One man preached the gospel,
heard about a church that God had raised up, faithful, kept
them. I thank God for this church a
long time, and I thank Him that I can be here with you. The Apostle Paul clearly set forth That Israel, I'm talking about
natural Israel. I want you to understand something. There's a lot of stuff that's
being said today about Israel. Now, natural Israel, I'm talking
about the place over on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean or
Pacific, whichever way you want to go. Natural Israel has never
had any spiritual promises made to them. Natural Israel has never
had any eternal spiritual promises of God's mercy given to them. Never. Natural Israel has always been
a picture, a type, a shadow of spiritual Israel. They've always
been that. But as far as natural Israel,
and people talk about pray for Israel, pray for the recovery
of Israel, God never promised anything to natural Israel as
far as eternal spiritual promises. But He has always promised spiritual
Israel. Now, there is some out of natural
Israel. You understand what I am talking
about. There is a spiritual Israel, just like out of the Gentiles,
all the Gentiles. Do you think God has eternally
promised Eternal spiritual blessings to all Gentiles? No. Who has He eternally promised
anything to? Only those that He chose in Christ. That's all. That's all. So, keep
in mind, everything that I talk about today concerning Israel,
if I say Israel, I'll try to clarify, but I don't have time
to clarify every time I make this statement. Let me just make
the statement right now. When I speak of Israel, and you'll
know what I'm talking about, every time I speak of Israel,
the only eternal spiritual promises of mercy is to an elect people,
whether they be found out of the ranks of the Gentiles or
whether they be found out of the ranks of Israel natural Israel,
only those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world have
any promises whatsoever of mercy toward them for the sake of Christ. That's all. So the Apostle Paul
clearly set forth that Israel, natural Israel, which sought
after righteousness by the keeping of the law, did not obtain that
righteousness before God did. Romans 3.20 says, Therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. Justified. That means declared
that there is no record whatsoever of any guilt. Justified. Now when we say, I'd use the
word forgiven and justified. two different words, two entirely
different words. One means forgiven. We are forgiven
because we have been justified. To be forgiven means that there
was something you did and God justly forgave you because Christ
paid the debt of it and He can forgive you of it. To say that
you've been justified by God in Christ means there is no record
of any guilt. Now, there's two messages right
there that we're not going to look at this morning, because
here again, if the law, keeping of the law, I hear this, you
know, this people say, well, you know, we've got to keep the
law. You know why they say that? Because
they don't know the demand of the law, brother Scott. If a
man knows the demand of God's law and thinks that he's keeping
it. He is blind. The law, if the
law, was a believer's rule of life. Now, let me ask you this.
Do I believe that it's right for a man to love God? Absolutely. Do I believe that it's right
for a man to be faithful to his wife? Absolutely. Do I believe
that it's right for a man not to covet? Absolutely, it's not
right. It's right for a man not to cut. How about steel? Is that right? No, it's not right. So, but let me ask you this. Do I think that by doing those
things and doing them very poorly, let me say it like this. Do you
think that a man is justified before God because he's done
that? Do I believe that a believer
is going to act with some consistency? Absolutely. But let me tell you
something. A believer acts with consistency
before God Almighty, but he never looks at what he's done, Jeff,
to be justified before God for it. Never. A believer walks consistently
before God Almighty, seeing every step the frailty of his flesh,
and knows it. But if the keeping of the law,
When God gave Moses the law on Mount Sinai, if the keeping of
that law, we talk about posting the Ten Commandments in schools,
and men are talking, I mean, somehow they're thinking that
posting those Ten Commandments, do you think that that's going
to make somebody more holy? I mean, you know, they may say,
well, are you against the Ten Commandments? Absolutely not.
But I could put them all over these walls and all over every
wall in every school and every building, and I'm telling you,
man is still at his best state is altogether vanity. You say,
well, what kind of a hope do I have? My hope is this, that
the Lord Jesus Christ kept that law and God imputed it to me. There's my hope. I can tell you
this, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're
wrong. Did that make you any better?
No. If the believer's rule of life
is the keeping of the law, the law at Sinai, what hope did Noah
and Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, what hope did they have? Paul wasn't
even given. What was their hope? Their hope
was the righteousness of Christ. They knew. The Lord Jesus said,
Abraham saw my day. and he rejoiced, he was glad.
He saw the day of justification by faith, evidenced by faith,
justified by grace. These Jews, Paul had set forth
the natural nation of Israel, except for some in that nation,
except for some elect Jews. The Jews, as a nation, The Scripture
says it was blinded. Blinded. That's what set forth. They were blinded, left to themselves
to believe that they had done something worthy of salvation. And that's still the way it is
today. Men left to themselves think that they've done something. What have we ever done that is
worthy? of God showing us mercy. What
have we ever done that's worthy of that? Nothing. They were darkened. Their eyes were darkened. That's what the Scripture says.
Their eyes were darkened that they should not see. I want you
to turn to Matthew 6.23 for just a second. I read something this
morning that I had never really seen before. Going over my notes. Matthew 6.23. I never saw this,
Brother Scott, until today. Matthew 6.23. If an eye be evil, an whole body
shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, spiritual darkness, how great is that darkness,
if an eye be evil. Now, I want you to turn over
to Matthew 20, 15. And Matthew 20, 15 gives an explanation of
that. Matthew 20, verse 15. If I nigh be evil. Look at Matthew 20, 15. Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine
eye evil because I am good? Now, the Lord just explained
what it was for your eye to be evil. He asked him a question over
Matthew 20. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? What is it according to Scripture
for a man's eye spiritually seeing to be evil? I'll tell you what
it is. It's for him not to bow to or
not recognize or not perceive or to know that God is sovereign
and does what he will with whomsoever he will. Is your eye evil? Is it not lawful for me to do?
Can I not do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil because
I'm good? Someone says, I've heard this
before, usually you'll find that the preaching of sovereign grace
is spoken of in such a derogatory way. Oh, that church over there,
Katie, they just believe. They believe in that sovereign
grace stuff. They believe in that election. Say it with a
sneer. Well, let me say this. If Almighty
God hadn't sovereignly elected a people, sovereignly chose them
in Christ, sovereignly decreed to show mercy and compassion
to them, they'd all be in hell. Now, that's just the way it is.
Do you think that God leaving a man to Himself is going to
help mankind? God so loved the world, the order
of man, that He wouldn't let mankind perish. So He chose some
out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue to show mercy
to them. The blessed truth in Christ of
electing grace is a glorious doctrine. Thanks be to God. What you read, Brother Scott,
bless the Lord, oh my soul, that God would show mercy to somebody. What if He shows mercy to me?
I pray He will. I pray God has shown mercy to
me. I pray He has. I think He has. Almighty God, was pleased to
show mercy to some out of natural Israel. That's what Paul had
said. Now concerning the general rejection of Christ by the Jews,
now you know this. I mean, read the Scriptures and
ask yourself this. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, when He was born of a virgin, came forth
from His mother's womb out of that holy thing that was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, grew up, did the nation of Israel, by
and large, receive him or reject him? Well, they rejected him,
by and large. Not all of them, but some of
them. Now, that rejection, Paul asks
a question in verse 11 of Romans 11. I say then, have they stumbled
that they should fall? God forbid, but rather through
their fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles, for to provoke
them to jealousy." He said, I want to ask you a question. He said,
now I'm telling you, Paul says, I know. I know that the Jews
by and large have rejected Christ. Now this is Paul the Apostle,
a Jew, speaking. I know they have. I know that
they've stumbled. He says, have they stumbled that
they should fall? Now, that word fall right there
means this, never to be recovered. That's what that word means.
Have they stumbled that they should never be recovered? Now, the explanation does not
mean that they should not be able to recover themselves. The
explanation, the word means never to be recovered. If anything
happens to anybody in mercy and grace, God's going to have to
do it. They're not going to do anything
for themselves. Have they stumbled that they should never be recovered? Have they tripped? That's another
word it means. Have they erred in their unbelief
to a point that there's no hope of God's mercy in the recovery
of any Jews and that they would be left to absolute judgment. You know, there's some nations
that I can read about in the Old Testament that God never
did anything for. You know, you go back and read
about, you know, the Moabites and the Hittites and the Perizzites
and on and on and on, and you'd never read one account of many
of those nations that God ever showed any mercy to, left Him
to Himself. Why? Why? Because He chose to. What do you want me to say? If
God leaves a man alone, that man is in darkness. What must
be done? God must show mercy. God must
do something for him. Now, obviously, only those of
the natural Israel, only those within natural, just all the
Jews in particular, who are found to be elect in Christ are truly
the spiritual Israel and will be converted. If God has chosen
a man in the Lord Jesus Christ, God is going to save him. Is
there a possibility that any that God has ever chosen in Christ,
is there a possibility that they will not be saved? Not one chance. All that the Father has given
me shall, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast him out. If any comes to Christ, why did
they come to Christ? because God chose them in Christ
and the Spirit of God is going to call them out of darkness.
The Lord Jesus Christ did redeem them, did pay their debt. All
that the Father knows. Now let me tell you this. Paul
reveals something that God's remnant to this day, at the day
of the writing of this book, The day of the writing right
now, the reading of it now, God still has a remnant in Israel. I want you to look at Romans
11, 1 to 5, and read this and understand, listen to who Paul
is talking about. Romans 11, 1, I say then, hath
God cast away his people? God forbid. Now, he's talking
about has God Just like God left the Perizzites and Hittites and
Moabites and Iths and Iths and Iths and Iths, He left many countries,
many nations alone. Never called one of them out
of many of them. You say, well, I thought that
you said that God had out of every tribe and kindred. He does.
And I still believe that many that never heard the gospel,
many infant children, that died in infancy that God has shown
mercy to. I've looked at scriptures. That's
just what I believe. Many of those to be found in
the portals of heaven will be infants that died in infancy. Those that have no mental capacity. Those that just have no ability
to think. If you want to talk to me about
it afterwards, that's fine. I'll show you the Scriptures,
and I'll just say, then won't you read them, and you tell me
what you think they say, the infidels and those. But who is
Paul talking about? He's talking about natural Israel,
the nation that God didn't leave completely to themselves. I say
then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid, for I'm an
Israelite. of the seat of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. What
Paul just asked is, has God cast away all the Jews? No. No. Paul said, I'm one of them. God has not cast away his people
which he foreknew. He hasn't cast away the elect. What, or know ye not what the
scripture saith of Elias, Elijah, how he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, Kill thy prophets, dig down thine
altars. 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. Even so, then, at this present
time." When is this? This is the present time. Also,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Has
God cast away all of Israel because of unbelief? Paul said, no, I'm
one of them. Paul was born years after any
of the prophets were there and they rejected him. Jeremiah said,
I'm not going to pray for him anymore. I'm not going to preach
to him anymore. Paul was years later. Did God cast away all
of history? No. All those that he foreknew,
all those that he chose in Christ, there's a remnant according to
grace. Rather, verse 11 again, latter
part of verse 11, but rather through their fall, salvation
has come to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy through their
sidestep. It's what that word means, that
fall. Through their sidestep. Yes, Almighty God has allowed
the bulk of the nation of Israel to stumble, trip, They've stumbled
at the stumbling stone, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, they have,
and God left them. Many left them to themselves,
but not all of them. Not all. Almighty God has eternally
purposed that those Gentiles found in the covenant of electing
grace, men and women out of every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue,
chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ To be holy and without blame
before Him in love, God's going to have them. He's always had
them. Always been His. Always. But how did God reveal
that He had some Gentile brethren? How did He reveal that? He allowed
the nation of Israel, generally speaking, to stumble. He left them alone. Just a few
here and a few there. Just every once in a while, you'd
see one out of Israel. Out of natural Israel, there
would be a spiritual. There's one. There's a Paul.
There's a Peter. You know, there's a Thomas. Not
many, but some. Has God forsaken them? No, Paul
said. No, no. I'm one. He let them
generally err. in their rejection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not all of them, but most of
them. And the gospel was then sent to the Gentiles. That's
what happened. He allowed the Jews to do exactly
what he wanted to do. And that's what happens. Remember
this. God will always allow a man to
do what that man wants to do. Always. Always. God always allows
a man to do what He wants to do. Does a man want to reject Christ?
God will let him do it. If God gives a man a new heart,
he won't want to reject Christ. And God will let him not reject
Him. He'll give him a new heart. Men always do what they want
to. Anytime anybody does anything, they do it because that's what
they wanted to do. They always want to. Somebody said, I wonder why he
did that? Because that's what he wanted to do. Now, the Lord has purposed to
powerfully call the elect Gentiles out of darkness. Now, did they
desire, did the Gentiles desire to come because God let the Jews
reject Him? No. The Gentiles did not want
to come merely because God allowed the Jews to reject him. No, Almighty
God had to give them a new heart. That's what it takes. What does
it take for a man to believe God? It takes a new heart. All
men have not faith. The apostle, and all of the apostles,
after the Jews would not bow to the Lordship of Christ, They
were sent to the Gentiles to preach to them. The Spirit of
God moved upon God's preachers. There were some Jews, some apostles
that the Lord Jesus Christ had called out of darkness. There
were some Jewish apostles. And those Jews, those few, out
of the nation of Israel, the natural Israel, went to the Gentiles. So the Gentiles heard the gospel
through the Jews. The Jews rejected Christ by and
large, but the Gentiles heard the gospel through those Jews
that the Lord sent. Salvation is come unto the Gentiles
for to provoke them, that is, those Jews that rejected Him,
to jealousy. Now that word jealousy right
there, provoke them to jealousy, that's not a bad word. Jealousy
can be in a bad sense. It can be in a bad sense. I know
this. Man can be jealous and stuff like this. But God said,
I'm a jealous God. You think that's a bad sense?
Craves His honor. Desires His honor. Provoke them
to jealousy, not in a bad sense, in a good sense, whereby the
Spirit of God will reveal to some Jews elect before the foundation
of the world their need and hope of Christ. When Almighty God
called you that believe out of darkness, He provoked you to
jealousy. What were you jealous of? I was
jealous of God's honor. I desire God's honor. You that
believe, you are jealous for the honor of God. You are against
yourself. You'll take God's Word against
yourself. You'll take God's Word against,
you know, God's desires, God's pleasures against yours. They
always do. And when you find yourselves
in situations where you see the old man and new man struggling
within yourself, it bothers you. Because there's an old nature
in every man that does not bow to the sovereignty of God. Paul
says, in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. You
say, you mean there's an old man and a believer that doesn't
love God? That's exactly what I mean. Never
was cleaned up. The old man's never cleaned up.
Never straightens up and flies right. Never turns over a new
leaf. Well, what happens? God's got to give him a new heart,
a new will, a new man, a new desire, a new being, a new creation. There's something created that
wasn't there before. In time, it's brought about.
But that new man brought about, created in righteousness, is
the new man that the Lord Jesus Christ always possessed. The
new nature, the new man, the new creature, That was the one
that was always in Christ. In time, you know it. Eternally,
God's known Him. He said, I've always loved you.
I've loved you with an everlasting love. Well, if He's loved you
with an everlasting love, you've always been there. Where have
you been? In Christ. Where is that? I don't
know. But He's always been there. Always been in Him. There is going to come a time
where many will be divinely convinced of their sin and the rejection
of the Messiah. And they are going to behold
the mercy of Almighty God. They are going to see it, not
only the Jews. There is going to be a time.
God has not rejected them. There is going to come a time
when they are going to see. Many will. Many won't, but many will. The nation of Israel, a great
number, I'm talking about spiritual Israel that God is going to draw
out to Himself. I say, have they stumbled that
they should fall, God forbid, rather through their fall, that
is, the Jews. Salvation has come to the Gentiles
to provoke them to jealousy. Now, Paul asks this question
in verse 12. Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the
world and the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles,
how much more their fullness? What did you just ask, Paul?
That's one of those verses where sometimes I'll say, you know,
it sounds spiritual. It sounds biblical. But what did he ask? What does that mean? He says,
if the fall of them... All right, now, understand when
he says the fall of them, that means the nation as generally
speaking, having rejected Christ, has fallen, has stumbled, Not
all, but most of them. If their fall, if the fall of
them, that is if the deviation for a while. Now you think about
this. You, all of us here are Gentiles. We look at the nation of Israel
and we think on them right now. We think, you know what? The
Jews rejected Christ. They had their chance. They're
gone. I understand. There's a few. There's a few. But by and large,
they're all gone. Yet right now, that's pretty
well the way it appears. But, he says, if the fall of
them, if the fall of them be the riches, the wealth of the
world, if through their falls, when they rejected Christ and
the Lord left them to themselves, be the riches of the Gentiles,
the world, and the diminishing, the deterioration of them." Same
thing. Same thing. He's just saying
the fall, the deterioration. If the deterioration, the diminishing
of them be the riches of a Gentile, how much more their fullness,
that is, how much more when God reveals what He will do for them. How much more their fullness.
If the Lord has absolutely been pleased to generally allow the
nation of Israel to be the blessing of this world, if God has allowed
that through a few converted Jews, how much more shall the
Lord's blessing upon this world be when God is pleased to call
out those that we never thought He would call out. Look at verse
13. Paul says, I speak to you Gentiles
inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, and I magnify
mine office, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them
which are my flesh, Jews, and might save some of them." Now,
Paul is making a point to his hearers. He said, I'm talking
to you Gentiles. Paul is a Jewish convert. He's saying, I know that my countryman,
by and large, has rejected the Messiah. He says, but God has
not cast away the whole nation of Israel and left them like
He did all those other guys that I mentioned a while ago. Paul
says God has not done that. God forbid. He hasn't cast them
away. Those that are blinded are blinded.
No doubt about that. But the question that is being
brought up here, is God going to always leave them like that? Now, I'm going to show you as
we continue through, not today, Lord willing, next time, but
I'm going to show you what the Scripture says concerning what
God is going to do that we've never really considered, well,
until we've studied the Scriptures. Paul says, I'm speaking to you
Gentiles, you that have been the recipients of God's mercy.
He said, I'm the apostle of the Gentiles, he says, the Lord Called
me a Jew to preach to you. God called a Jew to preach to
the Gentiles. Acts 9, 15, But the Lord said
unto him, that is Ananias, Go thy way, for he, that is Saul
of Tarsus, is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before
the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Paul says,
I magnify my office. I esteem my office to be gloriously
honorable. But verse 14, if by any means,
not that the apostle thought that different methods, if by
any means does not mean that Paul was saying that there's
some other way but the preaching of the gospel. That's not what
he said. If by any means, he said in Romans 1 16, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. Can a man be saved? hearing any other message except
the message of sovereign grace. Can a man be saved by any other
message except by sovereign grace? No. No. Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God. It is the power
of God unto salvation. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1.18. 1
Corinthians 1.18, the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness. You know, if men only understood
what the preaching of the cross is. You see, what happens is,
some will read that scripture, the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness, and because they don't understand,
rather, what the preaching of the cross is, They say, you see
there? It's like they just omit the
cross. What they're saying is the preaching.
Preaching is food. What is the preaching of the
cross? The preaching of the cross says this, God has a people that
He's eternally chosen in Christ. Now, you know Ephesians 1-4.
You know that's it. You know the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. for the sheep." I
lay down my life for the sheep. He told some Pharisees, he said,
you don't believe because you're not my sheep. So I know that
there's some sheep and some not sheep. I know that the sheep
are all those given in Christ. I know that's who the sheep are.
I know that all that the sheep, all the sheep that have been
given are going to be redeemed. So I know when he says the preaching
of the cross, that does not mean that Jesus died on the cross
to make salvation possible. No, sir. No, sir. The preaching of the cross is
the preaching of sovereign, electing, saving, redeeming grace for a
people that God Almighty has always loved and always known
in Christ. The preaching of the cross is
sovereign grace. Let me just sum it up like that. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. Men say, I don't believe that. Okay. Okay. Preaching of the cross. Is it
possible? Paul says, though, if by any
means. If somehow, if the Lord be pleased,
I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, it might
save," now listen to this, "...some of them." He was praying, if
God be pleased, that God would be using him to preach to the
ranks of his brethren after the flesh. We go into it on the book
of Acts. We're going through the book of Acts on Wednesday.
How many times do you find that the Jews, the Jews, the Jews
were the ones that raised up all of the fighting against Paul? The Jews. Usually it was always
those in the synagogue. He'd go to the synagogue and
he'd preach the gospel. Man, they'd raise a stink up
and they'd run him out of town. And boy, I'm telling you, if
they'd get their hands on him, the religious people are the
ones that hated Paul. And he was preaching out of the
Scriptures that they said they believed. The Jews. Why'd he go back? Well, two reasons.
Number one, God gave him a heart to go. Why'd he go? Why did he go? Because
he knew this. God's got a people. There's some
Jews out there. He's got a remnant according
to grace. And they may not believe it the
first time they hear it, but if they're God's own, God will
call them out. He'll call them. He'll call them. So he preached
to them. What if he got beat? What if he got talked about?
What if they talked about him? You know, what if he, what if
they, you know, I've told you this concerning loving your neighbor. Remember me telling you this?
I don't even know some of my neighbors. I don't, you know,
I've only been here five years. There's some folks who live down
the hall. I don't even know. Glenda knows them. Glenn Jean
knows them. Y'all know them. I don't know.
There's some I don't even know. Well, how do you love your neighbor?
The essence of love, true love, is truthfulness. Truthful. I've said this before. Scott
Richardson has been the best friend that Fairmont, West Virginia
ever had. There's nobody that's been more
of a friend to this community than Scott. Why? Because he told
you the truth. The truth. Paul is sitting here,
he said, what he's saying is, if by any means I may provoke
to emulation Them which are my flesh, that they might do as
I have done." Not that they are emulating just Paul, but that
there might be an emulation of what God had done for him that
you might see it in them. It might save some of them. Some
of them. Paul never lost sight of the
truth of God's particular in redeeming grace. Some of them. Is God going to save all of the
Gentiles in this community? I doubt it. Does that mean that
I don't keep preaching? No. Why? What if the Lord says
one of yours? There's a man preaching this
morning in Franklin, Tennessee. I've got two kids and some grandkids
that are sitting under his ministry. Is the Lord going to save all
of them? I don't know. I pray He does. I pray He saves
my kids. I pray He saves my grandchildren. I pray I've got some brothers
and sisters. Is the Lord going to save them?
I don't know. But it's not going to change the fact that this
is the only message right here. Paul says, if by any means, if
God be pleased, I may through preaching provoke them to emulation. Last verse for this morning,
for the casting away of them, for if The casting away of them
be the reconciling of the world. What shall the receiving of them
be but life from the dead?" What did you say, Paul? Well, he's
been talking about God sent the gospel to the Jews. By and large, except for some,
that remnant according to grace, they rejected him. And through
their rejecting by God, allowing them to do what they did, God
sent the gospel to the Gentiles. Now, if the casting away, if
the throwing off, if the rejection of them be the reconciling, the
reconciliation, or even the word is atonement of the world, what
shall the receiving, the admission of them be? The receiving to
God's self, but life from the dead. I'm going to show you, Lord willing,
in the next service or two, this is what Paul is talking about.
This is the heart of what I've been talking about this morning.
Paul is building something, and I'm going to show you this according
to Scriptures, that when God Almighty sent the Gospel at first,
He sent it to the Jews. Now, that's an established fact.
You know that. God sent the truth, the prophets,
the law. He sent it to the Jews. The Jews,
by and large, except for some elect, rejected it. God sent the gospel then to the
Gentiles, and by and large, we have seen As far as we can remember,
especially since about the time of Paul and preaching God, the
Lord Jesus, when he ascended up, he sent them to the Gentiles,
sent the gospel to the Gentiles. We've been seeing many Gentile
converts. But the Lord is revealing here
that he has not rejected the Jews, not left them to himself. Those that He has not eternally
loved, those that He has not eternally chosen in Christ, they're
not going to be saved. They're not. They died in unbelief.
And those even to this day that God has not eternally loved and
eternally chosen in Christ, God's left them to themselves. And
they will perish. And they'll perish justly. They've
done exactly what they wanted to do. But Paul, and I'm going
to show you this, Write this down. What he's going to be telling
us in the next few verses is this. When the fullness of the
Gentiles, and I looked this word up, when the fullness of the
Gentiles, it means when it is full, God will send through the
Gentiles and God's going to call out many elect Jews. that we never thought would ever
happen. You say, I don't know about this.
Watch and see. Watch and see if that's not what
this scripture is saying. That last verse, he's just now,
he's starting to bring this home. If the casting away of them,
when they rejected, be the reconciling of the world, what shall the
receiving of them be but life from the dead? I never knew that
was going to happen. You watch and see. The open reception
of the masses of God's elect don't ever, ever, ever come to
the point to where you think that God is calling out some
that He has not eternally loved. Those that God calls out, He's
always loved them. He's always chosen. All those
that are found in Christ, He'll call. Beautifully displayed shall
we see His grace exhibited to those that formerly, that nation
that formerly rejected. You know, we look now and we
say, you know, I see a lot of Gentiles being converted. Well,
a lot comparatively speaking to Jews. You see more Gentiles
now than Jews. But I'm telling you, Paul is
setting forth something that we absolutely Have no idea. I'm going to just read this for
you. Look at verse 25. Now look, we're stopping on verse
15. Don't you read verse 25 in light
of what I just told you. Now listen to this. I would not,
brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. God
is revealing something to you. He's revealing something through
Paul, a revelation that you would not have known if God wouldn't
have told you, lest you be wise in your own conceit. Conceit. that blindness or hardness, in
part, is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. Almighty God has been pleased
through reasons that's only known to the Lord Himself. God has
been pleased since the Jews, the gospel, rejected it. except for the remnant. The Senate
of the Gentiles called out many, many Gentiles. But there's coming
a time, Paul says, when the fullness of the Gentiles... I looked up
that word, fullness, too. The same word talking about the
fullness of Christ, the fullness of the mercy of God. It means
all of it. When the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in, Almighty God has revealed a great mystery Those
that He allowed to stay in darkness for years and years and years.
Paul is saying, not always. He's going to call out. Out of
the nation of Israel, many elect. Elect. Don't ever think. Has
God called out all the Gentiles that He called out? Were they
all elect? Sure they were. Did He always love them? Sure
He did. All the Gentiles that have ever been called out of
darkness, were they always God's beloved? Yes, they were. What
if God is pleased then, because of His mercy and kindness and
goodness, to now call out more Jews than He ever has before? He asked, can I not do what I
will with mine own? Can God do that? Yes, He has. Yes, He can. What if He does? He will. How do you know that? Paul says that's what the Spirit
of God taught him. Almighty God. Now, do I pray for the nation
of Israel by and large, just natural Israel? No. Who am I
praying for? I pray that God be pleased to
call out those that He has everlastingly loved. I'm just thankful that
God sent the Gospel to some Gentiles. I'm thankful that God would be
pleased to call me out of darkness. Ain't a rebel in this building
today that's worse than me. Now, are you proud of that? No,
sir. I'm just telling you, God has mercy, and He'll have mercy
on whomsoever He will have mercy. If God's pleased to call out
some Jews, naturally speaking, Jews, and they were His eternal
beloved, for that I'm thankful. I'm thankful He'd call anybody
out, show mercy to any. In the next couple of weeks,
We're going to be looking at an amazing revelation. Amazing
to me. Amazing because there's a lot
of things that I saw in here that I never truly saw, to be
honest with you, in the way they're set forth in Scripture. Always
in light of God's sovereignty. Always in light of God's choosing.
Always in light of Christ. But always according to God's
compassion and goodness to show mercy to whomsoever He will.
I pray the Lord be pleased to bless this to our heart. I know
it's been warm. I understand that. But I'm just thrilled that
we've had a time to be here this morning. Okay, Gary, why don't
you lead us in the closing?