His promise is yea and amen,
and never was forfeited yet. Things future nor things that
are now, all things below or above, never can make his purpose
forego or sever his soul from his love. What God purposed to
do, he will do. Nothing God promises. If you
get that, you're going to get a lot about what the message
is about. Whatever God purposes to do for His people, it will
not fall to the ground. It will be done. This is all our hope. If one
promise can fail, we have no hope in any of the other ones. If God can fail in one promise,
then we have no hope of the other ones. But this is true. And what we're going to deal
with is that anybody that opposes what God promises to do and says
it's failed, let that man be a liar. Whatever God purposes
for his people, he's going to do it. And if you oppose that,
let God be true and you a liar. That's what Paul's going to say.
Take your Bibles and turn back with me to Romans chapter 3.
Romans chapter 3. We're going to start getting into a
lot of meat and just small verses. And everything
he's going to say in these first eight verses that I've already
read to you, these things are not going to be isolated here.
He's going to later expound all of them in other chapters. What
we say here this morning, believe me, he's going to revisit in
greater detail in later chapters. Now this chapter 3 can be divided
into three parts, and that's what I'm going to try to do.
I don't believe I'm going to get through all of the part of
this one, but we'll run at it again if we don't. The first
part is 1 through 8, and what Paul is dealing with these in
verses 1 through 8 are the objections of what he said before. Whenever
Paul makes a statement about God's justice and God's judgment,
there's going to be objections. And Paul is going to deal with
these objections in verses 1-8. In verses 9-20, Paul concludes
the results of all he had proven before about our nature. There's
none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understand. This is a conclusion of what he said. in the previous
chapters 1 and 2. And the third part is, I know
this is the most blessed part, that since we're not justified
by the law, how do we justify it? He's going to expound and
begin to expound justification by the faith of Jesus Christ.
Righteousness by the faith of Jesus Christ and righteousness
received by faith in Jesus Christ. And so we're going to deal with
the first part of this the objections. Now, Paul begins this question
with this objection. What advantage hath the Jew,
or what profit, is there in circumcision? Now listen, he's just said this
before, God's no respecter of persons. If you sin without the
law, you'll die without the law. If you sin in the law, you'll
die in the law. The conclusion is this. If you
sin, you'll die. I don't care who you are. Why?
Because God's justice is no respecter of person. He doesn't care where
you came from. It doesn't matter where you were
born. It doesn't matter your circumstances. Woe is me. Look at my circumstances. God
is not a respecter of that. His justice is strict. It is
true. He does not care if you're a
Jew or a Gentile. You will be judged by the same
standard. And so then the Jew comes along
and says, well then, what good was it for me to be a Jew? What good is it? What advantage?
Were not the Jews God's chosen people? Let's see they were. Did not God promise to save the
Jews? Yes, He did. Did God not bless the Jews with
many wonderful miracles and deliverances? Yes, He did. So in this, the advantage of
the Jew, Paul says this in verse 2, was much. You can't look at
the history of the Jews and not see that they had an advantage
over the Gentiles. God dwelt in a tent in their
very presence. Every time there are nations
that rose up against Him, God destroyed these other nations.
Look what He did to Pharaoh. Tell me that's not an advantage.
It was an advantage in every way. So to say that the Jews
had not received a greater blessing was false. Although these things
that were given to the Jews, listen, they did have an advantage
in God giving them these things, but this advantage did not have
any bearing on their satisfying the justice of God. None of these
advantages could justify them before the justice of God. And so then the reasonable doubt
would be, then what in the world is there, why were these, you
know, they had advantages, but what really good in the end did
they do? Well, I want you to understand
that the covenant that God made with the Jews, it's very important
you understand the nature of that covenant. It was an earthly
covenant. It was an earthly covenant. When
the Jews sought to honor God and His law, the covenant was,
I'll protect you. I'll keep you. But when they failed to obey,
failed to honor God and His sacrifices, and they neglected that, went
after other gods, what happened to them? God allowed their enemies
to come in and let them be captive. And what happened when Israel
turned again to the Lord is what? He delivered them as a nation,
as a people. It was an earthly covenant full
of earthly promises. God helped them, God delivered
them, and you can't help but see this in their history. But
that was not the greatest advantage the Jews had. The greatest advantage
that the Jew had is they had the gospel. They had the gospel
preached. Paul already stated this in chapter
1 that all of the prophets and the law spoke concerning the
Son of God, Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is saying. He
said they had advantage, look at that in verse 2, in every
way they had an advantage, physically. Physically they had an advantage
over the Gentile nations. God was there with them, God
protected them. But chiefly, here's the chief
reason that they had an advantage. Because to them was committed
the oracles of God, and what he means by that is the gospel.
The gospel of God. The gospel concerning his son. But what advantage really was
this unless it was mixed with faith? It was of no advantage. Today, listen to me. You that
are listening to this message, the gospel of Jesus Christ, you
have a great advantage over the rest of the world that are not
hearing this. They've not heard this. Many
millions of people have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now we say they have. They've
heard of Jesus Christ. They've never heard the gospel
of Jesus Christ. They've heard another gospel, which is not
another. They've heard a gospel of works and freewill religion,
which is another gospel. But they've not heard the gospel.
You have. You have. You've heard it. Andrew,
Audrey, how many times have you heard this? They've heard it
all their life. They've had a great advantage
over their peers in that they've heard this message. But really,
in the end, what advantage is it unless the Holy Spirit gives
them life? Same with the Jews. They had the gospel preached
to them, and that was a great advantage. But unless that gospel
was accompanied by the power of God and salvation, it was really to their detriment. So in the Jews, they had an advantage
not just nationally, but in that they had the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The gospel. Now Paul says this in Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 2. You can look at it later. He
says, unto them was the gospel preached as well as unto us. So when Abraham, when God spoke
to Abraham, what did he hear? He heard the gospel. God spoke
to Moses, he heard the gospel. When God spoke to Jacob, he heard
the gospel. I'm going to show this in just a minute, but they
all had the gospel preached. The Sabbath. Now Paul's going
to use that in Hebrews chapter 4, use that as an illustration.
The Sabbath day was a gospel message. It was. It was a message of rest, spiritual
rest, concerning Jesus Christ, our Sabbath. He's the Sabbath. When the Passover was done, what
was happening? The gospel was being preached
to them. When the great day of atonement comes, the gospel was
being preached to them. But unless that gospel was mixed
with the power of God, it fell on deaf ears. And so it is today. As the gospel goes out, it falls
wherever the spirit intends it to fall. You know this, that Jesus said
this. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Is that not clear? That's clear.
And that's true of the Jews in the Old Testament, as true as
it is right now. Except a man be born from above,
of God, by the will of God and by the power of God, except a
man be quickened from the dead, none of this is going to have
an effect. None of it. It takes the power of God to
do this. And so look in verse 3. Now Paul's
anticipating an objection again. He said, for what if some did
not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faithfulness of God without effect? In other words, here it is. God gave his word to the Jews. gave his gospel to the Jews.
They had much advantage in this. God swore to Israel that he would
save them. That's one of his promises. We're
going to see this over and over again this morning. God promised
to save Israel. Now you look at Israel and you
know this, not everyone of them believed. Does that make the promise of
God of none effect? That's what he's going to say,
God forbid it. And again, when you hear this, I want you to
know this, this is going to be handled again in Romans 9. He's planting
the seed here of the Word, but it's going to be handled in great
detail there. No, it doesn't make the Word of God affect because
they didn't believe. Why? Because not all Jews are Jews. That's what he's saying. Not
all Israel are of the descendants of Abraham. So when God swears
to save Israel, He did, in a physical sense, deliver the nation of
Israel. But in a greater sense, God is
declaring His promise to the spiritual Israel. The spiritual
Israel. So then, let us hold fast to
this. That's what He's telling us next. Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid that God be true and
every man a liar. Even so, let all men who bow
to the word of God understand that all of the promises
of God are true. None of the promises of God shall
fail. Everything that God promised
Israel, He will do for Israel. The question then is, who is
Israel? Paul dealt with that in the 28th and 29th verse. Look
at that. Look at the chapter 2, verse
28. He dealt with this already. He said, For he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. So all the promises of God are
not to the physical descendants of Abraham spiritually. They
had physical promises in an earthly covenant. And I'm going to tell
you why in a minute, why that was necessary. And God was faithful
to those promises, wasn't He? Did any of those promises physically
fail Israel? No, they never failed. God was
always faithful to his promises physically to Israel. But he's
telling you this, a Jew is not one that is born of Abraham.
But who is a Jew? He said, neither is the circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly and the circumcision of the heart, in the spirit and
not in the letter. In other words, whoever is born
again of God, They are the Israel of God. And nothing that God
promised the true Israel shall perish. And so even as God has
swore by a covenant to save Israel, to help Israel, to sustain Israel,
to keep Israel as His chosen people, He will not fail to do
it. But seeing some of the Jews had
not believed, and they had rebelled, is the word of God without grounds.
God forbid, God swore that all Israel should be redeemed, all
his chosen people, by the work of the Messiah. That was his
promise. And so why was it necessary for
Israel to be given this covenant? This earthly covenant? Why was
it necessary? It was necessary because of this.
The nation of Israel was a type of the true Israel of God, the
elect. That's all they were. The people
of Israel were a type of the Church of God. Now, I know that
people think that they're more than that. They're not. They're not. They are a type. Okay, let me
give you an illustration of Passover lamb. when they presented that
Passover lamb, we know this, that lamb was not the Savior
of Israel. We know that that lamb was a
type and a picture to them of Christ. Great Day of Atonement,
you see that priest, and he's dressed in all those white robes. He's got that breastplate on
with all the names and jewels of the children of Israel on
his breast. He's got this miter on his head. And he is confessing
the sins of the people on that scapegoat. The strong man carrying
the scapegoat away. He goes over here, puts on his
linen garments and kills that sacrifice. Takes the blood into
the very presence of God and sprinkles it on the ark. What
is that? Did that do away with any sin?
Not one sin. Paul tells us in Hebrews that
not a blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. What
did it picture? What was it a type of? All of
it was a type of Christ, wasn't it? He's the priest. He's the
straw man. He's the scapegoat. He's the
blood offering. He's the ark of the covenant.
The tabernacle. He's the veil. He's everything
in it. He's a type. Well, as the priest
was doing all this, who was the priest doing it for? He was doing
it for the nation. And the nation, my friend, in
and of itself, was only a type. So when you go back to the Old
Testament and you see the Jews, what do I see? I see me. In all
their failures, in all their sins, in all their troubles,
in all their difficulties, what is it? It's a type of me. It's
a type of you. We are the children of Israel. We are the true descendants of
Abraham, and Abraham, Paul says, is the father of us all, isn't
he? Why? Because how Abraham was saved
is how we're saved. That's what he means by that.
Abraham was saved how? By faith. He was saved through
faith in Christ. How are you saved? Huh? Same way? And you know why Paul
uses Abraham instead of Moses or any of the other ones? Because
Abraham was for the law, right? Abraham didn't have the law of
Moses. What good was the law of Moses
to Abraham? He didn't have it. Didn't need it. So it is with
you. We're saved without the law.
Paul's going to get to that in Romans 3, 21. We are saved without
the law. Isn't that great? It's wonderful
if you understand the law. If you understand the law, that's
great. If you don't understand the law, then, man, you say,
well, that sounds kind of... No, you don't understand the
law. The law says curse is everyone that continues not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. Cursed, cursed, cursed.
That's all law can say to me. Can't say good job. Can't say
I know you're trying your best. The law says cursed. So salvation
without the law. So then the objection is, well,
what's the advantage? Well, God gave him the gospel.
Well, what if somebody didn't believe? Did that mean God's
promises fall to the ground? No, because true Israel is not
Jew physically. He is one spiritually. Now I've
got five things. Five things that God promised
Israel that are true to everyone who believes in Christ. Five things God swears. And I like this, when God could
swear by none greater. I like the way God uses this
language, because he has to use language we understand. It's
as though God looked around and couldn't find anybody higher
than himself. And he said, well, there's nobody higher than me.
I guess I'll swear on me. And so then, if you understand
the gravity of that objection, if one promise falls to the ground,
God is not just. God is not holy. God is not true. See the ramifications of that
objection? It is a serious objection. Five things God swore about Israel
that are true of every one of us who believe. First of all,
the Jews are the elect people of God. Go to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy
7. Look at verse 6. God says to
the Jews, He said, Thou art unholy people unto the Lord. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee. This is why they're holy people.
This is why they're holy people. The Lord hath chosen thee to
be a special people unto himself above all people upon the face
of the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any other people, for you were the fewest of all people. But
because the Lord loved you and because he would keep his oath
that he had sworn to your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
of the land with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of the bondman from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." Nobody
ever denies, I mean, you find the Muslims, they'll deny it,
but most everybody in history, up until 1500, I guess, when
old Muhammad came and started spouting, nobody denied the Jews
were God's chosen people. Nobody could deny it. You couldn't
tell me by the deliverance of that people from the king of
Egypt that they weren't God's people. You couldn't deny that. They were God's chosen people.
In Isaiah 44 and verse 1, God says, Here, O Jacob, My servant
Israel, whom I have chosen. And the means of his choice.
He said, I didn't choose you because you were more. In fact,
you were the least. I didn't choose you because you
were the best or the brightest. Matter of fact, God says that
that people, the Jews, were the most stubborn people on the face
of God's earth. That's what He said, that you
hardened your heart more than anybody else. They were stiff-necked
people. So God didn't choose them because
they were good. God chose them out of His own grace and gave
them his earthly covenant, which people and covenant were only
a type of the truth. But what was true of them in
type is true of us in spiritual reality. You that believe on
Jesus Christ, the reason you believe is because you were chosen
of God. not based on anything that you
have ever done or ever would do to please God. Now this is
the reasoning of man, that God chose a people, He looked down
the portals of time and He saw what you would do, He saw a decision
you would make, and He based you, He based His election on
that thing, on that decision. That's a theology of free will
religion right there. What does that make God? That
he said he's not a respecter of persons. If his grace, if
his election was based on something you did, then he would be a respecter
of persons. He would be respecting something
you did and gave his salvation based on something you did. Paul
already told you he's not a respecter of persons. So God did not choose us who
are believers because we did anything to merit the favor of
God. We are His chosen people. Isn't this what Paul is going
to say in Romans 9? Look over Romans 9. Paul again
is dealing with this same objection six chapters later. Look at this. It says this, verse 6, not as
though the word of God had taken on effect. He said, look, these
Jews, they had great advantages. Well, he names these advantages.
That Christ was going to come from their line. That to them
were given the adoption, the glory, the covenants. But they
didn't believe. So what? Does that mean God's
word has none effect? Paul says, no. It's not as though
the word of God has none effect. Why? Because not all Israel are
of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they children. But God in Isaac said, but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. Verse 8, that is explaining it. They which are of the children
of the flesh are not the children of God, but they which are children
of promise are counted for the seed. And he goes on to further
explain that by these two, Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau. Was not Esau as much a son of
Abraham as Jacob? They were both sons of Isaac. And yet God made distinction
among these twins in the same womb. And God said this. He's going to preach a gospel
message for these two people. Look what he preaches. For the
children, verse 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works. How does one say it? According
to election or works? God says not works, but according
to election. but of him that calleth. It is
said to her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. When did God love Jacob? Before he was born. Before he
had done any good or evil. God says, I set my love on him. What about Esau? God said before
he had done any good or evil, I hate him. I know people like to lessen
this. It's really offensive. How could God do that? What the
believer says is, how in the world could God love Jacob? I
know how he could hate Esau. What I don't understand is how
he could love Jacob. Why? Because they were the same. There
were no difference in the children. And what does he say to this
objection? Is Aaron righteous with God? Because that's what
you're going to say. You're going to say, man, that's just not
right. You're going to judge God. Isn't that something? You're
judging God's will. You're judging God's love and
God's hatred based on your own feelings about the subject. Is
there unrighteousness with God? God forbid you'd say something
so foolish as that. He already told you, listen,
I'm going to have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Who's he going
to have mercy on? Whoever he wants to have mercy
on. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then,
what's the conclusion? Why is it like this? So then,
it is not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God
that showeth what? Mercy. Mercy. It's God's will. And so that you, you who are believers in Jesus
Christ, you that are believers in Jesus Christ, you're believers
because of God's sovereign election. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us. hath blessed
us, hath already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places. In other words, nothing on earth
can get to it. Why? Because it's in Christ. How did
He do that? According as He had chosen us.
That's how He did it. Chosen us in Christ. When? before the foundation of
the world. What's His purpose in choosing
us? That you should behold Him, and without blame before Him.
In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,
here's the means, by Jesus Christ. That's how He's going to do it.
By Jesus Christ, unto Himself, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us. He hath made us. You that
were chosen, listen, God hath made you accept. What did you
have to do with that? Name something, anything. Where
were you? You were in the mind and
purpose of God and God put you in Christ and gave you everything
in Christ. This is true of all Israel. So what was said of national
Israel in their election What did that have to do with
their... Did that receive any eternal blessings based on that
national covenant? No. Why? Many of them did not
believe it. Many of them died and perished
in their sins though they were Jews. So if the election of God
was solely for the nation of Israel, then God would have failed. But that's not His intent. His
intent was to testify of His election according to the covenant
of grace. for the elect. And so then this
is one thing. If any man opposes the election
of grace, I say this, let God be true and every man a liar.
I don't believe in election. Liar. I think I'll just take what God
said and you're a liar. Secondly, God testifies that
all of his chosen people are sinners. Isn't this clear in
the nation of Israel? Can't you see that the nation
of Israel were a nation of sinners? You know what? Jacob, being the
head of the nation, because that's what he calls all Israel, Jacob.
You know what Jacob means? Trickster. You know, when he
came out of the womb, what was he trying to do? He was trying
to grab a heel of his brother, trying to trip him up. He was
a surplanter. That's what he was. And didn't
his name ring true Now God promised him the birthright. God told
his mother, He said, I'm going to love the younger and I'm going
to reject the older. I love Jacob and I hate your
elder son. All providence was going the
opposite direction of that. Isaac loved Esau and was going
to give that covenant blessing to Esau. He was going to do it.
And so what Jacob and his mama, he's a mama's boy. Jacob's a
mama's boy. He and his mama teamed up and
they stole the birthright. He was a thief. He was a thief. And so what God says is true
about the man, Jacob, wasn't it also true about the nation,
Jacob? How many times did you read that
in judges? Every man did that which is right
in his own eyes. That's just, that's the way the
nation of Israel went. If they had any prosperity at
all, the next thing you know, they were doing exactly what
their heart dictated, which was to forget God. To abandon God,
even after the great miracles that he had done and wonders
he had done, the Jews were a stiff-necked, rebellious people. Even when
Christ came into the world, look at how they treated Christ. Who
they thought they loved, they wanted. Why? Why was Israel like
this? Because it's a picture of us.
It's a picture of us. You know, God calls in the book
of Hosea, God likens his people to a whore. Why? That's who we are. We are by nature religious whores
going after other gods. I like this God. Well, I'm going
to go after this one. Well, this God suits me over
here. I'm going to go after this one. I don't like that God of
election. He's too cruel. He's too cruel. I'm more compassionate than him. I like a God that just loves
everybody. Why? Because I think the God
of Scripture is too hard. So what do we do? By nature,
we go after the God we want. Why do you think opinion groups
are really popular in churches? Why do you think they're popular?
This is not popular, what we're doing here. It's not popular.
Why? Because I'm just declaring to
you something, and regardless of how you feel about it, what
you think about it, this is what God says, and I just leave it
there. Opinion groups, you walk around and say, well, this is
how I feel. This is what I think. And the other person says something
totally opposite of what you said. And you say, no, that's
good. What you said is good, but this
is what I think. This is what I feel. And what do they do?
They set that aside and they just base it on how they feel
and what they think. Why? Because this is our nature.
We are sinners, a whoring after other gods. David said this, it's true of
every one of us, in sin did my mother conceive me. We all came forth from the womb,
what? Speaking lies. Andrew, Audrey, did I teach you
how to lie? You sure? I didn't set you aside and say,
okay son, let me, baby, let me tell you how to lie. I didn't
do it! Because they already knew that
within themselves and so did I. So did you. This is how we're
born. A man is born into trouble as
the sparks fly upward. A man drinketh iniquity like
water. When you're thirsty, there's
nothing better than a cold glass of water. That's how people,
that's how we think about sin. Sin is a cold drink of water. Paul says later in Ephesians
2 that we were born dead. This is true of us. Isaiah, he
says of Israel, from the sole of the foot to the crown of the
head, there is no soundness. There's wounds and bruises and
putrefying sores. That's who we are from birth.
So what God said about national Israel is true spiritually of
spiritual Israel. We're born dead. We have no capacity
or understanding to choose God. This is the idea of false religion,
that you have some ability left, isn't it? that there's some spark
of life left that can be attracted to by eloquent phrases or music
or lights and shows. They put these things on because
they believe that they can manipulate you because you have some spark
of life left. God says you're dead. That there's no spark. There's
no life. None. We are totally ruined because
of our father, Adam. We all died in him. Paul's going
to get that Romans five. Wherefore, as by one man sinning
in the world and death by sin, what happened? Death passed.
Death passed. My parents had me and death passed
to me. I had my children and death passed
to them. If they have their children,
death will pass to their children. Why? Because we all died in Adam. This is true of national Israel.
It's true spiritually of us. Thirdly, all true Israel will
be saved by Jesus Christ. This is the promise of God. Was this not clearly preached
throughout the Old Testament that the Messiah should come
and save Israel? Now, I have many texts that I
can run to and show you, and we could flip all day long and
show you these things. It is very clear that God promised
that Messiah should come and deliver Israel. This was the gospel that was always preached
to them a message of substitution. Isn't that right? Passover. Again, Passover was
a picture of Jesus Christ, wasn't it? It was a picture of substitution. That the death of the Lamb would move God to pass over his
people. That was preaching Christ, wasn't
it? who is the Passover Lamb. The Great Day of Atonement was
celebrated and taught the need of a high priest. The high priest
couldn't do Great Day of Atonement without a high priest. And what
was the high priest for? It was to testify of the Messiah. That he was to come and be the
high priest. The manna that fell from heaven.
What was that a picture of? That was a picture of Jesus Christ
coming in the flesh. Isn't that what he said in John
6? I am the bread from heaven. That manna was only a picture
of me. And so every prophecy concerning
the salvation of Israel was to picture Christ. God said this to Israel, Fear
not, Isaiah. He said, Fear not, for I have
redeemed thee. I have redeemed me. I think of Abraham. Our Lord
said, when Abraham rejoiced to see my day and saw it and was
glad, I know it was the day that he offered his son. When he offered
his son, he had Isaac all tied up, ready to come down with a
knife. And the angel of the Lord stopped
him and says, no, behold, the Lord has provided a sacrifice. And that ram was caught in the
thicket. What do you see? substitution. Don't you? You see the one that's worthy
of death and a substitute taking his place. It's a picture of
Jesus Christ. Behold the truth that Jesus Christ
alone was purposed to be the Savior of Israel. He is the And
Isaiah says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
Isn't that Christ? A child born, a man, a son given,
the eternal Son of God? And what's his purpose? The government
shall be upon his shoulder. He's responsible for the salvation
of all Israel. That's the government that is
mentioned. Israel. He's responsible. Therefore, Jesus Christ is all
the righteousness, sanctification, and wisdom of Israel. Why? Because God before promised he
should be. But now then look at this, you
who believe, see the blessedness of this, that the one who was
promised to come has already come. The one promised to make
the offering has already made the offering. The one promised
to be our righteousness has already obtained the righteousness of
God. And so when God promised to save
all Israel, did His word fall to the ground? No. Our Lord said that as many as
the Father had given Him, He should lose how many? Nothing. Isn't that what God promised
Israel? He'd lose nothing? He said the Messiah would save
them. So when Christ came and fulfilled
that, did He lose anyone? No. The truth is established
that He actually saved everyone. Now listen, I know when you believe
you experience salvation, but when were you saved? When were you saved? I think
it's 2 Timothy, he says this, that we were saved and then called. You were saved in the purpose
of God, but you were actually saved when Jesus Christ offered
himself as sacrifice to God. And God accepted that sacrifice.
The minute he gave up the ghost, you were saved. Eternally saved. Isn't that what he said? It is finished. What does that mean? It means it's finished. What's
left to do when something's finished? Nothing. Nothing. Christ is our
Savior. Go to Hebrews 10. I'm going to
move on. Hebrews 10. See it? as a fulfillment of the promise
to the Jews that he would save Israel. Now look at Hebrews 10
and see this. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book that is written of me to do what? He says in verse 7, to do thy will. Well, I already told you the
will of God was to save his elect people. To save Israel, that's
the will of God. To save that worthless bunch
of sinners, yes. That's God's purpose. So Christ
said this, the volume of the book is written of me. When you
take this book, the first thing you need to try to find is Christ. I know you want to look for yourself.
That's our natural tendency, isn't it? Cheryl and I were talking,
she says, you know, I had that temptation all my life to look
at the Psalms and look at me. I saw David's trouble and I saw
my trouble. I didn't think to think it was Christ. Oh, think
that first, and then you're able to apply it to yourself. That's
the way it works. He says, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God, which was to save the people. And he says this,
look at it. Verse 10, by the witch will, by the witch will,
the will he accomplished, we are what? Sanctified, made holy,
made holy, made holy. When were you made holy? Well,
you were made holy by the will of God. But really, it was accomplished
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. How many times
were you sanctified? How many times did he die? Once. For all. Every priest stands
at daily ministry, and all the time, the same sacrifice should
never take away sin. But this man, this man, after
he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down at
the right hand of God. henceforth expecting his enemies
be made his footstool, for by his one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Perfected it forever. The fourth
thing the Word of God testifies of the Jews is that none of them
will be lost. None of them shall be lost. Now, God is speaking Go to Isaiah
43. Look at this. Isaiah 43. What
does God promise concerning His people? That none of them shall
be lost. All of them will be called. Isaiah
43. Look at verse 1. It says, Now
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, that form thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Thou art mine. Now listen. To you that have been called,
You that have been called, this is a blessing, this is yours,
this is not to the nation of Israel, this is to you. Fear
not! Alright. Who among us does not
have fear? Who doesn't need to understand
what God says, fear not. What is the cause of peace and
cessation of fear? It's this. I have redeemed thee. And then
what did he do? I have called thee. That's the
evidence of my redemption, isn't it? What's the evidence of your
redemption? How do you know you're a Jew?
A true Jew. How do you know? You know this
because God called you. He said, I called you by name.
What's your name? Jacob. Trickster. Surplanter. Sinner. Know what he called you? When
you heard sinner, you didn't look around. You didn't think
of your cousin or your brother or your family that's not at
church. When God the Spirit came to you
and He said, guilty, you knew you were the sinner. That's what that publican said,
isn't it? Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. And that's what every sinner,
when he's called by name, he recognizes. Look what he says. To you that have been called,
when you pass through the waters, I will be with thee. Through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall a flame kindle
in thee. Why? For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. That's why. And what have I given? I've given the whole world for
you. It's hard for us to wrap our
mind around it, but God has moved nations and people and wars have
been fought so that you'd be able to sit here and hear His
Word. Isn't that something? Kings have risen and fallen so
that God's Word should prevail to call you. And notice what
He swears in this. Look, He said, Fear not, for
I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I shall say the north,
give up, and the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. How many?
Everyone. Everyone that is called by my
name. Why? I have created him for my
glory. I formed him. This is our hope. Is it God that called us? He saved us. He redeemed us. That's why I have any confidence
at all that I belong to Him. And I have confidence in this,
that those that are not yet called will be called. Why? Because God is not going to neglect
to save Israel. That's what He promised in the
Old Testament. That's what He said He's going to do. I'm going
to call my children, and none of them shall fail to come. Go to John 6, read that with
me. 638, he said, for I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. What's the will? And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all he had given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeeth the
sun. When God calls you, what do you see? You see the sun. You see your sinner in need and
you see the Son. And what do you do? You believe
on Him. Is that accidental? Is that accidental? No, He said,
everybody the Father gave me, they're going to do this. I like
this in the covenant, don't you? I will and they shall. I will
be their God and they shall be my people. Any doubt in that?
Was there any doubt you'd ever believe? I look at my life and I go, man,
you know, there's, I don't know how in the world I believed other
than God did it. But there was no chance of me
not believing. God swore to call his children,
and will his word fall to the ground? No. Anybody that says God made salvation
possible as a liar. He didn't make it possible. He
saved. And the calling is not a chance. It's on purpose. And God is going
to call everyone He chose and everyone that Christ died for.
And this is the promise of God to Israel that None of us shall
fail, this is the fifth thing, none of Israel shall fail to
enter heaven. Why? God promised. God promised. Go to Ezekiel 36 and I'll close.
Ezekiel 36. Verse 21. God said, But I had pity for
my holy name, which the house of Israel did profane among the
heathen. Therefore, saying to the house of Israel, Thus saith
the Lord, I do not this for your sakes. God's telling you he's not doing
this for you. Not saving you because of you. I do this for
my own holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen,
whether you win. I will sanctify my great name,
which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned
in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am
the Lord, saith the Lord God, when? When I shall be sanctified
before you in your eyes. They're going to know it when
I save a wicked people like you. You that profane my name, they're
going to know I'm God by this, when I save you. They're going
to know it's by grace when I save you. Notice what he promised. For I will take you from among
the heathen and gather you out of all the countries and will
bring you to your own land. Now listen to this. He did this
physically for national Israel. He delivered him out of the captivity
of the Babylonians and he brought them back to their own physical
land. Now what does that have to do with you and me? Spiritually,
everything. Because what God swore to do
for Israel in bringing them back to Zion, Zion's a picture of
what? Heaven. What does God swear to do to
you? I swear that none of my elect for whom Christ died shall ever fail to reach heaven. Isn't that what the hymn writer
said? He said that none of God's promises shall fail. Why? Because that's true. What God
says of Israel says of you and me. He swears, I will bring you
to your own land, which is what? Your inheritance. I was looking
outside the other day and I told Cheryl, I said, you know we own
all this. Just walk around, everything's
yours. It's just not ready for you yet. God's gonna burn it
all up and make it all nice for you. It ain't fixed up yet. But
it's all yours. It's all yours. It's your inheritance. He said, I'm gonna sprinkle you
with clean water and you shall be clean from all your filthiness,
from all your idols. Isn't this a blessed promise?
and will give you a new heart. And a new spirit will I put within
you. That's a new birth. And I will put in my take away
the stony heart, come out of your flesh and give you a heart
of flesh, a heart of feeling, a heart of love, a heart of compassion,
a heart of faith. That's what he's telling you
I'm going to give you. I will put My Spirit within you and
cause you to walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do
them. What are the statutes and judgments? Faith and love. That's
your statutes and judgments that God gives you to obey. Faith
and love. That is our law. And you shall dwell in the land
I gave your fathers and you shall be My people and I will be your
God. Go to Revelation. Isn't that exactly what He says?
He says it is done. He makes a new heaven and a new
earth. And in this new heaven and new earth, there is no sin.
Now, you sit down for a minute and try to contemplate a world
without sin. Can you imagine such a place?
I can't even... I don't know what that is. I
have no experience in a world without sin. You and I both.
When Andrew was little, he'd say, you know, heaven's got to
be boring. Yeah, because these things in the world, all we know
is sin. We don't know the joy of being
sinless. We will. We will. Why? Because God said, I will, that
you inherit this thing that Christ married. And you shall inherit
it. Are you filled with fears and
anxieties like me? Doubts? You know God chose Israel. You
know Christ redeemed Israel from their sins. You know the Spirit
of God's called Israel. You believe on Jesus Christ.
You are the called of God. What will prevent God from giving
you what He promised? Name it. Anything. Because if
something prevents you from receiving what God promised, God's Word
failed. And that's exactly the objection
in our text, that God's Word somehow failed because other
people didn't believe. No, everyone in the elect will believe. I've
told you many times, Spurgeon was asked, why preach a gospel?
If God's only going to save the elect, and Spurgeon said, sir,
if you'd kindly point them out to me, I'll only preach to them.
I don't know who they are. I just know that God has them.
They're out there. And they're going to come. They're
going to come. And none of us shall fail. And
so when you fear and you're troubled, I'm going to give you this. Look
at Isaiah 41. Look at Isaiah 41. And what he
promises here is yours. What he says here is yours. Fear
not, I'm with you. Does it feel like he's with you?
At times it doesn't. At times it feels like he's abandoned
me. Is God's word untrue? Let God
be true, and every man a liar. He's with me. Including this
person. If this person doesn't believe
it, I should be a liar. God's with me. Listen to what
he says. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Is he my God? He
says he is. Does his word fall to the ground?
Let God be true, and every man a liar. I will strengthen thee,
yea, I will help thee. Will he strengthen me? Will he
help me? Is God a liar? No. Let God be
true, and every man a liar. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. What is that? Christ. Christ. I will uphold you by Christ. I will save you by Christ, and
none of you shall be lost. None of you. So what advantage
is being a Jew? Much, in every way. If you are
a Jew, which is one inwardly, there's much advantage in there.
What is our advantage? The promises of God he gave to
us shall not fail, regardless of what happens to
us in time and experience. You are the chosen. You are the
redeemed. You are the called. And you will
not fail to continue to believe until he comes. Let our hearts find peace in
this. God says, my word go forth out
of my mouth and it will accomplish what? The thing wherein to ascend
it. I do pray God bless this to you.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
your blessing and mercy, and I beg you to pour out your grace
upon us in spirit. I beg you to reveal the truth
of your covenant to us. Let us always be looking to Christ
as all our confidence. And forgive us our sins, and
I beg you this in Jesus' name.