I had to reset all the stream
keys for some reason. I had to reset the stream keys. Connect. Good evening, let's
stand together and sing hymn number 448. 448. There's a sweet and blessed story
of a Christ who came from glory just to rescue me from sin and
misery. He in loving kindness sought
me and from sin and shame has brought me. Hallelujah, Jesus
ransomed me Hallelujah, what a Savior Who could take a poor
lost sinner Lift Him from the miry clay And set Him free I
will ever tell the story Shouting glory, glory, glory From the
depths of sin and sadness To the heights of joy and gladness
Jesus lifted me In mercy whole and free With his precious blood
he brought me When I knew him not he sought me He ransomed me. Hallelujah, what a Savior, Who
can take a poor lost sinner, Lift him from the miry clay,
And set him free. I will ever tell the story, Shouting
glory, glory, glory, Jesus ransomed me. I am by with joy increasing,
And with gratitude unceasing, Lifted up to be with Christ eternally. I will join the host, their singing,
in the anthem ever ringing, To the King of love who ransomed
me. Alleluia, what a Savior, who
can take a poor lost sinner, Lift him from the miry plain,
set him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting,
glory, glory, glory. Hallelujah, Jesus, thanks be. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
235. 235. Pass me not, O gentle Savior
Hear my feeble cry While all others Thou art calling Do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my feeble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by. Let me at a throne of mercy Find
a sweet relief Kneeling there in deep contrition
Helped by unbelief Savior, Savior Hear my people cry While on others
Thou art calling Do not pass me by Trusting only in thy merit Would
I seek thy face Heal my wounded, broken spirit Save me by Thy grace. Savior, Savior, hear my feeble
cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
More than life to be, Who have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in empathy Savior, Savior. In my feeble cry While on others
Thou art calling Do not pass me by Romans 11. Romans 11. Read the first ten
verses. Pray the Lord to be pleased to
meet with us. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite. of the seed of Abraham, of the
tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew. What, ye not know what the scripture
saith, or do ye not understand what the scripture saith of Elijah? How he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets.
Dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my
life. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed to the knee or to the image of Baal. Even so, then at this present
time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then is it no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David
said, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling
block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened,
that they may not see, and bow down their back always. our Lord and our God, great glorious Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Oh, our Savior. We love to call
Him Savior, love to call Him Redeemer, love to talk about
Him as the one who loved us, gave himself for us, to save
us from our sin, Oh, we love to talk about our Savior and
our Lord. Love to consider him, his power
and his glory. Consider his preciousness. Consider
his blood. Consider his sovereignty and
his right over all his creatures. Oh, Lord, it's wonderful to think
about our Savior. And Lord, I thank you. Oh, how
I bless you. that you've allowed us this privilege.
What a privilege it is to gather here with the people of God,
those that are numbered among the living. And Lord, we've gathered
here to worship, we've gathered here to learn, and so meet with
us. And we thank you, Lord, for those
who are watching, who are listening. I pray you'd cause us to be a
blessing to them, that people would hear the gospel and delight
in it and rejoice in it. And I pray for my children, pray
for my grandchildren, sons and daughters, husbands and wives. Everybody here has got someone
that they want and pray that God would have mercy on. So,
Lord, send your Holy Spirit and convince them of their sin, convince
them of their need. And, Lord, meet with us tonight. Bring glory to yourself through
this service and bless these dear saints' hearts as gathered
out this evening for Christ's sake. Amen. In our course books, number 29.
Number 29 in our course book. On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross He yielded to suffering and shame And there in His grace He died
in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the
Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King
I must crown O the Christ of the Cross, so
despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God Left
His glory above To bear all my sin on the tree So I'll cherish
the Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King
I must crown In the Christ of the cross, and His blood so divine,
A marvelous beauty I see. Lord, open my eyes that long
have been blind to behold Him now on His throne. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the Cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to
the Christ of the Cross For He is the King I must crown To the Christ of the Cross I
must ever be true, His shame and reproach gladly bear. For in love he constrains Till
all shall be gained And his glory forever I'll share So I'll share And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of the Cross For He is the King
I must crown You remember last week we talked
about calling on the name of the Lord. People can't call and
believe in anybody they've never believed or heard and believe
in him they've not heard. And then Paul comes down to say
that first last verse of chapter 10, but to Israel, God says all
day long, I've stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient.
And gainsaying people are denying people. And Paul had been talking
about how that God or the Jews rejected Christ, rejected the
gospel. Now we're going to talk about
a remnant of grace. God rejected Israel as a nation,
as a whole nation. And the reasons, the main reason
more than anything else is they rejected Christ. They rejected
him. They despised him. And the second
reason is, is they sought righteousness not by faith, but by the works
of the law. They did not submit themselves
to the righteousness of God. They did not submit themselves
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And here the apostle answers
another objection raised by those who don't like God's way of doing
things and God's choice and way of saving sinners. And so Paul
asked a solemn question after he said, God said, I've stretched
forth my arms all day long. And Bruce Crabtree and I were
talking yesterday about Christ's weeping. You know, you think
about the Lord Jesus Christ having such compassion, such love that
he knows that a people that's going to reject him and despise
him and crucify him, He stood and cried, cried, cried, and
wept over Jerusalem. I know that the city was going
to be crucified there. He's going to die there. And
yet he stood and wept over it. He said, oh, how often, how often
I'd have gathered you. But you just would not. You just
would not. And so that's the situation.
And so he answers the question, well, what about He says then,
in verse 1, say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid,
for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe
of Benjamin. And oh, what a question to ask.
They say, I say then, has God cast away his people? For those
who oppose the scriptures and question God, and he says this
often, he's used this time, you know, they oppose God, they oppose
the scriptures, and he says, God forbid, God forbid, perish
the thought, don't let the, every time somebody objected to what
God said or what God did or what the scriptures said, Paul said,
God forbid, God forbid for you to even think like that. God
forbid that you'd question God. God forbid that you would question
the Scriptures. God forbid. They said, God cast
away all of his people, the Jews? He said, no, I'm a Jew. He said,
he didn't cast me away, I'm a Jew. I'm an Israelite indeed. He said,
not only that, but I'm of the seed of Abraham. And he said, I'm of the tribe
of Benjamin. Benjamin's tribe, Benjamin was the last born child. Joseph didn't even know he had
been born. Remember when he said, bring him down here and keep
leaving him here? Then Benjamin, his name means the son of my
right hand, typical of our Lord Jesus Christ being the son of
God's own right hand. And then, oh my, I'm a seed of
Abraham, I'm a child, I'm an Israelite indeed. So as you know,
he's not cast me away, he's not cast away all of his people.
And look what he said in verse two. God hath not cast away his
people which he foreknew. Everybody that he foreknew, everybody
that he foreknew had a special affection for, for knew everything
about him. He said, God hath not cast away
his people which he foreknew. Whether they're among the Jews
or whether they're among the Gentiles, it makes no difference.
He's not cast away his people which he foreknew. And you know,
in a sense, every human being belongs to God. Everyone. He's the creator. We're the creatures.
And we're his subjects. He's the sovereign. And He can
do with anybody on this earth as He wills to do. He can reject
a person. He can save a person. He can
tender a person or He can harden a person. He can do what He said
for whom He foreknew. Now, He didn't look down through
time and say, Well, I know that this one ain't going to believe
and that one ain't going to believe, but this is going to believe
and that one's going to believe, so I'll choose them on the basis
of what they're going to do or not what they're going to do.
That's not what He's talking about. But He foreknew somebody. That means He always knew them
from eternity. He always knew them. Christ was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But everybody's
not foreknown. ALL ARE NOT THE OBJECTS OF HIS
ETERNAL ELECTING LOVE AND GRACE. THERE WAS A GROUP THAT TOLD OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST. THEY SAID, LORD, WE'VE PREACHED
IN YOUR NAME. WE CAST OUT DEVILS IN YOUR NAME.
WE HEALED IN YOUR NAME. WE'VE DONE MANY WONDERFUL WORKS
IN YOUR NAME. AND YOU KNOW WHAT OUR LORD SAID
TO THEM? DEPART FROM ME, YOU WORKERS OF INIQUITY. I NEVER
KNEW YOU. NOW, DOES THAT MEAN THAT GOD
DIDN'T KNOW THEM? OF COURSE HE KNEW THEM. He knew
everything that they did, and that's why He called them workers
of iniquity. They used His name. They done things in His name,
and yet He said, you're workers of iniquity. And I never knew
you. But Paul, he said, I knew you
before you was formed in your mother's belly. Jeremiah, before
you was born in your mother's belly, I knew you and ordained
you to be a prophet. My to hear them four words. I
never knew you But there is a people not only that he knew but he
foreknew him. He knew him before they were
ever were And all Israel and then look what he'd you know,
Israel was chosen from the nations and all the nations God chose
Israel Call them the people of God blessed them with the promises,
gave them the prophets, gave them law, gave them the sacrifices,
but all of them were not foreknown. Most of them perished in the
wilderness. He said, Hebrews 4.2 says this,
said, the gospel was preached unto them as it was preached
unto us, but it was not mixed with faith. But we have entered
into his rest. When the gospels preached, if
it's not mixed with faith, he said they perished in the wilderness. Perished in the wilderness. And
then look what it said about Elijah. Don't you understand what the
scripture said of Elijah? Now this is in 1 Kings chapter
19. If you ever want to look at it. 1 Kings chapter 19. What happened was, you all remember
when Elijah, Told them fellas, you know, he's gonna meet all
these 450 false prophets. He said, dig, big dig some big
ditches here. Fill it up with water. Put all,
put all the, put the sacrifice on there and put the wood there
and just pour water, just keep pouring the water on it, pouring
the water on it. Water standing there. And he said, the God that
answers by fire, that's the God. Well, he said, now you call on
your God and see if he's gonna come. They called and called
and called half a day, took knives and cut themselves. And Elijah
said, prayed 67 words. And God come down in fire and
sucked all the water up, all the wood and all the sacrifices,
and it was dry ground. Well, they got upset about that,
and they took out after him. Jezebel and Ahab took out after
him. Well, he ended up going into
the wilderness. God took care of him, fed him,
fed him, and then finally ended up in a cave. But while he's
in that cave, while he's in that cave, he said what he said. And
he said, Elijah makes intercession. Against to God against Israel. He's not praying for him God
to do something for him. He's praying against them Israel
you're a bad bunch Jews you're a bad bunch. You're a mean bad
bunch and look what he says there and oh my He prayed to God against
Israel, you know, listen what he said. Oh my he prayed against
their idolatry their contempt and their unbelief and And he
thought God was plum finished with Israel. And look what he
says, Lord, they've killed all your prophets.
They took your altars and tore them down. And I'm left alone
and they want to kill me. I'm all by myself. Oh, God's totally abandoned Israel
and I'm here, I'm the only one left. But what did God say to him?
What did God say to him? But what saith the answer of
God unto him? God answered him. God had something
to say to him. But what's the answer that God
gave him? I've reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." Elijah, you're not by yourself.
You're not alone. You're not by yourself. I've
got 7,000. They're over here in a cave. They've never bowed their knee.
They've never looked at the image of Baal. They're worshipers of
the true and living God. And oh, my. And I tell you what,
God had not completely cast Israel off and hasn't cast all the Jews
now. He said, He reserved, He said, listen to this, I've reserved
to myself. Not to Israel. I reserved them
to myself. They're mine. That's what he said. That's what
the Lord said. They're mine. He said, I reserved
them to myself. To me. You know, there's a reservation
that God's made for me. And you know what it is? A reservation
reserved in heaven for you. And no matter how things seem,
no matter how things seem, God has always and will have a people
reserved to Himself whom He foreknew, who He redeemed, and whom He
called. And then look what He says now
in verse 5 and 6. And even so, even so, just like
it was in the days of Elijah, even so, at this present time,
there's also a remnant according to the election of grace. You know what a remnant is? It's
a small part left out of the whole. It's a small part left
out of the whole. Now look over here in Romans
9.27. back over in Romans 9 27 a remnant look what he said here
now he's talking about Isaiah here always also cries concerning
Israel though the number of the children of Israel be as the
sand of the sea now watch this out all a number that's like
the sand of the sea a great great number he said but out all that
number Just a remnant is going to be saved. Out of that great
big whole bunch, I'm going to save just a little bit. I'm going
to save just a remnant out of it. And that's what a remnant,
according to what? The election of grace. That blesses my heart so much.
Oh my. And now, you know, you're talking
about a remnant according to the election of God's grace.
Ain't you grateful that God Almighty has an election? And you know
it has to be of grace. If it wasn't of grace, there's
not a soul on this earth that'd be saved. And I'll tell you,
had not God an election, an election, and manifested His grace in Christ,
there's not a soul on topside of God's earth that would be
saved. It has to be because of election. And election is because of grace.
And God is full of grace, and when He gives you grace, He turns
around and gives you some more. On top of the grace He's given,
He just keeps giving, just keeps giving. And oh my, Elijah wasn't
the only Jewish believer in his day. And that's why Paul says,
I'm not the only one today. The number may be small, but
God has His people. According to the election of
grace look over in Ephesians with me Ephesians chapter chapter
1 I Could quote this and I and I
have quoted it many many times, but I want you to see this According
to the election of grace. I mean, you know, there's a remnant.
There's a remnant Oh, look what he says in chapter
1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, and there in Christ, all these
spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings. And here's
the first spiritual blessing He gives us. According as He
hath chosen us. Chosen us. Where'd He chose us
at? Chose us at in Christ. Chosen us in Him. When did He
do it? Before the foundation of the
world. Why did He do it? That we should behold Him without
blame before Him in love. And then, oh, look down in verse
6. And He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace when
He, He did this, made us accepted in the Beloved. I never get tired of reading
that and never get tired of quoting it, never get tired of dealing
with it. Our whole election, everything about it is in Ephesians
1, everything that God done for And then look what he says back
over here about grace. Grace. He talks about a remnant
of grace. And then he says, if this is
a remnant according to the election of grace, if it's by grace then,
it cannot possibly be of works. Otherwise, grace is not really
grace. And what he's saying is you can't
mix works and grace. And he goes on to say this. But
if it's of works, then it can't possibly be grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. Grace and works are mutually
exclusive of one another. And I'm gonna tell you something,
and I've been preaching this for decades, and if God lets
me live, I'm gonna keep preaching it. Our works never ever enter
into what God does for us. It's all of grace. If anything enters in that we
do, that God does something for us based on what we do, then
it ceases to be grace. Ain't that right? And if you're
gonna have to do all work or all grace, you can't mix it up.
If you mix it up, you got that like that old big giant back
in Daniel, you know, Clay, had feet of clay. No, I tell you, it's all of grace.
And I like it. I love it. I love it. I love
it. Now, I want to honor Christ. I want to glorify Christ. I want
my life to glorify Him. I want my lips, I want my mind,
I want my love for you and your love for me and our love for
Christ and our love for the God. I want our lives to honor and
glorify Christ. But yet we don't do it to get
anything, we do it because we already got it. Ain't that right? Oh my, with love given to us
so much, oh why shouldn't we return love? And oh, look what
he goes in, and then look what he says down. In verse seven,
he said, you know, talked about God hadn't cast away his people.
And now he says, what then? What then, since there's a remnant
according to the election of grace? Since it's not of works
and not God's, you know, he's got a remnant according to election
of grace. God reserved the people to himself.
What then? What in the world, what's the
conclusion? What's the case stand now? It's clear that God's not
cast away the people that He foreknew, nor any else whom He
foreknew, and those He gave to Christ. But this is what He says,
Israel hath not obtained which He seeks for, but the election
hath attained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it
is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that
they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto
this day. You know why Israel didn't? They
sought righteousness. They sought acceptance with God.
They wanted God to be their God. They wanted to be accepted of
God, but they went about it and didn't obtain it because they
went about it Through their law, through their ceremonies, they
sought life by things that just shows how helpless that a person
really is, and desperate men are. They sought salvation in
the wrong place, in the law, and they sought it the wrong
way, by works. They sought righteousness, but
they sought it by law. They sought acceptance, but they
sought it by works. But look what he says. But the
election did get accepted of God. The election hath got a
righteousness. The election has been blessed
of God. And the rest, look what he said, the rest of Israel.
God not cast away his people, but the rest of Israel. The rest
of God's elect. The rest, the election hath obtained
it. We've been accepted of God. We
got a righteousness. Christ is our righteousness.
In the end, the law for righteousness. The election hath obtained it
and the rest were blinded. You mean God blinds men? That's
what it says. The rest, He hath blinded. He
hath blinded. Oh my. You know, when you go
through the Bible, there's, there's Israel is actually two people.
Always the rest were blind. Israel's in two. There's the
elect and all the rest of them. There's Isaac. Then there's Ishmael. Isaac's born of the promise.
Ishmael's born of the flesh. There's Jacob. He was Israel. And then there was Esau. There's
Esau. God's always had an elect people. He had elect, you know, you take
the He chose 12 people out of all the nation of Israel to be
his disciples. And there was 11 of them, 12
of them, and one of them was a devil. But out of all Israel,
he only had 11 people. 11 people. And then he called
Paul, and he was the 12th apostle. He turned the world upside down
with 12 men. You know why? They're God's elect. Let me show you something in
John chapter 10 keep Romans 11 now look over here in John chapter
12 I want you to see this in John 12 I Was looking at this today it
automatically come to my mind when I read these things about
God blinding them oh My I gave them a spirit of slumber eyes
that they should see not seeing ears that they should not hear
God said I put them to sleep I Put them to sleep and they
can't see they can't hear and God said, I put him to sleep.
Now look what he says in John 12, 38. That the prophet of Isaiah, the
prophet might be fulfilled which he spake, Lord, who hath believed
I report? To whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed? Therefore they, listen to this,
they could not believe that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their
eyes, hardened their heart, that they should not see with their
eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and
I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when
he saw his Lord." Now, God done that. God said, I did that to
them. He said, God's not like that. Oh, yes, He is. That's what I
just read. That's what He said here and
back over in Romans 11. God said, I put them to sleep. I gave them a spirit of slumber.
They're going to sleep. I put them down. And when you're
in slumber, you've got eyes that they should not see and ears
that they should not hear. Oh, my. You know, Paul said it
like this. He said, if our gospel be hid,
if it's hid, It's here to them that are lost. But God, oh, he said, but God gave us
the gospel, gave us the light, gave us the glory, gave us the
knowledge of his blessed son and his self in the person of
his glorious son. Oh, my. And then look here. 8
through 10, and I'll quit here. I don't want to take too long.
You know, I try to do 30, 35 minutes if I can on Wednesday
night. I know you've been up early and
worked hard today. And look what he said. And David
also said this. God gave them this spirit of
slumber, eyes that they couldn't see. And David said, You see, the
Jews had all the blessings of the prophets, the law, they had
the tabernacle, they had the Messiah, they had the promises.
They refused to hear, they refused to see, they refused to embrace
the promises. Christ came and they rejected
him. Come unto his own and his own rejected him. God hath blinded
them to this very day. Ain't that what Paul said? Has
blinded them to this very day. And then he says this, Verse
9, and David said this, the psalmist said this, and this is in Psalm
69, you can look it up later if you want to. David said, Let
their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block,
and a recompense, let it be recompensed, let it be paid back to them.
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down
their back always, always carrying that heavy load. You know, God
blinded them, and the table they're talking about here is the table
of the Passover and all the feasts. He calls it a table, a table,
and all the things that were served on this table. He said
the table of the Passover, all the types became meaningless
to them, became meaningless to them. instead of pointing them
to Christ these blessings and these types became a trap. Ain't
that what it says there? Became a trap. They got trapped
by the things they were trusting in. People get trapped all the
time in their religion. They get trapped in their traditions.
They get trapped in their ideas and their concepts. trapped in
their opinions, they get trapped in their lifestyle. And that's
what they, he said, they got, everything that they believed
in, trusted in, became a trap. And not only that, but it became
a snare, and grabbed them around their legs, and they couldn't
get out. They're trapped, and they're held in a snare. That's what God says about them.
And oh my, and he said, they're just getting back what they owe. that this is all they're owed. If they reckon they want to be
paid for what they do, well, I'll let them be paid. I'll let
them be trapped and let them be snared. Oh, look what he goes
on to say now. Oh, that they have to bear, their
eyes are darkened and they can't see. They can't see. I don't
know how many times somebody said, boy, I just don't understand
why they can't see that. I can understand why people can't
see it. I didn't see it. I didn't see it either. Oh, I've seen that now. I never
saw that before. I see it now. And that's the
way it is. Oh, my. Oh, my. You know, it's a sad, sad thing. You know,
this is what's so wonderful about the gospel. It's exclusive. There's just one gospel. And
it concerns the Lord Jesus Christ. It's exclusive. But it's also
inclusive. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, whosoever shall confess with their mouth and
believe from their heart on the Lord Jesus Christ and that God
raised him from the dead, they shall be saved. And that's what's
so blessed about preaching the gospel. It's exclusive in the
sense that it's only about Christ. But it's also the only hope for
anybody in this world, and that means that beloved anybody can
be included if they believe Christ. Right. I love that. I love that this that election
don't close the door on people. Election opens the door. People want to worry about whether
they're elect or not, come to Christ. You'll find out. Well, I got a hush, got a hush. Our Father, oh, bless your holy
name. Thank you for another evening.
Thank you for the blessings of your word. Thank you for the
blessings of your people. Thank you for the encouragement
they give us. And I pray that I'm an encouragement to them,
that I'm a blessing to them, for they're sure a blessing to
me. Lord, bless us and keep us and preserve these dear saints
of God as they go their way. Keep them in their going down
and their getting up. Preserve their bodies and minds
and hearts and preserve us all in Christ Jesus, our Lord. For
we bless you in his name. Amen. Amen. There is a name I
love to hear. I love to sing its worth. Sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus, oh, how
I love Jesus, because He first loved me. Good night, God bless
you, and I'll see you Sunday, Lord willing. Ladies' Lunch Friday at 5th