I'll read from the book of Isaiah,
chapter 61, the book of Isaiah. Verse 1 says, The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that
mourn. And then over here in the tenth
verse, he said, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorned herself
with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth
her bud, And as the garden causes the things that are grown in
it to spring forth, so the Lord will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Amen. Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Romans 9. Romans 9. The Apostle Paul, as I mentioned a while ago, is
getting ready to set forth that which the Spirit of God had taught
him concerning the way that things are, concerning the grand subject
of the distinguishing grace of God in the election of His people
and the right that God has to leave men to themselves. in unbelief. This subject is what we set forth as the gospel. This is the truth. And the Apostle Paul, who sets
forth this grand, glorious gospel of free grace is going to begin this chapter
because if the Lord tarries and we're allowed to go through this
ninth chapter, we're going to see and read and consider some
things that the flesh despises and hates. It is that which the flesh steps
back and is appalled at. men would say, surely, you're
not saying that God is that way. But the Apostle Paul, in beginning
this chapter, and Lord willing, I'd like to deal with the first
five verses of Romans 9. And I've entitled this message,
True Understanding and True Compassion, because Paul, knowing what he
is about to preach, what he is about to say to this church at
Rome. And not only this church at Rome,
but to the church here in Cady and every other church that the
Lord has raised up and allowed the candlestick of his gospel
to be proclaimed and preached. Paul is going to set forth the
true heart of a believer. that is compassionate. Man by
nature hears the gospel. I was thinking about what I just
preached about the judgment of God. And as I truly said a while
ago, I'm not trying to discourage. I'm trying to set forth and be
an encouragement by telling you the truth. The truth. Someone says, well, you're always
negative. I only strive to be truthful
and set forth the Scriptures as God Almighty has set them
forth. But this apostle that men in his day and today despise
because of the truth that he set forth is going to actually exhibit
the true heart of a believer. Man by nature will hear the gospel,
and they hate it. And this is why they hate it.
Number one, it exposes them. Men don't like to be exposed. Whenever someone hears something,
and they hear what the Scriptures say, and they consider themselves,
and they say, I find myself falling into the
category that he's talking about. They don't like it because it's
contrary to the flesh. But, as I've said before, does
it change anything? Does it change the truth? No.
Paul the Apostle is soon, in the things that he's going to
say in this ninth chapter and following, he's going to be the
means by which Men have an understanding of God's right to do what He
does. Well, while the old man, that
is the carnal man, that man born in Adam, desires to find some ground of
pride, the Apostle Paul starts off in verse 1 of chapter 9 and
he says, I say the truth in Christ. That is to say, Paul is speaking
as a believer. I'm saying the truth in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I am speaking as one that has
been made whole spiritually by the new birth. What he's about
to say is this. I'm not being hypocritical. I'm
speaking the truth in Christ, united to and belonging to. the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone
will say, well, Paul, the reason you're saying that is because
they beat you, they stoned you, they kicked you out, you know,
they mistreated you. That's the reason. Paul, you've
just got sour grapes. That's all. You're just saying
this. Paul says, I'm speaking in the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." Knowing what he's about
to say, and knowing that he's not speaking out of any prejudice
or animosity toward his brethren according to the flesh, he said,
I'm not doing that. Somebody said, Paul, yes you
are. He said, no I'm not. I'm telling you the truth. in
the authority of Christ Himself. I'm not lying to you. My conscience,
my new man, my new heart, my conscience is bearing me witness. It's speaking to me by the Spirit
of God that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. by the Spirit of God bearing
Paul witness. The Spirit of God that teaches
and reminds the believer of the things spoken of by Christ. The Spirit of God that speaks
to the new man. You say, how do you know that?
The Lord says, I'll not leave you comfortless. He said, I'll pray the Father.
And He will send you another Comforter. And He shall bear
witness of me. And He'll teach you. He'll teach
you all things that I've said unto you. There is a new man. There's a new being. There's
a new will. There's a new creature born from
above. And that new creature makes intercession
to you, to that new man, concerning the things of Christ. How do
I know what God has to say? The Spirit of God teaches me
that. That's how I know. That's the only way I know, is
that God tells me. I'm not lying to you. I have
great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. I have a sinking pain of sorrow, grieving, because
of his countrymen. They had, for hundreds of years,
possessed great national privileges. The law, the prophets, we'll
look at that in just a minute. The blessing of God was upon
them. But the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and they
rejected Him. By and large, the nation, not
all of them, I understand that, but by and large, the nation
rejected Him as the Messiah. They'd say, we know who you are.
You're marrying Joseph. I remember when you were just
a kid. They rejected Him as God's anointed. the Messiah. And Paul's true
sorrow and the sincerity of his sorrow was expressed in this
next verse. Now listen to what this apostle
is saying. He's honest. He said, I'm being
honest with you. And I was reading over these
verses again a few minutes ago before everybody got here. And
I was thinking to myself, and I tried to, number one, ask, Lord, would you help
me? I need to hear what's about to
be said. Though I'm preaching obviously
to you, I'm preaching to us because I stand here in the same need
that you have. Lord, would you Speak to me."
And knowing what this apostle was about to say, knowing how
he had prefaced everything thus far, he was telling himself,
I'm not lying to you. I'm telling you the truth. Lord, would you give me a heart?
Would you give me a heart like this? Would you teach me like
this? Would you cause me to realize what's being said? Teach me.
Truly teach me. Not just where I say, well, these
are what the words mean. Right here in my heart, in my
being, would you teach me as you taught this apostle? That
one that spoke, he said, I'm grieving over you. I'm grieving
over you. He said in verse 3, For I could
wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh." You know, Paul, and let's remember
how he's speaking. He's still not lying to you.
I'm speaking to you in the Holy Ghost. This is not a flippant,
empty, emotional statement. that he's about to make. He'd
been truthful. He said, I'm telling you the
truth right here. He's thinking about being accursed or separated
from Christ, or the word accursed means dedicated to God for destruction. That's what the word accursed
means. Dedicated to God. If one is accursed by God, That
vessel of dishonor that we'll look at, well, actually, I guess,
over here in the following verses here, that vessel of dishonor,
does the potter have the right to make one vessel under honor
and another under dishonor? He's going to deal with that
in the next few verses, but not today. Does God have the right
to do that? Yes, He does. One that is accursed. One that is dedicated to God,
that is God's vessel, Pat. Accursed. That means that is
dedicated to God, that's God's vessel for God to do with it
as He pleases. That's what it means. Accursed.
Dedicated to God for destruction. He said, I'm telling you the
truth about This subject being accursed from God. Now, you know
sometimes the best way to understand what someone is saying is to
first realize what he's not saying. I'm going to tell you first of
all what Paul is not saying. And the reason that I want to
tell you what he's not saying is because I know what I was
thinking that that verse meant before I read it. And so, therefore,
I'm assuming that if that's what I thought, then that's probably
what you thought. You know, deduction, you know. If this is what we
commonly think, the common thought, mine, yours, everybody, the common
thought concerning this verse is, I could wish that I would
be accursed or condemned by Christ in the place of my countrymen. That's what you would think that
he was saying. If it were possible, Paul says, I could wish that
if it would do my countrymen good, I'd be willing to put myself
in the place of my countrymen if by my putting myself in the
place of my countrymen and letting God curse me, if it would mean
that they would be saved, I would do it." Now, that's about the
only way you can read that and come to that conclusion, that
that's what he's saying. But as honorable as that statement
sounds, I want you to understand and remember that Paul is speaking
in the Holy Ghost. He's speaking under the inspiration
of God's Spirit. And under the inspiration of
the Spirit of God, to truly... I mean, in my thinking, I could
say, if I could give myself for you, and it would mean you were
saved, I'd be willing to do that. But remember, Paul is speaking
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. So this is not
a flippant statement. This is not just something to
just kind of, you know, I love you. I mean, I love you all so
much. I'd be willing to... Whatever he's about to say, he's
saying under the Spirit of God. For a believer to desire, with the direction of the Spirit
of God. Now, I'm talking about one that God has everlastingly
loved, one that God Almighty has said, I put my affection
on you. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. I've viewed you in my Son. You're mine. You're my Son. You're sons of God. Adopted. You're mine. for Almighty God
to set His affection, and the Spirit of God that would speak
the mind of Christ, to be eternally separated, or
to wish to be eternally separated from Christ, and to be punished
with everlasting destruction, as horrible as that verse seems
to indicate. Which I'm going to tell you right
now, it's not saying what we thought it meant. It's not saying
what we thought it meant. We thought it meant if I could
give myself for my brethren and it would make a difference for
them, I'd be willing to do it. It's not saying that. I'll tell
you in just a minute, the Lord willing. The Lord tarries in
a minute what it's saying. But for a believer to desire,
not with a flippant attitude, not with his emotions and stuff.
I'm talking about to speak under the direction of the Spirit of
God. For a believer to be eternally separated or to wish to be eternally
separated from Christ and to be punished or cursed with everlasting
destruction from the presence of God is impossible. Impossible. It is impossible for me to say
if it would mean that I could give myself and everybody in
this room This is what we thought Paul was saying. If I could give
myself and all of natural Israel would be saved, I'd be doing
it. It's impossible for me to say
that under the direction of the Spirit of God. I might be able
to say it humanly. You know, I mean, in an empty
way or something. But for Almighty God to give
me a heart after Christ and to realize Christ's heart after
me. He's loved me with an everlasting love and I love Him. It's impossible
because of a new heart for me to say, I'm going to contradict
what He has eternally said He desires. I can't do it. He given me a new heart and His
new heart after me and a new heart for me makes it impossible
speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. I want
to make sure that we all understand. I might say it in a flippant
way, but not under the direction of God's Spirit. God's Spirit
is going to speak as God Almighty has said. And for me to desire
something contrary to what God has said He's purposed under
the inspiration of the Spirit of God is impossible. I cannot
do it. I cannot do it. If He says, I
will not curse you, Under the inspiration of the Spirit of
God, I cannot say, I wish I were accursed. I can't do it. I can't. Why? I have a new heart.
So if Paul is not saying what it appears to have been said,
what statement of truth in the Holy Ghost is he saying? Well,
there's three things about that Scripture right there that we
must understand to know what he's saying. Because I'm going
to tell you something. Remember that I'm saying, Paul
is truly saying, I've got heaviness of heart for you. I'm telling
you the truth in Christ. I'm not lying to you. My conscience
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. Heaviness, heaviness,
heaviness for his people. Continual sorrow. Three things. to understand what Paul is saying
here. Number one, the words, I could wish. And I like what
they said, the Scriptures in the book of Acts, where Paul's
just talking about those at Berea. They were more honorable than
those in Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures
daily to find out if these things were so. I would challenge, and
I don't mean that in a mean way. I would say encourage. That's
a good word. That doesn't sound as harsh.
I would encourage you, if I ever preach anything, and you think,
hmm, look it up. And if you find that I've made
an error, and the Lord knows, I wouldn't desire to say anything.
I mean, if I get up here, believe me, I say, yes, Paul, I lie not. I say the truth in Christ. I
mean this. I have desired, and I have looked, and I have searched,
and I have prayed, and I have asked. I don't want to say anything. Number one, I don't want to say
anything that's disrespectful toward Christ, and I don't want
to say anything that's wrong to the Lord. And if there's something
that I preach, and you find something, and you say, you know what, Marvin?
Buddy, I think you just missed this. And show me, and I'll tell
you this. I'll stand up the next service,
and I'll say, you know what? I made a serious error. And my
apologies to you. I've asked the Lord's forgiveness.
What I'm going to do is, what I'm about to tell you is, search
the Scriptures. Get you a good dictionary and
understand and look because I truly want to be honorable in what
I'm saying. Paul says, I could wish. Actually, those words are
actually written there in the literal Those words are actually
in the past tense. Where it says, I could wish,
actually are interpreted, I was wishing. Or, I did wish. They are in the past tense. Where
it says, I could wish, it appears as though that he's saying, this
is the way that I wish right now. And it's not. It's not. The words are, I was wishing.
I could wish." So these words, I could wish, I was wishing,
I did wish, are actually speaking of his state before conversion.
Okay? That's the first thing that we
understand. I could wish actually means I was wishing. My heart
is breaking because he said, I was wishing. He's talking about
having sorrow for the people that were his brethren after
the flesh, Jews. Paul was a Jew. And he says,
I was wishing. Now, the second thing we want
to know is that word wish there. Actually, to understand the word
in the fullness of what he was saying, actually the word is
pray. I was praying. Actually, referring now, remember,
to his thoughts, it's past tense. I was praying, referring to Paul's
thoughts, his attitudes, before he was converted. You know, someone
says, well, now does a person pray before they're converted? Turn over to Luke 18. Luke 18. Luke 18, verse 10. I'll just read this
verse for the sake of time. Luke 18, 10. Two men went up
into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a Republican. And you know the rest of the
story. Two men went into the temple to make supplication.
to make requests, to pray. These two men, it appears as
though as they prayed, one of them prayed with himself, prayed
with himself, prayed to the God of himself, the God of his mind. And it's what he said, I thank
you that I'm not like other men. I'm not an extortioner. I tithe. I'm not like that publican over
there. I'll tell you that. Sorry, scoundrel. But the other
one prayed truly out of a new heart. And he says, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. They both prayed. I can remember
in my little vain, repetitious prayer. I'd go through my little
prayers. I'd lay me down to sleep. I could pray. Man, I could pray
with the best of them. And I just found great comfort. I say my prayers. I read my Bible. Not every day, but I read my
Bible and I pray. And I pray to God. I pray to
the God of my imagination. But I prayed. I made supplication.
So can a man pray before he's converted? Well, obviously he
can. Two men went up to pray. Paul says, My heart's breaking
for you, for my brethren. I have continual sorrow. I'm
telling you the truth in Christ. I have continual sorrow because
I was praying back in Romans 9, verse 3. I could wish, I was praying that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren. Remember that
the word accursed there, it actually means, that is the word that
actually means, dedicated to God for destruction. He said, I was praying, my heart's
breaking for you, because I was praying that myself were accursed
from Christ, and here's the third word we've got to understand,
for. my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh." Now, the word for right there in verse 3, does
it mean, it does not mean as their substitute or instead of,
I was praying that myself would be accursed instead of my brethren. The word there for means over
or beyond. You say, what do you mean? Well,
this verse was speaking of how Paul saw himself as a mighty
warrior for God over and above his brethren. What was Paul actually
saying when he made that, you know? Here's what he's saying
in verse 2 and verse 3. I'm trying to be very slow. methodical
here to understand what this apostle was saying. He said,
I'm telling you the truth. He said, I've got great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart. He says, because as he watched
his brethren, as he saw their attitude, he said, I was praying. He said, I see what's happening.
My heart's breaking for you. Because I was praying Before
I was converted, I was wishing, I was praying that myself would
be anathema from Christ over and above anything that they're
doing. What I see them doing, my heart's
breaking for you. I've got heaviness and sorrow
because I was wishing and praying that myself would be separated
and eternally punished from Christ over and beyond my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the phrase." How were you doing that,
Paul? Turn over to Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3 verse 4. Now this
was Paul's attitude before he was converted. He said, my heart's
breaking for you. I'm watching you. I'm seeing
you. I know you hate me and you hate the God that I serve. But
he said, my heart breaks for you. This is why I said people
accuse believers of saying, you're just too insensitive. You're
just too hard, Neal. You're just too hard. It is too
hard. You don't love people. You try
to shut them out. You try to make that such a narrow,
you know. We want everybody to come. No, believers are not insensitive
either. But I tell you what, they truly see what's going on.
And they understand what they're looking at. They see. I know
what's happening. Paul says, I know what you're
doing. My heart's breaking for you.
Because he said, what I see you doing, I was praying to be a
curse from Christ. What I was doing was so far above
what you're doing. He said, you think you're praying
to be a curse from Christ with your attitude and your darkness
and your rebellion? He said, I was so far ahead of
you. How, Paul? Well, Philippians 3, though I
might have confidence, Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof,
whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more." Paul says, he
says, my brethren after the flesh, what they're doing, they're going
through the law, and they're going through this, and they're
going through that, and they go to the synagogue, and they read
the Scriptures, and they do their thing, and they go back and forth,
back and forth, and they, you know, make their confessions,
and they go over here and genuflect here, and they, you know, they
kiss the foot of this, you know, statue, and they, you know, they
pray to Mary, and he says, You think that you had confidence. He said, I'll circumcise the
eighth day of a stock of Israel. When were you circumcised? Huh? What if you were circumcised
on the twelfth day? Oh, no, no, no. You were circumcised
on the wrong day. of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of the Hebrews." My mama was a Hebrew and my daddy was a Hebrew. Oh, all you other people over
there, you're all half-breeds. No, he said, I come from good
stock. Touching the law, I was a Pharisee. You never caught me one time
disobeying God's law. Concerning zeal, he said, I'm
looking at you. He said, I see all y'all people
over there. Y'all say you're zealous. Y'all
say that y'all love Christ. You say that you're after the
Lord's will. Oh, I see the things that you
do. You're so flippant, you this, that and the other. Zeal? You
ain't got no zeal. I persecuted the church. Why?
Because these people that were following after Christ, this
so-called Messiah that they said, You know, the son of this Jewish
carpenter that claimed to be God. Hey, I held the coats of
those men that stoned Stephen. How zealous were you? He said,
I'll tell you what I went after. I'm not going to tolerate, Paul
says in my old thinking, I'm not going to tolerate you people
being disrespectful toward God, touching righteousness which
is under law. You never caught me doing one
thing in my mind. You couldn't find one thing wrong. Buddy, when the synagogue opened,
I was there. When they read the Scriptures,
I was there. In fact, I followed one reading them. He never caught me doing anything.
He said, but what things were gained to me, those I counted,
but loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things.
but laws for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the laws of all things, and do
count them but dumb, that I might win Christ." Back in Romans,
this is what Paul was saying. My heart is breaking for you
because I'm seeing my brethren, and I see what you're doing,
and I hear what you're saying concerning Christ. And I know
how disrespectful you are toward Him. And he said, I hurt. I hurt. He said, I'll tell you
why I hurt. Because I was standing right
there where you are. And I was wishing, I was just
praying by my actions. This is what he's saying. By
my actions, by my thoughts, by my attitude toward God in an
unregenerate state, I was just praying, God, curse me. But God,
who was rich in mercy and would not leave me to myself, while
I stood in absolute rebellion against Him and in my heart cursed
Him to His face, I was a child of wrath just like everybody
else. But He said, I was so far ahead
of you In my rebellion, he said, I'm a chief of sinners. That's what he said. God came
to this world to save sinners, for whom I'm chief. And he said,
my heart breaks for you. Because I see. I see what you're
doing. But he said, the reason I understand
it is because I stood right there. You know a person that has the
best understanding of rebellion is the one that's been the most
rebellious. I've mentioned to you before,
I've got people in my family, my brother, I was talking to
some people the other day, I've got the nicest brother that you'd
ever want to meet. He is the kindest. He's so much
nicer than I am. He is a nice guy. He's a nice
guy. He'd do anything for you. If
you need it, He'd do it. If He got it, He'll give it to
you. He'd give you the shirt off His back. But He has no heart for Christ.
He has no love for Christ. But you know what breaks my heart
the most, Freddie? It's that I stood right there
where He is, and I know what He's thinking. There was a time
when I had no heart for Christ, no love for Him. No understanding
of Him. And I had a God created in my
mind. But I'll tell you this, I went to church a whole lot
more than my brother does now. I went to church a whole lot
more. Man, I'm telling you, I was a youth director, Brother Scott.
I was a youth director. Led, you know, directed revival
services and stuff like that. And all the while, in my unbelief,
All in the world I was doing was just wishing God would put
me in hell. But Almighty God, who called
me out of darkness and by His grace revealed His Son in me
and showed me, I've loved you with an everlasting love. But
you know what? It's real tough right now for
me to look at my brother according to the flesh. and look at him
with any other heart than that it grieves me. If he died today, he'd be in
hell. You think that's easy? No. People
say, oh, you're hard. Paul says, no, no, no. He says,
I'm telling you the truth. He said, my heart breaks for
you. Because he said, I was wishing myself a curse over and above. all that you're wishing." I could
wish. Back in verse 4. These, my brethren,
according to the flesh, who were the Israelites, he said, is what
makes it so tough. They were descendants of a man
that loved God, Jacob. Remember when Jacob was wrestling?
He was wrestling with this man, the Lord Jesus in Christ. And Jacob, whose hip put out
a socket. The man said to him, let me go. Jacob said, I can't. I just can't. I just can't let
you go. He said, I can't let you go unless you bless me. He
said, what's your name? He said, my name's Jacob, supplanter,
trickster, huckster, liar, cheater, stole his brother's birthright,
listened to his mama, Deceive his daddy? Isaac. Deceived Isaac. What's your name? He said, Well, my name's Cheater,
Liar, Scoundrel. He said, Not anymore. He said,
Your name's Israel, Prince with God. That's who you are. Paul
said, My heart breaks. Why? Because they're Israelites.
According to the lineage, they came from a man that God said,
you're a prince with me. To whom pertaineth the adoption? The natural Israel. Israel, the nation of Israel,
was a nation that was adopted by God as a type of the adoption
of God's children to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just read
you this, Exodus 4.22, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus
saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. Does
that mean that everybody in the nation of Israel was one of God's
elect? No, it doesn't mean that at all.
But it means they were a type. Out of all the earth, all the
earth, God adopted as a type of spiritual adoption, He adopted
one nation, Israel. A picture. Verse 4 again, "...who
are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory."
What do you mean, the glory? That means the manifested opinion
of God. To actually meet with the people
at the mercy seat of all the nations. God walked among the
nation of Israel. There was Moses, God's preacher. raised up to lead God's nation,
the adopted nation, a picture of God's actual elect. And by this, by that, the glory
of God, the opinion of God to be right there. It was God's
choice to be. Why wasn't he over in Assyria?
Because he chose to be in Israel. To whom pertaineth the glory?
Turn over to Deuteronomy 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy
4 of 32. Deuteronomy chapter 4. He said that Paul said, this
is why it breaks my heart because they're Israelites. They are
those to whom pertaineth the adoption, the nation. and the
glory, the opinion of God to be there. Deuteronomy 4.32, And
ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee,
since the day that God created man upon the earth. And ask from
the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been
any such thing as this great thing that is or hath been heard
like it. People, hear the voice of God
speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard. Has there ever been another nation
that heard God speak out of the fire and live? Or have God assayed
to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation by
temptations, by signs, by wonders, by war, by mighty hand, by a
stretched out arm, by great terrors, according to all that the Lord
your God did for you in Egypt? before. Unto thee it was showed
that thou mightest know that the Lord, He is God, that there
is none else beside Him. Out of heaven He made thee to
hear His voice, that He might instruct thee. And upon earth
He showed thee His great fire. Thou heardest His words out of
the midst of the fire." There was ever a nation before where
the glory of God, the opinion of God, the decision of God,
the thought of God to be there, that he is saved to go and take
him a nation, that means that proven and accepted a nation
that would serve him. Has there ever been one beside
that? No. Back in Romans 9, he said, there are Israelites to
whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants.
He made a covenant with Abraham. His natural seed, Abraham's natural
seed would contain a people as the stars of heaven to be everlastingly
loved. God made a covenant out of your
loins. That's going to flow. And Paul
asks concerning this and the giving of the law, Israel was
the only people on the earth to be distinguished with the
tables of stone. Did God send the tables of stone
to anybody else except? the nation of Israel, written
by the very finger of God. And the service of God, Paul
says in verse 4, all the tabernacle, the temple worship, all other
nations were left to themselves and their superstitious and vain
inventions of worship. The Mayans that I talk about
that had those temples where they would sacrifice, everybody
else was left to their vain imaginations. Only the nation of Israel had
the candlestick, the showbread, the golden laver, the veil, the
ark. Who else had that? And the promises,
Paul says, only the nation of Israel had the temporal and the
spiritual promises from God that related to the Messiah. Only
God sent that to them. Isaiah 54, 13. He says, All thy
children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the
peace of thy children spiritually. Jeremiah 31, 34, They shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for the least of them to the greatest. To them
saith the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember
their sin no more. Verse 5, last verse. Paul says,
Whose are the fathers? made Paul so hurt. He said, my brethren, the ones
that my heart is breaking for, the ones that I understand the
best, because I was one of them, came up in religion knowing that
what they're thinking, he said, I was wishing, praying, that
God would have cursed me because of my attitude. I didn't think
that that's what I was doing, but Paul said, I realize now.
Think back. A lot of you here have sat under
Brother Scott for years and years and years. And you may have never
sat under a free will religion. But even sitting under the Gospel
before God opened your heart, I can tell you the same thing
you were thinking. You didn't think you were thinking it, but
especially For those of us that sat under false religion, Mark,
I know you thought this. Sitting under false religion,
false free will religion. You too. We were actually sitting there
praying that God would curse us in that false religion. You say, well, I never thought
that. Yes, we did. Paul said, I thought myself to
be one that was far and above anything that anybody else could
attain to. I was the pinnacle, he said,
in my mind. But he said, I realized that
which I looked upon and saw as being so wonderful. He said, it's dung. It's dung. I was wishing that God would
curse me in what I believed. If God would have left me to
myself, I would have left this world and found myself in hell."
He says, that's why I heard it for
you. Those that had all these wonderful things. Whose are the
fathers? Abraham, Jacob. Isaac, men that
knew God and believed God. The Lord said concerning Abraham,
He said, Your father Abraham, he rejoiced to see My day. He
saw it and was glad. He was from the lineage of his
people. Paul said, A man that knew God.
And then he said, Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came.
He said, Here's the thing that's most hurtful. He said, The Jews
that despise Him. He said, Christ came as a Jew. One of us, after the flesh. Concerning the flesh, Christ
came, who is overall God-blessed forever. He came in this flesh. He existed
as God before His incarnation. Romans 1, 3, "...concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh." Paul said, "...who is over all things,
over all men, over all events, omnipotent God, came in this
flesh, God blessed forever." Or, God who is blessed forever. Let men accuse God's preachers
of being insensitive. hard, calloused. But I'm telling you the truth.
And using the words of Paul the Apostle, I pray this is so. I
lie not. My heart, my conscience bearing
me witness in the Holy Ghost. I know. I know. And you that
believe do too. You know what it's like to be
in darkness, to be in unbelief. And those who are our brethren,
either family, neighbors, whatever, whatever, that oppose themselves
and go on as if nothing matters, you know, you know, is there
a believer or is there one that claims to be a believer here
today that can truthfully say, well, I'm going to tell you something.
I'm one of God's elect. And those sorry people that are
not claiming to know anything or they're not acting, I tell
you what, well, that's just too bad. A person that has an attitude
like that, they don't know him. Do you have someone in your family
your heart doesn't break for when you see them opposing themselves? They despise you and despise
the God that you love. But you know, you know what's
going to happen. If the Lord doesn't call them
out of darkness, do you know what's going to happen? Sure
you do. Sure you do. And that's not an easy thing
for our new man. We don't take that lightly. We
have continual sorrow in our heart. I entitle this, you know,
good understanding. Good understanding of God's people
than brought out of darkness. They sorrow over God's people. I mean, they sorrow over those
that are lost. That's it. May Almighty God be
pleased to bless this message to our hearts and cause us. Pray
for those. I don't know whose the Lord's
are. And I do know this. If they're one of the Lord's,
no matter how rejecting they are right now, if God calls them
out of darkness, I'll tell you what they'll say. When the Lord
calls them out of darkness, they'll say the same thing you'll say.
Man, I was opposing myself. I was just praying that God would
send me to hell in my attitude. May God bring honor to Himself
and bless His people for Christ's sake. Amen.