The way that the Apostle Paul
put it was, me who am less than the least of all the saints have
God chosen. And of Jews and Gentiles, it doesn't matter who they are,
what nationality, he just chose the worst among all humanity,
Revelation 5, 9, out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue
under heaven. and the song is worthy as the
lamb. Verse 25, and as he saith also
in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people,
and her beloved, which was not beloved, and it shall come to
pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are
not my people there, shall they be called the children of the
living God. This shows clearly that it's
God that chooses first and not the sinner. He prophesied it before it ever
happened. Centuries before it ever happened.
Nobody whom God has chosen will ever claim that they were saved
because they chose him. Because they made a decision.
It just didn't happen that way. It doesn't say there also that
in Revelation 5 that God chose every nation. but he chose us
out of every nation. Particular ones he distinguished
between some and others. A remnant from each. I'm not sure that we rejoice
enough over being part of that remnant. Just a handful out of
every nation. That's what that word remnant,
just a handful. Look what God did when he saved
us. Verse 27, Isaiah also crieth
concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. I don't know
that I've ever looked up that word remnant before. I've kind
of taken other people's word for what it means, and it pretty
much means what they said it means. Discarded scraps. Believers are called in 1 Corinthians
4.13, the off scouring of all things. That which is scraped
off. When you fry some eggs in a pan,
and a lot of times they stick a little bit, don't they? Even
in a nonstick pan, they stick a little bit. So when you're
done, you have to take a spatula and scrape Scrape that part into the trash
That's the word off scouring and that's us as far as this
world is concerned With this text tonight is saying
that the only reason God has a world is because of that off
scouring A remnant is one of the pieces
of cloth left over that's been cut off of the rest in order
to make a garment. It's not part of the garment. It's a scrap. These are the ones that God calls
his chosen, his jewels, his beloved, his children, his sons and daughters,
his sheep, his little ones. gift to his son His shining lights Those who reject the Lord Jesus
Christ and his salvation Pervert the truth so much that they preach
that God only chooses the ones who distinguish themselves from
from others by making the right choice, by making a good decision.
You distinguish yourself from everybody else and God will save
you for that. The exact opposite is true. The exact opposite. We only love him because he first
loved us. We only know him because he first
knew us. We only choose him because he
First chose us, he said that plainly to his disciples. You
didn't choose me. The Lord didn't set up like a
volunteer, you know, who wants to sign up? Who do you think would have showed
up? Here's somebody that everybody
despises. They wanted to kill him long
before they ever and we're allowed to, let's get in on that. Let's have everybody hate us
too and talk bad about us and the most respected religion of
the world denounce us and call us blasphemers. No, he went and picked them.
He still does. There'd be few that find straight
gate that leads to life because few are chosen. It's not a coincidence. Paul
himself, who wrote this epistle, he was running straight way,
straight long into the wide gate, don't you reckon, that leadeth
to destruction. And what's his testimony? When
it pleased God, he revealed his son in me. And it was all over. It was all over. There's a lot of speculation
and debate over verse 28, but it's needless. Look at it with
me. For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. Well,
I don't know how short, I don't know what that shortness corresponds
to, other than that he said, I come quickly. In the Lord's
eyes, A thousand years is as a day. So it's been about, what,
seven or eight days since the world was made? Or whatever,
maybe more than that, I don't know. Hadn't been long, has it,
in the Lord's accounting of time. People argue about that. Here's
what we know about it. Look at what we know. Knowing
what we know about this, why would you worry about the rest
of it? Why would it bother you what the Lord means by short?
What's clear in this verse is that all of this that's being
done, and you look at the verses that this one is sandwiched in
between. The number of the children of Israel is the sand of the
sea, but God's gonna save a remnant. A remnant shall be saved, and
then verse 29, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
we'd been like Sodom and Gomorrah, unless God did something, we'd
all be in hell. And so this comes in between
there. And what I know about verse 28 is that God does this
work. He doesn't leave it up to others. The salvation, this thing of
salvation, of distinction between the types of vessels, the reason
there are two types and not just one, the dispensing of wrath
and mercy is God's doing. Is that plain there? He will
finish the work. He's gonna make a short work
of this thing, of saving the remnant and the seed. That's pretty clear. I don't
hear anybody arguing about that. Well, let's just rejoice in that
then. The Lord's revealed that. And if it says short, you know
what we say to that? Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Come quickly. You know, the amazing thing about
being a believer is the longer you live, the more you rejoice
and the more you enjoy, Knowing Christ in this life, the more
the things of this world do grow strangely dim in the light of
His glory. And yet at the same time, the
more you want to get out of here. Because you do see His glory
more, I think you want all of it. Lord, show me Your glory.
Show me Your glory face to face. What's our testimony? Wouldn't
it please God? He revealed His Son in me. The
word finish there, in that verse 28, the word finish, He's gonna
finish the work. He will finish the work. That's
what matters to me. Because if He does it, it's gonna
be right, isn't it? He's gonna pick the right ones. the ones He loves. His justice
is gonna be perfectly satisfied in Christ. It's all gonna be according to
His righteousness. He's gonna be able to be just
and justify riches like us. If He's doing it, I trust that.
I trust Him by His grace. The word finish there is just
accomplish. The cross work of our Lord Jesus
Christ is called in Luke 9 31, the decease that he should accomplish. Did it look to this world you
reckon like he was accomplishing anything? Hanging bloody and
beaten and broken on that cross? He was accomplishing everything. Nothing else really has ever
been accomplished. God made a world because he had
a people. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a king that made a marriage for his son. That's what it's about. That's
what happened on the cross, everything. All of God's purposes, yay and
amen. All of his promises. All of his
decrees, all of his will was done on Calvary. He said, Lo,
I come to do your will. What part of it? All of it. The work of salvation, the wrath
and the mercy, the difference was made. All of God's covenant
and eternal purposes were accomplished at Calvary. We sing of the cross, we preach
the cross. You think about this, what comes
to pass now and in the future is all consequential of what
happened on Calvary. Even all that happened before
Christ died on Calvary was consequential of what he accomplished on Calvary.
His finished work on the cross, and we said it's finished. And
somebody is gonna get up and preach a sermon on how to be
successful in this life. Can you imagine that? The cross
is everything. We preach the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ because there is nothing else. Somebody is gonna
get up somewhere tonight and preach a message on how to fight
the devil. Can you imagine that? When there's a savior, when this life is meaningless
without the cross. In verse 29, Isaiah said what
all believers say. He just said what we say, doesn't
he? Except the Lord had done something
for me, I'd be in hell right now. Is that what he said? Is that what Isaiah said? except the Lord of Saviour that
left us a seed. We had been a Sodom and been
made like unto Gomorrah. God left us a seed. Look at how that's
described in Romans 11, just a couple of pages over. Look
at this, Romans 11.1. What a beautiful, how clear this
is. There's no excuse. You know what? There's no excuse for a sinner.
God made a universe and left you without excuse. He made a
world. He caused the sun to come up in the morning and go down
at night so that you're without excuse. How much excuse do you
have when this truth is this clear in his word? Look at verse
one of 11. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. And he's saying
things about the Jews that they didn't, they're not, like he
said in chapter 10. I would to God that he'd save
them because they have a form of godliness, but they don't
know God. I pray that God would save them.
And then, so now he's saying all the promises being made to
the Jews is God cast away those he made the promise to? No. Just
because the earthly Jews are lost, generally speaking, God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Don't you
know, he says, what ye not? Don't you understand? Don't you
see what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh intercession
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my life. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men. I've reserved them. I've kept them from bowing their
knee to an idol. who have not bowed the knee to
the image of Baal, even so, Paul says now about what he's talking
about, the Jews and salvation and the Gentiles and how God
saves the sinner, even so at this present time, also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace, according
to the choosing of grace. There's a remnant because God
has reserved some to himself that will not bow to the false
God of this religious world. They're not gonna bow. And they're
gonna be given boldness like the Hebrew children to say whether
God saves us or not, we're not bowing to your God. We're not
bowing. God did something for us and
because he did, the fire and brimstone of Sodom and Gomorrah
did not rain down on us from heaven to swallow us up. We're
not in hell right now because of what God did. That's mercy. That's election. The lot was just as rotten as
everybody else. Don't ever let anybody tell you
he wasn't. He was just as rotten as everybody else. And God went
and dragged him out of that place and burned it all up. The only reason for that is not us, is that God
reserved us, kept us, chose us. He made a vessel of mercy and
not a vessel of wrath. You see why Jonah said salvation's
of the Lord. That's just the thing to say,
isn't it? It's just the thing to say. Verse
30, what shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained 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 stone." Seeing what God said
and seeing what God did plainly in these verses. What shall we
say to that? Will our response still be, how
does he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Will
we in obstinance and pride reject the truth and argue against it? And is that still gonna be our
attitude? or will God give us eyes to see?
Will he give us the faith that's spoken of here? And will we,
by his grace, be given ears to hear and say that those who did
not seek God were found, and those who did seek him by
the works of the law are lost? Because salvation is of the Lord.
Isn't that what that teaches us? If those who want it, what
must I do to be saved? What do I got to do to inherit
eternal life? Keep the law. I've kept these
from my youth up. There's one problem with that. The law is not a standard of
righteousness. That's what that rich young ruler
was thinking. Well, I've measured up pretty good to that. I'm better
than old Willie over here. He's a lost cause. That publican
over there, if anybody's going to heaven,
I am. You ever heard anybody say that? If anybody's going
to heaven, my, you know, so-and-so is. Really? He thought that a law, the law
of God was, a standard of righteousness that men can measure up to. Because
he was better, he thought, in his estimation, than most. He
thought, well, I've measured up to that standard of righteousness.
I never murdered anybody. I never committed adultery. Just
stands to reason, I'll go to heaven. But the law, that's not
why God gave the law. God tells us very clearly why
he gave the law. He gave it to shut you up about
your righteousness. and to make you stand guilty
before him. Not, I've kept these from my
youth up. That's not the right answer. The right answer is,
I'm a sinner, Lord, have mercy on me. Why he did give the law is as
a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Lord gave that man a choice,
didn't he? And that's what doomed him. He don't give his sheep a choice. He don't give us a choice. He
meets us on the road to Damascus and knocks us on our face and
says, you're mine, I've chosen you and here's what you're going
to do for me. He didn't do that for the rich
young ruler. He said, go and sell everything you have, give
it to the poor and come follow me. Can't do it. Of course you can't
do it, none of us could. You're given a choice. That's why we cry so strongly
against that. In our day, let us never let
them get away with it. Don't ever let them get away
with it. They like to ridicule the gospel,
well, guess what? What's ridiculous is what they
preach. Elijah laughed at them and said,
where's your God? Is he on vacation? We don't need a choice, we need
a savior. Those who sought God by the righteousness
of the law, by their own works, were lost. And those who weren't
even seeking God, do you see that there? They weren't even
looking for Him. They hated Him. They were running
as fast as they could in the other direction. But God gave them faith in His
Son. They expected God to be impressed
with how they exercised their free will, with how they obeyed
the outward ceremonies and edicts of the law. Like Cain, they deliberately
rejected the idea of a lamb and its blood, an innocent victim,
a sacrifice. You think Abel was taught that
and Cain wasn't? He deliberately rejected that because he was
proud of what he had done and he brought that to God. And all who reject the Lord Jesus
Christ have been doing the same thing ever since. They bring
the works of their own hands. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, Paul said, and going about to establish their
own righteousness, refuse to submit. You know what the opposite
of submission is? Rebellion. That's the silent word in Romans
10, first several verses. rebellion. They have not submitted themselves
to God's righteousness in Christ. How then did those who obtained
righteousness obtain it? That rich young ruler was seeking
it. What do I got to do to inherit eternal life? But he wasn't seeking
it the right way. The right way is what the Lord
told him. Forget about all of your works, your accomplishments,
the things that the work of your own hands have gained you, get
rid of them and come to the place where I'm all you have and you'll have eternal life.
If you have Christ, you have everything. If you don't have
Christ, you have nothing. How did they obtain it without
even looking for it? They didn't have any interest in God, his
law, or his grace. They were outcasts, cut off from
the Commonwealth of Israel. They didn't have the law and
the prophet. How did they end up righteous before God? God
gave them faith in his son. They sought it by faith in Christ.
They looked to Christ as their righteousness, Christ as their
sin offering. Just as the Pharisee who boasted
of his own works went down to his house guilty before God,
the publican who cried, God be propitious to me, the sinner,
he cried, God be merciful to me, went down to his house justified,
not guilty before God. One said, I'm righteous, thank
you, Lord. and was guilty. One said, I'm unrighteous, unholy,
wretched, and foul. And he was righteous. And for the same reason, as in
our text, he sought the favor of God by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He cried for mercy on what basis? The word merciful in Luke 18,
13, where that publican said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That word is propitiation, expiation. Under Old Testament law, propitiation
was made by the blood on the mercy seat. The word the publican used, in
fact, is the same word, verb form, as is used in Romans chapter
325 in noun form. Whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood. That's the word the publican
used right there. Propitiation which comes through
faith in his blood. Believing that the blood of Christ
is so precious that it paid all of my sin debt
before God. All of it. All of it. The publican and all of the remnant
that God has reserved find favor with God, attain unto the righteousness
which is in Christ Jesus the same way by faith. We seek and
find righteousness in the crucified Son of God and his precious blood
shed for our sins. Isn't it plain? Who has an excuse to deny this
great salvation? Christ, the stumbling stone,
who is the rock upon which those who justify themselves stumble
and fall, is for the believer the chief cornerstone. See of, look at this passage
of scripture with me in closing. first Peter 2 And you tell me
if this is the most wonderful thing you've ever heard in your
life or not First Peter 2 6 First Peter 2 6 Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture that Behold, I lay in Sion a
chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same, is made the head of the corner,
and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them
which stumble at the word being disobedient, wherein to also
they were appointed. He made vessels of mercy and
he made vessels of wrath. And who are you that replies
against God if you do? But look at verse nine, but you
are a chosen generation. There's a difference made by
choice and you didn't make it. You didn't make it and neither
did I. You're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people. In the margin of my Bible, that
word peculiar, it says it means purchased. that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Look what God did. Look what
he did. And I ask us all that tonight
the question that our Lord asked that blind man in John nine,
do you believe on the Son of God? Do you believe? on the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, he to whom
a person or thing belongs, about which he has the power of deciding.
It's word for word now from Strong's Concordance, which is just a
faithful, interpretation of the Greek, about which he has the
power of deciding. We belong to him and he gets
to choose what happens to us. The possessor and disposer of
a thing, the owner, one who has control of a person, the master. So the question is, do you believe
on him? You believe on Him, whom our text reveals so beautifully. May the Lord have mercy on us,
on all of us.