Putting this here for now Because
when it's lower, it's nice. I like the idea, but it doesn't... I don't know if there was something about that time. Joker's got a squeak job. It seems that that's kind of
hot now. It's not bad. It's a toast. How about yourself? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which one is this in the middle,
Jim? I'm just trying to figure out
my space right now. I don't have anything to say. Anybody have a board? I'm just trying to distract myself. We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing 326, more about Jesus, 326. More about Jesus would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More about Jesus let me learn,
more of His holy will discern. Spirit of God, my teacher be,
showing the things of Christ to me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving boldness see. More of His love who died for
me. about Jesus in His Word. Holy communion with my Lord,
hearing His voice in every line, making each faithful saying mine. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving coldness see. More of His love who died for
me. ? Or bow Jesus on his throne
? Riches and glory all his own ? For his kingdom sure increase
? For his coming Prince of Peace ? More, more about Jesus ? ?
More, more about Jesus ? ? More of His saving fullness see ?
? More of His love who died for me ? You would turn to 218. 218, burdens are lifted at Calvary. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Days are filled with sorrow and
care, hearts are lonely and drear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Cast your care on Jesus today. Leave your worry and fear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Troubled soul, the Savior can
see every heartache and tear. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Calvary, Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary,
Jesus is very near. Thank you. I would like to read from Acts
2. Acts 2, Peter's sermon. It's a long chapter, so I'm going
to start at verse 14. Acts 2, 14. But Peter, standing up with the
eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea,
and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken
to my words. For these are not drunken, as
ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall
come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of
my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my
handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and
they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath, and blood, and fire,
and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable
day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye
men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know
him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because
it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore
did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also
my flesh shall rest in hope. because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see
corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day. Therefore, being a prophet and
knowing that God hath sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne. He seeing this before spake of
the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up
whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou at my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ. Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise
is unto you and to your children, and to all that are far off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many
other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation. Then they gladly received his
word, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the
same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear came upon
every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles,
and all that believed were together and had all things common, and
sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as
every man had need, and they, continuing daily with one accord
in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat
their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily, such as should be saved. Our heavenly, merciful Father,
we thank you for allowing us to assemble as a local church
in this location. What a great, great blessing
it is, Lord, that we, of all the other thousands of people
around us, Lord, we are privileged to hear this true gospel preaching. Father, will you continue to
bless us? We do not know what lies ahead,
but Father, we have that comfort and that hope that all things
are perfectly in your hands and perfectly being orchestrated
by you. Father, that we may trust in you. And Father, will you
supply all our needs going forward? Give us, O Lord, the financial
wherewithal, and continue, Lord, to give us a hunger and an appetite
to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Father, we
thank you for Brother Eric and for Michelle. Father, will you
continue to be with them, give them strength and courage to
go forward, and give Brother Eric the wisdom and the strength
and the health to continue to labor amongst us. Father, continue
to give him, Lord, the freedom and the unction of your spirit
to display the glorious gospel to us, the glad tidings. Father,
remember us in mercy. Be with our loved ones wherever
they are. You know all things perfectly. Father, will you call
out our loved ones? And will you give them, Lord,
a hunger and a thirst after this gospel that we hear? Father,
with you all things are possible. And remember, Lord, all your
true preachers wherever they labor, Thy will be done for Jesus'
sake alone. Amen. Just for a couple of announcements,
I'd rather do the announcements at the end, but I always forget. I was just going to say, the
Brethren in New Jersey, they continue to help us. They continue to send a gift
each month, and so I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew
that publicly, that they're doing that regularly each month. And
so we are thankful for that continued support and just that they want
to share in that with us. I think that's really very kind
of them and very generous of them to do that. And so I got
the check since you were in transition. I had it sent to my house and
it's back in there now, but we can always eventually switch
that at some point. And then our sister, Johnny,
and brother Scott, they just want to thank the church for
the flowers that we sent them. They were very, she said that
they're beautiful and that they continue to smell really good.
So she's thankful for that, Brethren. So thank you again for being
thoughtful and doing that for them. So, all right, Brethren. This is Johnny's little note
card. All right, brethren, we're gonna
be in Romans, Romans chapter 11 this morning, Romans chapter
11. I'd like to go through the first
seven verses, Romans 11, verses one through seven. Now, Paul
had made some very strong statements. He was quoting from the Old Testament. He was quoting Moses and Isaiah
concerning what they had to say regarding the nation and people
of Israel. Let's see that real fast. Romans
10 verse 19. First Moses said, I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish
nation I will anger you. All right, so here Moses is declaring
what the Spirit of God has revealed to them, how that God is going
to send this gospel out to the Gentile nations. such that it
would provoke Israel to jealousy, to jealousy. But it wasn't really
clear how the Lord would do this. And so in verse 20, we read of
Isaiah, who is very bold in saying, I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. but to Israel. So there we see
the declaration of grace apart from works. They didn't seek
the Lord. None of us seeks the Lord. But
in grace and power, our God reveals himself to them who aren't even
seeking after him. And that's true of every one
of us. None of us can lay claim to saying,
well, I sought him. I did it my way. I know that
even us here, when we're crowded in our minds, and our thoughts
are elsewhere, and there's some here that maybe don't even believe
the truth, Yet, our God is able, though we harden ourselves to
the truth of God, He's able to break down those walls and those
strong towers of the evil one, and our own wicked flesh that
would fight a war against Him, He's able to break through with
the Gospel of Christ and shine into our hearts and reveal, by
faith, the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. And so to Israel,
he say it all day long. This is the people who understood
how they were to worship God. They had revealed to them the
oracles. They had the law. They had many
outward blessings concerning how we are to approach our God. They had these things. But he
says, all day long, I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient
and gainsaying people. so that through Israel we see
how the Lord blessed the whole nation, as it were, the whole
nation with that outward form of religion to seek the Lord,
right, and to worship Him. And He revealed that to them,
but left them to themselves, to the nation as a whole, right?
We'll see that there's a remnant within that nation that He revealed
Himself spiritually, but left to themselves having all those
outward blessings. that that was insufficient to
work salvation in them. That they couldn't take those
things, those outward things, and actually use them to work
a righteousness of their own. And that should send a pretty
strong and clear message to us that we're not going to get ourselves
saved, right? We're not gonna save ourselves
or get ourselves saved. We are ever dependent upon the
grace and mercy of God and let us never forget it. May he always
be pleased to reveal that to us and keep us humble and soft
of heart with the faith of Christ dwelling in us, right? In our hearts, right? So that's
what our Lord's showing us there. that the natural man is never
going to work salvation by his or her own hand and her works
and what what we've done all right and so left to ourselves
we will not believe God And so Paul here in chapter 11, he returns
to the theme that's been very prevalent in Romans, speaking
about the election of grace. He returns now to the election
of grace, and he explains, you know, this is to reveal to us
that it's our God who is both just and justifier of them which
believe it in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who saves
his people. And we'll see in here, and this
is important for us to get as we go into chapter 11, because
there is a great deal of confusion in religion about what Paul it
might be saying here, and what he's showing us is that there
is one salvation. There's one way of salvation
for all of God's people. We're all saved by grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's none accepted. There's
not some saved some other way. We're all either saved by Christ,
by grace in Christ, or it's by works, and it's none of grace.
And so we'll see that. And it's also not two ways. One way for the Gentile in Christ,
and then another way for Israel being natural born sons of Adam. It's not two ways of salvation. It's not two roads that lead
to heaven. It's one way, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I titled
this, The Remnant is Saved. The Remnant is Saved. Alright, so we begin in chapter
11 with Paul addressing an error that might crop up in the minds
of the people hearing him. He says at the very beginning,
I say them. I say them. As he's speaking
and declaring what Moses and Isaiah had said, there might
be a thought that comes into our mind. asking, well, has God
cast away his people, Israel, then? Are they just now thrown
out and now it's only going to the Gentiles? And that's what
he says there. Has God cast away his people? God forbid. Most emphatically,
no, absolutely not, he says. Now, what he means there is that
the nation as a whole was not completely rejected. We'll see
that natural Israel is rejected and cast off, but there's a people
even there in Israel that are yet his people and he's not persecuted
and he has a people that he's calling out of the Jews through
this gospel just as he's sending it out into the Gentiles that
sat in darkness, alright? As we see in Acts 1.8, Acts 1.8,
the disciple of The Lord said, he says to his disciples, ye
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So the Lord
purposed and intended that all nations, including the Jews,
would hear this gospel. They needed to hear it just as
the Gentiles needed to hear it. And through the revelation of
the Spirit of God, revealing faith in them, revealing Christ
to His people, they're all called out. Whether they're in Jerusalem,
or Judah, Judea, or Samaria, or some other part of the world,
that's how our God saves. It's by grace. And so, what we
see in this is that we have to stop looking to the flesh. And that means one thing sometimes
to Jews, right, who are by the law trying to work a righteousness
for themselves, and Gentiles may hear it differently, but
the reality is we're all We're all naturally listening and trying
to do this in the flesh by some works of righteousness that we
think, all right, this is what God's looking for, and this is
what I gotta do to achieve that level that God's looking for. No, it's by grace. There's a
remnant according to the election of grace. That's of the Jews
as well as the Gentiles. So Paul, had been teaching the
rejection, oh, had Paul, rather, been teaching the rejection,
the whole rejection of all Jews, he would have been putting himself
in that same category. And he would have been accepting
himself as well. He would have been cast out as well from the
grace of God. And so to make this apparent,
he gives his credentials. He begins to show how that he
is of that natural stock of Israel, that God saved him. And he says
there in verse 1, I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham,
of the tribe of Benjamin. And what he's saying there is
I'm not just some casual acquaintance with Israel. I didn't just grow
up in Israel and therefore I call myself an Israelite. No, I really
am a descendant, he's saying, from Abraham. And not just Abraham,
but I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, I used to wonder, why does
he always include this fact that he's of the tribe of Benjamin?
Well, what he's saying there is, I'm of one of the tribes
that didn't even rebel against the house of David. I know my
line. My bloodline is untainted. I'm
not a Samaritan, where they got all intermingled and mixed up
with other breeds. I'm a true Jew. That's what he's
saying there, to emphasize that this is what the Jews would be
hoping for. This is a great line to boast
in. And yet, we know from Philippians
3.5 He brought it up to say, and yet that's all dumb. That
doesn't give me any confidence. What I have in the flesh, I'm
not boasting in it. So why are you boasting of things
that you have in the flesh, he says to us, right? I'm not even
looking to this great resume that I have here of being a son
of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin. I know my bloodline's
clean, he's saying, and I can trace it back. In Philippians,
he said, Philippians 3, 5, I'll read it. He said, I was circumcised
the eighth day, which is according to the law of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching
the law of Pharisee. And there, that was to show I
have no confidence in the flesh, but it's all dumb. Now what he's saying, though,
is that neither as an Israelite or not being an Israelite, neither
one of those things has any merit. Whether I'm an Israelite, that
neither helps or hurts me. And whether I'm a Jew or a Gentile,
that neither helps or hurts me. None of it is of any consequence,
because it's all by the Lord's grace. It's all according to
God's election, His choosing whom He will in grace. That's what He's shown us there.
It's all according to the election of grace. And this is really
Paul's primary focus here is to establish this understanding
in us for His grace, to know that it's of His grace and mercy. All right, so it's in relation
to our election that God's people, right, the Israel of God versus
natural Israel, it's in that relation, it's due to the fact
that we're elected, that we're not cast away from our God. Now look there in verse two,
Romans 11.2. He says, God hath not cast away
his people which he foreknew. All right? Which he foreknew.
And I emphasize that last phrase, which he foreknew, because that's
the distinguishing mark by which we know the people that God's
not cast away. All right? That's a critical
statement to our understanding of Romans 11 and what's taught
here. and understand that he's defining,
he's putting that mark of God around those that are the Lord's
people. Now we know from a previous study,
right, back in May, May 31st, I looked it up, it was titled,
The Foreknowledge and Predestination of God. And it covered Romans
8, verse 29 through 31, right? So if you want to see more detail
on the foreknowledge of God, you can go and listen to that
again, but briefly, what we saw is that in the scriptures, when
the Lord speaks of foreknowledge in relation to his people, it's
an intimate, eternal love for them. There is a sense in which
God knows what will happen beforehand, but he knows what will happen
beforehand because it's what he ordained. It's what he has
ordained to come up to pass, so that's why he knows it's gonna
happen, because what he wills shall come to pass, all right? So he does know that, right? He's not moved by the will of
man, and then he reacts to it and says, oh, I see what this
one's gonna do. Let me therefore now bring them
into my covenant of grace. No, that's worse. And that's
what it would be based on if we moved God by our faith, the
faith of the flesh. Instead, that faith by which
we lay hold of Christ, believing Him, receiving all the blessings
of God, is a fruit of righteousness born in us by the Spirit of God,
which He ordained beforehand, or His workmanship created in
Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. So this is all the Lord's work. And so when we come to foreknowledge,
we understand that it's a loving affection. God has approval of
their way, because our way is Christ. It's not trusting in
the flesh, in the works of the flesh. Psalm 1 6 says this, for
the Lord knoweth. the way of the righteous. He
knows their way. He approves of their way. He
loves their way. Because it's Christ who is our
righteousness, right? That's why he leads us in paths
of righteousness for his namesake. It's in Christ that we're led.
But the way of the ungodly, he That shall perish. The way of
the ungodly shall perish. He doesn't know that way. He
doesn't approve of that way. He doesn't love them. His love's
not set upon them. And so we see this bond of intimate
love and affection revealed through the scriptures, which is all
born out of this foreknowledge of our God for his people. As we see in 1 Corinthians 8.3,
Paul says, if any man love God, the same is known of God. God knows that man. And the reason
why they love God is because He knows it. He foreknew them.
He predestinated them to this fellowship love in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then to make that more clear,
I quote Galatians 4.9. After that, we have known God,
he says, or rather are known of God. We know God because he
knew us first. Just as he says, we love him
because he first loved us. And so not every son and daughter
of Adam is loved of Him, but us whom He foreknew." They are
the ones that are loved of God, and they love God in return,
because He works that salvation in them, alright? He bears it
in them. And so God's who loves his people,
and it's very different from how he speaks of the world, right,
and the workers of iniquity. As he said in Matthew 7, 23,
then I will profess unto them. Christ sitting upon the throne
of judgment will profess to them, I never knew you. I never loved you. I never approved
of your ways and your works. I never knew. Depart from me
ye workers of iniquity, he says. And they go off into everlasting
darkness because they have no part in the inheritance with
Christ. But for those whom the Lord foreknew,
it refers to that intimate love, that love and choosing them in
eternity past and committing them, giving them to Christ as
his bride. whom he loves and calls out of
this darkness. In fact, in Romans 8 29, it says,
for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. He determined,
he ordained that we should be conformed to the image of Christ,
that he, our Savior, might be the firstborn among many brethren. And so when Paul is speaking
to the Romans here, as we continue in Romans 11 now, he's speaking
to the Romans, he's teaching them that this foreknowledge
of God for them is one that calls God to predestinate them. And
not only to predestinate them, but to call them out of darkness
into light. And that helps us. If you have
a thought as we get into Romans 11, and you're wondering, well,
is God, because they're sons of Abraham, even without any
knowledge of Christ, going to save them anyway? No, not according
to the scriptures. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated. And whom he predestinated, then
he also called. And caused them to hear. and
to believe that gospel concerning Christ. It doesn't leave his
people in darkness, which is where Israel would be left if
they were just children according to election, and God had no intention
of bringing them to the knowledge of Christ. And I say that because,
as you'll see, you can get people come away with that idea in Romans
11. But he makes Christ known to
them. And so he says, God hath not
cast away his people, which he foreknew. And so in other words,
God hath not cast away his people of Israel, which he foreknew. So of all natural Israel, he
has a people in there that he foreknew, and he hasn't cast
them away. He hasn't cast them. away. And so those whom the Lord has
cast away, they are the people of natural Israel. They are the people of natural
Israel. Those are cast out. Those are passed over by the
Lord. They're not of spiritual Israel. And that's true of both Jew and
Gentile who have no part in Christ. They're passed over, they're
cast out, they have no part in Him. And then the reason why
I know this and I'm so confident in it is that look at his example
where he goes to a logic to verify to us that this is exactly so. Look at Romans 11.2. He says, what, ye not? Or, no,
ye not? When you see that word, what,
it's no, ye not, what the scripture sayeth of Elijah, 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 sayeth the answer of
God unto him? God didn't chase him for fleeing
or praying against Israel. He just taught him and corrected
him so that he knew the truth. And God said unto him, I have
reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee
to the image of Beth. Or in other words, God hath not
cast away his people which he foreknew. There's a people. There's a remnant according to
the election of grace. And so that 7,000 are reserved
of the Lord for Himself. And they've not gone off into
the flesh and idolatry and wickedness, but His grace in Christ is sufficient
for them, and they've not bowed the knee to fail. and they are
the Lord's. It's His reserved people for
Himself. And so, Elijah there is praying
against all of Israel, and yet the Lord God makes a distinction
to Elijah, which Paul then highlights to us by the Spirit, making us
to see that distinction that God made, in quoting, I reserve
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed in need to the image
of Baal. And that seven means a perfect number, a perfect number
of the Lord's choosing men and women who didn't bow their knee
to the image of Baal. While that number may seem small
in comparison to the whole of Israel, yet the Lord's saying
it's much greater than what our natural eye thinks and sees. It's much greater than what we
see. So that should be an encouragement. to any preacher who thinks he
may be the last one left in the world. No, not at all. Our God
has his people, and they're not going to be cast away. He has
those for whom he foreknew, and he shall raise up even of the
stones children of Abraham to cry out to him and call upon
him and worship him. He can cause any one of us dead,
hard, cold sinners to to come to know and to understand and
believe in the salvation of our God. And that should be a comfort
to any one of us who wonders, Lord, if you have mercy upon
me, I'll be able. He is able to raise up even from
our dead, cold, stony hearts, hearts of flesh that are tender
and liable to His work and His hand to reveal Himself and to
perform His will and work in Christ in them. All right? Now, this aligns perfectly with
what Paul then says in verse 5. He says, verse 5, even so
then, brethren, seeing that our God saves his people even so
then at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace so while the nation of Israel natural
Israel as a whole has rejected Christ has rejected the Word
of God and said, I don't believe that. I think I can do this.
I think I got this. I think I understand what I got
to do and I'm going to keep doing my religion and you're going
to accept it. You'll see. You'll see this will
be perfect. But the Lord says, nope. I have a people that I
deliver from that and preserve for myself by my Spirit, by the
blood of my Son, and in grace I have mercy upon them. I call
them out of that darkness to see and believe what Christ has
accomplished for His people as their substitute, as their Savior,
as the one who shed His blood for their sins to cover us of
our iniquity and to deliver us from the guilt and the condemnation
that we deserve for our own works of unrighteousness. So Isaiah,
he thought he was the last saint left, but God said, nope, there's
a remnant. Not all Israel is Israel, but
there's a remnant whom he saves. And so Paul is saying, I'm not
the only Jew. Elijah thought he was the only
true Jew left, but we see that he was him. And I know by the
revelation of the Spirit, Paul says that I'm not the only Jew
today, but there's many that the Lord has reserved to himself. He has a people that he foreknew,
that he's not cast away. And he said something like this
earlier back in Romans 9, if you want to look there since
we're close, Romans 9 verse 27 and 28. the number of the children of
Israel be as the sand of the sea." Right? Though natural,
outward Israel be so great a number as the sand of the sea, a remnant
shall be saved. This is always the will and purpose
of God. His Word hasn't taken none effect,
but it's gone forth in accomplishing the very will and purpose of
our God exactly as He intended it. And He says, He will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. And what the Lord
is showing us here is that salvation is according to His grace. It's according to the grace which
He's revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ. It's apart from our works. Not that we look to go and abuse
his kindness and grace and mercy to us, but he's given us this
spirit whereby he teaches us and he strips those things from
each of us as it pleases him and uses us according to the
measure of faith which is given to each member in his body to
minister and to serve our God and one another in this local
body here, all right? And so it's either all of grace
or it's all of works. There's not a mixing of the two.
The two are mutually exclusive, meaning that you can't have a
little of this one and a lot of that one, or 50-50, or a lot
of this one and a little of that one. It's one or the other. It's either all of grace or all
of works. And by that, the remnant is safe,
according to the election of grace. All right? And so we see
this. You know, when you are struggling
and wondering, well, is there something for me to do? Well,
how about Romans 11, 6, which says, and if by grace, then it
is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more works. All right, so it's one or the
other. Now, our Lord says to us that
that this salvation, this understanding that we have, it didn't come
by works, it doesn't come through the flesh, but it's revealed
in His grace. It's a spiritual birth. We're not going to know this
and believe our God based on just that natural seed of which
we come forth of Adam, with our natural understanding. We need
the Spirit of God to reveal this to us, to deliver us from that
body of sin in Adam, and to give us life and a new birth in Christ,
giving us life in the inner man, which is born of the spiritual
seed of Christ. And so, he says in John 1.13,
which were born, spiritually born, not of blood, It's not
going to be passed down to your kids from you. The Lord has to
reveal salvation in them, just as for you that believe, the
Lord had to reveal it in you. It doesn't matter whether your
parents believed or didn't believe. He reveals according to grace
as it pleases Him. So they were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh. It's not our free will that believes
apart from God. He's the one that gives true
spiritual faith, nor of the will of the man. We can't wish it
upon those that we love or care about. But rather, it's of God. It's a spiritual work that we
can't affect or alter or change. All we do is cry out and beg
for mercy, seeing just how impossible it is for our flesh to do it.
And so, by the moving of the Spirit, not only do we fall upon
our faces and cry out, but there will be a continued cry now. We'll continue to stay upon Him
and say, Lord, if you don't keep me, I know I'm falling away. And it could be a terrifying
thing when the Lord allows us to see that too and it can be
frightful and he does allow that at times so that we are humbled
and learn. Not to do him despite his grace,
but he does it all perfectly and excellently. So there's one
hope of salvation, one hope of salvation, and it's bound in
none but the Lord Jesus Christ, whom our God faithfully sent
into the world for this work. Hebrews 1.3 says, speaking of
Christ, who being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power when he had by himself purged our sins." See, he doesn't
need our participation. He doesn't need our works. He's
not waiting for us to do a little of our part so that then he can
be gracious. He's affecting the whole thing
even as we see what he accomplished when he by himself purged our
sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. That is in power and authority
and glory now executing and implementing the will of God in the hearts
of his people here on the earth without fail. He's doing it. So if by grace then it's no more
works, otherwise grace is no more grace. All right, so the
point is, God hath not cast away His people of Israel, which He
foreknew. That's how they're distinguished
from all of natural Israel. He has a people that He foreknew,
and He's not cast away His true spiritual Israel, for whom the
Son shed His blood and died in their place as their substitute,
as their surety. There's only one people, and
they're saved one way in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're the
ones that build up that wall and look at Jew and Gentile. But it's Ephesians 2, I believe,
where Paul speaks of that wall, that middle wall partition being
torn down by the blood of Christ. We're all saved one way. We're
one man in the body of Christ. All right? And in Galatians 6,
15, and 16, Paul writes, in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision,
all right? Back then, to speak of the Jews,
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
all right? But a new creature, and as many
as walk according to this rule, you that believe God and know
that it doesn't matter if I was naturally a Jew and circumcised
or naturally a Gentile and not circumcised or even a Gentile
who is circumcised, none of that is what saves us. And as many
as walk according to this rule, believing Christ is all my hope
and I have no confidence in the flesh, peace beyond them and
mercy and upon the Israel of God. All right, that's the distinguishing
factor. They're a spiritual seed, whether
of Jew or Gentile, that is the Israel of God. Those are the
people that love the Lord by His glory and power. And so they are the new creature
created by Christ. They are that Israel of God.
All right, and then we just close with Romans 11 7. What then,
Paul asks, what's the conclusion then? Israel. the nation of natural
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for." Right? Because he's doing it by the
works of the flesh. But the election, the remnant,
which is the spiritual seed of Israel, hath obtained it and
the rest were blind. And so, as you go through Romans
11, just carry that truth forward throughout the whole thing. Spiritual
Israel will not fail to save them. He hath not cast them off
whom he foreknew, but the rest, everyone outside of Christ, Israel,
whether they're a natural Jew or a natural Gentile, the rest
were blinded. And so you that do believe, even
though you feel it to be a tiny amount of faith, you that have
no hope in your flesh or in your works, keep looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ and thank God for that faith, that little bit of
faith, because if it's true, it'll remain fixed in Christ
and you'll keep looking to Him. And when you cease looking to
Him, He'll turn your eyes back upon Christ, the Savior, and
keep you looking to Him. So thank Him, and count it a
precious thing, because not all have it. As we'll see as we go
through, looking at the branches being broken off and removed,
and other ones grafted in, it's all of His grace and power. So
I pray that proves to be a help to us today, and as we go through
Romans 11. All right, let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank You, Lord, for Your Word. And we confess how
easily we can be confused in looking at Your Word, how easily
this flesh is confused and brings in things of the flesh. But Lord,
we look to You and ask that You would, by Your Spirit, teach
us the Gospel, and ever keep teaching us the Gospel, showing
us our need. Lord, let us not be discouraged
or careless with the revelation that You've given to us in Christ,
in Your Word. But Lord, make Him precious to
us. We ask that You would be gracious to us. and that the
faith which is given to us would indeed be found true in ever
looking to Christ our Savior. Lord, bless your people. Comfort
them that are suffering, them that are fearful, them that need
your help, Lord. That's a blessed thing. Those
that need you and feel it and know it to be true, Lord, bless
them and indeed help us to love one another and to serve you
here in the earth as you've purposed to do it in Christ. It's in His
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn is going to
be 255, Blessed Assurance. 255. so ? Assurance, Jesus is mine ? ?
For the pure taste of glory divine ? ? Bearer of salvation, purchase
of God ? ? Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood ? This is my song, praising my
Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending break from
above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. all is at rest. I in my Savior
am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking
above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my
story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long.