Let's continue this solemn and
serious chapter, yet a blessed chapter. Romans 9,
verses 27 and 28. This is where we left off. Isaiah
crieth, also crieth concerning Israel, though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant,
shall we say. For he, the Lord, will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. Now he says a remnant
shall be saved. Though there's a mass of people
who seem to be God's people, who seem to be believers, who
seem to be Christian, yet this plainly and clearly tells us
that a remnant, shall we say. I preach and teach, as one old
preacher said, as a dying man to dying men, as one who may
never preach again. It's too serious, it's too solemn
to play around. preach and teach as one who may
never preach again, as a dying man to dying men. This is why
Paul began this chapter by saying, I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. He desired that people might
be saved, but he knew that though there were many who made a profession, it was
not the case. That's what he said. Chapter
10, he began that by saying, My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. And he went on
to say they have a zeal for God, very zealous, yet they don't
know the true God. So it grieved him at his heart.
But the truth is sure. The truth stands firm. Scripture deals mostly with the
children of Israel, doesn't it? In the Old Testament. They are the example. Turn to
1 Corinthians chapter 10. The children of Israel are the
example, a glaring example, a striking example of how so many people
can seem to be believers. And yet so few be true. And that's why Paul said, I have
heaviness in my heart. A remnant, he said, a remnant
will enter in. Then, back then, do you remember,
there were possibly, probably upwards of two million adults
who went through the wilderness on their way to the promised
land. How many over 20 went in? Two people. Now, why is that?
Well, that's what the Lord said there. The whole book of Hebrews
is dealing with the Hebrews, the story of the children of
Israel. Do you remember Brother Chapman's message to you when
I was out of town? He preached from Hebrews 2 that
we ought to give the more earnest or serious heed to the things
we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. And
in chapter 4 it says we need to fear, lest a promise be made
us of entering into that rest, that we should come short of
it. And he went on to talk about the children of Israel, how they
heard the gospel, but they didn't enter in. With many of them,
the Lord was not pleased. And they didn't enter in. So
this is to us. And our biggest danger here in
1 Corinthians 10, I was going to read most of it, but for the
sake of time, I won't. He said, Brethren, all our fathers,
they went through the cloud and passed through the sea. And verse
3, they all ate the same spiritual meat like us. We continually
hear God's Word and hear the Gospel and hear the truth. And
they all drank the same spiritual drink. We feast and drink upon
the Gospel of our Lord time and time again. But, verse 5, with
many of them, God was not well pleased. They were overthrown
in the wilderness. Now, they weren't defeated by
hostile forces. That's not what overthrew them.
They weren't destroyed by the enemy, but what destroyed them
was the world. They were taken up with the world.
Read on. It says, verse 6, these things
were our example to the intent we should not lust after evil
things. He's talking about the things
of this world, and there's nothing evil in things. There's no sin
in things, but they become sinful when when we abuse them, when
they take hold of us. There's nothing sinful about
owning and having things, but the sin is being owned by and
possessed by and overcome by things. That's idolatry. Look
at verse 7. Neither be ye idolaters as were
some of them, and as it is written, the people sat down to eat and
drink and rose up to play. Now, there's nothing wrong with
eating and drinking. We love to eat and drink, don't
we? There's nothing wrong with playing. My grandchildren are
here this week, and I'm playing with them like crazy. But when
this is foremost and only in our minds, then we're idolaters. Read on, it says they let us
commit fornication, as some of them committed and failed in
one day, three in twenty thousand. They let us tempt Christ, they
resented Moses, that's who he's talking about. Went on down,
verse 11, to say these things were an example. They're written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come,
the last day. Therefore, let him Thinketh,
he standeth, take he, lest he fall. He said there's no temptation.
You're not going through a more difficult world than they went
through. You're not going through more temptations than they were.
No. But he went on to say that blessed verse 13, that God has
made a way to escape. What is that? What you're doing right now.
This is where we get reminded. of the vanity of this world,
and the certainty of eternity. And if there's one thing, this
is where we get reminded of that. Just as soon as we go out there,
our tendency is to let these things slip, and then the world...
So this is where we are reminded. Now I go back to our text in
Romans 9. It's a good place to be. So the
message is urgent because time is short. He said in verse 28,
The Lord will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. He
will finish the work. What work? The work of salvation. That's the Lord's work. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's His work. The Father chose
the people, the Son came to redeem those people, and the Holy Spirit
is sent to round them up, to call them, sanctify them, and
bring them into the ark, to Christ. God is the author of it, and
He is the finisher of it. He will finish the work. He that
hath begun a good work in you will finish it. That's good news,
isn't it? What God begins, God always finishes. The work of creation, God finished
it, didn't He? And He rested it. And all of
that is a picture of salvation. And the Lord will finish the
account The account of the scripture says, the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, because he chose a people before the foundation of the
world, and put them in Christ like the animals were in the
ark of Noah. The animals did not go in the
ark of their own free will, did they? No. Noah brought them in. When Noah finished the ark, and
that's what that whole story is all about, the story of Christ
and His kingdom and His people. When Noah finished the ark like
Christ finished the work on Calvary's tree, he said, it is finished. It just remains that God's people,
all of them, will be gathered unto Him. They will be gathered.
When Noah finished the ark, Noah went out and gathered all of
the animals that he chose. And he brought them into the
ark. And then when the last animal was in the ark, now that ark
was building 120 years, wasn't it? 120 years. And oh, the story of redemption, the story
of redemption as It has taken place over a period of 6,000
years. Well, when Noah finished that
ark, after 120 years, it said he was in the ark and the Lord
waited seven days. Just seven days. 120 years the ark was building.
And then, when it was fully completed, there were only seven days. The time was short. Are you understanding? A short work with the Lord compared
to time. Time passed. Seven short days. Do you not
think that Noah stood at the door of that ark and cried out to those that passed
by? Do you not think he stood and
cried aloud and spared none? Hey Bill, come on. Come on in. The sun was shining. And he seemed
as one that mocked. We're going to look at Lot in
the next message. Noah wasn't mocking. This wasn't a message
of mockery. It was a serious message of impending
judgment. But he was safe. Come into the
ark. But he seemed as one that mocked. Noah? Skies that blew. Where's the promise of rain?
Rain? Oh, Noah. God doesn't. God loves
everyone. Everything's fine, Noah. Look,
everything's continuing as it always has. Our Lord said that, as in the
days of Noah. And so shall the coming of the
Son of Man, and the last day. But I'm sure Noah stood at that
door, didn't he? Come in. Whosoever will, come
in. Who would? Who did? Nobody. Who went in? It was God's children. The animals
the Lord put in there. And then after seven days, shut
the door. Then the flood came, and our
Lord said that. The Lord Jesus Christ said that.
He said they would be marrying and giving and married, eating
and drinking, like the days of Noah. And then the flood came
and took them all away. So shall the coming of the Son
of Man be. This is a fitting day to preach this message. An old preacher one time asked
his congregation, he said, do you think the Lord is coming
back today? If most of us were honest, we
would say, I don't think so. Wouldn't we? But our Lord said,
at a time when you think not. But God's people, are waiting. They're not sleeping as others.
That day should come upon them unawares. They're conscious of
Him. They're thinking about Him. They're
communing with Him. They're waiting on Him. Our Lord
said, blessed are they that wait on Him. That's why we come here. So many go through the motions
of religion, making their appearance on the Sunday and go through
it, and they're thinking more about what they're going to do
after they leave here than when they come. But God's people would
come here to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, hoping,
praying, wishing, wanting Him to come. Wanting Him to save our children.
Wanting Him to save our spouses. Wanting Him to save our fathers
and mothers. Yes, but if He doesn't, Verse 28, a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. Thousands of years. For thousands
of years the Lord put up with the Jews. Read the Old Testament. For thousands of years the Lord
put up with the Jews. Provided for, was merciful and
gracious and kind and provided for them He protected them and
nurtured them. Some He loves, because they went
in. And then the Messiah came. After thousands of years, the
Messiah came. The Lord Jesus Christ came. The
Scripture said He would. It kept promising. The Jews,
they were supposed to be looking for Him, and they weren't. They
were going through the motions. They were just religious, because
everything was just going on like it was. Then Christ came
and He said, Lo, I'm here. And what did they do? They rejected Him. They rejected
Him. Well, the Lord only lived on
this earth 33 years. And 4,000 years had been waiting
on Him. And 33 short years. Then He did that wonderful work.
of establishing a righteousness for His people. Then He went
to Calvary's tree and did that glorious work of redemption by
being made sin for His people. God laid on Him the iniquity
of all His people and Christ putting away the sin of God's
people. He said it's finished. The work's
finished. That was a short work, wasn't it? He endured the equivalent
of eternity in hell on the cross, but it was a short work He did. He went back to glory and saved
some Jews at Pentecost, 3,000, a little while later, 5,000,
but 3,000 or 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 relative to the population of
the Jews was a tremendous amount. Just a small portion. And our Lord said that. Many
are called, but what? Pure chosen. This is why Peter
said, Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. And that's why we've come here.
We've come here. Am I one of his chosen? Can I know? We're
going to see in the next message how you can know you're one of
his chosen, like Lot. But a short work our Lord did
upon this earth, and then when he arose and went back to glory,
forty years later, now he sent the apostles throughout Jewry,
throughout Israel didn't. They went everywhere preaching
the gospel. Our Lord said, go into all the world and preach
the gospel. Begin it at Jerusalem. Begin with the chief of center.
Begin with the ones who despised and rejected men. Isn't He merciful?
Isn't He gracious? Go straight to those people,
the Jews that said, let His blood be on us and our children. Go
straight to them. Preach to them. And they did.
And God saved some of them. And I've made this I've made
a comment before, and it's a very clear comment. Can the Lord save
anyone He pleases? Can He? Can He? Then why doesn't He? It's not His choice. No, He wouldn't. But He went out, and the gospel
holds people accountable. They're to blame if they don't
believe, but He gets all the glory if they do. So I'm confused. Yes, you are. But God's Word
is not, the truth is not. If anyone believes, they believe
it's not of yourself, it's the gift of God. If anybody repents,
it's because the goodness of God led you to repentance. If anybody comes into the ark,
comes to Christ, you know why? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And he that cometh in me, I will
in no wise cast out. He gives all the glory. God's
people understand that. But a short work he did, and
they went out all over the world preaching the gospel, holding
people accountable. Some came. Some believed. Many
did not. Most did not. Our Lord went throughout
the Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, and he pronounced Wollong didn't
he? Woe unto you, Bethsaida! Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto
you, Capernaum! If the mighty work had been done
unto you, and done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented.
But they didn't. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! So who gets the blame? Man does. Who gets the glory? God does. Christ does. And then He arose and went back
to glory. And 40 years later, people, 40
years later, they leveled Jerusalem. They destroyed it. Destroyed it. of this one thing. That a day
is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. Our Lord was
six days creating this earth and on the seventh he rested.
That's prophetic. Six thousand years is the age
of this earth. I don't care what science says.
Science falsely so called. Our Lord said he made everything,
the animals in one day. He said he made the stars in
the sky in one day. And He made man in one day. And
now it's been 6,000 years. 6,000 years. We're in those seven
days that Noah was in the ark. And the door was open. The door
of mercy. We're in those last days. That's
what Paul plainly said. In the last day. Just read 2
Timothy 3. It's a clear description of the
day we live in. Perilous time. Lovers of self,
more than lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God. Heady,
high-minded, proud, boasters, and on and on again. That's today. And our Lord said, when the gospel
goes throughout all the world, in Matthew 24, goes throughout
all the world, and everybody hear it, then the end shall come.
And now we have the means for every single tribe, nation, tongue
under heaven to hear the gospel. And have they not all heard?
Yeah, and when the last one of God's elect is brought into Christ's
heart, it's over. That's why this message is so
urgent. These are the last days. A short work with the Lord made
in the earth. Isaiah is quoted more than any
prophet in the New Testament. You know that? He's quoted more
than any other prophet. Did you know that? Paul quotes
him three or four times here in this one chapter. Isaiah is
one of the plainest, clearest declarations of who God is and
what man is. It begins by talking about the
utter, utter depravity of man. It says the whole head is sick,
the heart is sick, from the sole of the feet to the top of the
head. Chapter 1. No soundness in it. He says, why should I
smite you? You'll only rebel more and more. And he goes on to talk about
who God has done. And then right in the middle
of it, behold my servant, Christ. And in chapter 53, there's a
substitute for sinners. Isaiah, Isaiah. Don't you love
Isaiah? The gospel of Isaiah. What he said in verse 29, Isaiah
said before, it's as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabbath
that left us a seed. We had been as Sodom and been
made like unto Gomorrah. Unless we are His chosen seed,
we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah, right? Up there we just read,
it says that the children, verse 11, not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of work, but of Him that calleth. Jacob have
I loved. That's His chosen. The chosen seed of Israel, the
Karembla according to the election of Greg. If God didn't choose
Sodom, nobody would be saved. We'd all be like Sodom and Gomorrah. I didn't plan these two messages
to go together. I was just reading the scriptures and I began to
think about the story of Lot. And one of our sisters said to
me, not too long ago, she brought that story up, and she said,
I'd love to hear you preach on that again. And I thought, that'd
be all right. And I began to read it, and so
prepare a message for this morning. Well, it occurred to me, while
I was preparing the message on Lot, that's our Bible study. That's exactly what our Bible
study said. I believe it's of the Lord, leading
like that. If the Lord didn't have mercy, sovereign,
electing, saving, mercy upon some, none would be saved. All would be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
If the Lord who is the potter did not prepare us as vessels
of mercy for glory, we would be vessels of wrath, fitting
for destruction. You know it so. All of God's
people know it. And they give him all the glory
for their salvation. Verse 30, What shall we then
say that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which
is of faith? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
had not attained to the law of righteousness. The book of Romans, what have
we been talking about? What has Paul been dealing with
throughout the book of Romans? Righteousness. The next chapter,
he says, I bear record that my brethren, my Jewish brethren,
have a zeal of God, but they're ignorant of God's righteousness.
Paul says, I know because I was just like them. I thought I was
going to go to heaven because I'm a good man, because I was
a devout man, because I was a religious man, because I quit this and
quit that and turned over a new leaf and was zealous and devout
and won souls to the Lord. Paul said, I didn't even know
God. I didn't even know Him. And how many people do you think,
if you would ask them, It's a sad but horrible fact. You'd ask
the average so-called Christian why they think they're saved,
why they're going to heaven. Ask them. The first thing out
of their mouth is the great revealer. They would say, I accepted Jesus. I let the Lord into my heart. Salvation doesn't begin with
you. Salvation is not something you do. Salvation is not a choice
you made. It's a choice God made. Salvation is not you accepting
the Lord. Salvation is Him accepting you, Him the Beloved. Him crying. You and I are totally unacceptable.
But God. Rich in mercy. Ask the average
person, what's your hope of heaven? I had a revival years ago. I
had an invitation, and I felt this come over me, and I was
sorry for my sin. You know, God's people, the language
of God's people is this. You ask them, are you saved? If saved, they would say, if
I'm saved, it's because the Lord had mercy upon me. It's the Lord
that had grace upon me. It's the Lord that chose me.
It's the Lord who made Christ to be sin for me. If I'm saved,
it's because the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth and established
a righteousness and putated my account. If I'm saved, if I'm
made fit for heaven, it's because the Lord Jesus Christ gave me
that perfect robe of righteousness, the wedding garment of all of
God's people, and covered me in it. If I'm saved, it's because
the Lord Jesus Christ took my sin in His body on the tree and
buried them away like the scapegoat of all. If I'm saved, the Lord
did it. And to the Lord be all the glory
and all the honor. If I'm saved, the Lord saved
me. And like, who was it, John Newton,
whoever wrote My Hope is Built, built. My hope of heaven, my
hope of glory is not my morality, not my works, not my devotion,
not my zeal, not my righteousness, not my goodness, not my anything. My hope is built on nothing less
than the Lord Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest, the most sincere frame, the most zealous
feeling, but wholly and completely lean on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Is that your confession? Is that your hope? Verse 32 says, They sought it
not by faith. That is, just completely dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. but by the works of the law.
And they stumbled at the stumbling stone. What's that? Well, Christ
is the stumbling stone. He said, Behold, I lay in sand
a stumbling stone and rock of a fence. Christ is that stumbling
stone. There's a passage that says,
if you If you fall on the Son, you'll
be broken. And that's a good thing. We need
to be broken and contrite. But if He falls on you, you'll
be ground to powder. It doesn't sound like the Jesus
you hear today, does it? No, because it's not. He's entirely
different. And whosoever believeth on Him
shall not be ashamed. Most people are ashamed of this
Gospel. hate this gospel. And this is
the gospel. Everything we've just been saying
is the gospel. And most people don't like it. But Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel then. It is the power of God unsalvaged. Saul of Tarsus says this is the
gospel that saved this self-righteous ignorant Pharisee. And those that are not ashamed
of the gospel, not ashamed of the truth, not ashamed of his
people, they believe and they stand for the truth. They stand
for the truth. And they're hated and persecuted
for it. All of them. All of them. There's no offense
in what you're hearing today. The offense is in this message
that offends man's wisdom, offends man's works, offends man's will,
offends man's worth. And this gospel gives God all
the glory. All the glory. To God be the
glory. Okay. Thank you very much.