All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Romans chapter nine. We're gonna look at Romans
chapter eight for a little bit, and then we're gonna go into
Romans chapter nine, but my main text will be chapter nine, verses
one through eight. And the title of this message,
A Lesson of Love. A Lesson of Love. Specifically, first of all, the
love of God toward his people. And then, the love of his people
toward God and toward each other. And so we're gonna begin with
this, and then as Paul goes on in Romans chapter nine, we're
also going to look at who these people are that love God. Who
are those that God loves? Who are those that love God?
Who are those that love each other? They are the true Israel
of God. So those are gonna be my two
points, and the first one is this, a lesson of love. A lesson
of love. The Apostle Paul, in chapter
eight, reaches the pinnacle of joy, the joy of every believer. He reaches toward the end of
this chapter, it is like a, The Spirit of God is working
toward a crescendo. And at the end of chapter 8,
Paul reaches the very height of the believer's joy in this
world, in this. There's no condemnation. There's
no condemnation to those who are in Christ because Christ
has perfected the law in us. He's given us his Holy Spirit.
All things work together for good to those that love God.
Listen, he says we were predestinated. We were chosen and predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. And those He predestinated,
He also called. And those He called, He also
what? Justified. And those He justified, He also
what? Glorified. You see the crescendo?
You see how it builds? It builds and it builds on good
things that God has done. these good and wonderful things.
He has justified us. What a blessed thought this is. You know what that means? You're
innocent. That's what he means. Before the eyes of a holy God,
you who are in Christ, you are innocent of all charges of sin. That's what it means to be justified.
Therefore, we are in union with Christ by faith, have this promise
that God has justified us. He has decreed, He has declared
us to be holy and without sin. And so the question comes in
verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who? If God justified, God who's
holy, who can't stand sin, who must punish sin, if God looks
at His people and says, holy, who then could lay a charge to
us? God said you're holy. Does it
matter what anyone else says? Because He's the judge. God said
you're holy. Who then could lay anything to
our charge? But I tell you this, you and I know this, we still
live in this body of sin. We still live in this old nature,
it's full of sin, and we daily feel the corruption. We daily
feel the vileness of our nature, and like Job, standing before
God, he said, behold, I am vile. We confess that. That's a true,
just as much as it's true God justified me and I'm without
sin, it is just as true that I sin all the time. I, an old
man, cannot do anything but sin. I like the way Todd put it. He said, you cannot not sin. That's just, that's the best
way to describe it. You cannot, an old man can do nothing but
sin. And because of this flesh, we
are constantly accusing and being accused by our own conscience.
And though we charge ourselves and confess our sins, because
that's another thing John said, if you say you have no sin, what?
You make God a liar. Truth's not in you. But we confess
our sins and he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. We have this promise then that
none of our sins, None of our sins shall ever be able to condemn
us before God, for He faithfully and justly constantly forgives
and cleanses us daily. Constantly. John said, He cleanseth
us from our sin. That is a perpetual cleansing. And last time we were in this
chapter, you remember, We looked at the four pillars of justification. Four pillars on which just, the
foundation of our justification, the source of our justification
is the election of grace. Who shall lay anything to charge
of God's elect. God justified his elect. But
here's the pillars on which this justification is founded. First
of all, the death of Christ. Look at that in verse 34. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. There's
one. The second pillar is he is risen
again. The third pillar is he is at
the right hand of God. And the fourth one is he may
ever liveth to make intercession for us. Now, you get this. If God justified you, if Christ
died for you, and God proved his acceptance by raising him
from the dead, if God set Christ, your representative, on the throne
of heaven and gave him all power to execute this salvation, to
perform this salvation, and he ever lives as a high priest to
make intercession for you, who then can condemn you? No one. Now what is the root cause of
all of this justification and all of this predestination and
all of this glorification and this calling and this keeping?
What is the root cause of that? One word, love. Love. That's why Paul said in this
very next portion, look, who can separate us from what? The love of Christ. the love
of Christ. I'll tell you this, not all your
troubles, not all your difficulties, not
all your sicknesses, not all your, your, uh, poverty. Nothing in death, nothing in
life, no power of devils, no power of men will ever be able
to separate you from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus.
That's what Paul said. Who shall separate us? He says
this, I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded neither death nor
life and anything in between shall be able. Now you listen,
able. That doesn't mean they ain't
gonna try. but they're not gonna be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Oh, listen, this is the
foundation of our hope, love. Not your love for God, but God's
love to you. Remember, God first loved us. We love him because he first
loved us. I like that hymn, oh, how firm
a foundation, you saints of the Lord. that is laid for your faith
in his excellent word. What more can he say to you than
what he has said? You who for refuge to Jesus have
fled in every condition, in sickness and health, in poverty's veil
or abounding in wealth, at home or abroad, on the land, on the
sea, as thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be? Fear
not, I am with thee. Oh, be not dismayed. I am thy
God, I will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woes shall not thee overflow. For I will be with thee, thy
troubles to bless, and sanctify thee in thy deepest distress. Why, I have loved thee. Is that a lesson of love? Is
that a lesson in love? His love, nothing shall separate
us. Why? Because of our union with
Christ, because we are in Christ and God delights in Christ. He
delights in us who are in Christ. Behold then, John says this,
behold, what manner of love is this that the Father bestowed
upon us? What manner, have you considered
what manner of love this is? Have you considered how great
this love is? What manner of love that God
would bestow upon such wretches, such sinners as we are by nature,
that God would even think of us to set his love on us. I believe this was Hawker, I
can't remember exactly who this was, I copied it. He said, mark
this astonishing mercy, both in the love of God as it is in
itself and the manner of it, as it is shown to us that we
poor creatures born in the Adam nature of sin should be called
the sons of God. What manner of love? hath the
Father bestowed upon us. Now then that's a lesson in love,
isn't it? Is there any greater love than
the love of God for his saints? No, because he loves us even
as he loves Christ. How much does the Father love
Christ? Now you listen, how much does
the Father love himself? Because that's the same, isn't
it? Oh, that God would give us a glimpse of the depth and the
height and the breadth and the width of the riches of the love
of God in Christ Jesus. Just give us a glimpse, Lord,
please. Just a small glimpse of how much, how much you love. But now in chapter nine, the
apostle descends from these heights of our assurance to look now
with a compassion upon those who have no claim upon the wonders
of God's justification. Paul turns now to, in his heart
full of assurance, he turns now toward the lost brethren of his
flesh. Look what he says now, I say
the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness
in the Holy Ghost, that I have a great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart, for I could wish myself were a curse from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Now, as we come from the heights
and the depths and the breadth of God's love, I want you to
see, if we learn the lesson of God's love, this is what it'll
produce. It'll produce compassion for
others. It'll produce a love in us toward
the lost. Toward the lost. A lesson of
compassion. If we learn the lesson of God's
love, it should produce compassion. If it doesn't, we've not learned
it. If we have any pride at all from
the love of God, we've not learned it right. We've not seen the
greatness of God's love. Paul says in verse one, I say
the truth and his conscience and the Holy Ghost bearing him
witness that he has a great heaviness and longing for the salvation
of his kinsmen. You know, later on in chapter
10, if you just look over there across the page of chapter 10,
Paul says this, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is that they might be saved. Here his heart is so
grieved for the souls of the lost. He says, back in our text,
he said, look, if this is possible, look back, look at verse three.
And you tell me if this is not love. He said, for I could wish
myself a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. He said, if it were possible,
if it were possible to acquire their salvation by my damnation,
then a curse me from Christ and let them live. And we know this, no such thing
is possible. He is He's using this as a metaphor
for his love. He understands there's no possibility
that that would save them. Even if he could be a curse from
Christ, it would not benefit them at all. If such a thing could be because
of our own suffering, we could be a curse from Christ, we would
only get what we deserve. And we couldn't save anyone else.
But I want you to see that Paul had the same heart and mind of
Christ, didn't he? Isn't that what Christ did? Christ
bore the curse so that we should go free. And Paul's saying, I
have the mind of Christ. I have the heart of Christ for
the lost. If we learn God's love of right,
we'll have a heart for the lost. Now I can't really enter into
saying that. If you're being honest, could
you say I could wish myself a curse for anybody? I tell you, God's gotta give
us that kind of love, doesn't he? What did God, we would learn
the love of God so that we too might have this love for the
lost. This desire to see men come to
Christ Now consider for a moment the love he had for these brethren. Paul had a continual, a perpetual
sorrow, a heaviness in his heart because of their lost estate,
and it was his love for them that moved him to desire their
salvation. Should this not be the love and
zeal for Israel? His love and zeal for the lost
Should this not be the heart and mind of every one of us,
it should be. May God be pleased to cause us
to love like this. It's truly shameful for us who
are objects of God's eternal immutable love to neglect or
fail to show compassion toward the lost. It's a shameful thing, isn't
it? Listen, if we're not compassionate to the lost, it's a shame. We should be the most compassionate
people. If we've learned what salvation
by grace really is, we of all people should be the most abased
people. Understanding that our salvation
was not by any merit of our own. but simply by the love and grace
of God. Believer in Christ, does not
our father have an elect people in this world? A chosen people,
objects of his love, who he has yet to bring? Yes, he has a people. What do you think I'm doing here,
doing this? I wouldn't preach if I didn't
believe in the election of grace. Because then it would be on you
to be saved or it would be on me to help you. And you're just
as helpless as I am to save you. I can't save you. I can't save
myself. I know this. God's elect are
out there and they must hear the gospel. That's why I'm preaching.
The Lord Jesus Christ who laid down His life, who did He lay
it down for? The sheep. The sheep. Now let me ask you this, will
he fail to bring one of his sheep home? Will he miss one? The answer is no. Go to John chapter 10, look at
this. Tell me what Jesus, how he sees his sheep, how he loves
his sheep. He laid down his life for his
sheep, not for the goats. But for his sheep, John chapter
10 in verse 16, he said, other sheep, sheep that were given
to him, sheep that he purchased with his own blood, other sheep
I have, which are not of this fold. Listen to this. Them I
also, what? Must bring. And notice the result
of that. And they shall. hear my voice
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Does it seem doubtful
that he will miss? Is this a doubtful case? No,
Christ said, I must bring them and they shall hear my voice.
And every one of them shall come into this and there'll be one
fold and one shepherd. Go to John chapter six. Look
over a couple of pages, John chapter six and verse 37, he
said this, all that the father has given me, listen, shall come
to me. You see the election of grace
there, don't you? All that the father giveth me shall come to
me. And what does he say about this?
Here's the comfort to doubtful sinners. Look, are you a sinner? in need of free mercy. Then come to Christ. That's what
we say. The scriptures call you, come
to Christ. And listen to this, everyone
that comes to Christ, he says this, to him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. Why? This is the reason. I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. Well, what's that will? Verse 39, and this is the
father's will, which has sent me, that of all he hath given
me, I should lose, what? How many? Nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
that seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise Him up at the last day." Well, how will these elect, these
redeemed sheep come to Christ? How will they believe on him?
What is the means God has chosen by which his sheep are called?
They shall hear my voice and they shall believe. Now, how
shall they believe? What is God's means, believer? How were you called? How did
you hear the voice of the Son of God? You heard it through
the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You've heard it
through the preaching of this book. to you. You heard Him. You didn't hear the preacher,
you heard Him. The Spirit of God spoke to you
and said, live, and you lived. The Spirit said, believe, and
you believed. He gave you power and strength
to believe on Him. This is also seen, this means
is shown, look in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Look at 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 13. The scripture says we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. There's a love of God in it.
What's the manifestation of this love? Because God hath from the
beginning chosen you. There's election. Chosen you
to what? To salvation, which was accomplished
only by Jesus Christ. But how is this salvation then
brought to you? Through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. It is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies
you, that makes you holy and gives you a new nature. And then
what? He gives you faith to believe the truth. The truth of Christ. That's who the truth is, to believe
on Christ. But how did this happen? Where
unto He called you? What? By our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this is the
means God has chosen. It's the preaching of the gospel.
And so then, God has a people that will be saved. He manifests
that love of his to them. And they, in turn, in love, manifest
his love through the preaching of the gospel. Why? Because we
desire that all his people come in. That's what Paul's saying
here. I love my kinsmen. I want them
to believe. I know God's got a people among
my kinsmen. I want them to believe. I was talking to a young man today
about the salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is completely
the election of grace and the success of Christ at Calvary
and the effectual work of the Holy Spirit. And he said, well,
if only God's gonna save the elect, then why preach? Because
God told me to. I don't need anything else. I
don't need to reason this out. God commanded me to preach. And
I know this, I told him what Spurgeon said. A man said, why
preach? And Spurgeon said, sir, if you would kindly point out
the elect to me, I will only preach to them. I know only the
elect are going to come, but I don't know who they are. That
way I love everybody. I should manifest the love of
God in preaching the gospel. That's how you manifest the love
of God, preaching the gospel. And I'll tell you this, my Lord
told me, love those that hate you and despitefully use you
and persecute you. Is that vague? Is that ambiguous? Can you find
a loophole? Even as our Lord pleaded for
those who crucified him. Father, forgive them. So let us have the mind of Christ
and forgive those who cause us suffering and pain. Because those very Jews that
Jesus prayed for were no doubt His. And no doubt the Father
forgave them. They were His. Even so might those that hate
us be His. This is why we should love them
because they might be His. You have no idea who His are. This is why we're commanded to
love all men. We're commanded to love them.
How are we to love them? Preach the word. That's not what
they want. That's not how men view love,
is it? They think you're hating them. They wanna plug their ears and
run from you. They will despise you. They will
ridicule you. They will persecute you for doing
it. But I'm telling you, that's the
only way you can manifest love to them. That's what Paul did
to his kinsmen, didn't he? He didn't say, I love them, and
kept his mouth shut. I love them. Let me preach to
him. Isn't that what he prayed in
Ephesus? He said, pray for me that utterance
may be given, that I may speak boldly. He didn't pray, Lord,
release me from my chains. He didn't pray, Lord, kill those
Jews for doing this to me. He said, may utterance be given. Why? He had a heart for the lost. Believer, make no mistake about
this. We're not here to fulfill the lust of our flesh. We're not here to have jobs.
We're not here to have families. We have one purpose. Preach the
word. Further the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are here for the elect's sake.
The elect's sake. That's what we're here for. We are to preach the gospel,
support the ministry, and further the gospel of Jesus Christ, so
that the elect of God should be called, and so those that
are redeemed in Christ should believe on Him. That's our purpose
here. If you have any other purpose,
you've missed your purpose. You're wrong. If you're a believer
in Christ, That's our purpose. As long as we lived in this world,
that's our purpose. How do you know that? Okay, go
to 2 Timothy. Go to 2 Timothy. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2.
2 Timothy chapter 2, look at verse
8. The apostle said, remember that Jesus Christ, the seed of
David, was raised from the dead according to what? My gospel. Now what's the result of his
preaching the gospel? Look at this, wherein I suffer
trouble. What do you think is going to
happen when you preach the gospel in love? When God gives you an
understanding of His love and you are moved with compassion
toward lost men and you preach the gospel of Christ, what's
going to happen? You will suffer. He said, I suffered
trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. But listen
to this, the word of God's not bound. Consider the gospel to
always get you in trouble. It'll always get you in trouble.
Look at verse, I'm sorry, in 2 Corinthians 2, 14, the apostle
said this, now thanks be to God, which caused us to triumph. Even
though you're in trouble, listen, When the gospel's preached, it's
always victorious. It always gets the job done. Listen, tonight, some people,
disregarding everything I say, don't have any interest, don't
have, you see what the gospel's doing? It's blinding you. And other people are receiving
it and believing it and trusting it. You see, the gospel's doing
what God wants it to do. It will either harden you or
it will save you. It will either comfort you or
terrify you. But whatever it does, we're victorious. We are a saver of life unto life
to some and a saver of death unto death to others. But why
do we suffer? Why are we here? We grow in grace,
we learn of the gospel, we draw closer to Christ through our
suffering and our chaste chastisement. But what do we do with this growth?
You growing? Scott, you growing? Are you growing
in grace and knowledge of Christ? All these years we've been hearing
the gospel. We've been growing. What do we do with this growth?
Keep it to ourselves? No. We bear fruit unto God. We're not here to keep this growth
and this affection of Christ to ourselves. We're to have compassion
on men. We're to preach the gospel. Look at verse 10 of 2 Timothy
there, it said, therefore, I endure all this trouble, for what? For
the elect's sake. So what are you here for? It's
a lesson in love, friends, what are you here for? Preach the
gospel. that they may also obtain salvation. What he's saying, he's saying
there's some that haven't yet obtained it. And so what am I
here? I'm here for the elect's sake. I'm not here for my sake. I'm
here for your sake. You're here for my sake. We're
here for one another. We're here for God's people.
May God the Holy Ghost then teach us his lesson. Give us such compassion
and zeal for the lost. Even because God's elect are
among them and yet to be called, Jesus said, other sheep I have
of this fold, them I also, what? Must bring. They're not there
yet. We weren't there yet, were we? He was talking about us,
wasn't he? He said, them I also must bring. I also must bring,
Scott. I also must bring, Cheryl. I also must bring you. He was talking about you. How did he bring us? He brought
us through someone's compassion. He taught someone his love and
that love was manifest through the preaching of the gospel to
us and we believed. Should we not then do that for
others? You bet. If you've learned love,
that's what it should be. And not only love for the lost,
but listen to this, love for one another. Isn't this the law
of the believer? A new commandment I give unto
you. What? Love one another. How much are you to love me? love one another even as I have
loved you. Oh, how short. I weep because I fall so short
of that love. to love one another as he loved
us. We must never compromise the
gospel. And when I talk about love, when
I talk about having compassion, a lot of people think, well,
I don't want to hurt people's feelings. And so what they do
is they take the gospel and they give the gospel light. They say
it's a gospel. I don't want to start out with
the election. It's just too hard. It's just
too cold. No, just because you don't know
election. If you understood election, you would understand love. If there were no election, there
would be no manifestation of the love of God. Election's a
manifestation of the love of God. No, we never compromise
the gospel when we preach it to men. We never hold back the
gospel. That's not love, friends. That's not love. Love tells the
truth, even when it hurts. I was talking to that young man
I was telling you about earlier, and I said, you know, I'm not
here to coddle you on the way to hell. That wouldn't be love,
would it? I remember when I was a young
boy, my mom and dad knew the truth, and I was lost. And I
was afraid, I was scared. I was sure any minute that the
bottom would fall out and I would drop off into hell. And you know
what my mom said? It'll be all right, it'll be
all right. God loves you, it's all right. Now she had sympathy,
she had compassion, but it was wrongly placed because there
was no evidence of that. There was no evidence God loved
me until God manifest himself to me. Then I knew he loved me. We're not, compassion is telling
the truth and it's not lying to people, friends. It's not
compromising the gospel. We don't compromise the gospel.
Remember what happened when Peter went off track? Did Paul compromise
with Peter and say, well, I'll talk to him later? No, he withstood
him to the face. Remember, he didn't eat that
ham sandwich. He had that ham sandwich there and he went away
with those Jews because he didn't want to offend the Jews. Well,
that wasn't love to the Jews, and it definitely wasn't love
to the Gentiles. And so Peter said, you're wrong
for doing that. You're putting them back under
the law. Now, that's love, isn't it? And you know what? Peter
understood that and repentantly turned from that. He didn't do
that anymore. That's how we're to love, friends.
Preach the Word. Declare the love of God in Christ.
Salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. I'll tell you
this, love your weaker brethren. You know what weaker brethren
are? I know the world has it backwards, and even believers
have it backwards. They see a guy that don't drink, don't smoke,
don't chew tobacco, don't go to the picture show, and he's
always, he's set aside a certain day, and he seems holier than
everybody else, And then you got a brother who doesn't have
any problem with these things. Why? Because salvation doesn't
have to do with anything you eat or you drink or anything
else. Matter of fact, Paul calls those people that withhold those
things weaker brethren. But what are we to do if we're
the stronger brethren? He said, don't eat, don't drink,
don't smoke, don't chew tobacco in front of them. Don't do it.
He said, I won't eat meat if it offends my brethren. That's
love, isn't it? We're to love our brethren. How
often do some people have a greater knowledge and understanding of
the gospel and condemn their weaker brethren because of their
lack of understanding? Remember, the gospel is not a
creed. It's not a catechism to be learned. It's not a confession
of faith. It's a person, isn't it? It's a person, Jesus Christ. The gospel is a purpose of God's
love in electing us the love of Christ in accomplishing our
salvation, the love of God the Spirit in quickening us and keeping
us in the faith. So then it's by preaching Christ
and him crucified that we manifest this love, we manifest this love. I know I've gone off track a
little bit, but so then what we see here is the love of God,
The love of God chose you. The love of God sent Christ to
bear your sins in his own body on the tree. The love of Christ
rose again. The love of God is seen in the
ascension of Christ and the seating of Christ and the intercession
of Christ. And this love of God should what? Produce love in
us as it did Paul for his brethren in the flesh. It should produce
love in us that we should preach the word. Now, who did he desire
to hear this? He said, the Israelites. Who
are these Israelites? I'm gonna have to quickly move
over this. Who are the Israelites of God?
Well, listen to this. He said that, let's read this
together. He said, who are the fathers? And of whom as concerning
the flesh Christ came, I'm sorry, look at verse four. Who are Israelites? To whom pertaineth the adoption,
the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and
the service of God, and the promises. These people, the Israelites,
Paul's kinsmen, according to the flesh, were the most blessed
nation in all the earth. They were the only nation ever
to be called the sons of God. You know that? They had the adoption. They were sons of God. They were
the only ones who had the glory. What does that mean? The God
himself descended and tabernacled with this nation. They had the covenants. The law
was given only to Israel. the covenants of promise. In
other words, if that nation were to obey God and they were to
not follow other gods, God would prosper them in this world. And
he did. And when they followed other
gods, what did he do? He chastened them and then he brought them
back. This nation was blessed. And also look at this, whose
are the fathers of whom concerning the flesh Christ came. They were
blessed in this, that Christ the Savior was to come from that
nation. They were a blessed nation. That
Christ, who is not only to come in the flesh, but who is God-blessed
forever. But what happened to this nation?
Though they had all of these blessings, when Christ came,
what did they do? They crucified him. They crucified
him. God says, I'm going to save Israel. I've sent my son to save Israel. And yet, the nation of Israel,
for the most part, rejected him. Now the only question that comes
to mind is this, look, Paul says this, is the word of God of none
effect? God says, I adopted them, I gave
them my glory, I gave them my promises, I gave them my covenants,
and they rejected my son. Does that mean that God was incapable
of saving them? No, because God never intended
to save national Israel. National Israel was only a type
of those that God truly loved, spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel. Look at that in verse six, not
as though the word of God is not taking none effect. Why?
For they are not all Israel, which are of Jacob, Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. You see, the nation of Israel
was given to us for a purpose, friends. It was given to be a
type of God's true Israel. True Israel. Spiritual Israel. So I want you to know tonight,
you who are loved of God, You are Israel. And all the promises of your
father, Abraham, are yours. It said that the covenant was
to Abraham and to his seed, which was Christ, not seeds as many,
but Christ. God made a covenant promise to
Christ. And everything that Christ is
obtained is given in a covenant to Abraham. And then it is given
to Abraham's children. Who are Abraham's children? They
that believe are Abraham's children. You who believe tonight, you
are Abraham's children. What does this mean? It means
this, I love this. You who are loved of God, I wanna
show you how much God loves you by this book, by this book you
have in your hand. All of that Old Testament that
you see here concerning the nation of Israel carnally really belongs
to you spiritually. and we'll close with one illustration.
And this is, you can see this very clearly. Go to, go to Ezekiel.
Go to Ezekiel and chapter, Ezekiel chapter 37. You remember the
Lord takes this prophet out there to these dry bones. He looks
over this valley of dry bones and God said, can these bones
live? And the man of God said, Lord,
you know what you're going to do. And God said, preach to these
dry bones. And you remember, he gave this
promise. He said, I'm going to raise these
bones up. I'm going to give these bones
life. I'm going to put flesh on them. I'm going to give them
breath. And sure enough, the prophet preaches to them, and
these bones start to rattle, and then they come together,
bone to his bone, and then the sinew comes on them, and they
don't, they're standing there, but they ain't got no breath.
And God says, preach to the wind. I promised them breath, now preach
to the wind. And he did. And the wind came
and gave them life and breath. Now notice this. What are these
bones? What are these dead bones that
God gave life to? Look at verse 12. Therefore, I'm sorry, verse 11. Then he
said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel. Behold, they say our bones are
dried and no hope. Our hope is lost. We are cut
off for our parts. Therefore prophesy unto them,
thus saith the Lord, behold, O my people, I will open your
graves and cause you to come out of your graves and bring
you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am
the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and
you shall live and I will place you in your land. Then shall
you know that I, the Lord, have spoken this and performed it."
Now listen, That happened to national Israel. National Israel
was as good as dead. That nation was in captivity,
their land was conquered, they were as good, gone. And God promised
70 years, I'm gonna bring you out, just like you were dead,
I'm going to raise that nation up, I'm gonna put it back in
Jerusalem, I'm gonna establish my worship, and you know what
he did? He did it. Now what does that do for you and me? Nothing,
absolutely nothing. but I'm gonna manifest the love
of God to you right here because this is speaking spiritually
to us. Remember, we who are Israel by
nature were dead. God swore in a covenant, he said,
I will give them life. Then what? He sent a preacher
to preach to dead men. That doesn't even sound reasonable,
does it? Neither is preaching now. It
doesn't sound reasonable, it's just something God said. And
you know what, I don't know who God's gonna give life to. He
will. I know He'll give it to somebody. So we preach, and what does God
do? He gives life. And when He gives
life, what does He manifest? He manifests His love. It's a
manifestation of His love that He would actually give life to
undeserving people. that this life was purchased
by the death of his own son. And this life is given without
any merit in the object of his love. Now listen, I didn't deserve
it when he gave it to me and I know now I deserve it less. But yet here I am. I'm an object
of His love. So what should this love teach
us? It should teach us to love. How do we love? Preach the gospel. Tell men what great things God
has done for thee. That's the only way we manifest
love. I pray God give me grace to love
you more. And if I love you more, guess
what I'm gonna do more? Preach the word more. May God use it to bless. I pray
in Jesus' name.