Turn to Romans chapter 11. Vicki told me I forgot to announce
the chapter last week. So last week we were in chapter
10, the latter part of it, in case you missed it. I don't even remember that, but
she said I did. Romans chapter 11. I titled this message, a remnant
according to the election of grace, or God's purpose of grace. This is an interesting chapter. You know, Peter said once concerning
Paul's writing, he said some of the things that he wrote are
hard to be understood. And this is one of those chapters
that It's clear, and it's not. There's some things that's there,
but to know the extent of them, we have to wait and see what
God does with this nation called Israel. Now, Paul, he knew after
all that he had said, especially in chapters 8, 9, and 10, that
there were going to be some questions coming up. He knew the question
concerning God and His relationship with Israel. God called Israel. He made them
a nation. He called them His people. Made
a covenant with them. He gave them the law. He gave
them the sacrifices and the types that pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now, is he gonna cast them
away? That's an interesting question.
Because if God was to cast them away, just cast away, as Paul
says, his people, what hope would I have? What hope would I have
that he wouldn't cast me away? And so Paul deals with this question
that he knows it's going to come up, he knows it's going to be
in the mind of especially some Jews when they read this, they're
going to say, well, what hope do we have? Has God cast away
His people to utter destruction? That's what he's talking about. God chose Israel to be His people,
and now has He rejected them? Are they going to be totally
destroyed? And Paul, in his usual way, says,
God forbid, God forbade such a thought that
God would cast away His people. What they didn't understand was
His people, who they really are. Remember, Paul said, not all
Israel are Israel. It's the children of the promise.
They are the sons of God. They are the children of God. perished the thought that God
would cast away his people. And he uses himself as an example
that God has not cast away his people or all the Israelites. God has not cast them away. He
says in verse 1 there, God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of
the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. All the apostles
were Jews. They were Israelites. You know,
the gospel was sent to the world from a group of Jewish men. The apostles, every one of them
were Jews. And God called them and God sent them out to preach
the gospel. And from that nucleus, the gospel
has gone out through the whole world. And it started right there
in Jerusalem. Over there right now in Israel,
the gospel was sent out from that place by a group of Jewish
men to the whole world. And Paul says, God forbid, I
am an Israelite. So it's evident God has not cast
away His people because I'm one of them, and God saved me. There were many Jews saved in
Paul's day, just as in this day. There are Jews saved in this
day, as well as Gentiles. And we're going to see this.
But we are going to see that everyone whom God saves, they
are saved according to the election of grace. and not their position
or their ancestry, but of grace. This is what Paul is going to
establish before he gets on into it deeper. Now, verse 2 is very important. Let me read verse 1. I say then,
hath God cast away His people? And he's talking here about the
whole nation of Israel. But now Paul does something here
in verse 2. He says, Now he's talking about a different group.
He's talking about a group whom God has chosen. He's talking
about a group whom God knew before the foundation of the world.
This is what he's talking about. He's talking about a group of
Jews and Gentiles. whom God chose before creation. He has not cast away His people. They are His people." And you'll
see this. I'll show you something here
in a little bit. God has not cast away His people which He
foreknew. Look over in Romans 8. In verse 28 it says this, in
Romans 8, And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow. That's what he's talking
about. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Those
whom He foreknew, He predestinated that they are going to be made
just like His Son. He's going to populate heaven
with a people just like Jesus Christ, holy, righteous, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's what He's
talking about there in verse 2. God has not cast away His
people which He foreknew, whom He foreknew before the foundation
of the world. As I said, remember, not all
Israel, He said in one place, are Israel. It's like I said
before, calling myself a Christian doesn't make me one. Calling
myself a Christian doesn't give me the nature of a Christian.
That's a work of God. And that's a work of grace. Whether
it be Jew or Gentile. Now Paul, after using himself,
he's going to give an example in the Old Testament. He's going
to reach back into the Old Testament. And he's going to use Elijah.
And he says in verse two here, God has not cast away his people
which he foreknew, want you not or know you not what the scripture
saith. He takes them back to the Old
Testament scripture. When Paul talks about what the
scripture saith, he's talking about the Old Testament. What
the scripture saith of Elijah, how he maketh intercession to
God against Israel. This is against it. He said,
they're trying to kill me. Listen here. Lord, they have killed
thy prophets. That's over in 1 Kings chapter
19 if you want to read it today. Lord, they have killed thy prophets.
That's what the Lord told the Pharisees. You killed the prophets.
You're the children of those who killed the prophets. You've
digged and digged down thine altars, and I'm left alone and
they seek my life." He said, I'm the only one left that cares
for the glory of God. I'm the only one left that believes
God. But what saith the answer of
God to him? How did God answer him? What
was God's reply? Here's God's reply. I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men." God said, I have kept to
myself, I have reserved, I have chosen 7,000 men who have not
bowed the knee to the image of Baal. You're not the only one.
I have reserved. I have called, I have chosen,
I have saved 7,000 Israelites that have not bowed their knee
to Baal. Now, even though they dig down
thine altar, they've killed your prophets, even though they've
done all these things, I still have 7,000 men. God knows every
one of them. God knows every one of his children
by name. He knows where every one of them
are at any given second. You and I can't say that. We
don't know where our children are any given second, but God
does. He knows exactly where they are.
And I mean, He has got a hedge about them as they walk through
this life. It's a hedge of mercy. David
said, mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. You ever
feel like something's following you? Well, children of God, there
is the mercy of God. And it's going to follow you
all the days of your life. But Paul used Elijah here as
another example that God has not cast away His people whom
He foreknew. And what he's showing us here
is that God has a people on this earth at all times, Jew and Gentiles. At all times, God has a people.
God has chosen them, He foreknew them, He loved them, and He's
kept them. and he will keep them until he
takes them home. The scripture says we are kept
by the power of God through faith. And these 7,000 had not bowed
their knee to Baal, they believed God, just like Abraham did, all
7,000 of them, just like Elijah did. They believed God, they
exercised faith. They didn't look to the works,
they looked to God in faith to save them. Now what Paul is going to show
us here is that salvation of Jew and Gentile is according
to the election of grace. Even so, in verse 5, Even so, then, at this present
time, in Paul's time, and I can say this, in our present time,
in our present time, even so, then, at this present time, also,
there is a remnant. There's a remnant, and there
always will be a remnant until God puts an end to all this.
There will always be a remnant. According, and it's according
to the election of grace. It's all of grace. And our election
is all of grace. We were no better than anyone
else. There was nothing about... God did not look down through
time. He who created time gonna look down through time? Like
our two different situations here? God's the creator of time. He didn't look down through time,
see who would believe, and then choose them. I believe it was
A.D. Mewes who said that would be
God taking credit for something He didn't do. He doesn't look down through
time. Listen, before time's created, God is a God of purpose. Look at creation. Look at the
universe. Look at humanity. Look at all
that has gone on for thousands of years. What you're seeing
is the purpose of God. You and I are not looking at
a rescue attempt on the human race. Calvary is not and was
not and will never be an attempt of salvation for the human race. God's not attempting anything.
God never attempts anything. God does. You know, when God
created the heavens and the earth, He didn't attempt to do it. He
just spoke and it happened. When he found that baby in the
field, there in Ezekiel, and it was cast out because it was
so grotesque. When it was born, the mother
cast it out because she couldn't stand the appearance of it, it
was so grotesque looking. And it was cast out into the
field, it said, in its own blood, right when it was born, it was
like she threw it away. And he said, my time, That time was a time of love.
When he saw that child, he said, my time's a time of love. I've
loved you, he said, with an everlasting love. And when he looked at that
baby laying there, and he said, that time is a time of love,
and I said unto thee what? Live. He didn't attempt to give
it life. He didn't try to pick it up and
try to doctor it and do whatever was necessary to keep it alive.
He said, I said, live! And it lived. It lived. And that's what God has done
for us. The time was a time of love.
He looked on us in love. He looked on us in everlasting
love. You're mine. You are mine. And I have said to you, live.
And when He says that, He commands life, you're going to live. When
He breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, Adam became
what? A living soul. God never attempts
anything. He does. He acts. And it happens. Whatever God's
will is, it's going to happen. I'm telling you, it's going to
happen. It's according to the election
of grace. Look back over in chapter 10. In verse 21, listen here, it
says, But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched
forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. You don't
want me. He said all day long, all these
few thousand years, I've stretched forth my hand to you, and you
want nothing to do with me. Israel, how often I would have
gathered you together as a hen does gather her brood, and you
would not. Christ said to his Pharisees,
you will not come to me that you might have life. Your problem
is your will. You will not. But God, God is
gonna make some willing. In Psalm 110, it says, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Thy people shall be
willing. When he was scoffed, he said,
God saved me against my will with my full consent. God made
me willing. He gave me willing by a work
of grace and by the power of His Spirit, by a new creation.
He made me willing, and I'm sure glad He did. Because until that
happened, I was not willing, and you were not either. We were
not willing. They rejected God. But God has made it absolutely
sure that all is not going to be lost. All is not lost. I'm going to have a people. I'm
going to have a people. Even so then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant, and there always will be, according
to the election of grace." Here's the point. God has a people that
He has chosen, and it was all of grace. It's all of grace. Every person in here that believes
the gospel, you know, you know that there was nothing about
you that caused God to love you. I'm about as unlovable as it
gets when it comes to my relationship to God. There's nothing in me. There's nothing about me. God
loved, here's, listen, God loved me and all whom he saves, he
loves them because what? Because he loves them. That's
all I can say. Because of who he is. That's
just who he is. He's gonna save some sinners
just like the angels. The angels that fell, well, there's
a multitude of them that didn't fall. He kept them. Or every last one of them would
have fell. Just like we did in Adam. Every last one. If Adam
hadn't fallen, I would. If Adam hadn't fallen, I would.
I'd fall. Someone wrote this, grace put
me in the number of the Savior's family. Grace put me there. What Paul is showing here before
he goes on is this, that this, because they believed they were
elect. The Pharisees believed that, they believed that, but
they didn't believe God. They didn't believe God. See,
election itself is not salvation. Election is not salvation, it's
unto salvation. That's what it says in Thessalonians,
it's chosen unto salvation. Election itself is not salvation,
Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is salvation. No
doctrine is salvation. The Lord is, David said, God
has become my salvation. Not what I believe is my salvation,
who I believe is my salvation. It's who I believe. It's according to the election
of grace look over in Ephesians chapter 1 Paul says in verse 3 and 4 blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who hath blessed
us given to us? all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ according as He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love." John, over in 2 John 1.1, he
writes to the elect lady, writing to the church, he calls her the
elect lady. Over in 1 Peter, turn over to
1 Peter. In 1 Peter chapter 1, He says here in verse two, the
people, let's read the first one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to the strangers scattered abroad, scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the full knowledge of God the Father, and the means has
chosen of God too. See, God's a God of means, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. If God hadn't chosen us, you
know, Joe Terrell said one time, if God hadn't chosen us, the
Bible would only be three chapters long. When Adam fell, it would
have been over with. Wouldn't it? When Adam fell,
it would have been over with. He would have brought down his
wrath. But he didn't. He didn't. Instead, when Adam fell, he heard
the voice of God walking in the cool of the day. And God said,
and He didn't say this, In an angry, growling voice, he said,
Adam, where are you? And he said, I heard your voice,
and I was afraid. God kicked him out of the garden,
but he went out of the garden with a promise, didn't he? The
promise of the seed of the woman. The reason why the Bible is more
than three chapters long is because God has a people. chosen of God
by the grace of God to be just like His Son in glory
someday. That's what's going on. God is
calling a multitude of sinners, ungodly sinners. Christ died
for sinners. Yes, He did. Sinners are going
to be saved. Christ died for the ungodly.
Ungodly is going to be saved. But you can't even find them
in prison. You can't even find Him on death row. God's going to save every sinner,
and I'm talking about a sinner according to the Word of God,
according to the Word of God, a description of a sinner according
to the Word of God. He's going to save them. He's
going to save them. If I can find a sinner, I've
got great news. I've got great news. Christ died
for sinners. Election has to do with the grace
of God, the grace of God. God didn't owe it to me. God
Almighty did not owe me salvation. The wages of sin is death. That's what I'm owed. And Christ
paid that debt with his death on my behalf. Now he says in verse 6, if by
grace, if salvation, if our election, our salvation is by grace, then
it's no more of works. And Paul's telling them, and
the Jews that read this, he's telling them, we are not saved
by anything we do. We are not saved by what we do. We are saved by the grace of
God. Now if God saves us, it affects what we do. It affects
the way we think, the way we talk, and what we do. That's
the effect of salvation, but it's sure not the cause of it.
It's not the cause of it. If it's by grace, then it's no
more by that covenant of works. He said, that's over with. That's
gone. And it never was by works, by
the way. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
It can't be mixed. Can't be mixed. Work is no more
work. Look over in Galatians chapter
five. Listen to this. In Galatians
five, one through four, Paul says, stand fast therefore in
the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage, the ceremonies, the types, I
mean, all these rituals they went through. Don't be entangled
again with that. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If
your circumcision is to impress God, if it has anything to do
with religious purpose, he says here, Christ profits you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that circumcised, that he
is a debtor to the whole law." He's doing it because the law
said so. He said, well, I got to do this
because this is what the law said. He said, if that's what you're
doing it for, Christ is no good to you. He profits you nothing.
Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever you are justified
by the law, listen, you've fallen from grace. You've left grace. You've left grace. And what Paul's doing here, and
he's making it very clear that no Gentile, no Jew can be saved
by any works whatsoever. We are saved by His work. There
cannot be a mixing in the least manner of works and grace. Can't be. I was trying to think
this morning and I couldn't think of where it was at. Maybe somebody
will find it today and look it up and call me or text me. but they were not allowed to
sew different garments together, which shows there's no mixing
of works and grace. They weren't pushed to even put
two different types of material together. Our Lord said, in one place,
a little leaven leavens the whole lump. It leavens the whole lump. Our salvation is according to
the election of grace and not of works. It's either one or
the other. This is what Paul says before
he goes on in more depth about Israel. He gets this point clear
first. No, God has not cast away His
people whom He foreknew. And he's talking about the whole
true Israel of God. And he says here in verse 7,
he says, What then? Are you saying that Israel has
not obtained that which he seeks for, which you talk about righteousness
or right standing with God, but the election has attained it
and the rest were blinded? There are two people on this
earth. I'm telling you the truth. This is so. The elect of God
and the rest. Right there it is in the verse.
Right there it is. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeks for, but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest..." The rest were blinded, the rest left alone.
And he gives Scripture here, "...according as it is written,
God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they see
not, the eyes that they should not see and ears that they should
not hear unto this day. And David said, Let their table
be made a snare to them. Just like that young man who
came to the Lord and he said, What must I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord said, Keep the commandments. And he said,
All these I've kept from my youth up. His morality became a snare to
him. It became a trap. Instead of
bowing down to the feet of Christ and acknowledging his need of
Christ, he saw no need of Christ. And I haven't done this, this,
this, and this, like that publican, or like that Pharisee said about
that publican. I thank you I'm not like other men. I tithe,
I do this, I do that, and I'm not like him. Oh, that's a problem, because
God only saves people like him. That's all he said, sinners.
Lord be merciful to me, the sinner. David said, let their table be
made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense to them.
And what David is, what he's showing here, what Paul's showing
here is this. He's showing the divine sovereignty
of God in salvation. He's showing God's divine sovereignty.
Look over in Acts 28. Now it says here that God gave
them the eyes that they see not, He gave them a spirit of slumber.
But over here in Acts 28. Let me see where I want to start
reading. Verse 23, And when they had appointed
him a day, that is, Paul preaching, there came many to him into his
lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses, out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some
believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed. After
that, Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Isaiah the prophet unto our father, saying, Go unto this people,
and say, Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and
seeing you shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this
people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes have," what? They shut. It's like Pharaoh.
He said, Pharaoh hardened his heart, and it says God hardened
his heart. How'd God harden his heart? He left him alone. He
left him to himself. He said, who's the Lord that
I should obey? And their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and
I should heal them. Kind of reminds me of my granddaughter. You say,
well, that's a bad reminder, that verse. But no, my granddaughter,
she can say something about a subject, and you can say, no, that's not
right. And you can prove to her. I mean, prove to her she's wrong,
and she'll say, nope, I'm right. She'll say, no, I'm right. I
mean, you can say, read it. Here it is. I've seen her do
this. She says, nope, I'm right. She
absolutely refuses to admit she's wrong. And that was Israel. He said, they shut their eyes.
He said, I've stretched out my hand to you, and you want nothing
to do with me. I've sent you prophets. You can
read over in... Let me see here. I've got it
written down. I didn't go to read it. Over in Matthew, I think
it is. Matthew 21, 33 through 44. It's
where the parable of when the Lord sent all these... men to these people and they
killed him. And finally he sent his son,
they said, this is the heir, come let us kill him. That parable
matches this. I say then, I say then, verse
11, have they stumbled that they should fall, God forbid, God
forbid, no, no, no, that they should fall away, that they should
be totally lost. God forbid, but rather through
their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke them
to jealousy. You know what I think of? And
I'll wind this up. Remember the story of the prodigal
son? The prodigal son goes out and he just spends all of his
living in righteous living. That's the Gentiles. That's us.
That's what we've done. And that other son that stayed
home, that elder son that stayed home, He said, father, I have
stayed home, I've done all this, and you've never offered a calf
for me. You never threw a party for me. He was jealous. He was jealous of that prodigal
that went out there and lived like a heathen and come back.
And then the father received him and kissed him. And that's
why he's saying here, to provoke them to jealousy. that God has
saved us dogs. That's what they call us, dogs. I say then, have they stumbled
that they should fall away and be destroyed? God forbid. Through
their fall, salvation has come to us. The gospel is sent to
us. Paul says, seeing you've rejected
it, I turn to the Gentiles. I turn to them. God hasn't cast
away His people. Let me close by just this Let's
read verse 25 and 26, and I'll close. And we'll get into this later,
in the next week or two. For I would, brethren, that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery. lest ye be wise in your own conceits,
that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness
of the Gentiles come in." Until God brings the Gentiles whom
He has chosen, until He calls them in. And so, listen, all
Israel shall be saved. They shall be saved. But all
Israel is going to be saved. Do you know how? through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the same way you and I are saved,
the same way. In this chapter, it appears,
it appears that right now, right now, God is, what's going on,
don't be so concerned with what's going on on the news, but what's
going on in God's purpose is God's calling us Gentiles, He's
calling a multitude of Gentiles out. And it appears that when
the fullness of the Gentiles come in, that he's going to turn and the
gospel is going to be preached to that nation. And many of them
are going to turn to the Lord. They're going to believe the
gospel just like you and I believe, just like you and I believe.
But we'll get into that a little more in the next week or two.