Let's take our Bibles again and
turn to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture this morning. One verse. It's verse 16. Before we look at it, let me
just remind us that the gospel of God, and if
someone were to ask you, what do you mean when you say the
gospel? Well, the gospel is the message from God reveals God's good pleasure,
God's will, God's purpose, God's glory to show mercy to a people
that He has everlastingly loved and has shown that mercy to them
apart from anything that they could or would do and did it
totally for His own sake. for His own glory. That's the
gospel. That's the good news. That's
the good news of Christ. God is pleased to show mercy. Now, the gospel was first sent
to the nation of Israel. Now, we know that. Scripture
reveals that. God sent the gospel first to
the Jews. Now through that gospel, by the
means of that gospel, and the gospel has never changed. There's never been two different
gospels. It wasn't an Old Testament gospel,
New Testament gospel. It's the gospel of God. It's
the gospel. The Old Testament preached the
gospel in shadows and types and pictures. The New Testament is
the revelation. of what the Old Testament pictures
and types were setting forth. Same picture, same gospel, same
Christ. The Lord Himself said, Abraham
saw My day. He was glad. He rejoiced. He
saw Me. By that gospel, through that
gospel, through the means of that gospel, a few out of the
nation of the Jews, a few, were affectionately and powerfully
called out. There were some. When you first
hear the gospel being preached, when was it first recorded that
the gospel was preached? In the garden. Remember when
Adam fell and his wife with him? Almighty God showed in type. He killed an animal, took the
skin of that animal, and covered Adam and Eve, covered their nakedness.
That's the Gospel. That's God's mercy. That's to
not leave a man exposed before God in his sin. That's when the
Gospel was first preached. So if you want to know, you know,
men that say, well, I'll tell you what, I don't know where
you come up with that new message y'all preaching about predestination. It's no new message. This is
the oldest message that's ever been preached. Everything else
is new. All of this other stuff, that's
new stuff. That's made up by man, not God.
The gospel was sent first to the Jews. Well, God called some
of them. There were some that he called
out of darkness. He called Noah. He called Adam
and Eve. I'm convinced that God covered
them to show that He had shown mercy to them. But you say, they
fell. Well, I fell in Him too. And Adam and Eve needed redemption
just like I did. It didn't change the fact that
Adam fell, but the mercy of God was shown that God covered him.
And the Lord called out Noah, called out how many out of all
of the people that were on the earth did God show mercy to in
that day? How many found grace in the eyes
of the Lord? And Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And his wife and his sons, they
benefited through God's mercy and grace to them. God called
out Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, called out some prophets, called
out Obadiah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, called out some of them. But
by and large, most of them He left to themselves. To say that the Jews, those to
whom the gospel was first sent, were blessed of God would be
an understatement. To say that they were blessed
of God, they were because they had the gospel. But by and large,
the Jews rejected the gospel of free grace when the Lord Jesus
Christ especially was manifested when He came into this world.
The Scripture says, He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not. But to them that did receive Him, there were some. But most of them didn't. And through that rejection, the
Scripture reveals in Romans 11, verse 12, it says, The fall of
them was the riches of the world.
Now here's what God has revealed. He sent the gospel to the Jews.
And the Jews rejected it. By and large, not all of them.
There was a remnant. That's what Paul asked. If God,
verse 1 of 11, if God cast away His people, God forbid. He said,
I'm an Israelite. Seed of Abraham, tribe of Benjamin.
God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Has God completely
left the Jews to themselves? No. Paul said no. No. Most of
them rejected, but some were loved of God. Now, Paul spoke of a truth concerning
God's mercy and grace to the nation of Israel. And I want
you to understand before I go any farther, I want you to understand
something, that Almighty God has been pleased to reveal that
he's not rejected, left to themselves the whole nation of Israel, does
not mean that Almighty God is going to raise up a revival of
the Levitical priesthood. Now, there's some that say, you
know, that we need to get back in the nation of Israel, we need
to get back to the to the worship of God as it was first ordained.
We need to get back to slaying the animals and having the sacrifices. And God's going to raise back
up the Jewish traditions and the law. And there's going to
be worshiping again and stuff. You listen to me. Do you realize
how disrespectful that statement is? When all of those types and symbols
and pictures and shadows pictured Christ, and there has been a
revelation of Him that He has been brought forth and shown
to be the actual exhibition of God's grace that was being pictured
by those types and symbols, do you realize how disrespectful
it would be? to say we've got to get back
to the sacrifices and stuff. That is absolutely, totally not
what Paul is talking about in this Scripture. I want to make
sure that you understand what I'm saying. Anybody that's setting
forth that God's going to raise back up the nation of Israel
back to the Levitical priesthood, that is wrong. Scripture never
teaches that. Well, what is it teaching then
concerning the nation of Israel? That's what I want to deal with.
The Apostle Paul was taught something by the Spirit of God. And he
set forth that God Almighty is going to have and to reveal that
there is in His eternal covenant, in grace and mercy, that there's
going to be a great number of Jews that will be called out
of darkness. That's what the remainder of
this 11th chapter. I want you to understand what
I'm talking about. But that Almighty God is going
to show mercy to a great number of Jews is in total consistency
with God's Word that says, I'm going to show compassion on whom
I'll show compassion and mercy on whom I'll show mercy. Almighty
God sent the Gospel to the Jews. They rejected it. Not all of
them. That's what Paul said in verse
1. Not all of them. He said even now. He says there
is a remnant. Verse 5. At this present time.
Romans 11, 5. Even so, at this present time.
What present time? The present time. The present
time when Paul wrote it. The present time now. And every
present time. There is at this present time
a remnant according to the election of grace. There's some. There's
some. But what do you think about when
you think of the Jews and the gospel of free grace? What's
in your mind? I'll tell you what's in my mind.
By and large, the Jews have rejected Christ. you think is. By and large, you don't see many
regenerated, called out of darkness, Jews. But God said there are
some. There are some. There are some.
Now, though they had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, the Scripture
is revealing that God has not been pleased to leave them to
themselves. Does that mean that God's going
to call some out of darkness that He didn't eternally love?
Absolutely not. All that God calls out of darkness,
He's always loved them. You think, well, the Jews rejected
Christ, and God left them to themselves, and He sent the gospel
to the Gentiles, and we're Gentiles, and they rejected Christ. Be careful. We're going to read
some things right now. I'll tell you this, I don't want
to get ahead of myself, you know, but the Scripture is revealing
that we need to be very, very careful about raising ourselves
up. Look at verse, I'm not going
to deal with this verse today, verse 18. Look at Romans 11,
18. You know, I really need to be careful not to get ahead of
myself. Look what Paul says. Boast not against the branches.
If thou boast, thou bearest not the root, the root, the tree.
And you will say, verse 19, the branches were broken off that
I might be grafted in. And Paul says, well, because
of unbelief they were broken off. Thou standest by faith.
Don't be high-minded. I need to be careful, Neal. I'll
get ahead of this. We think, by and large, they
rejected, but we didn't. We're Gentiles. Paul said, be
careful. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. Don't boast yourself
against the branches. God Almighty is going to show
in this chapter right here that He has been pleased to have a
people that He's everlastingly loved. And He's going to call
them out of darkness. When is there going to be this
great calling out? when God's pleased to do it.
Well, I tell you when it is. I read this the other day, verse
25, Romans 11, 25. I would not, brethren, that you
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your
own conceits. Blindness in part for a while, for a while. As I said before, those that
were blinded and left to themselves that died in unbelief, they were
actually blind. They did die in unbelief, no
doubt about it. But what he's saying is this
spirit of blindness that God's leaving them in. He said it's
in part, it's happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. What's he saying? Paul is saying,
and so that you'll understand what I'm talking about, he says
blindness was given, not to all of them, but to some of them,
to the Jews. God called some of them out.
Some of the first ones out. And by and large, the majority
of Israel rejected Christ. Why? Because God left them to
themselves. That's the reason. And because
of that unbelief and rejection, God sent the gospel to the Gentiles. And this day in which we live
and has for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, you're
going to say, what has been the bulk of those called out of darkness? Gentiles. But when the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in, blindness in part, God's going
to call many Jews out. Jews that He's everlastingly
loved. Jews that He loved just like
the Gentiles He loved. Not all of them, but a greater
number than we would even expect. Paul says, be careful. Be careful. He said, this is a mystery. I
would not, brethren, you be ignorant of this mystery, great mystery. You may say, well, I've never
really heard that before. Well, I'll be honest with you.
You know, I got to study in this. I'll be honest with you. I was
pretty ignorant on this myself. All right, well, let's get back
to what we're studying. Paul is going to give an illustration
of this truth, and it's going to be by using two things, first
fruits and the root. Romans 11, 16, if the first fruit
be holy, the lump is also holy. Now, when we hear of the first
fruit, and I think that unless I say this, I would be remiss
in setting forth the ultimate exhibition of the first fruit.
When we first hear of the first fruit being holy, if we don't
think of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we missed it. We missed
it. The first one of whom we think
of when we hear the first fruit. 1 Corinthians 15.20 says, But
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept. What does that mean? Well, you
know what the first fruits set forth back in the Old Testament.
Somebody went out and planted a field of corn, peas, whatever
they grew back then. Whenever the first ones came
up, the first ears of corn, the first ears of barley, whatever,
the first fruits, God told them, you'll take those first fruits.
And you will present them to the Lord, a presentation of thanksgiving
for God's mercy and grace and compassion that God Almighty
would sustain them, send them some food. But this was the promise
from God. It was the first fruits, meaning
those first fruits right there was an exhibition that God was
going to provide on into. the harvest. Those first ears
of corn was a promise from God, there's going to be more that
follow. That's what the first fruit, that was the thanksgiving
for the first fruits. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ,
who went to the cross, when He shed His blood on the cross,
all for whom He died, Paul the Apostle said, they died with
Him. Why? Because they were in Him.
What does that mean? What does it mean to be in Christ?
To be represented by. That's when we say they were
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. They were chosen
to be represented by. That was always one of those
statements, brother Scott, I think. Chosen in Christ. I mean, I'd
always try to put myself in my little fickle mind. I'd try to draw pictures. I think
in pictures. You know, in Christ. Represented
by. To be represented. Chosen to
be represented by Him. So when Paul says, we died, I
died in Him. You know, I was crucified with
Him. That means when He died, I died. But you say, I wasn't even there. He represented me. In the fullness
of time, I was born. But God knew me before the foundation
of the world. God's always known me. Christ
has always been my representative. If He was my representative in
this walk of obedience in this life and in His death, then He
was my representative in His resurrection. That's what Paul
said in 1 Corinthians. Now, if Christ be risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept, and then
it goes on, here's what it says. When God brought Him out of the
grave, accepted His work and death, and He accepted it for
me. Just as He came out of the ground,
I'm coming out of the ground. Yeah, but here again, I wasn't
there. Oh, yes, I was. Not in my little
fickle mind. I think now in time. God's eternal. Therefore, the promise that God's
going to raise me victorious in Christ is that He raised Christ. That's with firstfruits. Firstfruits. First exhibition of those fruits. The holiness and the spotlessness
of that portion of your nature, you that believe. Here's what
the Scripture says, that God chose you, son, to be holy. and without blame before Him
in love." Almighty God chose that new man, that new portion,
hear me well, that new portion, new birth that we talk about. We were born in Christ, born
from above. You know, here again, when we
talk about being born again, again, I think in time, Born
again. Somebody says, when were you
born again? Well, I can't tell you exactly. I remember about
when it was. It was during a period of time
when the Lord began to deal with me concerning Christ. And I heard
the gospel. And you know, somewhere along
the line, Almighty God called me out of darkness. When was
it exactly? I don't know. I don't know. Some point in time. I can tell
you about when it was. Boy, when somebody starts telling
me, I was born in 1122. Boy, man, that's pretty good. I tell you, you know what? I
was born October the 5th, 1949. Somebody says, how do you know? Well, my birth certificate says
it was. What if that's wrong? Well, my mama told me that I
was. What if she forgot? How do I know? I know that I
was born because I'm standing here. How do you know that you've
been born from above? You love God and you love Him
now. And He's kept you till now. How do you know? That holy portion
I know that there's a new birth. I know God's people are born
from above. They're brought forth in time.
I understand that. But when was that new man, that
new creation, when was he actually created? He's always been here. What? If he's been loved by God before
the foundation of the world, If He says, I have loved you
with an everlasting love, then in the mind and will and purpose
of Almighty God, how long have you been here? That holy, spotless portion of
our nature that was taken into union with the Lord Jesus Christ
before the foundation of the world in eternal election, that
holy portion, That new man. It didn't become holy when God
called you out of darkness. The Scripture says that you were
chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and without
spot and without blemish before Him in love. It's always been
that way. Always. As holy and without blame
before God in love. The new man, the new creature,
that which is born of God, was not derived from fallen stock. That which is born of God does
not sin. It never manifests sin because
it wasn't born in sin. It has always been that way.
The old man, yes, but not the new. Both of these natures are
me. You know, somehow we try to separate,
well, I'm not really the old man. Paul says there is in me. I serve the law of sin. Who do
you think he's talking about? Paul, there's two natures in
a believer. There's some that try to teach
there's not two natures in a believer. 1 John 4.17 says this, Herein is
our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Now
let me ask you something. If you've been chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world to be holy and without
blame before Him in love, and you've always been in Him, You've
always been chosen in Him to be holy. At what point, while
in Christ, while represented by Christ, will you consider
concerning that new man, that new birth? At what point were
you not holy? You see, our little fickle minds,
we don't comprehend, oh, the depth, Paul says, the depth of
the love of God. Now, as I said a moment ago,
the first thing we're going to have to think about when we talk
about the firstfruits is we're going to talk about the Lord
Jesus Christ. His resurrection, the firstfruits,
being raised from the dead to never die again. There were some
that, you know, Lazarus was raised from the dead, but Lazarus died
again. Not Christ. To never die again. First, to
be raised on the merit of His own goodness and grace and holiness. That's Christ. That's Christ. And just like He was raised,
I was raised in God's eternal purpose in Him. And in the day
of judgment, if I die and I'm in the ground, I'll be raised.
I was planted in corruption, but I'm going to be raised in
incorruption. Why? Because I rise in Him. Well,
this whole body right here, this mortal is going to put on immortality.
Great mystery right here. But I know that these things
are so. They say, well, explain all that to me. I can't explain
all this to you. I'm just telling you what the
Scripture reveals is so. But I know this. He is the first
fruit. He arose from the dead. He represented
His people. He answers for them. And as He
is holy, so are we in this world. Have we ever changed from being
found in Him? No, sir. No, sir. Now, concerning the root, Revelation
5.5 says, The root of David hath prevailed to open the book and
to loose the seven seals thereof. Revelation 22.6, I, Jesus, have
sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning
star. I'm telling you, Everything that
we are, everything that we have, everything that we possess concerning
Almighty God come from Him. As He is holy, we're holy. Why? Chosen in Him. Represented by
Him. If I represented you and we were
going to go to, I'll give you a little simple illustration.
Let's say we're going to go to an art competition. And you go with me. And the last
time you had anything to do with art was in the fourth grade. And your teacher gave you some
piece of paper and a pencil and a couple of colors. And that
was the last. And here you are now, you know, 50 years later.
And you know, that had been the last time. And we're going to
go to some art contest. And somebody asks you. And you're
with me. Me and you, we're on teams. They'll ask you, say,
well, what do you think? You say, well, I'll tell you
what. Let me just ask him. Whatever he says, that's what
I'll say. Art's about the only thing I might know something
about. You know, you see what I'm saying? You're going to look
to the representative that you know knows what he's talking
about. The root and the first fruits. Everything that I am, everything
I possess is from him. So being all righteousness The
Lord is our first fruit, and He is our root. Now, I've established
that fact. But this Scripture right here
is not dealing with that truth, though that is true. What it's
dealing with comes from that truth. But here's what Paul is
saying in that 16th verse, and we must understand that we look
at every Scripture in light of the context in which it's written. God Almighty had set forth that
He had shown mercy to Israel. That's what He said. He hadn't
forsaken them. That's what Paul said. I'm an
Israelite. I'm a Jew. He said in that verse 5, he said
there's a remnant according to grace. There's some. I know this, that they left.
Most of them did. Not all of them. But Paul says
that God has proven His good pleasure to show mercy to Israel
because, he said, there were some at the beginning, those
that were called firstfruits, that God showed mercy to out
of the nation of Israel. They were holy. If the firstfruits
be holy, if those firstfruits, those sacred, blameless, and
consecrated to God be holy, they were holy because they were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. If Abraham was
holy before God, if Isaac and Jacob and all of the prophets
that were sent, if they were holy, they were holy because
God made them that way. No other reason. Now since they
were holy, Paul is saying if the firstfruits be holy, the
lump is also holy. What lump is he talking about?
He's talking about all out of the nation of Israel. Who has
Paul been talking about this whole chapter? He's been talking
about the nation of Israel. But all that God is going to
show mercy to out of the nation of Israel are only those that
He's everlastingly loved. Does that mean that God is going
to save every Jew? Every Jew without exception?
Verse 26. I'm not going to deal with this
today. I can't. It says, So all Israel
shall be saved. Does that mean everyone without
exception? No. I'll show you that. Not today. But I'm going to show
you this. Who is it talking about? All
those that God has everlastingly loved, all of the spiritual Israel
is going to be saved. Does that mean that God will
save any that He has not chosen in Christ? No. Who is He going
to save? Only those that in eternal electing
grace He chose and placed in His Son, those that Christ died
for, those that the Spirit of God will regenerate, those God
is going to save. But He's saying a great mystery. He's telling us. He says Israel
is going to have many called out of it. Going to be in the
last times after the fullness of the Gentiles. He says if the
first fruits were holy, the lumps also holy. If Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob, those first fruits of God's distinguishing grace,
were holy, and there's a remnant according to grace right now,
God has saved some, there's going to be some, that lump that God
will call out of darkness, out of the nation of Israel, because
God has been pleased to not leave Israel to themselves. They were
holy too. Why? Because they were chosen
in Christ only. Because God eternally loved them.
That lump? That's not the whole nation of
Israel without distinction, but it's the remnant according to
grace. It's just more than you and I have seen lately, let me
say it like this. And if the root, the progeny,
the descendants be holy, so are the branches, those that follow. The Lord made a promise to Abraham,
Genesis 15 verse 5. He says, Now look toward heaven
and tell the stars I'll be able to number them, and he said unto
him, so shall thy seed be. You know, without a doubt, God
Almighty promised Abraham that he would have an innumerable
natural seed. There's been a whole lot. You
know, the Pharisees, there's a lot of them that said, you
know, Abraham's our father. We can prove our lineage from
Abraham. Abraham did have an innumerable
Natural seed, Jews, just natural Jews. I'm not talking about elected
Jews. I'm not talking about spiritual.
I'm talking about just Jews. There was a bunch of them. But
out of that bunch, there were some that God had eternally loved.
There were some that was a natural, I mean, a spiritual Israel. Not
every Jew, not all of Israel is Israel. That's what Paul said.
A Jew is not one that's been according to the flesh, but one's
born of God. That's a Jew. That's a true spiritual
Jew. So Abraham did have a people.
But Abraham, there was also a spiritual seed. Those that God showed mercy
to in time out of the natural lineage of Abraham, they were
the spiritual Jews. Well, just like Abraham, the
first fruit of the Jews, All the chosen remnant of the Jewish
nations were holy in Christ. So in particular, the first fruit
is our Savior, but the first fruits also refers to the first
converts of a particular group of people. Listen to this. Romans
16, 5. I think this answers what I've
been trying to say real good. Romans 16, 5. Paul says, likewise,
greet the church that is in their house. He was talking about Aquila
and Priscilla. Greet the church that's in their
house and salute my well-beloved Eponidas, who is the firstfruits
of Achaia unto Christ. There was a church that the Lord
had raised up, and He called some out of darkness. Eponidas,
you know, Paul said he was the firstfruits. He was of the firstfruits. He was the first of those that
had called out of darkness. First Corinthians 16, 15, I beseech
you, brethren, you know the house of Stephanus, that it is the
firstfruits of Achaia, that they have addicted themselves to the
ministry of the saints, the firstfruits. I wouldn't embarrass anybody
here, and I don't mean to. I want to say this out of love
and respect and thankfulness to our Lord and Savior for His
grace and mercy. But I came on the scene here
about five years ago. I'm not from here. I moved here. I'm from Tennessee
and then go back to Louisiana from there. Fifty something years ago, Almighty
God was pleased to raise up. First of all, he raised up a
pastor. And then from that, he raised
up a church. He raised up a gospel church
in this community. Now, God was pleased to to raise
up some men and some women from that, many of them of your families
that were there. But the only two that I know
of besides Brother Scott, the only two that I know of that
were originally there was Glenn and Gene. Now I may be wrong. If there was somebody else there,
I just don't know it. I'm just using this as an example. that God Almighty would show
mercy to Katy, West Virginia. Alright, I'm using this as an
illustration to the nation of Israel. That Almighty God would
show mercy, would prove His good pleasure to show mercy to Katy,
West Virginia. He raised up a pastor and He
raised up a flock. They would be the first fruits
of this church, the firstfruits, the first of them. From that,
not that they had done anything of themselves, not that anything
they did or said or anything like that merited God's mercy,
but God proved that He was going to show mercy to this community
by raising up a pastor and some people, some firstfruits out
of it. And through the years, there's
been some Some here and some there that God has called out
of darkness, a remnant according to grace. God never has forsaken,
in the last 50 plus years, Katy, West Virginia. Why? Because He was pleased to show
mercy here. Now, there's a lot of communities around here that
I don't know of any places where the gospel of free grace, sovereign,
saving grace, is preached. Why? Because God was not pleased
to raise up a church. I mean, what can I say? God was pleased to show mercy
here, and He's maintained for 50 plus years a hearing of free
grace, sovereign saving grace. Why? Because it pleased Him to
do so. This is exactly what Paul is
saying. And if the firstfruits, those that were first called
out of darkness, were holy totally on the merit of the Lord Jesus
Christ, then all that follow, chosen in Christ just like them,
are holy. If the firstfruits are holy,
the lump is holy. What does that mean? That means
that those that God has raised up out of this church and kept,
they were kept by the grace of God just like the first ones
were. That's what he's saying. If the first fruits be holy,
the law is holy. Hundreds of years after those
patriarchs, there were few, relatively speaking, but our Lord and Savior never
forsook the nation of Israel. Just like in a little 50 year
plus time frame right here, the same illustration. It's a good
illustration, I think. It's the best one I can think
of. What proves that God was going to show mercy to this place?
He raised some up. And He kept them. And called
some out along the way. There's a lot of them right here.
A lot of us here today that weren't here. when God first called up
some out of darkness. Some of them were not here when
God first raised up this assembly. But I'll tell you this, that
God has continued to raise some up, just like He did Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and those prophets, and then Paul and all of them.
Paul says, Has God forsaken Katie, West Virginia? God forbid. You
could say, I'm here. God called me. God kept me. Has God been pleased to show
mercy? Yes, He has. The first fruit
is holy. The lump is holy. Our Lord, when He hung on the
cross, I think of the mercy of Almighty God. You remember when
He hung on the cross? And I'm going to have to hush. And He said, Father, forgive
them. For they know not what they do."
Do you think that there were any in that throng of people
that were railing on Him and spitting at Him and cussing Him
and wagging their heads? You know, He saved ours! He can't
save Himself. And for the Lord to say, Father,
forgive them. Do you think that there were
any out there that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed for that weren't
His elect? The answer is no. The Lord Jesus
Christ never asked anything that was not according to God's will.
He said, I do always only those things that pleased Him. And
I'm telling you, if God, if Christ, for His honor and for the sake
of Almighty God, asks God to forgive you, or to forgive me. He did it in accordance with
God's will. Father, forgive them. There were some. There was a
lot of them. I'm sure there was a bunch of them that were there.
And they were wagging their heads and just railing on Him, laughing
at Him. But when he asked for God to
forgive them, turn over to Acts 2. Acts 2. Acts 2.22. I'm going
to wrap this up. Acts 2.22. You men of Israel,
Peter's preaching. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth,
the man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs which God did by Him in the midst of you. You yourselves
also know. You know what Peter was saying?
He said, there's some of you guys that are sitting here this
morning Witnessed His ministry. You saw Him. You know it. He
did it in the midst of you. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. It wasn't just those Pharisees
and the Romans and Peter were saying. He said, you know what?
You saw Him. You were there. You witnessed. the crucifixion. Some of you
people out there, Peter was saying, actually saw Him dying by the
determinate counsel of Almighty God, and you took Him by wicked
hands. You were there, Peter said, railing
on Him. But he said some of you were
the ones that Christ prayed for when He said, Father, forgive
them. Why? Because he had eternally
loved them. And he knew there were some out
there that God had yet to call out of darkness. And the Scripture
says after Peter preached to them and told them what they
did, God was pleased to do something. He called some of them out of
darkness and revealed to them what they had truly done. And
look at Acts 2, 37-39. And when they heard this, I won't read the whole scripture
of Peter, but when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart, and they said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles,
Men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them,
Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you. and to your children
and to all that are afar, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call." Paul is revealing something about
the purpose and will and goodness and graciousness of Almighty
God. In the next few weeks, Lord willing,
we're going to take these Scriptures and bear out, I pray, according
to God's good pleasure, that this is what God has revealed.
He sent the Gospel first to the Jews. He didn't forsake them
completely. He called some of them out of
darkness, and right along He did. And Almighty God, when He sent His Son, He took
that which the Jews wanted to do, reject Him. And God justly
sent the gospel to the Gentiles. Why? Because there were some
Gentiles that God had everlastingly loved. And He's called out for
hundreds of years, Gentiles. But Paul says God has not forsaken
the Jews. God's going to call out some
Jews. that you and I have never dreamed that God would ever call
out some that He's everlastingly loved in the mercy and goodness
of Almighty God. God's going to show mercy to
some. Some elect. They're going to be elect. Not
all of them. I'm not saying that. But some. I began to think on
that. And I thought to myself, in using
this church as a reference, 50-something years ago, God raised up a preacher,
raised up some people, called out some of those first fruits,
showed mercy. And He has for years called out
some. Some here and some there. Comparatively
speaking to this community, just a few, Brother Scott, just a
few. But what if? I don't know this. I'm just asking
you, what if? God's revealed what He's going
to do for the Jews. But what if God has been pleased
to maintain for 50-something years this church and called
out a few here and there and just kept it and preached and
sent a faithful pastor? Gave my heart to stay and to
stay and to stay and to put off the ridicule and the laughter
and the disrespectfulness toward him and God kept him there and
has maintained this church so that when it pleases God, what
if He calls some of yours out in the end time? You say, well,
we hadn't seen very many here at any given time called out. There hadn't been a whole lot
of baptisms, you know, in any one given time. That's OK. That's OK. We're doing that which
God told us to do. He said, you preach the Gospel.
You remain faithful to the Gospel. But what if God calls out some
of your kids or your grandkids? What if in the fullness of time,
what if when it pleases God, what if God calls out some of
yours? And what if there is a great? What if He does? Boy, you know
what? Fifty-something years would have
been worth it for God to maintain a little flock and just kept
them You say, boy, ain't a whole lot going on there. Oh, I beg
your pardon. Yeah, there's a whole lot going
on here. Just a few. Just a few here, a few there.
But what if it's your kids or your grandkids? What if it's
your brother? What if it's your son, daughter?
What if it's yours? And what if before this is all,
what if before the last shot's fired? What if God calls dozens
out? What if He calls out a hundred
out of this community? Do you think God can do that?
I think you can. What if he's pleased to do that?
That's exactly what Paul said. God has maintained Israel, spiritual
Israel. Just a few here, a few there,
just along. But Paul said this is a great
mystery. But he says, in the fullness
of the time of the Gentiles, blindness in part has happened
until the fullness of the Gentiles be brought in. Let me tell you
what I'm thankful for. is that God Almighty showed mercy
to me during this period of time. That God didn't leave me to myself.
That God wouldn't allow me to do what I would do by nature,
reject Him. That He powerfully, just like
we looked at last Wednesday, the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence. It's violently and powerfully
acted upon. And the violent, the powerful
one takes it by force. May God Almighty be pleased to
add His blessing upon this message concerning His good pleasure
and will to do whatever He's pleased to our hearts. Our Father, thank You for Your
goodness today. Thank You for Your mercy. Lord,
help us to bow to that which You've said is so. Help us to
realize that, Lord, You do whatsoever You will in the army of heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth. Lord, we don't have any
right to question You. Lord, that You would show mercy
to any is a great revelation of goodness. We ask these things
for Christ's sake. Amen.