Romans chapter 9. This morning we'll be looking
at verses 1 through 8. We'll take these as they come. The title of the message this
morning is true love and true Israel. True love and true Israel. And by that very title, I want
to show you that that's my two points. The true love of the
saints for the lost and who is true Israel. Now, the Apostle
in chapter 8, as we have been studying, has reached the height
and the highest point of a believer's joy assurance and confidence
of our acceptance with God. In that chapter, Paul tells us
God chose us. He predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of His Son, to be made holy and righteous. He has
called us by His grace unto life and faith and has also justified
us. Justified us. Therefore we who
are in union with Christ, you who are in union with Christ,
may have this confidence that God Himself has justified you. God Himself has justified you. And because God has justified
us, because God has decreed and declared us to be holy and without
sin, the question is, who then can charge you with sin? Paul
said, who charges you with sin? Who can charge the elect of God?
Why? It is God Himself. The holy,
righteous, omnipotent, sovereign God justified His elect. Because God has justified us,
no one can charge us. But we know this because we are
still in the flesh and daily feel the corruption of our nature. We daily feel the vileness of
this natural birth. And though we are charged by
our conscience of sin, though we are charged in our hearts
by Satan of sin, yet we have this confidence that this justification
is without condemnation. And because we are justified,
we cannot be condemned with sin. And remember, the four-fold justification
He gives us in verse 34 of chapter 8. He says, Who is he that condemneth? Here's number one. Christ died.
Here's number two, Christ is risen from the dead. Here's number
three, He's at the right hand of God. And number four is, He
ever liveth to make intercession. And so if God justified us, Christ
paid the debt for our sins. If God accepted His offering
and raised Him from the dead. If Christ is seated at the right
hand of God, saying the work is finished. And if He ever lives
to make intercession for us, how then can anyone condemn us
of sin? It's impossible. It's impossible
to condemn God's elect of sin. Why? Because of Christ. Because
of our Savior. And so then the question then
comes to Paul, who then shall separate us from the love of
Christ? If there's no charge of sin, if there's no condemnation
of sin, which were done by Christ, motivated by love, the love of
God was the motive behind our justification, who then can separate
us from the love of God? Who? Paul said, no troubles in
the flesh, or in the mind, or in the life, Not all the accusations
of conscience or Satan, nothing in death, nothing in life, no
powers of devils or powers of men will be able to separate
us from the love of God. Oh, how firm a foundation, you
saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
What more can He say? And to you He has said, to you
who for refuge to Jesus have fled in every condition. in sickness
and in health, in poverty's veil or abounding in wealth, at home
or abroad, on the land, on the sea, as your days may demand,
so your strength ever be. Fear not, I am with thee. Be
not dismayed, for I am thy God and 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 woe shall not the overflow
for i will be with the by troubles to bless and sanctify the in
that deepest distress therefore regardless of troubles
either within or without This is the height of our joy, the
height of our confidence. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God. And here is why. It is in Christ
Jesus. That's what Paul concludes at
the last of chapter 8. This is the height of it. Nothing
shall separate us from the love of God. Where is this love found?
In Christ Jesus. Nothing, nothing, nothing shall
be able. That's a good word, able. It's
not saying nothing will try to separate you. No, everything
tries to separate you. But listen, nothing will be able. Nothing will be able to separate
you. from the love of God. Why? It
is in Christ Jesus. And this is the cause. It's in
Christ Jesus. Listen, where we reside, isn't
that right? Aren't we in Christ Jesus? You
believe. Aren't you in Christ Jesus? In
union with the Son of God? Yes, we are in union. He is our
head and we are His body. And therefore, if the love of
God dwells in Christ, then the love of God dwells in us as we
dwell in Christ. And it never shall be separated.
That's the height. That's the height of that chapter. Isn't that a joy? Can you not
find joy there and peace and comfort where you can just breathe? Just rest. What about... No! That's the
answer. No! Well I feel... No! That has nothing to do with
it. That's just a mountaintop. That's
just where you come to. If God's done it all, it's all
done. It's all done. But now Paul in Romans 9, he
must come back to reality. I mean he must, where the rubber
meets the road. Now that's reality, but now he's
coming back down off of this high mountain. He now turns with the full heart
of assurance and he doesn't, he turns his eyes in love toward
the lost. And listen, that's what the Word
of God should do. When we come up to the height of God's Word,
that should not lift us up in pride, but rather cause our hearts
to melt. Shouldn't it? If we have any pride in those
things, we've not learned the Word of God right. We've not
assessed that Scripture well. All of that's by grace. And if
by grace, then we should be most gracious. And that's what Paul
begins here. Look at this. I say the truth.
I tell the truth in Christ. And I lie not. My conscience
also bear me witness in the Holy Ghost. And this is my first point. Paul is giving us a lesson of
great compassion. Great love. Great love. He says,
I lie not. I'm swearing. He's swearing by
Christ. He's saying, this is Christ.
This is of Christ. He says, I have a great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. Paul has a heart of sorrow. And this is the same as if you
look over chapter 10, it's the same thing. Look at chapter 10,
verse 1. This is the same heart of heaviness
that he has for his kinsmen in the flesh. Look at verse 1. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. What was his heart's sorrow is
that his people were lost. Anybody got any relationships
like that? You have people you love that
are lost? Does it not break your heart?
It should break our hearts. We should weep for the lost.
As they look down in condescension to you, you should weep for them.
You should weep for them. That's
what Paul's doing here. Here his heart is so grieved
with their loss, he says, if it were possible, I could wish
myself a curse from Christ in order to save them. That's not
possible. We know that. He just said that, didn't he?
It's impossible for us to be separated from Christ and His
love. Such a thing could never be.
Why? Because our suffering would never
satisfy God. If we could wish ourselves a
curse... Our being a curse is only a just reward, isn't it?
If we were a curse based on our own merits, that's just a reward
for our sin. And we could never save anyone
by our condemnation. Ever. Couldn't save ourselves
by suffering in eternity in hell. Now, what I don't want to do
is get bogged down in this statement about him being made cursed.
There are multiple thoughts on this. And I won't enter into any of
them because I don't think I can explain it. I just can't. I just don't want to try to confuse
you about it. But what I can ascertain for
this is, look, this was a statement of great compassion and love
toward Israel. That's what he was doing. I can
tell you that this is the same heart of Moses. When Moses said,
when God was saying, I'm going to blot these people out, and
he said, if you will not forgive them, then blot me out as well. I can't explain that either.
I don't have any idea what kind of love that is. I don't know. So I don't dare try to explain
it. But I know this. It was a great love. Paul had
a continual and perpetual sorrow in his heart for the lost estate
of his kinsmen. His love moved him to desire
their salvation. Now should not this be the zeal
Should not His love and zeal for Israel, His love and zeal
for the lost... Should not this be the heart
of every child of God? Are you just content with being
saved yourself? May God give us that kind of
love. May God fill our hearts so that
we would desire many belief. Many would come to Christ. Especially those in our own house. May God give us a heart like
this. It's truly shameful for us if we who are the objects
of God's eternal, immutable love neglect or fail to love and have
compassion on others. Believer in Christ, does not
our Father have and elect people in this world? He does. A chosen people, objects
of His love, who have yet to be brought in, So who are they? They're lost, aren't they? Though
they are the elect of God, yet they are still at this moment
in their lost condition. Did not the Lord Jesus Christ
lay down His life for them? Will He fail to save them? We know that's not true. You
can see this in John chapter 10. John chapter 10 and verse
16. Our Lord makes it very clear.
He said, other sheep besides the ones that believed on Him
at that moment, besides the ones who had already come into the
fold, He said this, other sheep I have which are not of this
fold, Them also I must bring. That's something for the Lord
of Glory to say He must do something. He must do it because He purposed
to do it. He must do it because He decreed
to do it. He must do it because He swore
to do it. I will do it. I must bring them
in. They shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. The same was said in John chapter
6. Flip over a few pages there in John 6. This is the same word
he said in verse 37. He said, All that the Father
giveth me. Those are the sheep. All that
the Father giveth me. What are they going to do? They're
going to come to me. And what a comfort this is. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast... Is there any sinner that
doubts his willingness to save? This morning, do you doubt his
willingness to save? That should clear all doubt.
If anyone come to Christ, he will in no wise ever cast you
out. Ever cast you out. Why? For I came down from the heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
What is that will? And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all He had given me I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day. Now then, believer, how will
these elect redeemed sheep come and believe on Christ? How? What
is the means that God has chosen to save his people. What is it? Preaching. Preaching. Through the preaching
of the gospel. By our gospel. That's how the Apostle in 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And verse 13, listen to this,
We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Wait a second, how is this taking
place? Whereunto he called you by our gospel. You see, this
labor is a labor of love. Paul, his ministry was a labor
of love. Toward the lost. The lost sheep. The lost sheep. Now listen. I know where to love the elect. But see, I don't know who they
are. So in other words, I should just
love everybody, just in case. Just in case. I should just love
everybody. And so then, in love, what should
I do? How should I display love? Preach the gospel. Preach the
gospel. You love your children? Preach
the gospel. You love your friends, your neighbors?
Preach the gospel. That is the greatest display
of love. There is no greater display of
love than to display the love of Christ. Our Lord told us, love those
who hate you, and despitefully use you and
persecute you. Even so is our Lord loved. Did He not plead with those that
crucified Him? He plead for them actually. Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. So let us too love and forgive
those who cause us pain. Now those ones that Christ prayed
for, do you have any suspicion at all that they were not the
elect of God? We know they were because Christ
is always heard. His prayer is always answered
by the Father. And you pay attention. They were
forgiven. Father, forgive them. Yes. They
were. They were His. All that Christ
prayed for are His. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou gave me. Now, for us, it
is like this. We should be kind to those who
persecute you because maybe they might be God's select. They might
be God's children. And so we should love them. Preemptive
love. That's a good way to do it. Preemptive
love. In hopes that God would save
them. Wasn't that our condition at
one time? Were we not like Paul that persecuted
the church? We were. And yet our Father still
loved us. He still loved us. Even when
we were dead in sins. Hath quickened us together with
Christ. By grace you are saved. Paul
says this in 2 Timothy 2 and 8, he said, remember that Jesus
Christ, the seed of David, was raised from the dead according
to my gospel. And what was the result of him
preaching the gospel? He said, wherein I suffer trouble.
Now listen, you love the lost and you preach to them this gospel,
they're not going to see it as a sign of love. They're not going
to interpret it how you want it to be interpreted. You do
it out of love. You'll suffer for it. We'll suffer
for it. He said, wherein I suffer trouble
as an evildoer, even unto bonds. But listen, the Word of God is
not bound. No matter what they do to us, the Word of God is
not bound. It's free. Consider that the gospel that
is preached, believer, is always successful. So then, our love
is always successful. Our love in preaching the gospel.
Remember, preach the truth how? In love. How many people tried
to beat this gospel into people? You can't do that. Nobody could beat it into us.
And we can't beat it into anyone else. That's why Paul said, do
it in love. Preach the truth in love. And
so that's how we're to preach the gospel. In love. And Paul
says it's always successful. Now thanks unto be unto God which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. and maketh manifest the
savour of his knowledge by us in every place. To the lost and
to the safe we are a savour of life unto life to some, and a
savour of death unto death to others. Who is sufficient for
such things? So why do we suffer? Why are
we still here? Have you asked yourself that
as a church? Why are we still here? Are you not righteous enough
to go to glory right now? Are you trying to build righteousness
to make it like this false religion is telling that you've got to
just work away to a certain point? And when you make that righteous
point, then God takes you. You become ripe like fruit and
God plucks. No. No, you're righteous enough
now. So why aren't you there now?
Why are you still here? Because we have a work to do.
We have a love that we should give. A word we should preach. We are here to love God's elect
and call them by our gospel. Now know this, you're here and
you do grow. in grace and knowledge, don't
you? You learn, you draw closer to your Savior, but what is all
this growth, all this nearness to Christ, what is that for?
Why do we have to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ? Paul said it this way, he said,
therefore I endure all things, listen, for the elect's sake. You're not here for you, you're
here for others. You got that? I know we have
this spotlight mentality that everything is on us. No. Our salvation is accomplished.
We're here for the elect's sake. Paul says, I've got a greater
desire to depart and be with Christ, but I'm here for you.
Because God will use us for that purpose, to call His elect That,
Paul says, that they may also obtain salvation which is in
Christ Jesus with eternal glory. And may the Holy Ghost teach
us to love. Please, teach me to love. How are we
to manifest that love? Preach the Word. Support the
Word. minister in the service of Christ. Now the second thing, I'm going
to have to hurry with this, the second thing is true Israel. True love is preaching the gospel
and desiring the law should come in. But the second thing Paul
shows us here is true Israel. He says, I have love for who? Israel, who are Israelites. Israelites,
my kinsmen according to the flesh. Now, these ones that Paul loved, these
kinsmen in the flesh, he desired to come to Christ. Who are they? Who are they? Paul had some understanding
about how they felt and what they thought because he himself
was an Israelite. He also hated the gospel of Christ. He also persecuted the church. He also was himself lost. And so then, because of his experience
of grace, he had compassion toward them. Should not our experience
of grace cause us to have compassion toward the lost? toward the law. It should. Now these Jewish people,
these Jewish people, we'll take a look at them, these Jews, these
Israelites. Who are they? And what significance
are they? What is their significance in
Scripture? Now Jewish people were given
greater privileges as a nation than any other nation on the
face of God's earth ever. They were a blessed group of
people, a blessed group of people. He says they're Israelites. That
word itself comes from the God-given, you remember Jacob, their father,
the father of that nation, That name means trickster, supplanter. But God gave him another name.
After God had saved him, he gave him another name, Israel, which
means prince. Do you not realize then that
this is a nation of princes? That's what it is to say, Israelites,
these are princes. That's what it means. Paul said,
look, in your text, he said they were not only called Israelites,
he says, whom pertaineth the adoption. This nation alone was
called the children of God. The children of God. No other nation in the world
has ever been called that. God says, Israel is my son. Matter of fact, he told that
to Pharaoh. He said, Thus saith the Lord,
Israel is my son, my firstborn. In Jeremiah, he said, I am a
father to Israel. I'm a father to Israel. And in that passage in Jeremiah,
God prophesied the return of that nation of Israel. And he
says, I'm their father and they're my son. And Jeremiah 31, he tells
how his children is going to return to their own border. They're
going to repent, they're going to turn. He says, Ephraim, is
Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? And I'll tell you this, that
prophecy of their returning as a nation to come back to Jerusalem
and worship God was accomplished. God promised that nation. He
said, these are my children and they're going to return back
to their borders and I'm going to establish my worship again.
They're going to repent. They're going to turn back to
me as a nation. And they did. Next thing you
see is not only were they adopted children, they were given glory. What does that mean? These people
had a blessing and they saw the glory of God descend on that
mountain, on Mount Sinai. They saw the glory of God every
day in the wilderness when that pillar of cloud came down and
led them every single day for forty years. They also saw the
glory of God descend into the very Holy of Holies where they
worshiped God. Daily He was with them. Daily
He manifest His presence. To who? The nation of Israel. The nation of Israel. They also
had this. They had covenants and the giving
of the law and the service of God and the promises. See, God established His covenants
and promises and worship only with this nation and no other
nation. Now is that not special? That
was special. And as long, read it, read the
Old Testament in its literal sense, and as long as the nation
of Israel corporately obeyed God, they had peace and prosperity. When they rebelled as a nation
against God, God sent them enemies to rule them. But what was their greatest blessing? Look what Paul says. whose, verse
five, whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all God, blessed forever. Throughout the history of Israel,
God sent prophet after prophet, after prophet, after prophet,
declaring one thing, the coming of the Son of God. And when He
came, Jesus said, search the Scriptures. In them you think
you have eternal life, but they are they that testify of Me. And what did they testify of?
They testified of His humanity and His deity. The seed of the
woman shall crush the head of the serpent, and he shall bruise
his heel." Is that not a prophecy given to them? In Genesis it
says, "...in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
It was said unto David, "...thy fruit of thy body shall sit upon
thy throne." Who is this man? Now write all those scriptures
referring to who? A man. A man should come. A man should
sit on the throne. A man, a seed of Abraham, a seed
of David, the seed of a woman. A man should come. Oh, but there are other places
that said God shall come. God shall come. In Malachi, in
Malachi chapter 3, and verse one, behold I will send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come unto his temple You see, they prophesied of the
coming of the Son of God, the only mediator and redeemer of
Israel. That's what the prophecy was
given, Psalm 130 and verse 8. He shall redeem Israel from all
her iniquities. Who? The God-man. The God-man
would come and redeem Israel from all her iniquities. Now then, The question then must be asked. If Israel were chosen people
of God, if they were the only ones to claim to be the sons
of God, if they had all the promises of God, the covenants and the
law, and the promise of the coming of the Messiah to save Israel,
if Christ should have come to save them, why did they crucify
Him? If you're so blessed, why would
you reject the Son of God? Why were they now cast out? That's what Christ said. He said,
but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out. He said there's
people going to come in from all over the place and sit down
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the children of the kingdom.
He's talking about national Israel. The children of the kingdom shall
be cast out. So then the question must be,
is the Word of God of none effect? God says, I'm going to save Israel,
but look, is Israel saved? Nationally, are they saved? No. Paul wouldn't be weeping over
them if they were all saved. They're lost. How do you reconcile
this? Paul tells us plainly, look at
this, verse 6. Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect. Here's why. For they are not
all Israel which are of Israel. In other words, not all the true
Israel of God are of the seed of Jacob. You realize that the Jews thought
because they were the seed of Jacob, they were going to heaven. That was the ground and standing
for their acceptance with God. They thought that because they
were children of Abraham, they were sure to go into heaven. I remember this one time. One
Christian lady was witnessing to this Jewish boy, two young
kids, they're witnessing, he's witnessing to the young kid.
The Jewish boy went to his rabbi because he'd never heard of hell.
He never heard of it. And he was scared, so he went
to his rabbi and said, Rabbi, this Christian, she came and
told me if I don't believe in Christ, I'll go to hell. And
he said, don't worry about that, it's a Gentile problem. hails
a Gentile prophet. Why? Because they thought they're
shoo-ins, because no! No! Israel is not Israel. Not the national Israel, anyway.
True Israel. Neither, because of the seed
of Abraham, are they children, are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. So then the purpose of the nation.
What is the purpose of this nation? I'm going to give it to you.
They're a type. They're a picture. Just like the sacrifices in the
Old Testament never took away sin. What were they? They were
a picture of Christ. And what is Israel? Israel, as
a nation, is a picture of the church, of the elect of God. That's who they are. They're
a picture. You see, in Galatians, Paul says
now that to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said,
"...not unto seeds as many, but seeds, one which is Christ."
In whom are all the promises of God? In whom are all the promises
of God? In Christ. Righteousness, peace
with God, joy, eternal life, all of the promises and inheritance
of heaven are in Christ. They were made to Him. But how
shall we receive the blessing of Abraham? All who believe on
Christ are in Christ. Isn't that how Abraham received
the blessing? Through faith. That's what Paul says. For we
are all children of God, listen, by faith in Christ Jesus. That's how you become Israel.
That's how you're Israel. Believing on the Son of God.
Now do you believe on the Son of God? And none of us were children
of Abraham. If it was, it was a mistake,
somewhere wrong the line, somebody did something wrong. We're all
Gentiles here. Half-breeds. Mutts. That's what we are. We have no
pure line to Abraham. But that really don't matter,
does it? Why? For as many as have been
baptized into Christ and put on Christ, there's neither Jew
nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female. You are all one in
Christ. And if you be Christ, then are
you what? Abraham's seed. You are Israel. You are Israel. Who's Israel?
You're looking at Him. Look in the mirror, you believer.
That's Israel. True Israel. I'm more Israel
than Esau. Now Esau was a son of Isaac,
yet he was not of Israel, was he? No. Therefore Israel, national Israel,
They were blessed with external benefits, but true Israel are
blessed with eternal spiritual benefits. Those who believe on Christ,
like Abraham, are blessed with faithful Abraham. And therefore,
if we go into the Old Testament, and that's what the benefit of
this is for us, to know who Israel is, because it's us. Therefore,
we can go into the Old Testament and we can take those types and
shadows and apply them to ourselves. This makes it very relevant to
us. Those Old Testament Scriptures
are very relevant to me, because I am Israel. I am Israel. And I'm going to
give you one illustration of this and we'll close. Go to Ezekiel
37. Just one illustration and see
if you can't apply it. See if you can't see it in your
own self. Ezekiel chapter 37. Now you know
this, this is the dry bones. He says this in verse 1, the
hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me away in the Spirit.
He sat me down in the midst of the valley dry of bones, full
of bones. And he called me to pass by a
roundabout and behold, they were very many in open valley and
lo, they were very dry. No life. And he said to me, prophesy
to these bones. I said, son of man, can these
bones live? He said, Lord, you know. And he said to me, prophesy
unto these bones. Preach to them. This is what
you're going to preach. O you dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
you shall live, and I will lay sin upon you, and I will bring
flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and breathe in you,
and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So I
prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was
a noise. And behold, a shaking, and the
bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld low
sinew, and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them from above,
but there was no breath in them, he said unto me, Preach unto
the wind, prophesy unto the wind. son of man, and say to the wind,
Thus saith the Lord God, Come, you four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied
as I commanded, and breathed, and breath came into them, and
they lived, and they stood upon their feet in exceeding great
arming. And what is all this? He said unto me, Son of man,
listen, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, They say our bones are
dried, our hope is lost, they are cut off for our parts. Therefore
preach unto them and say thus saith the Lord, Behold, O my
people, I will open your graves, I will 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 out of your graves. and shall
put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place
you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am
the Lord, have spoken it, performed it, saith the Lord." Now, this
happened nationally to Israel. You realize that? Seventy years
after their captivity, that dead nation was now a living nation
again. Literal. That was a literal prophecy
that was fulfilled by this. But the spiritual is much better.
We, Israel, were dead in trespasses and sins. God sent a man to preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ unto us. The Spirit of God breathed
the breath of life into us, and we know this, He is the Lord.
And the land He gives us is not one of the earth, but it is in
heaven itself. It is all things." Eternal life
and joy and peace, and He puts His Spirit in our hearts. Can
you not see now you're Israel? You can do that with every one
of the prophecies given to Israel. This is the benefit. And so what
are the two lessons that we learn through this? Love. Love. Preach the gospel. That's the
manifestation of love, preaching the gospel. And second, I know
this, when we love and preach this gospel, Israel will come.
God's people will come, and they'll believe, and they'll be benefited. now paul's going to use this
as an extreme board concerning the election and i didn't have
time obviously to deal with any of that but uh... i do hope lord
give us grace to continue this day bless this to your heart