I think you know how very precious
this convocation and your pastor are to me and how much I cherish your friendship
and fellowship in the gospel of our Redeemer. I'm confident
God's given me a message for you tonight. It is a message
as I've been preparing it for the last good while. This message that I'm convinced
God has been preparing me to preach for 66 years. Without question among professed
Christians, among religious people, the chapter I've chosen for my
text tonight is the most ignored, the most despised, and the most
controversial chapter in all the Word of God. I don't doubt
that even here in this congregation where folks have come together
from different places at a Sovereign Grace Bible Conference, I don't
doubt some of you sitting here have never heard a sermon from
this chapter. When it is quoted in any part among religious folks,
they immediately start to boil and erupt in a rage of fury,
anger, malice, hatred. And yet it is one of the most
blessed chapters to be found in the entire book of God. No
chapter in this book more thoroughly exalts and glorifies and honors
the triune Jehovah, our great God. No portion of Holy Scripture
gives more blessed hope to sinners. None gives more hope to poor,
helpless, lost, doomed, damned sinners than this portion of
Scripture. None gives more reason for sinners
to trust Christ, or more encouragement to trust Him. O sinner, there's hope for you
in Christ. May God give me your ear, and
may God cause you to give Him your heart. No chapter can be
found in the Word of God that is more instructive for, more
comforting to, or more fully encourages hope in God's saints
than my text. And there's no portion of inspiration
that more inspires or more thoroughly compels saved sinners to give
themselves an utter devotion and consecration to God than
chapter I've chosen for my text. I can think of no passage in
this book that is more exciting to me, that gives me more encouragement
and more confidence in preaching the gospel of God's grace and
serving our God in this generation than this portion of scripture.
Now I hope I've got your attention. Open your Bibles with me to Romans
chapter 9. just hold your Bibles open on
your laps. We're going to look at these 33 verses in Romans
chapter 9 together. The title of my message is The
Truth in Christ, Romans chapter 9. The Apostle Paul opens this
chapter expressing a matter of great heaviness and continual
sorrow in his soul. The Jews, the nation of Israel,
Paul's kinsmen, his blood relatives. I don't know anything about his
family, but if he, like us, had family, this man's mother and
father, his brothers and sisters, those dearest to him, people
who had been privileged to be brought up among the Jews, who
had the privilege of having God's word given to them, where nobody
else around to have it. People had the privilege of having
God's prophets sent to them alone. People had the privilege of God
showing them alone how to worship him. A people to whom God revealed
his glory, the Shekinah glory of God, when he established the
tabernacle and it was finished, and the glory of God filled the
place. nation from whom Jesus Christ
the God-man our Savior was born after the flesh. Bone of their
bone and flesh of their flesh Christ Jesus the Lord our Savior
is. These people, these people who
had the law of God, the ordinances of God, who had been adopted
from among all the nations of the world as the people of God
in a physical, national, civic way, separated from everybody
else. These people had Christ come to them. He came to his
own, and his own received them not. And now God has cast them
off, and they're going to hell, and it's their fault. Their self-imposed eternal ruin
broke this man's heart. Paul was brokenhearted as he
contemplated the judgment awaiting these people so dear to him. Romans 9 verse 1, I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not My conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart. I am right now, as I write these
words, carrying a burden that I can't express. Right now, I
have a sorrow in my heart that I can't put into words. And here's
the reason. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. Listen to Young's literal translation
of verse three, and it'll help you to see what Paul's saying
more clearly, I think. Paul says in verse three, quite
literally, I have this great heaviness. and this present constant
sorrow in my heart because I was wishing myself to be anathema
from Christ for my brethren, my kindred, according to the
flesh. The Jewish people hated the Apostle
Paul intensely. They hated him intensely. Nothing
could surpass the malice they had against this man. They looked
upon him as the very vilest apostate in the world because this man,
who was such a highly esteemed Jew, or Todd just read about
Paul's history in Philippians 3, this man who was such a, he
was, He was in the top-notch, top-notch, top-notch group of
Jewish theologians and Jewish Sanhedrin. He was a man among
the Jews who was willing to put every Christian to death and
to rid the world of the name of Jesus Christ. He was a terrorist
attempting to establish Judaism as the religion of the world
by the sword. That's who Saul of Tarsus was.
And now he'd become a follower of Jesus Christ the Nazarene
and the whole Jewish world hated him. They hated him as much as
they hated Christ. They despised this man. Now we
must not judge Paul's words merely by
strict rules of grammar. Now please understand me, please
understand me. Paul says here that the condition
of these Jews, being themselves now cast off because of their
unbelief, because they despised and rejected the Son of God,
because he came to them and they would not receive him, and the
Lord cast them off. Paul's writing to them. And as
he writes to them, he's not just exologic. He's not just teaching
doctrine. He is here giving a heartfelt
expression of a heavy, heavy, heavy brokenness he felt within. He's telling us before he knew
the Lord, this may be what he refers to, before God saved him,
Before Christ was revealed in him, this man Saul of Tarsus
wished to have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Fighting with
all his being, he tried to sustain Judaism. But I'm convinced that
Paul is talking about another great grief, another great heaviness. He had been up to this point
of time, throughout his life as a believer, devoted to the
salvation of the Jews. He went everywhere preaching
the gospel to the Jews. He sought the salvation of his
kinsmen after the flesh, and they despised him. He was willing
to die that they might live. Now that's not hyperbole. Sammy,
that's just stating facts. He was willing to die if by his
death God might be pleased to cause them to believe the gospel.
He's willing to die. And he proved it. He proved it.
Read the 20th chapter of Acts. He said, I don't count my life
dear unto myself. Agabus came and bound his girl
around him and said, this man's gonna be banned if he goes to
Jerusalem. And they said, Paul, please don't go. He said, what
mean you to break my heart? I'm determined to go to Jerusalem
and to die at Jerusalem if I can preach the gospel at Jerusalem.
Determined to do so. He loved his family dearly. He
was willing to die that they might know Christ and be saved
by his grace. Now I told you God's been preparing
me for this message. I know something about that.
Really, let me gather myself a little bit.
Really, for the first time in my life, when I was seven years old and
my sister Juanita was nine, I have three sisters. Juanita and I
were closest in age to one another growing up and went to school
together and had the same friends, some of them. For some reason that time, our
folks were going to church. My mother wasn't. Of course, we
had to go. And they had a big stir, and
altar call was given. Came forward and knelt at an
altar, they called it lots of things, just like going to a
confessional booth and kneeling at an altar in a papist assembly,
just exactly the same thing. And led down to Romans Road,
made a profession of faith. I don't think I'll ever forget
the words of the man, and he was a very nice fella, just ignorant. A real southern gentleman, pilot
for Piedmont Airlines, big man, big man. He put his arm around
my shoulders and tears running down his cheeks and I bawled
like a baby. He said, now Don, you're saved, don't let anybody
ever tell you anything different. I was seven. Juanita was nine
at the same time. She made a professional baby. She's dying of cancer. Still clinging to that profession
of faith and nothing else. I have great happiness. Great
happiness. Continual sorrow in my heart. And I have sorrow for two reasons. I have sorrow because of her
state and what will be her everlasting state if she dies in her sins. And I have great sorrow such
that I am perfectly willing right this moment to die if God might
be pleased to use that to influence her soul for good. And I have great heaviness, great
heaviness, because I struggle greatly with bowing to God's
will. Day and night. 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, since the day I heard of her condition,
the cancer. I've had struggled, bowing to
God's will, seeking to know His will as I seek her good. I know something about Paul's
expression here. Next in verses four and five, the apostle shows
us what wasted, misused, misspent privileges and opportunities
the Jews had. What he says, who are Israelites,
these are the physical seed of Abraham, to whom pertaineth the
adoption. That is, God chose them out of
all the other nations of the world and said, I'm gonna make
my ways, my truth, my word, my gospel known to you. I'm gonna
show you who I am and how I save sinners. Just you, just you,
just you. How that ought to speak to you.
God Almighty, how long you been here now, Chris? 15 years, about
17 years ago, gathered this assembly, and God has revealed to you,
to you, you young people, and you old folks who don't know
God, who yet believe not the gospel, God Almighty has made
known to you by that man's voice, with his word, the revelation
of the gospel. And you sit and just totally
ignore, there's a better word for it, despise the Christ he's
preached to you. Be warned. He said to these Jews
pertain the glory. That's referring to the revelation
of the Shekinah glory in the tabernacle when it was finished
in the last chapter of Exodus, so much so that Moses himself
couldn't abide in that place. God showed sinners how he saved
sinners and the covenants and the giving of the law. All the
covenants given in the Old Testament, every one of them, every one
of them referred to the nation of Israel alone. Nobody else
had them. The promises given to the nation
of Israel alone. The service of God given to the
nation of Israel alone. They alone had the fathers in
the house of Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they
were their fathers. These were their progenitors. Of whom, as concerning the flesh,
Christ came. Jesus Christ, who is over all,
God blessed forever. Christ came right out of their
loins. He was blood kin to them. This
is the thing that troubled Paul so much concerning the Jews.
They had such extraordinary privileges. and they were now cast away,
reprobate and damned as a nation. I'm not guessing about that,
this whole section of Romans is about that, how God cast them
away to send the gospel to the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus, the
savior of men, was one of their race, but they despised him. Oh, the terrible hardness of
the human heart. What poor things the greatest
privileges and opportunities are, except God make them a blessing
to your soul. Be warned, be warned. Our Lord
said to folks, he said, if the things that you've seen and heard
had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented. shall be the greatest damnation
of all. If you go to hell, sitting here
listening to a man preach the gospel of God's grace, whatever
there is of the depths of hell's darkness and the heat of hell's
fire and the utter fullness of God's wrath is reserved for you. And it's your fault, your responsibility. Now look at verses six, seven,
and eight. After expressing such great heaviness and sorrow, the
apostle seems here to brace himself up. He seems to console his own
heart. And this has helped me today
as it never has before. He assures himself and assures
us in verses six, seven, and eight, that God's purpose is
sure. God's elect shall be saved. God's
glory shall be revealed. Christ shall see of the travail
of his soul and be satisfied. Look at verse six. Not as though
the word of God, that is the decree, the purpose of God, had
taken none effect. For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel. Not everybody born by Jewish
blood numbers Israel. These are the physical seed of
Abraham, but not the spiritual seed, that's it. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is they which are the children
of the flesh. These are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Let me give you a commentary
on that. Very good commentary. Paul is
saying here exactly the same thing David said, by which he
consoled his soul on his deathbed. He said, although my house be
not so with God. Look at David's house. Look at David's house. It appears
to me, if I judge rightly, there's just two people in the entire
household of David other than David who knew God. And he had
a big family. And he loved his sons and daughters.
Only Nabal's wife, whom David took to be wife. Maybe Bathsheba
as well, forgive me, Bathsheba. And Solomon. That's all. That's all. David said, my whole
house is going to hell. My whole family is going to hell. If that doesn't shake you, something's
wrong with you. Something's wrong with you. Although my house be
not so with God, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. And this covenant that God made
with me is a covenant that involves the whole church of God, the
whole will of God, the whole glory of God. He's made with
me this everlasting covenant in which God has wrapped himself
up. And it's ordered in all things
insure. This is all my salvation and all my desire. All I want is God's will, God's
purpose, God's glory, no matter how contrary it is or how painful
it is to my flesh, although he make it not to grow. The blessings
of God's grace do not come through bloodlines. Yes, God promised
to bless the seed of Abraham, but Paul uses this word seed
in a very special way. Abraham's seed, read Galatians
chapter 3, is Christ. And Abraham's seed is all Christ. All Christ. That means all who
are in Christ. So that if you're in Christ,
if you're united to Christ, if you're one with Christ, one with
Christ from everlasting in covenant mercy, one with the surety, one
with the Savior, if you're one with him, you're Abraham's seed.
Abraham's seed refers to all God's elect. God promised salvation
to his elect before the world was made. Christ Jesus came into
this world to save God's elect. He didn't come to save anybody
else. He came to save God's elect. The Lord Jesus came here and
it took not on him the nature of angels, but it took on him
the seed of Adam. That's not what the book says.
That's not what it says, Hebrews 2.16. He took not on him the
nature of angels, but it took on him the seed of Abraham. He
came here and took hold of the seed of Abraham. God's elect,
he's chosen to redeem and save them. God's elect shall be saved
by God's almighty grace. If my dear kinsmen perish, if
those I love, those for whom I would lay down my life, if
they perish, under the wrath of God. It will be because they
refuse to trust Christ the Lord. God's word of promise, however,
will not be altered. God's elect will yet be saved. God, the God of all the earth,
will still be right and just, faithful and true, good and wise
and gracious. And Paul illustrates it for us.
Abraham had two sons. Ishmael and Isaac. Now, you have
to understand the culture of the Jews in ancient times to
get an appreciation of this. And I'm not sure I understand
it, but I have an idea. Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn. The whole family was wrapped
up in the firstborn. It wasn't just an emotional thing.
It was an ethnic and a religious and a principle given in scripture. Everything is wrapped up in the
firstborn. God passed by his firstborn and
chose Isaac. And Abraham bowed to God and
cast Ishmael out of his house. Abraham worshiped God. Abraham
devoted his whole life to God who passed by his firstborn cherished
son in whom all his anticipated future and hope was wrapped up.
Abraham worshiped God, bowed to his will. Because of his great
goodness, mercy, love, and grace heaped upon him a pagan idolater. And now heaped upon his son,
Isaac, Oh, how good God's been to me. What about Ishmael? Oh,
God called me out of darkness. God called my son out of all
the people in this world and wrapped up his glory in my son
Isaac. Oh, how I worship him. God give
me grace. Oh my God, give me grace to walk
in the steps of faithful Abraham. Next, look at verses nine through
13. The inspired apostle shows us
God's word of promise, God's decree that must be fulfilled. His decree both of election and
of reprobation. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac. Now, notice the explanation.
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Now God
the Holy Spirit is here giving us his own explanation of this
declaration. He says the reason this is being
revealed to you is so that you'll understand the purpose of God
according to election stands not in what you do, but in what
God does. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Oh, I wish I could understand
that. That's not your problem. There's
not anybody in this room who doesn't understand those words.
That's not your problem. If you've got a problem, the
problem is you hate God. A preacher, you can't say that.
It's high time somebody told you the truth. God said, Jacob
have I loved and Esau have I hated. Here are two boys, born at the
same time. Twins, born to the same parents.
And yet Esau is not numbered among the chosen seed. Esau was
not chosen of God. Esau was hated. Jacob was loved. Why is that? God answers the
question with clarity. Such clarity that no one can
misunderstand it. Jacob have I loved. Who Jacob is, what Jacob does,
what Jacob doesn't do, got nothing to do with it. Jacob have I loved.
And nothing gonna change that. Esau have I hated. Esau have
I hated. I haven't done anything for Esau. I've not done anything for Esau.
I've just ignored Esau. I passed Esau by. It matters
not how closely you may be connected with God's people as Esau was,
as the Jews were. Unless God saves you, you won't
be saved. Salvation is not up to you. Your
soul is not in your hands. Your destiny is not in your hands.
You cannot and will not be saved unless God the Father chose you
and Christ the Son redeemed you and God the Spirit calls you
by his grace. And if God the Father chose you
and Christ the Son redeemed you, God the Spirit will call you
and you shall be saved by his grace. But if you go to hell,
you will not in any way alter God's purpose. You will not in
any way mar God's goodness. You will not in any way corrupt
God's righteousness. Your eternal damnation, that
you can take credit for. That's your fault. As soon as
we mention anything about election, or reprobation, predestination,
divine sovereignty, limited atonement, irresistible grace, oh heaven
forbid anybody talk about those things. Religious infidels scream,
that's not fair. That's not fair. I won't worship
a God like that. That's not right. How can God
find any fault with sinners? How can God judge me if he's
already determined everything? Well, let's read verses 14, 15,
and 16 and see how God answers the infidels. I'll tell you how
we commonly think and what we teach others to think. in responding
to infidels. I'm talking about religious infidels
now. I'm talking about Baptist infidels. I'm talking about fundamentalist
infidels, liberal infidels, conservative infidels. I'm not talking about
Islamic infidels. I'm talking about Protestant
infidels and Catholic infidels. How do you respond to them? Well,
generally, folks will say the way to respond to them is if
folks despise the gospel, then the best thing to do is to console
them. and make them feel good about
what they've got. And maybe take away a little bit of the rough
edges of things. No, that's not the best way. The best way to
deal with the infidel is to keep the infidel an infidel. Keep the infidel an infidel.
The only way to deal with folks who hate God is confront them. You see, the problem with men
and women is that they're rebels and God demands that they bow.
God demands that you bow. God doesn't reason with you and
his servants don't reason with you. God doesn't beg you and
his servants don't beg you. God demands you bow. This is
God's truth. And when folks object to it,
make it a little broader, bigger, bolder letters and shove it in
their face and say bow or go to hell. That's your options.
That's all. Oh, Brother Don, you're not kind
enough. I can't think of anything more
kind than to tell you the truth. And the most ungodly of men in
this world are those who will compromise God's truth on the
altar of man's pride. Look at verse 14. What shall
we then say? Is there unrighteousness with
God? How many times have you heard that? That's not right.
That's not fair. And Paul anticipated that by
divine inspiration. Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. It's nonsense to talk like that.
How can God be just and righteous and have predestinated everything?
Who's saved and who's lost? How can God do that? How can
he predestinate everything, including the salvation and damnation of
men? How can God do that and still
be just and fair? How dare you question God? How dare you question God? Oh no, God forbid. For Moses
said, he said to Moses, God said to Moses, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, so then, it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Well, what part does man's will
have in salvation? It is not of him that willeth.
What does man's work have to do with salvation? It is not
of him that roaneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And then
the apostle speaks about that most abhorrent of all terrible,
terrible subjects, vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. Verses
17 through 26. He tells us as plainly as possible
about vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy, and he asserts in the
clearest, most forcible language possible, both the absolute sovereignty
of God, I mean absolute, either God's sovereign or he ain't.
There's no in-between ground. Either he controls everything,
or he doesn't control anything. Either he determined everything
that comes to pass, or he didn't determine anything that comes
to pass. There's no in-between ground. Paul here asserts God's
total absolute sovereignty, and at the same time, he shows us
in those same forcible terms, the absolute righteousness of
God, both in grace and in judgment. Verse 17. For the Scripture saith
to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. God says in his word to
Pharaoh, and I don't know that those words were ever addressed
to Pharaoh. I can't find any place where they were ever addressed
to Pharaoh, but similar words were addressed to him. But these
words are given to us in Holy Scripture by God himself. He says, Pharaoh, boy, you think
you're somebody. You ask, who is the Lord that
I should obey him? Pharaoh, there's only one reason
you ever drew your first infant breath. There's only one reason
you were born in the royal house of the Egyptian pharaohs. There's
only one reason you sat on the throne of the mightiest nation
in the world. I determined that the whole world
know how I drowned you and the mightiest army in the world in
a little old creek called the Red Sea. Anybody not know about
that? Anybody not know about that?
God accomplished his purpose. Now what's he say to that? How
does all this tie in? Therefore, therefore, hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. But Brother Don, Pharaoh hardened
his heart, he did, he sure did. And scripture says more often
than it says Pharaoh hardened his heart, it says the Lord hardened
his heart. Well, that can't both be so. God said it was. Who are
you to challenge that? God hardened his heart, and Pharaoh
hardened his heart. Will he harden it? Thou wilt
say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? How then can
God possibly find any fault with Pharaoh or me? For who hath resisted
his will? You tell us we're all subject
to God's will. I've been hearing from Brother
Chris all my life how that we're subject to God's will, everything's
subject to God's will. Then how can God judge me for what he's
determined? Three words is, nay, but old
man, who art thou that replyest against God? Who do you think
you are? Who do you think you are? The difficulty we have is our pride. That's it. You and I, who raised
children, when my little girl was growing up, she learned early. Not to ask me why, as if she
were questioning my reason or rightness to demand a thing.
She learned early not to ask why. Sometimes I told her why,
and sometimes I didn't. You see, my position in the household
is father. I'm the one paying the bills.
I'm the one putting food on the table. I'm the one buying the
clothes. I'm the one responsible for you.
And if I want you to know why I do something, I'll tell you.
If I don't want you to know, you don't have to question about it. And if you question
it, you're in trouble. And I ain't nothing. I ain't nothing. I'm a puny, sinful, ignorant,
helpless man. And dare we question God? Dare we ask how God can do something? Why God does something? Oh, no.
No, that's not the way you deal with God. How would it pass thou
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? And then he
reminds us of the story of the potter's house in Jeremiah chapter
18. Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump? To make one vessel under honor
and another under dishonor. Who would argue with that? Potters
working on some clay. I've got some friends who are
potters. My sister who died was a potter, a good one. Take the same look and you make
a marvelous setting for your kitchen table or you Make one
of those big old crocks you put pickles in to soak until they
get good and sour. Same look, same look. Who determines
that? Not the pickle jar, and not the
table setting, not the lip of clay. The potter determines that.
Read what it says. What if God, verse 22, what if
God, and Paul doesn't use that word what, that's added by our
translators, it's in italics. Paul says, if God, willing to
show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much
long-suffering, that doesn't mean that God was long-suffering
to these folks. No, no, no. God puts up with
them because he's long-suffering to you who are here. God preserves
them because he's long-suffering to us, we're not willing that
any of his elect should perish, but all come to repentance and
knowledge of the truth. He endures them with long-suffering,
these vessels of wrath, now watch what it says, fitted to destruction,
fitted to destruction. God has arranged things this
way. If folks go to hell, and some
do, it doesn't take God by surprise. God ordained their damnation
as surely as he ordained the salvation of the Apostle Paul.
There's no question about that. I can show it to you repeatedly
in Scripture. But they go to hell for their own faults. So
that God deals with me and God always deals with everybody justly,
righteously, and truthfully. If you go to hell, it will be
because you despise the gospel of God's grace. Because you despise
God's son. Because you will not believe. You will not believe. And you,
by your deeds, fit yourself for destruction. And that he might
make known the riches of his glory. What a statement. The
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Watch what it says
about them. Which he had aforeprepared unto
glory. Bob, he prepared us to glory
before the world was. He made us accepted, justified,
sanctified, and glorified in His Son before the world was.
That's what the book says. He prepared us for glory by the
redeeming work of His Son who fulfilled all righteousness on
our behalf. He comes in His grace and prepares us for glory, giving
us a new nature fit to be partakers of the glory of God and shall
be partakers of that by Christ Jesus. He prepared us to glory,
even us, even us. Of all people, even us. whom
he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles,
the Gentiles, the Gentiles. We like to brag about our genealogy
and who's in the family. Gentiles, read about them sometimes. barbaric, cruel, mean, dirty,
warring, obnoxious, physically dirty, morally dirty, mentally
dirty, idolatrous people who worshiped everything under the
shining sun, Gentiles, even us, whom he called. God never intended
just to save Jews. God's purpose was to save his
elect who are pictured in Hosea's redemption and grace towards
Gober, that Gentile harlot. God saves his elect out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, even whom he hath called. Brother Bob asked me today, today
or yesterday, what? Brother Tim James and I were
raised on the south side of Winston-Salem. And Bob said, I understand your
rather rough cut. And I said, we were both raised
on the south side of Winston-Salem. That's answer enough. That's
answer enough. Imagine that, God called such
as you are. Now, you want to argue with it?
You want to tolerate other folks arguing with him? Even us whom
he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles,
as he saith also in Hosea, Oseh, 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 that place where
it said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be
called the children of the living God. Look at verse 27, 28, 29. We're reminded here again, and
assured of the fact that there is in this world a chosen remnant
who must and shall be saved by the grace of God. 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. For he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom
and been made like unto Gomorrah. He will finish the work. God
will accomplish his purpose. He will cut it short in righteousness. That is, he will finish it speedily,
and he'll do it righteously. He's a just God and a Savior,
and he's a just God and judge who must and will do right. Were
it not for God's election, were it not for Christ's redemption,
were it not for the call of God's Spirit, were it not for all,
were it not for all God's grace, You and I, the whole human race, would be a world of sodomites and reap the fire of God's wrath
forever. That's what you are by nature,
as vile as vile can be. That's what I am by nature, as
vile as vile can be. If it hadn't been for God's grace,
that's where we'd be forever. Justly suffering the wrath of
God. I have a question for you. Is
Christ and his gospel to you a stumbling stone over which
you're gonna stumble your way into hell in rebellion and unbelief? Or is the Lord Jesus Christ the
foundation stone upon which you're built? Look at verse 30. What
shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, the Gentiles, So they didn't know the law. Oh, yes, they did. Oh, yes, they
did. It's written on the conscience, written on the hearts by nature.
Romans 1 and 2 say so. The Gentiles, they knew what
was right and what wasn't right, but they didn't follow the law
of righteousness. They had no concern for righteousness. They
weren't interested in righteousness. They were only interested in
self and self-preservation forever if they could get it. Righteousness
didn't cross their minds. That's me. That's me. But the Gentiles have
attained to righteousness. Look up here now. Look up here
now. Are you looking at this face
right here? Right here? You're looking at righteousness. God says so. righteousness, what does it say
here, the righteousness which is of faith. Righteousness many
women get only by the faith of Jesus Christ, receive only by
faith in Jesus Christ. But Israel which followed after
the law of righteousness, Israel, folks who went to church every
Sunday morning, went to Sunday school, came to BYU on Sunday
night, came to Sunday night services, came on Wednesday night or Tuesday
night like we did in Denver, came to church three times, four
times a week, folks went on visitation every week. Folks who quit smoking
and drinking and chewing and folks who dressed good and don't
cuss, not much anyway, and folks who don't lose their temper in
public real often, folks who are good. Just keep barking off. I ain't
much, but I ain't what I used to be. Boy, I tell you what,
bless God, I'm not like I used to be. Bob Crawford, you're a whole
lot worse than you ever were before. That's just fact. Don Portner, too. That's just
fact. You know it, and I know it, and
God says it. That's just fact. But Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, tried to make
themselves good, tried to make themselves righteous, have not
attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? How come? How come
they're cast off? How come those folks And they
wear those silly-looking little caps on their heads because they're,
oh, God's so high and holy. We're going to have something
between me and God. A paper cup. That'll do the job. I've got
to have something between me and God. Sun goes down, Friday
night, start observing the Sabbath day. No matter where you are,
wonder how to know which, how to observe the Sabbath. It's
a day ahead or yonder, but we keep the day holy. Keep the commandments,
keep the laws, don't eat this, don't eat that, don't go here,
don't go, we're good people. How come they're in the plain
righteousness? For just one reason, they sought it not by faith,
but as it were, by the works of the law. Now let me tell you
why you still don't believe on the Son of God. Let me tell you why you don't.
Because you're still trying to make yourself righteous. You're
still trying to be good. You're still trying to win God's
favor by what you do. What it says here. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. God laid a foundation stone,
a foundation stone, Christ Jesus Lord, and blessed are those who
are built on that foundation stone. The foundation stone is
Christ, Christ crucified, Christ righteousness, Christ obedience,
Christ surety ship, Christ intercession, Christ power, Christ grace. And
you look at that and you just walk along your way doing the
best you can and stumble over the stumbling stone and go to
hell. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Would you have God's
salvation? This is the truth in Christ. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Not ashamed before God. Not ashamed in judgment. Not ashamed in eternity. For
Christ is Jehovah's Akenyeh, the Lord, our righteousness. God made him so. Now this is
all God's work. Turn to one text of scripture,
I'll wrap this up. First Peter chapter two. First Peter chapter two. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, verse six, behold I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious. But God's purpose is accomplished.
God's purpose is accomplished everywhere with everybody in
all things to his glory. 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. God numbered you among a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood. vessels of mercy, of four prepared
to glory. That belongs to every sinner
who believes on the Son of God. Oh, God help you to believe.
Amen.