our minds. The renewing may be a long process—God is still working on me after 60 years! But we can be confident that the God who began the good work in us will carry it to completion.
Paul says that when we consciously submit ourselves daily to God, we’ll be able to perceive God’s will for our lives more clearly. Getting up in the morning and presenting yourself as a living sacrifice to God is like turning on your radio and tuning it in to God’s frequency.
As you go through your day, you’ll hear more clearly those promptings of the Holy Spirit to do God’s will. “Stop and ask that person if they need help.” “Go mow that old lady’s yard.” “Invite that coworker to church.” “Take a meal to that sick person.” “Turn off that show—you don’t need to be watching it.” “Forgive that person even though they wronged you.”
How will you know if that’s God’s will for you? If it’s an act of grace toward someone, instead of an act of bitterness or resentment, assume that’s the will of God. If it’s an act of generosity toward someone, instead of an act of selfishness or dishonesty, assume that’s the will of God.
Start tuning in your spiritual radios. Make it a habit, part of your morning routine, to present yourself to God as a living sacrifice. And then listen for his will for you as you go through your day.

08/20/2026

Sometimes the sweetest evidence of what God is doing in the next generation shows up when nobody is asking for it.

Mason, one of our Eastwood Kids, was caught on video at school sharing his self-portrait. And right there, written across the bottom in his own handwriting: “I love God.” ❤️

No church assignment.
No Sunday School worksheet.
Just a child sharing something that matters to him.

This is what we pray for at Eastwood—not simply that our kids learn Bible stories and memorize Scripture, but that they know God, love Him, and carry that faith with them wherever they go.

Into their classrooms.
Onto the playground.
Around their friends.
And eventually, wherever God sends them.

Way to go, Mason! Keep letting your light shine. We are so proud to see our Eastwood Kids in Action!

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16

NEXT GEN | Eastwood Kids in Action

Growing disciples who live their faith beyond the walls of the church.

08/17/2026

All Israel Will Be Saved (Romans 11:25-36)
We’re continuing this morning looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans. By my calculations, we should finish up Romans by the end of September.
At the time Paul wrote the letter, the church in Rome was made up primarily of Gentiles, but there were some Jews in it. (We know that because of the subject matter and because Paul sends his a greeting to a Jewish believer named Herodian in Romans 16:11.) Also, keep in mind that when Paul wrote Romans, he was traveling around various churches in Turkey and Greece taking up a collection for the relief of Jewish Christians in Judea who were being persecuted and facing a famine. I think that Paul also knew persecution would soon be coming for the Roman Christians. Paul wanted the Jewish and Gentile Christians working together, because he knew that a unified church is a stronger church in times of persecution and hardship, and a unified church better reflects God’s love for the whole world.
And so Paul discusses in some detail the part of the Jews in God’s plan of salvation, especially in chapters 9-11. Paul was grieved that more of his Jewish brothers hadn’t turned to Jesus, but he wanted the Roman Christians to understand that the Jews are still God’s people, and the covenant promises that God made to the Jews will be accomplished. Listen for those ideas as we read our text for today, Romans 11:25-36.
Paul wanted the Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians in Rome to understand the Jews’ place in salvation history so that the Gentiles would not become “conceited.” Paul was afraid the Gentile Christians might develop an attitude that goes like this: “God initially chose the Jews to be his people. But the Jews ended up rejecting God’s Son, so God is all done with them. God has a new chosen people, and that’s us Gentiles! We’re the ones who received Jesus as our Lord, so we’re in, and they’re out. We’re now God’s chosen and beloved, and all God’s promised blessings to the Jewish people will now go to us. And that’s the way it’s going to be from this point forward.” Do you hear some conceit behind that attitude? If you hear people talking today about “replacement theology,” that’s the core belief: The Jews are out, and the Gentiles are in; the Christian church has replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people.
Paul tried to correct the conceit behind that attitude by making this argument: “Yes, the Jews messed up by rejecting Jesus as their Savior. That grieves me! But their rejection of Christ turned out to be a benefit for you. When they rejected Christ, God looked elsewhere for people who would love his Son. And the people he found were the most unexpected people imaginable: you guys. Greeks and Romans who were steeped in a culture of idolatry and immorality. God took people ignorant about him and revealed his character and salvation to them. He took the most unworthy people in the world (YOU GUYS) and made them into his sons and daughters.
BUT GOD ISN’T FINISHED WITH THE JEWS YET! God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. God promised that the Jews would be his beloved people, and they are, and they always will be. The Jews are going through a time of disobedience right now, and God is using that time to bring many Gentiles into salvation, into his family. But when the time is right, after multitudes of Gentiles have been saved, the Jews will turn to Jesus too. And they’ll have their sins forgiven in the same way the Gentiles do: by faith in the cross of Christ.
Christians must never join in the current attempts (or recurrent attempts) to disregard Jews, blame Jews, and attack Jews as being the source of world’s problems. They’re not. They’re God’s chosen people, and they always will be. We should support and protect them any way we can. We should pray for them and keep sharing the gospel with them. It’s right there in Genesis 12:3—God blesses people who bless the descendants of Abraham!
Paul then makes a remarkable statement: “And in this way, all Israel will be saved.” God’s plan all along is for all people, Jews and Gentiles, to be united in one body under the lordship of Christ. And this united body of God’s chosen people is the new Israel or the “real” Israel. I think that’s what Paul primarily means when he says, “All Israel will be saved.”
But it may also be a promise that, towards the end of history, there will be a great turning of the Jewish people to faith in Christ, and virtually all Jews in that generation will be saved. Remember, over in Revelation 7, there’s a vision of 144,000 saved and sealed Jews from “all the tribes of Israel,” an image which may also be pointing to a great turning of the Jews to Christ at the end of history.
Paul makes another amazing statement in V. 32: “For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” C. S. Lewis noted that you can find hints of “universalism” in Paul. (“Universalism” is the idea that ultimately everyone gets saved.) I’ll be honest with you: I hope that universalism is true. I hope that even Hi**er somehow repents in the end, submits himself to the lordship of Christ, and is saved.
But Paul may just be using hyperbolic language here, and the “all” here means “all whom God has chosen,” or “all who have received Jesus as their Savior in this life.” As I’ve said before, the only guarantee of salvation is to believe in Jesus today!
At the end of this section Paul breaks out into a “doxology,” which is a hymn of praise. After Paul has looked at the broad sweep of salvation history, Paul has this outpouring of praise is a celebration of God’s wisdom and power. Why is it there?
Well, after reading Romans 9-11, you might be tempted to say, “I don’t understand how God in his sovereign power can call some people to be saved and still give everyone a free choice in the matter.” In his doxology, Paul says, “YOU’RE RIGHT! It’s beyond human understanding. God’s knowledge and power are so wide and wonderful that we can barely begin to comprehend them.”
After reading Romans 9-11, you might say, “I don’t understand why God would turn to grossly sinful people who live lives in open rebellion against him and make a special effort to bring them into his family.” In his doxology, Paul says, “YOU’RE RIGHT! God’s love for people, even people who rebel against him, is so deep and rich that the wisest theologian or the most devout saint can barely skim the surface of it!”
Our proper response to God’s amazing wisdom and his amazing love is to say: “To you be the glory! I’ve been created by you, I’m being sustained by you, I’ve been designed to worship you forever, and I’m so grateful! I don’t understand every nuance of your character—no one does—but I know that you loved us so much that you gave us your own Son to die on a cross for our sins, for my sins, and the only proper response is my love and my gratitude, and for me to proclaim your glory to the world.”
When all is said and done, no one will be able to say to God: “You were unjust.” And no one will be able to say to God: “You were unloving.” And no one will be able to say to God, “I went through pain and tragedies and sacrifice, and you weren’t there.” (The altar of sacrifice is an altar only God knows completely.)
It doesn’t matter if you’re the most moral, most religious person in the world, and it doesn’t matter if you’re the most immoral, addicted, terrible person in the world: God loves you and wants you to be part of his family. If you’ve never received Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as your Savior, if you’ve never said yes to God’s invitation to the great banquet, yes to his offer of adopting you as his child, I urge you to do that today! If you’ll do that, then you’ll know the purpose of your life: to proclaim God’s glory to the world!

Address

2518 E Main Street
Gatesville, TX
76528

Telephone

(254) 865-2948

Website

http://www.ebcgatesville.org/

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Eastwood Baptist Church, Gatesville, Texas