My text this morning is found
in the 11th chapter of Romans, but if you would first turn with
me to Romans chapter 3. We'll bounce around in the book
of Romans a little this morning. Romans chapter 3 is where we'll
start. Verse 3. Here Paul is addressing a real
problem in the church. It's a spiritual problem that
Still a problem today. Romans three, verse three is
where Paul first addresses this problem. And he asked this question
in verse three, for what if some did not believe? Shall their
unbelief make the faith of God without effect? In other words,
has the unbelief of the Jews underlined the purpose and promises
of God? He immediately addresses this
untruth by saying, God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every
man a liar. And then he gives us the reason,
as it is written that thou, speaking of God, mightest be justified,
that you might be right, rendered innocent in thy sayings, and
mightest overcome when thou art judged. Now, God is always true
to his word and his character. He's God. He's not a man that
he should lie or son of man that he should repent or change his
mind. So our sin and our unrighteousness in no way changes God. Paul goes on to say in verse
five, but if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of
God, in other words, if we claim that God is God, what shall we
say? Is God unrighteous who taketh
vengeance? If we claim that God is sovereign
and has the right and the power to do what He will with His own,
if He condemns us for our unbelief, is it right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Is God justified
and cleared when He punishes the guilty? Well, of course He
is. That's what David said. David
said, my sin is against thee and thee only. But that's not
all that David said. David went on to say there in
Psalm 51, verse four, that God is justified. God is right, righteous
when he speaks. That word speaks means promises.
When God promises and he's clear, he's innocent of any wrongdoing
when he judges us. Our unbelief does not change
God. Not in the least. Is God unrighteous when He takes
vengeance on us? Verse six, God forbid. For then
how shall God judge the world? Is God unrighteous if He shows
wrath on us and punishes us for our sin that it's against Him
and Him alone? No. If our unbelief makes God
unaffected, it doesn't. Let me add that. But if it did,
how shall he judge the world? You see, this is a simple message. God is God, he changes not. He can by no means clear the
guilty. His holy justice will not allow
him to do so. If we're found guilty, we're
gonna be punished. I don't wanna be found guilty.
Folks today think that God loves sinners so much that he won't
really send anyone to hell for sin. But that's what man says,
that's not what God says. Any sinner who thinks that is
lying to themselves. That's what Paul said, let every
man be a liar, God be true. And to claim that is attempting
to strip God of being God. They're attempting to make themselves
their own God. When it really gets down to it,
that's it. Verse 7, for if the truth of God hath more abounded
through my lying to His glory, why yet am I also judged as a
sinner? If God makes concessions for
our sin, then He's not God. But He does it. Because He is
God, and He's just and holy and right when He condemns us. And
that's why sinners without Christ are judged guilty, because God
can by no means clear the guilty. He must condemn the guilty, and
He can at the same time by no means condemn the innocent. That's
what Solomon said in Proverbs 7, 15. I've read the verse to
you many times. He that justifieth the wicked
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. According to verse eight, Paul
writes, that's the same thing as slanderously saying, let us
do evil, that good may come. Who's our damnation is just. Now God is a just God. Those
who are guilty, their damnation is just. Is God unrighteous if
He takes vengeance? Is God unfair if He condemns
us? God forbid, God forbid, God forbid. God has not in any way changed
His mind or His purpose. He can't and remain God. He can't
and remain just. Will God excuse men and women's
unbelief in Christ? He's the only means of redemption. He's the only way that we can
be saved. If God changed His mind and excused
our sin, then He cannot be trusted. And He's not God. And if I can change the purpose
of God by not believing Him, then in essence, I am God. This is a serious accusation
against God, and in no way true. Even though God is just in condemning
the unbeliever, He's also just in not condemning those who are
innocent. And we can only be innocent one way. Christ is the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father
but by Him. Now, Romans chapter 11. Here in verse 1, Paul says, I
say then, hath God cast away His people? Now by nature, none
of us believe. God's got to intervene. He must
intervene and cause us to believe. Isn't that right? God must give
us grace and faith in Christ, and when He does, we become His
people. So the question of the hour, every hour for that matter,
is has God cast away His people? And what Paul is asking us here
is, will all the Jews be lost? Paul writes, God forbid, for
I'm an Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of
Benjamin. I'm not lost. I trust and believe
in God only because He intervened. You remember Saul, who was Paul,
and he held the cults of those that stoned Stephen. He drugged
men and women out of their homes and persecuted them for serving
Christ. But now he's a believer. I'm an Israelite of seed of Abraham,
the tribe of Benjamin. And if you remember from past
studies, Romans chapter 10, Paul had shown us that the Gentiles
were to come into God's favor and that the Jews would be cast
off. But this rejection of the Jews was not total rejection,
but partial. God didn't cast off all of Israel.
God didn't condemn all of them. Some of them believed in and
on Christ. And the proof is found here.
Paul said, I'm an Israelite. Even though he was of Jewish
descent, by God's grace, he believed and he wasn't cast off. And it's
the same with all of us, Jew or Gentile alike. If we believe
on Christ, trust in Him, what He's done for us, we won't be
cast off. Has God cast away His people?
Absolutely not. God makes it very clear, though,
who the people of God are. It's not the physical seed of
Abraham that's promised the blessing. Look back at Romans chapter 9
with me, verse 4. Paul asks, Israelites, to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.
Whose are the fathers, and of whom are concerning the flesh
Christ came, whose over all, God bless forever, amen. And
not as though the word of God had taken none effect. For they
are not all Israel which are of Israel. And 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. It's not the physical
seed, but a spiritual seed that this blessing was given to. Salvation
doesn't come by being related genetically to Abraham. If that
was the cause, then Ishmael and Esau would have had as much right
to salvation as anyone else. But as believers, we're the spiritual
seed for one reason only. Isaiah told us, except the Lord
of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. We should have
been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah, left
to ourselves, we would forever be lost and condemned. So we see that this blessing
of life eternal is not going to come to Abraham's physical
seed, but to his spiritual seed. Now, back in Romans chapter 11,
verse 5, Paul clarifies, and he says this, even so then at
this present time in the day which Paul lived, also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. I'll title
this message that, the election, according to the election of
grace. Even though the Jews in general
had rejected Christ, even though they crucified and killed the
Lord Jesus, even though they persecuted His apostles and disciples,
even though they blasphemed the gospel, God yet reserved some
of them for Himself. They're a remnant. But they're
a remnant according to the election of grace. And it's still the
same today. God has a remnant of people,
Jew or Gentile, that He has reserved to Himself. And He chose them
to believe on Christ before the foundation of the world, and
they will be saved. Every one of them. Every single
one of them. How are these chosen sinners
saved? Well, Paul told us in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by
grace are you saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. It's not because of the physical
seed of Abraham, not because of anything that you did. It's
by grace and grace alone. And God elected, God chose you
to have that grace before time ever was. Now hear me out on this. Don't
throw anything at me just yet. We're not saved because we believe. We believe because God gave us
light and life. Life comes before faith. And
we're not condemned because we don't believe. We're born condemned
because of our sin. And men don't believe because
they're condemned and lost. That's why Paul said here in
verse 5 that there's a remnant. You know what a remnant is. And
they're a remnant according to the election of grace. I remember
a time back in my bachelor days that I got an apartment and I
needed some flooring. Well, the first place I went
was to the remnant section, because I couldn't afford, you know,
wall-to-wall carpet. I had to find something that
fit the space that I had, even if it was short of fitting. Just
a remnant, just a small part of the whole. There's a remnant
according to the election of grace. God saved some, not all. According to his good pleasure,
according to the election of his grace. God's grace to sinners
is an election. Grace is given by God's choosing. That's what Paul's saying in
verse six. If salvation is by grace, then it's no more works.
And if grace comes by works, then grace is not grace. But
if salvation be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise,
or else, or if not, work is no more work. In other words, salvation
is not a cooperative effort between men and God. Salvation is of
the Lord. We don't add our work to the
finished work of Christ. If we do, salvation is by works
and not of grace. And that's why it's not so. Paul
says in verse 7, What then? Israel, God's chosen people,
hath not obtained, they haven't acquired, earned, or achieved,
or purchased that which he seeketh for, but the election, God's
choosing of sinners, and giving them grace before the world began,
hath obtained it. And the rest were blinded. Who blinded them? God did. That word blinded in my marginal
Bible means hardened. Pharaoh hardened his own heart,
but God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It's God that blinds. It's God
that hardens. No man or woman by nature likes
to hear that. But a believer loves it. Why? Because there's nothing they
can do to be saved. And because of that, there's
nothing they can do to be lost. Now do we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Again, Paul said, God forbid.
The one thing that a believer hates more than anything else
in this world is their sin. Their salvation lies completely,
completely on Christ's finished work. So if you don't believe
on Christ, your unbelief doesn't make God's faithfulness ineffective. It actually proves God's faithfulness
to those that He chose and gave grace. And let me say this, election
is not simply a doctrine that Calvinists believe. Oh, you're
one of those Calvinists. No, I'm one of those believers. And I know that God chose me
and called me and saved me by His grace before the world ever
was. Jacob and Esau, twin boys, never been born. According to
election, before they'd done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, by election, by God's choosing, they believed. Election is God being God. And
every believer believes it. It's God having mercy on whom
He will. It's God having compassion on
whom He will. It's God giving grace to those
that He chose. And it's God blinding and hardening
whom He will. You and I cannot make God's grace
effectual or ineffective. And the question always is, well,
is that fair? God doesn't have to be fair.
Everything that God does is right. He doesn't do something because
it's right, it's right because He does it. It's right because He's sovereign.
What a sovereign God does is always right. Teresa and I recently
painted the brick on our house white. We painted the trim black.
And many of our neighbors have told us that they like it. And
I'm sure that there are some of our neighbors that don't.
But you know, no one has came up to us and told us that they
didn't think it was fair to our house. Why? Because it's my house and it's
Teresa's house. And we can do what we will with
what belongs to us. How even more so is that true
with God? We determined to paint it white
with black trim, and God alone determines whom He makes white,
and He determines who He leaves in their blackness. It doesn't
have anything to do with being fair. It has everything to do
with God's election of grace. God's choosing to whom He'll
be merciful and compassionate, and to whom He'll harden. So
we see what the problem is, it's still the problem today. What's the problem? Well, now
look at chapter 10 of Romans. Verse three. Here's the problem. Men
and women are ignorant of God's righteousness, and what are they
doing? They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. and have not submitted unto the
righteousness of God in Christ. Rather than coming to God empty-handed,
wanting to receive righteousness through Christ, they build their
own little tower of Babel by establishing a righteousness
of their own. You ask people if they think
they're going to heaven and they'll tell you yes. And if you ask
them why they think they're going, you'll hear something like this.
Well, I never cheated on my wife. Never cheated on my husband.
I've never been arrested. For the most part, I treat people
good. I'm a good husband. I'm a good
wife. I'm a good father. I'm a good mother. So on and
so forth. And layer upon layer upon layer,
they're attempting to build their tower up to heaven. I did the
same thing. But God, according to his election
of grace, and by his mercy toward this sinner, he knocked down
my self-made tower. Has God knocked down your tower? Your tower of worldly works? Look at verse 12 here in Romans
10. For there is no difference between
the Jew and Gentile, or Jew and the Greek. They're all sinners.
For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon
Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on Him, and who have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him, and who have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? That's God's ordained means. And how shall they preach? Except they be sinned. There's
a lot of people preaching today that grandma sinned, and mom
and daddy sinned, and that sinned themselves, but God didn't send
them. How shall they preach except
they be sent of God? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Look at verse 16, but they have
not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? And then Paul concludes this
to some degree by saying, so then, Faith, believing, it comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, had they
not heard? Yes, verily their sound went
into all the earth, and their words into the ends of the world.
But I say, did not Israel know? Well, of course they knew, they
just didn't believe. Now, many know the true Gospel,
they don't believe it. They've heard the Gospel. They
don't believe. I know folks, I look out this
morning, I see where people used to sit and they came faithfully
for years and they stopped coming. That's what that's talking about.
They believe the doctrines of the gospel, the doctrines of
grace as we call them, the five points of Calvinism. I've said
this many times, there's going to be a lot of Calvinists in
hell. The remainder of the verse tells us what God did concerning
this. He says, first Moses said, I'll provoke you to jealousy
by them that are no people and by a foolish nation, I will anger
you. That's speaking of the Gentiles
whom the Jews hated. And then not only that in verse
20, he adds, but Isaiah is very bold and said, I was found to
them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. That's grace. That is grace. Who are these that Paul speaks
of? He's speaking of Gentiles just like us. That's what we
are, Gentiles. I don't know of anyone here this
morning that's a natural Jew, a physical seed. We're Gentiles. That's who God is. turned his
mercy and grace to Gentiles who wasn't seeking him. The Gentiles
who were not seeking God found him. But what about Israel? Verse 21, but to Israel he saith,
all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient
and gainsaying people. The Gentiles are finding God
whom they did not seek and Israel, God is stretching out His arms
to Israel, and they refuse to come. It's the same today. It's the same today. So does
every single Israelite without exception refuse to come? Paul
said no. He said, I'm the proof of that.
I'm an Israelite. I came and I believed in Christ
alone. So are you getting the picture
here? God saves whom He wills. There's no difference in Jew
and Gentile, but the difference that God makes. Who maketh thee
to differ from another? God does. What do you have that
you didn't receive? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. God gave it all to us. If you
received it, why do you glory as if you didn't receive it?
We've got a lot of folks, started to say fake folks, Call it what it is. We've got
a lot of folks claiming to have done something to be saved. But
they haven't. All we've done is sin. We did
the sinning. God did the saving. And if we're
lost, it's our own fault. Has God cast away His people?
No. Those that don't come to Christ never were His people.
Did you hear me? I don't care how many times you
walk to the front, how many times you get baptized, I don't care
how many churches you've joined, those that don't come to Christ
here in the heart have never were His people. Our unbelief
belongs to us. If we're saved, it's God's doing.
Now, back in Romans chapter 11 verse 2, God hath not cast away
His people which He foreknew, That word what means no, no ye
not, what the scripture saith of Elijah, how he maketh intercession
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed thy prophets,
and they dig down mine altars, and I'm left alone, and now they
seek my life. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? God said, I've reserved, I chose,
I elected to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed their knee
to the image of Baal. Now here Paul goes back to the
Old Testament history to show that all Israel had a faithful
remnant within it. Within Israel, there was true
Israel. There were some in those two
million people that left out of Egypt that were the physical
seed of Abraham, that were the spiritual seed of Abraham. There's
always been a remnant. There was a small portion of
the overall nation who constituted God's real people. Small portion
of the whole. Yes, just the remnant. Now, in
verses two through four, Paul tells us here the story of Elijah
and his showdown with the prophets of Baal. You remember that, it's
in 1 Kings. There were 450 prophets of Baal.
There were 400 prophets of the grove. And Elijah challenged them to
a face-off. And Elijah said, let's each of
us call on our God and see who sends fire down from heaven.
Let's see who God really is. And you know what? It was 850
against one, but Elijah was the favorite. You know why he was
the favorite? He was on God's side. Or more
importantly, God was on His side. Have you ever thought about what
this showdown was all about? It was really about rain. The
heavens had been sealed up for three and a half years at the
word of Elijah. And Baal was believed by the
Moabites to be the rain god. But we know who the real rain
god is. This was about who God really is. The prophets of Baal
prayed unto Him, they prayed unto Baal. Elijah prayed unto
Jehovah. And after a day of jumping up
and down on the altar, crying and moaning and even cutting
themselves, the Moabite rain god didn't show up. A false god never shows up. Elijah begins to mock their rain
god. Maybe your god's hard of hearing. I know what it is. He's on vacation. Maybe he's taking a nap. Maybe
you need to cry a little louder. So they did, but he didn't show
up. False gods never show up. So
Elijah prays to the Lord to send the fire down to accept his sacrifice. And three different times, he
has his servants, or whoever they were, dig a trench and pour
water around the altar, making it near impossible for the fire
to consume the offering. But nothing is impossible with
God. He can do anything. He can do
everything. I love to say that, because it's so true. And the
fire of God fell, and it consumed the burnt sacrifice, and it consumed
the wood, and it consumed the stones and the dust, and the
fire licked up the water that was in the trenches. And when
all the people saw it, what'd they do? They fell on their face,
and they said, the Lord, He is God, the Lord. The Lord of heaven
and earth, he's God. And Elijah said, take the prophets
of Baal down by the river and he slew them there. What a picture
this is of God accepting the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his finished work. After this, Elijah told Ahab,
he said, get thee up and eat and drink Because I hear rain
in the distance. But there was no rain. Elijah
then told King Ahab, he said, go to the sea and check it again. And Ahab came back and said,
not a cloud in the sky. He said, well, go check it again
and check it up to seven times, seven being the number of completion.
And the seventh time, the scripture says, there was a little cloud
out over the sea, like a man's hand. Just a little old cloud,
like a man's hand. Very little. And Elijah told
Ahab, he said, you better get your chariot and get off this
mountain because it's fixing to pour down. And the heaven
became black with clouds. and wind and there was a great
rain. He's the God of rain and everything. Okay, we fast forward a day later
and Jezebel, heard all that Elijah had done. She heard how he had
killed all her prophets. And so she sends a messenger
to Elijah saying, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you
just like you killed my prophets. And the scriptures say that Elijah
went for his life. As folks say, Elijah hightails
it out of Dodge. And a whole day's journey. And
when he could run no further, He sits down under a juniper
tree and his request to God is that he might die. Lord, just
go on and kill me. Just go on and kill me. Now,
I've always heard and even thought myself that Elijah fled because
he was afraid of Jezebel. I don't believe that anymore.
I don't think it was fear that caused him to flee. Personally,
I think it was the fact that he was disillusioned. I think
he was let down. I think he was cast down. I think
he was discouraged. Do you ever get that way? Believers
get that way, don't they? I do, and so do you. Elijah was
a man. That's what men often do. They
get disappointed in something or someone. By nature, we have
a tendency to look on the negative. And we, like Elijah, say, I'm
the only one. I'm the only one. God said, no,
no, no. I have reserved, I've chosen,
I've elected unto myself many more than you. Elijah thought
what had transpired the previous day would bring a great awakening
among his people. Elijah had seen the fire of God
fall. He had been a part of the false
prophets put away. He had seen the people of God
fall down on their knees and say, God is God. Your God is
God. He's my God. He's the only true
God. He had experienced the reign
of God fall after a three and a half year famine. So obviously
the only thing left was a great revival. Yet the very next day,
it was business as usual. There's no change, no revival,
and he sits under this juniper tree, and he says, God, does
anyone really care? Verse three again. They've killed
your prophets. They've destroyed your altars.
Beside you, I'm the only one that really cares, and I'm left
alone, and now they seek my life. Poor, poor, pitiful me. Boy,
we're good at pity parties, aren't we? Verse four, but what saith
the answer of God unto him? Had the unbelief of Israel made
the faithfulness of God without effect? God forbid! Never! God said, I have reserved to
myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the Navy to bail. I'm still
on the throne, God says. I'm still in charge. I am. I'm God. I do what I please in
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and no man can stay my hand. No man can say to me, God, what
are you doing? God, what are you doing? Whatever
I want to do. I do what I will in heaven and in earth and in
the seas and in all deep places. That means even hell. Even hell
is under God's dominion. He says, I'm still calling the
shot. I have reserved to myself 7,000 like you. In 1 Kings 19,
God said, you go and you anoint Haziel to be king over Syria.
I still have work for you to do. You go and you anoint Jehu
to be the next king of Israel. And you go and you anoint Elijah
to be the next prophet to take your place. Get up. and do what I tell you
to do. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We call it the election of grace. Has God cast away his people?
No, no. He's still showing mercy to whom
he'll show mercy. Verse five, even so then at this
present time, Also, there is a remnant according to the election
of grace. I take Paul's words in closing
to be my own. God has not cast away his people. And even so, at this present
time, God has reserved to himself a remnant, just a small part
of the whole. according to the election of
grace. And again, verse six, and if
by grace, then it's no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
And if it be of works, then it's no more grace, otherwise work
is no more work. Dear sinner, it's either by grace
or it's by works. It can't be both, it's one or
the other. Verse seven, what then? This
is the final word concerning salvation. Israel, true Israel,
hath not obtained that which it seeketh for. That simply means
there's no justification by the law. You can't keep the law in
order to be saved. The law requires you to keep
it completely and to keep it perfectly. And you can't do it,
and neither can I. So, we don't obtain what we seek
for, but the election, God's electing and choosing hath obtained
it. And the rest were blind. Verse
eight, according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should
not hear unto this day. That's what's going on. That's
what's going on in this day. Some believe, some don't. Those
that believe, God enabled them to believe. Those who don't believe,
God lets them have their own way. Lord, don't give me my way. Don't give me my way. Do you
believe in the Son of God? If you do, it's according to
the election of grace. And what marvelous grace it is
that we've endeavored to sing about this morning.