Turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 11. I'll read a few verses here. Matthew chapter 11, beginning there at verse 25.
It says, At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, For so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. If you notice here, in particular,
that he's called the Lamb of God. And everyone that has any
interest in the world to come, will have to do business with
the Lamb of God. And he's called the Lamb of God,
slain from the foundation of the world. He was slain in the purpose of God from all
eternity. In God's secret counsel and foreknowledge,
his death was decreed, purposed, appointed, determined from all
eternity. We got to do business with the
Son, the Lamb of God. That taketh away our sins. Turn with me to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 11. As Brother
Scott was reading that, take my yoke upon you. You know, you
yoke two oxen together, they pull together, accomplishing the same purpose. To think that the Lord Jesus
Christ would allow us to be yoked to Him. You've got a friend. that's able
to accomplish something that you're doing. And that friend
says, I'll go with you. I'll help you. Think about those
words. And he says, take my yoke upon
you. He has yoked us to himself. And he leads. You just say, we
follow that song. Wherever he leads, we go. Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, the Apostle
Paul had set forth previously. We're going to be looking at
verse 7 to 10 in just a moment for just a few minutes. Paul
had set forth this truth. God has not cast away his people. that he foreknew. That's what
Brother Scott just read. God has not cast away his people
that he foreknew. He hasn't pushed them out. Paul said, I know he hadn't cast
away all Israel. Paul said, I'm a Jew. You that believe, I could say
this just like any of us that believe here this morning. God
hasn't cast away all the Gentiles. Why? I'm a Gentile. I believe the Lord has done something
for me. Elijah complained to the Lord.
He said, I killed your prophets. They torn down your altars. And I'm the one that's left.
I'm the only one that's faithful left. The Lord says, Elijah,
I have 7,000 that I've reserved to myself that have not bowed
the knee to Baal. This remnant is according to God's grace and
mercy. You're here this morning, hopefully,
Worshipping God. I say, hopefully, worshipping
because of just what I said a while ago about worship. I pray the
Lord let us worship. You hear this morning about the
grace of Almighty God. Well, Paul says in Romans 11
and 7, ìWhat then?î What can be said about everything that
he had said previously? ìWhat then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for.î Keep in mind, whenever you find anything
in Scripture that is speaking of spiritual promises, that it
is never to natural Israel. It's never to naturally, always
spiritual Israel. Now, obviously, there is found
in the natural Israel. a spiritual Israel. But Paul
had said, not everybody that's a Jew is a spiritual Jew. Circumcision
is not of the flesh, it's of the heart. So I know that Almighty
God has a spiritual. But I'm going to tell you something
before we get through with this chapter right here. You're going
to find out some things, I did, settled it in my heart, some
things that God has promised to Israel that's going to become
more and more apparent the closer the time comes to his second
return. There's going to be some things that maybe we never thought
about or considered, but for this morning, what then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for. You know, every man, every woman, has within
themselves, there's a conscience that is put within every human
being, every one of them, that has a desire to have or obtain
a righteousness before their God. If you think that's not
so, you look at every heathen worship. I use the Mayans because
I've been down to Mexico and I've actually seen it. I've actually
seen the temples Used to, they'd let you crawl up there. You know,
they don't let you do that anymore. Used to, you'd go up there and
actually see where they would have these sacrifices. I mean,
you know. Now, what did they know about
the true and living God? They didn't know anything about
it. But I tell you this, they were trying to appease their
God because somebody was dying. They knew the issue was blood. They knew the issue was wrath. They knew the issue was anger.
They knew something was wrong. Something is not right here.
Everybody has within themselves a conscience that wants to appease
their God. But Paul says, Israel hath not
obtained, hadn't hit the mark of what they seek for. How are they seeking? Turn back
to Romans 9.31. Romans 9.31. Just turn back.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not obtained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for
they stumbled at that stumbling block." They tripped on Christ
Himself. Righteousness, listen, righteousness
is what you think it is. Righteousness before God is what
you think it is. Now, you say, what do you mean?
I mean this. You let Almighty God leave a
man to himself, and that man establishes what he thinks righteousness
before God is. Well, I'm as good as the next
guy. I read my Bible. I hand out tracts. I go to church. But you let God give a man a
new heart, and that man now knows what righteousness is. That's
what they're convinced of last Wednesday night. That's what,
how do I know if I've received the Holy Ghost? That's what I
preached on last Wednesday night. You remember that? You're convinced
of three things. Number one, sin, righteousness,
and judgment. A believer is convinced of righteousness.
And he knows that the only righteousness that is going to stand before
God is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, craves for, but the election, the choice
of God hath hit the mark, obtained it. That is what it is. The election of God, those chosen
in Christ, They have obtained it because
God Almighty has sovereignly purposed to charge, to impute
to them the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. How did
they receive it? Now you think about this. The
only hope that a believer has got this morning, this is the
only hope you've got, is that you believe that Christ has charged
me. with his righteousness, that
God has charged me, has imputed to me, that God looks at me.
What do you mean when you say impute? This is what I mean.
I mean when he looks at me, he sees Christ. That's what I mean. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. Is there any others in themselves
that God is well pleased with? No. No. Well, what hope do I have that
when he sees me, He sees me in His Son. That's all. How did
I receive the righteousness of God? By grace. By the grace of
God. That's the only way. Why did
I receive it? Because God chose to be gracious
to me. Thirdly, what do I have to glory
in? Nothing but Christ. Nothing but
Him. Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it. The election, the selection of
God, the election of God hath hit the mark. That's it. Top dead sinner. Bullseye. That's it. No deviation whatsoever. The election hath obtained it
and the rest. You know, there's only two kinds
of people, the elect and the rest. That's all. The rest were blinded, hardened. You know what could be more evident
when it comes to salvation than that it's of the Lord? No works of righteousness that
I've done. God is pleased to show mercy.
The recipient of that mercy owes that mercy and grace to God. God has shown mercy to me. And if He withholds His mercy
and allows me to do whatever I please or whatever I think
is pleasing to Him, He's just in condemning me. The
Lord, if He condemns a man, If he punishes a man, do you know
why he does this? Because that man's guilty. He's
guilty. He's guilty. You know, this thing
of saying that's what Paul dealt with over in chapter 9. He said,
you know, some will say, well, why does he yet find fault? Who
hath resisted his will? What Paul was asking is this.
An unbeliever standing before Almighty God will say, well,
how can you blame me when you were the one that didn't grant
to me Salvation. Listen, if Almighty God is pleased
to save and elect a remnant out of all of the earth, it is owing
to His grace totally because if He allowed them to all do
what they wanted to do, they would have all perished. Election. Predestination. Choosing. It's always for man's
benefit. It's always unto life. But man,
by nature, hears the word predestination and he just grits his teeth.
Not fair! I told him, I said, well, if
you want to talk about fair, you think about this. In Adam all
die. If God would allow us all to perish, That'd be fair. God's
fair. We were doing just exactly what
we wanted to do, and God gave all of us just exactly what we
wanted. I want to go to hell. That's man by nature. How do
you know that? Well, we were always running
down to the pit. That's by nature. That's what
we were doing. Men commit sin because they want
to. I do. Don't you? You know why I find
rebellion in my heart against God by that old nature? Because
I want to. That's what I want to do. Now, there's a new nature
in me that will not do it. And I'm telling you, they're
contrary one to the other. But I do. Almighty God has shown
mercy to some people. Israel has not obtained that
which it seeketh for. The election has obtained it.
were hardened, the rest were left alone, left them to themselves.
According as it is written, verse 8, God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should
not hear, until this day God hath allowed them to have, God
hath given them, God hath committed to a spirit of stupor. If you behold A spirit of stupor,
blindness in a person. The only thing that you can say
is, God has given a man what he wants. What else can I say? Are we all
not doing what we desire to do? Isaiah 690 said, Go and tell
this people, Hear ye indeed. Hear, without ceasing, hear.
but understand not." That's an amazing Scripture. Hear, but
don't understand. And see ye indeed, but perceive
not. That's Isaiah 6.9, if you'd like
to see that, if that's in the Bible. How many times does a man hear
the Gospel and never hear? Isaiah 6.11, I said, How long,
Lord? And He answered, Until the cities
be wasted without habit, and the Houses without man, and the
land be utterly desolate." How long do we preach? Until there
is nothing else to say. Until God takes a man out of
this world. How long will God's people be
faithful in this world until God takes them out? How long? Isaiah 29, 10, "...the Lord hath
poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, hath closed your
eyes, And the prophets, your rulers, and the seers had He
covered when the Lord was come to this world. By and large,
the eyes of understanding for the nation of Israel, except
for those who were the elect according to the remnant of God's
grace, they were closed. God gave them that spirit, and
those scribes and those Pharisees and those seers, the stargazers,
is what that actually means. They were blind to His glory.
Well, they were preaching. There was preachers going around.
They saw. They could read. I said before,
how many times, how many times have you read a Scripture? And
you would read it and, as I said before, it sounds biblical. It
sounds scriptural. But then God opened your eyes
and you saw something you said, how did I not see that before?
Let me ask you this. When I was sitting in false religion,
standing in a pulpit, preaching, preaching a false gospel, how
many times did I quote a scripture, read a scripture and never saw
it? How can that be? God would allow
me to do just exactly what I wanted to do. David saith, verse 9 and 10,
Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block,
and a rectum pence unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that
they may not see, and bow down their back always. That's a quote out of Psalm 69,
and I know that David penned the words that King David penned
them, but I'll tell you who he was talking about. That was the
King David, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, that verse immediately
followed that passage of Scripture we were talking about when the
Lord says, and they gave me gall for my meat. That was a prophecy. David, King David, the man David,
penned the words that the Lord Jesus Christ, our true would
actually quote on the cross hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
years later. They gave me gall for my meat and in my thirst
they gave me vinegar to drink. Now, listen. Gall was a bitter
herb that refers in Scripture to sin. The herb gall. Listen to this verse, Jeremiah
8, 14. Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let
us enter into the defense cities, and let us be silent there. For
the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and given us water
of gall, poison to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord."
So gall was a picture of sin, poison. What is it that poisoned
us? Sin. was the drink I found out
of a slave, a prisoner, a wretched prisoner. They gave him vinegar,
cheap wine that is turned to vinegar. That was the drink of
a slave. The Lord Jesus Christ, as He
thirsted to do the will of His Father, and He truly did, He
thirsted His meat, His feast was to do the will of Him that
sent Him. And here He was on the cross, and now in Psalm it
says, they gave me gall for my meat and vinegar for my drink. What was He truly saying? Here
He was saying this. As they gave Him that gall, they
gave me gall to drink. He was made sin. They gave me
gall for meat. This is what I ate. I ate the will of my father.
What was the will of his father? To be made sin. That's what he
ate. He said, they gave me gall for
my meat and they gave me vinegar for my drink. I thought that
was the drink of a slave. It is. He's the slave. He's the servant. of His Father,
a slave, a willing slave. He did eat and drink exactly
what it took to redeem me. He must eat the gall of my sin,
be made a slave, and drink the vinegar of obedience, putting
Himself under The law of Almighty God. There was the travail of
His soul. He put away the guilt of His
people. And the Scripture says concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, David said, verse 9, Let their
table be made a snare. That word table right there,
their feast, that's what it means. Let their table, let their feast,
you know. You know when you come and go to somebody's house to
eat and buddy, they've laid out a spread. Boy, you say, you know
what? Man, you put out a fine table
here. Are you talking about that piece
of wood? Are you talking about the stuff that we're getting
ready to eat? Boy, you've laid out a fine table
here. That's the same word. A feast. Let there feast. Let there religious
ceremony, let what they are feasting on, let it be made a snare and a
trap. Let it be destruction. Let it
be that which holds them fast. Let it be a stumbling block,
an offensive thing to them. You see what happens when God
allows a man to do what he wants to do. Men are sitting in congregations
all over this world today, and they're having a feast that they
think is truly food to them. But unless a man is made to see
that He made gall, sin, His meat, and vinegar, His drink, slave,
under the judgment of Almighty God for me, Unless I am made
to see that, then I have absolutely no hope. I'm sitting here, but
for the grace of God, just feasting on my own ability, thinking I've
done something for the Lord. Let their feast be a snare and
a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be
darkened that they should not see and bow down their back Always. You know, when the Lord, in His
infinite grace and mercy, calls a man out of darkness, do you
know what he despises? He despises the rebellion that
he saw himself in before. He hates. And he's truly sorry. Every moment that we walk in
this world this day, this life. We're going to find ourselves
struggling. But just like we talked about
this morning, God's people are called and chosen and faithful. They're going to exhibit truly
the life of a believer. But the more they walk and the
older they get, the more they realize, I believe this is so.
The older they get, the more the grace of Almighty God is
amazing to them. The older they get, the more
they grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The more they realize it is amazing that God has kept me till this
point. May Almighty God ask His blessing
and settle our hearts to realize that we are what we are by the
grace of God. Gary, stand up and just lead
us in a closing.