Chapter 11, let us read the first
ten verses of this chapter. 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, or know ye not,
what the scripture saith of Elias, or in Elias, how he maketh intercession
to God against Israel. Notice the intercession is against
Israel, not for, or in behalf of Israel, saying, Lord, they
have killed thy prophets, and dig down thine altars, and I
am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer
of God unto them? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so then, at this present time, also there is a remnant
according to the election of And if by grace, then it is no
more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more
work. What then? In other words, what
is the conclusion to be drawn from that which precedes? What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for. If you're acquainted with the
first part of the tenth chapter, then you know the fallacy of
Israel. But the election hath obtained
it, and the rest were blinded or hardened. 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, the day
that Paul was writing. Now he makes another quotation
from the Old Testament, going to the Psalms. And David saith,
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. I am not going to read the remaining
verses of this chapter as much as I would like to and discuss
the chapter in its entirety. We would not have time to do
that. Therefore, we are spending our time this morning in this
message, discussing with you the first ten verses of this
chapter, in giving the biblical distinction
between negative and positive reprobation. Before I begin discussing
that subject with you, I do want to call attention to the main
points of the 11th chapter of Romans. The main points of this chapter
are, number one, the remnant. Number two, the admonition, which
begins with verse 11. Finally, the hope in the latter
part of the chapter. Three main points, the remnant,
the admonition, and the hope. No one can understand Romans
11 unless he studies chapters 9,
10, and 11 as a unit. In chapter 9, we have
Israel's past history. In chapter 10, we have Israel's
present condition. In chapter 11, we have Israel's
future hope. Israel's future furnished the
prophets of the Old Testament with one of their glorious themes. How could it have been otherwise,
since the subject of the kingdom was involved? Paul is seen in this chapter,
which we are studying this morning, standing as a witness with all
the prophets of the Old Testament before him. that God had not
cast away his people, the Israelites. We're going to see this morning
in the first part of this chapter where Paul gives, first of all,
argument for certainty of and purpose in Israel's future. Israel's past unbelief and present
dispersion, at the time Paul was writing, do not prove that
God has cast away his people. Paul proved his argument, not
only by personal illustration of himself having been associated
not only with the Jews, but being a Jew by birth. By the very fact
that God had saved the apostle Paul, who was a Jew, nationally
speaking, proves that God had not cast away all of the Israelites
as all millennialism and other isms teach in our time. Now, there are some things not
easy to understand in this portion of Scripture. If you take a verse out of its
context, you can make it mean most anything. However, if you
take the verse in the light of its context, There is only one
true interpretation. You might say, well, you are speaking with authority. Beloved, I believe that what
I'm going to give to you is the truth of God's word, and all
I ask of you is the following. and to search the scriptures
to see if what I say is in harmony with all the revelation of God's
mind. Now I need to give a few things
by way of introduction to the study of these verses. So I will
refer to some things that we have mentioned only briefly and
we will be dealing with more extensively in a subsequent lesson. The distinction between what
theologians have called preterition, passing by, and condemnation
are positive reprobation. Preterition, referring to negative
reprobation, condemnation of a man for his sins, positive
reprobation. Let me remind you that the Bible
teaches both. unless we make the proper distinction
between these two aspects of reprobation, then we will be
making a very serious mistake in the interpretation of the
word of God. I stated in the past, only briefly,
that preterition, or passing by, is both national and individual. Israel was chosen while other
nations were passed by. Now this is easily proved from
the study of the Scriptures. Any individual who has any concept
at all of the Word of God knows that the Lord chose the nation
of Israel out from among the other nations to be his peculiar
people. And God has not cast them off
forever. as some would have us to believe
today, and the church is now taking the place of national
Israel, and they mean by the church, of course, the body of
Christ. There is individual preterition
within the chosen nation. In other words, there were some
whom God chose to salvation within the national choice of Israel. Paul proves this in the ninth
chapter of Romans. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel. In other words, they're not all
saved by the grace of God who were nationally chosen by the
sovereign God. So there is individual. preterition
within the chosen nation. There is individual election
in connection with national preterition or passing by. National reprobation
does not imply that every individual is, or every individual is a reprobated
person. There is individual election
in connection with national reprobation or passing by, negative reprobation. And national reprobation does
not imply that every individual in those nations passed by is
a reprobated person in the sense that God will not save him. and God saved me. You are Gentiles
and God saved you. You are not Jews by birth. So
God has elected you to salvation from among the nations that were
not chosen by God when he chose the nation of Israel. You see,
these are distinctions that are vital in the understanding of
the subject. And I must give some of these
things before we begin our study of Romans 11, 1 through 10 this
morning. Preterition is a sovereign act. This is very important. Damnation
is a judicial act of the sovereign God. There's a difference between
a sovereign act and a judicial act. God sovereignly chose the
nation of Israel. I do not know why he did it,
but he did it, and I'm not questioning him. No Christian questions God
as to why he chose the nation of Israel and passed by all the
other nations. That is negative reprobation.
God doesn't explain why he negatively reprobated the other nations.
God does not explain to you and to me why he passes by individuals
and elects some individuals to salvation. God doesn't have to
explain why that he has done that. So, preterition is a sovereign
act. I'm emphasizing sovereign act.
Whereas positive reprobation is a judicial act. And God's
judicial act is explained, as we're going to see from the study
of the first ten verses of Romans 11 this morning. God condemns,
positively condemns, individuals for their sin. I said for their sin. So the
reason for passing by is unknown to us. The reason for condemnation
is known by you and me. Thus, preterition is negative,
appointment to wrath for sin is positive. I like what John
Bunyan had to say, and I'll give you four statements by him. First
of all, eternal reprobation makes no man a sinner. Two, God's foreknowledge that
reprobates will perish makes no man a sinner. Three, God's
infallible determining upon the damnation of him that perisheth
makes no man a sinner. God's patience and forbearance
until the reprobate fits himself for eternal destruction makes
no man a sinner. Now, when you consider those
four statements by John Bunyan, the twelve years that he spent
in Bedford jail with only the Bible in his hands and Foxe's
Book of Martyrs, he did not waste much time. He became well versed
in the scriptures and because of his unusual knowledge of the
word of God as a whole, he was able to come to logical and biblical
conclusions on many, many biblical truths. And he has given to you
and me in his works some great things as the result of his deep
meditation and constant reading of the Word of God. Now for the
study of these verses. We'll almost have to make a verse-by-verse
study of these first ten verses. Let us begin now with verse one.
I say then, Have God cast away his people? Will you underscore the two words,
his people, in verse 1 and connect that statement with his people,
which he foreknew, in verse 2? Now I want to raise a question
for the simple reason it has been questioned by many theologians. In verse 1, does the statement his people
apply to Israel as a whole or to the elect of God within the
nation of Israel? Can you answer that? I don't
know. Do you think you can answer?
Well, you must be able to answer in the light of its context.
There are those who make a distinction between his people in verse 1
and his people which he foreknew in verse 2. But I'm here to tell
you there is no distinction to be made. The reason that the distinction
has been made is because of the additional statement which he
foreknew." Now, beloved, I could stand here for the next hour
and give to you an argument that would sound plausible, and I'm
afraid unless you gave some diligent study to the subject, you would
leave believing what I might say. But I'm not going to do that
except to call attention to the error that many make in interpreting
the first two verses of this chapter. You might say, well
now, why is it necessary to go into this? Beloved, unless we
understand the first six verses, we cannot understand the election
of verse 7 and the statement, the rest were blinded in the
latter part of verse 7. Now, when it says the rest were
blinded, I'm raising a question. Does that refer to negative reprobation
or positive reprobation? Now, on the surface, without
a great amount of thought, one would think, since the subject
of election is discussed in verses 5 and 7, and look with me, please,
the election of grace, a remnant according to the election of
grace in verse 5, and then the statement, the election in verse
7, that since God is talking about election, then the reprobation
here would refer to negative reprobation. Since he elected
some, he just passed by, and all of those whom he has passed
by, they are negatively reprobated. But beloved, that is not true
according to the context. Look now with me, if you will,
please, at the very next verse, verse 8. The rest were blinded,
according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of
slumber. That proves positive reprobation,
not negative reprobation. Now back to the first two verses
for a moment. It is true that the word foreknew in verse 2
is the same word that Paul uses in the 8th chapter, look with
me now, and the 29th verse, for whom he did foreknow. The same
Greek word is translated foreknow in verse 29. Now there are some who say, that
in verse one Paul is talking about the Israelites as a whole, as a whole, whereas in verse
two he's talking about those whom he has elected to salvation
within the nation of Israel. But, beloved, I must tell you
that both verses are talking about national Israel, national
Israel. Now let's look at the word foreknew
for a moment. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew,
even though the word translated foreknew is the same word translated
foreknow in Romans 8 and 29. Here, however, it refers to Israel
as distinguished from all other nations. I'm talking about verse 2 now.
In this instance, the Greek word has the more generic application
as used in Amos 3 and verse 2. Will you go with me? for the
proof of that statement to the book of Amos chapter 3. And let
us read beginning with verse 1, Amos, God's prophet to the
Israelites. Hear the word that the Lord has
spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole
family which I brought up from the land of Egypt. He's talking
about national Israel, is he not? Now look, if you will, please,
at verse 2. You only have I known. There it is. Now what you need
to do in your Bibles is put down beside the word forenew in verse
2 of chapter 11 of Romans, this reference in the book of Amos,
you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore
I will punish you for all your iniquities. So the word translated
forenew is used in the more generic application as the prophet Amos
used it in Amos chapter 3 and verse 2. Now let us go back to verse 1
for a moment. Paul said, I say then hath God
cast away his people Have God cast away his people? Has God
cast away the nation of Israel forever? No. And beloved, even
the last part of this 11th chapter proves that God has not cast
away Israel, nationally speaking. Verses 24 and 25. Now I gave
to you an outline by the use of three words. as we began our
study of this chapter this morning, the remnant number one, the admonition
number two, and the hope number three. Now you must study the
chapter as a whole in order to understand what I'm saying, but
I'm not dealing with the chapter as a whole this morning. I am
seeking to make the proper distinction between negative and positive
reprobation, and I do not know of a greater portion of Scripture to discuss that subject with
you than this which we are now studying. In verse 1, Paul uses himself
as an example that God has not cast away all the Israelites,
that he has not reprobated them positively forever. I am an Israelite, he said, of
the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Now let's think
about Paul's experience with Christ for a moment. It has been
said, and rightly so, that Paul's experience with the Lord is a
type of God's future dealings with the nation of Israel, and
I subscribe to that one hundred percent. When one reads the ninth
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the historical account given
to us by Luke of Saul's regeneration and conversion experience, You
know that Saul of Tarsus saw the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no record anywhere else in the dispensation
of grace where an individual has ever seen Jesus Christ. Paul was one whom the Lord chose
to give to you and me. a great typical lesson of what
he's going to do for the nation of Israel in the future and the
manner by which he will deal with the Israelites. That's why
the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 8, makes the statement
that he is one, as he wrote to the Corinthian believers, born
out of due season. are ahead of time. I am an example. I am a type. I am to foreshadow
what God will do with national Israel. So he says, I'm the seed
of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. He used himself as an example,
proving that God has not positively reprobated national Israel. Now let's go a step further.
Paul not only uses himself, you see there's a perfect outline
really in the first ten verses, he is now going to appeal to
another person, but not in the New Testament era, but he's going
to draw an illustration from the Old Testament. All right,
let's begin now with verse 2. God hath not cast away his people,
which he foreknew, and that's used in a generic sense. Know
ye not, know ye not, what the scripture saith in,
notice your marginal reference, in Elias, or in the historical
account dealing with the prophet Elijah, how he make it intercession
to God against Israel. Now, I want to help you to understand
this portion. You need to put down in your
margin this reference, 1 Kings 19, 10 through 18. Let's read
the entire account that Paul gives us, and then we will go
back to 1 Kings and give something from that portion of scripture,
as he once more draws from the word of God, from history now,
to prove that God has not cast away his people, Israel, forever. Lord, they have killed thy prophets
and digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they
seek my life. But what sayeth the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Will you now turn to 1 Kings
19? This is the only way for people
to learn the scriptures. There are some things too important
for us to just mention without elaborating on in our study of
this subject. I'm sure that most of you are
familiar with the 18th chapter. Elijah stood on Mount Carmel,
offered his sacrifice. We know that he was instrumental
in the slaying of many false prophets. He stood as a mighty
warrior for the Lord. He was very courageous. And right
after this unusual spiritual experience, We see that Elijah,
quoting now from James, was a man of like passions as all of us. He had his moments of fear. He
had his moments of discouragement. We have our moments of fear.
We have our moments of discouragement. I think I can better understand
his feeling in the life of the woman's liberation movement of
our day, and I believe in whacking it when it needs to be whacked.
Now let's read. Now when he heard about Jezebel
and the threats that she had made upon his life, what did
he do? Let's begin now with the 19th
chapter. And Ahab told Jezebel all that
Elijah had done. Verse 2, Jezebel sent a messenger
unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow
about this time. And when he saw that, he arose
and went for his life." Notice this, he went for his life. Now
what did he do? Notice in verse 4. But he himself
went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down
under a juniper tree. Oh, he was discouraged. He was
depressed. He had been so courageous just
before this. But when wicked Jezebel threatened
his life, he became discouraged, discouraged to the point that
he even requested that the Lord take his life because he didn't
want to die by the hands of Jezebel. Look at that. I wouldn't want
to die by the hands of a woman either, would you? Now let's look at some things
in verses 3 and 4 before we get to the heart of our subject. from which Paul draws, verses
10 through 18, he arose and went for his life. The Christians
should fear nothing but sin. Did you hear me? But, beloved,
all of us are guilty of fearing things that we should not fear.
We should not fear anything but S-I-N, sin. I was reading an account of Martin
Luther recently. Martin Luther, like Elijah, had
his fears. He had his moments of depression. However, ordinarily it could
be said of Luther that he feared God too much to fear the Pope.
In fact, Luther made this statement, and I quote, I care neither for
the Pope's favor nor fury. Beloved, that's the way that
you and I should be, but we're not always that way. Elijah,
who had been so brave before, as he stood before the false
prophets, now trembled before the threats of a wicked woman. And he asked the Lord to take
his life. Did the Lord take his life? No.
The Lord did not take his life, but I'll tell you what the Lord
did do for him. And I like to think about this,
in the midst of many threats that might be made upon you and
me, the Lord Jesus may come and we may experience what Elijah
experienced. What did he experience? He was
caught up with the Lord. Our hope, beloved,
is not the manifestation of the man of sin. is the coming of
Jesus Christ who will receive us unto himself. Now, the Lord
didn't kill him. What did the Lord do for him?
You'll notice in the last part of verse 5, he was told to arise
and eat. He needed food. There was something
for him to do. And beloved, there is something
for you and me to do today. We're going to learn several
valuable lessons from this portion of Scripture as we discuss the
subject of negative and positive reprobation. Verse 7, the angel of the Lord
came to him the second time, touched him and said, Arise and
eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose
and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that need
forty days. That was a miracle within itself.
Beloved, I don't believe that I could go, just naturally speaking,
after eating a good meal forty days in the strength of that
meal. So that was a miracle. Now, verse 9, And he came thither
unto a cave, and lodged there. Beloved, you and I are not to
hibernate. Am I making sense? We are to
be insulated against the things of the world, but we are not
to isolate ourselves. Now Elijah, a man of like passions
as we are, what did he do? When he came to the cave, he
lodged there. Now the Lord is going to raise
the question, and here are some valuable lessons for us. The
word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, what? What doest thou hear, Elijah? I want to stop for a moment and
let's investigate that question. The Lord interrogated Elijah. We learn from this portion of
Scripture that God investigates our motives. This is done by
interrogation. Now, three things as we look
at the question the Lord asked the prophet. First of all, we
know that life is a state of servitude. I said life is a state of servitude. We are slaves of Jesus Christ,
and I'm grateful for being one by grace. What doest thou, and I'm stressing
the word doest, I said life is a state of servitude. What doest
thou? Number two, life necessitates
personal service. Somebody else can't do your work
for you. Each one is to serve the Lord. So life necessitates personal
service. What doest thou? And I'm emphasizing now the word
thou. Finally, life consists of a special sphere of service. So life contains special spheres
of service for the Lord. What doest thou hear? Elijah, you're in the wrong place. You're not supposed to be here. You're not supposed to isolate
yourself. Now, beloved, if we're not careful
in this apostate age in which we're living, we'll become isolated. We'll draw within, just as Elijah
the prophet did. Here's a valuable lesson for
us. And I must emphasize it, I must stress it. Here we see
fallibility of an imminent saint. Who can doubt the imminence of
Elijah's sainthood? He was not perfect, as we are not perfect, But he
was an imminent saint as his preaching, miracles, prayers,
and testimony revealed. Now what is God's cure for spiritual
depression? The cure is given us in this
portion of Scripture. Let's see what it is. Go forth, verse 11. and stand
upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by,
and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in pieces
the rocks before the Lord. And the Lord was not in the wind,
and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire."
Here it is. and after the fire a still, small
voice. What is God's cure for spiritual
depression? Beloved, it is God's still, small
voice that comes to you and to me through the scriptures as
we study, as we meditate upon the Word of God. It comes not
through the spectacular, I want to stop there a moment. I may
get away from my subject for a while, but it's necessary to
do. It is necessary to do. What did
I say? I said that the cure for spiritual
depression comes not through the spectacular. Let me prove
it by the context. There was a great wind, but the
Lord was not in the wind. I would say that's spectacular,
wouldn't you? There was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
I would say that was spectacular, wouldn't you? There was a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire. That was spectacular, wasn't
it? Now, the age in which you and I are living is being witnessed
by you and me. as being among religionists an
age of the great charismatic movement. It's got to be spectacular. And you know the problem is this,
they can't distinguish between perspiration and inspiration. They don't know the difference.
As long as it is spectacular, then this is the cure. Beloved,
the cure doesn't last until the folk get out of the building.
You can talk to them as soon as they leave one of their so-called
spectacular meetings, and they can't give to you anything that's
concrete. It comes not through the spectacular. You see, the Holy Spirit holds
up to you and me in the written word of God, the full-length
portrait of ourselves, and the full-length portrait of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior. Now let's look at something,
beginning with verse 14. The prophet said, I've been very
jealous for the Lord. It doesn't make any difference
how jealous you have been for the Lord, what are you doing
now? Your zeal of yesterday will not help you today. Now he says, I have seen these things,
and here are three things mentioned. I have seen the people forsake
God's covenant. Well, beloved, you and I are
witnessing today professing Christendom, forsaking the Word of God. Number two, I've seen your altars
being thrown down. You and I are witnessing today
the altars of God being cast down. He even went so far as to say, and
I have seen your prophets killed. Now, those are the three things
that Eli just saw, and we're witnessing everything today but
the last thing. They're not being killed, literally,
but I'll tell you what, let a man stand up and give the truth,
and he'll be assassinated with innuendos and with false
statements about his character and so forth. He's a heretic. And that assassination is as
heinous in the sight of God as killing a person with a gun or
cutting his head off on the chopping block. We're witnessing some
unusual things. Now, you say, well, why did you
give all of that? Well, to get to this. Now Elijah wants to make intercession
not for but against the nation of Israel. You know in our English
language the word intercession is used in a good sense. It means to intercede for in
behalf of one. Now the Greek word translated
intercession has a two-fold meaning. It is used in the sense of interceding
for, interceding for or in behalf of someone. It's used in that
sense. Jesus Christ is our great intercessor,
whoever intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father.
And as we have already seen in our previous studies, Pharaoh,
on several occasions, asked Moses to intercede for him, and Moses
did just that. He interceded for him, and the
Lord removed the plague. But in the removal of the plague,
Pharaoh's hard heart was not changed. It became even harder. Now, Elijah is told to intercede
against Israel, and here it means that he was to accuse the Jews,
he was to arraign them, and intercession here means in a sense of arraigning
the Israelites before Jehovah and accusing them before God
for their crime. And then he goes on to say, And
the prophets have been killed and here I am. I'm left the only one. He felt like he was the only
one. So the Lord wanted to assure him that he was not the only
one. The Lord had reserved 7,000 others
who had no doubt a need to the image of Baal. Now let me raise
a question. Isn't it possible for you and
me sometimes to feel like, well, everybody else is going astray.
It seems like everybody else is going astray but me. You see,
Elijah came to that place. And it is possible for you and
me to come to that place. It is possible for you and me
to look around, to view things as a whole, and to say, it seems
like everybody is going to the dogs but me. But I'm in the group. But no, beloved, that isn't the
case. Even in the midst of national apostasy, God reserved a remnant,
7,000, who did not, had not, and would not, by God's grace,
bow a knee to the image of Baal. That's encouraging, I would say.
Now there's a lesson in this for you and me. Let's not pass
it by hastily. You see, the lesson is this,
a man of personal fidelity is prone to become so occupied with
his own faithfulness and fail to take into account God's faithfulness
to his people. Did you get what I said? Now
it's wrong for you and me to become so occupied with our faithfulness
that we fail to take into account of God's faithfulness to those
whom he has elected in Jesus Christ. Now let's look at something. Let's see how easy it is to reconcile
what appears on the surface of being difficult There is a difference, look with
me now, at verse four of Romans 11. There is a difference between
the mass of Israel and the 7,000. There's a difference. Number
two, there is a difference, in verse five now, between the mass
of Israel and the remnant Now Paul brings it up to date. Look
at this. He says in verse 5, even so then
at this present time, even in this time of dispersion, when
the Israelites as a whole have been dispersed throughout the
nations of the earth, even at this present time God has a remnant. God had a remnant then in Paul's
time and God has a remnant today. Because you see, Paul wrote this
after, after the death of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this at the
beginning of the dispensation known to you and me as the dispensation
of grace. So Paul says, God has not cast
away his people whom he foreknew. So there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. Now in verse 6, he makes a very
important statement. I'm not preaching on this text.
A message should be given on this text, but let's look. And
if by grace that it is no more 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.
In other words, Paul is saying this, to establish one destroys
the other. In other words, if you believe
in grace, works have to go. If you believe in works, grace
has to go. If you believe in free will,
free grace has to go. If you believe in free grace,
free will has to go. Does that make sense? Yes, one can speak with authority. when he sees and understands
the mind of God. So in verse 4, there's a difference
between the mass of Israel and the 7,000. In verse 5, there's
a difference between the mass of Israel and the remnant. Now,
finally, we come to verse 7, that controversial text. In this
verse, there is a distinction to be made between the election,
which means the elect, and those hardened. If you look at your
marginal reference, the rest were blinded, which means the
rest were hardened. Now I want to raise a question. Paul gave himself as a personal
example that God has not cast away his people, Israel, He gave
an illustration from the time of Elijah. And by the way, when
he says in Elijah, in the Old Testament at that time, of course,
which Paul had and others, there were not chapter divisions and
verses divided as we have them in our Bibles. So they would
refer to something as having taken place during the time of
an individual. This is the way they would find
what they were looking for. See what I'm talking about? They
couldn't go back and say 1 Kings chapter 19 verses 10 through
19 or 20. So when it says here, as Paul
makes the statement in the second verse, what do the scriptures
have to say? That is in Elias or in the time
or in the history of Elijah the prophet. So they would go back
to the account of Elijah's history and there find what they were
looking for. So he gives that illustration.
But he's not through. He's going to give something
else. Now national blindness. Three things now. Listen closely.
National blindness, I'm talking about the national blindness
of Israel in the latter part of verse 7, is shown from the
context to be, number one, not total. Number two, not fatal. And number three, not final.
Now listen, National blindness is shown to be not total, fatal,
or final. Total, verses 7 through 10. Fatal,
verses 11 and 12. Final, verses 13 through 32.
I can't discuss all these things with you, but now let's look
at a few things. National blindness is not total. Under the protection
of the sovereign God, there was and there will always
be the remnant, the election or the elect, while
the rest are blinded. Now you see when God elected
some before the foundation of the world, all of those whom
he did not elect were just passed by. He did not do any injustice
to them. He left them as they were in
their depravity. That's negative reprobation. The reason for this is not given
to you and me. Now the blindness here is national
blindness. But the national blindness will
not be, Paul says, total. It is not total. In other words,
God has some people even among the Israelites. At Paul's time,
there were some. There are some now. There will
continue to be some. But this is the interesting thing.
When a Jew is saved today, he comes in and he is a part of
the family of God. In Christ, it is either Jew or
Gentile. But that does not mean that God is through with national
Israel. It is not total. not told. So the elect have not been the
objects of this hardening that he talks about. I said the elect
are not the objects of this hardening. But the reason is not that they
made themselves to differ. That's why he says it's of grace.
It's of grace. Election is all of grace, therefore
the elect deserve the same hardening. Think about that. Even the elect
deserve the same hardening. But when you go back to Romans
9, 18, it's because of God's grace, it's because of God's
mercy that we have not been consigned to this hardness. Thus grace is given as the reason.
for the elect, not being hardened and unbelief as the ground of
judicial hardening. Now he says the rest were hardened. That needs to be explained. He's
talking here about judicial hardening. He gave them up, in other words. Not totally, but he gave them
up. So national blindness is not
total, number one. Number two, national blindness
is not fatal. I must give this to explain what
we're talking about. Verses 11 and 12. I say then,
have they stumbled that they should fall? Now the word fall
is not a good translation. This is why some folk have made
a serious mistake. The word fall should be translated
trespass. Notice verse 12, If the full
or if the trespass of them be the riches of the world, and
the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more
their fullness God is not through with national Israel. But he
gave the Israelites of Elijah's day a spirit of blindness,
and they have been scattered abroad. This is the age of dispersion. But even in this time of dispersion,
there is a remnant. A remnant. Now, Paul is going to give one
other illustration. He's now going to use David. And he's quoting from the 69th
division of the Psalms. He doesn't quote it word for
word. But I want us to see the lesson, and then I'm going to
try to make an application of it, to update it. All right,
he says in verse 8, according as it is written, God hath given
them the spirit of slumber. Your marginal reference says
remorse. In other words, they were insensible
to the things of God. Beloved, what do we witness today
in this age of apostasy? Insensibility to the things of
God. I said insensibility to the things
of God. The thing that gives you and
me courage, however, is this. God has a remnant and the reason
he hasn't already come is because there are some yet to be brought
into the ark of safety. Now God gave Israel the spirit
of slumber. They have a spirit of insensibility. Some say that he was quoting
primarily from Deuteronomy and taking some fragments from Psalm
69. I don't have the time this morning
to go back to Deuteronomy and look at some of those statements.
I want us to go, after having read these verses, to the 69th
division of the Psalms for our concluding remarks. Notice what
it says, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that
they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto
this day. Now that's important, unto this
day. The day that Paul wrote this to the Roman saints. And that day continues to exist.
Now in verses 9 and 10. 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 all the way. Will
you turn with me now please to the 69th division of the Psalms? 69th division of the Psalms. Here we'll see. what the meaning really is. Now
let's get the picture. You must study this statement
from which Paul draws in the light of its context.
When one reads the 69th division of the Psalms, especially verse
21, they gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink. That is a prophecy of what he
did. That was fulfilled when our blessed
Lord was hanging on the cross, suffering. The just one for the
unjust. Now in view of that, see it's
prophecy. Now following that, and you see
this, this blindness continues to exist. Verse 22, let their
table become a snare. table is a figure of prosperity. Ruin usually comes, does it not,
from the unlawful use of lawful things. Will you think about
that for a moment? The Israelites, even during the
time of our blessed Lord, were unlawfully using lawful things. And their ruin came because of
their unlawful use of lawful things. Now, David says, let
their table become a snare before them, that which should have
been for their welfare, let it become a trap. The Jews gave gall and vinegar
to our blessed Lord as food and drink. Now in divine retribution,
their own food and drink would become a snare to them. So he says, verse 23, let their
eyes be darkened that they see not, and make their loins continually
to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon
them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. You and I are witnessing some
things today, unusual things we might say in many ways. But
let's think about the dispersion of the Jews. And during this
dispersion, they have been given the spirit of insensibility. And as God is dealing in that
manner with the Jews nationally speaking today, but he's not
through with them, It looks to me like that he is dealing in
the same manner with professing Christendom today. That's updating. A spirit of insensibility. So let their table, even let
their prosperity become their snare. Wasn't that true with
the church at Laodicea? She was rich and increased with
goods and her own wealth became her snare.