Let's go to the New Testament
and we'll go to the book of Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. This is to many of you a portion
of scripture that you have read before and Actually, there's
a reference here in verse 5 to the subject that I want to deal
with this morning. And we're actually going to go
back to the passage in Isaiah chapter 1 for a little bit also. But we'll start here in Romans
chapter 1. seek God's face once again. Lord, look with mercy upon this group
that you have gathered together this morning. We acknowledge that the providence
of God in your goodness and in your mercy has directed our steps
to this building where we sit under the sound of the Word of
God. We have gathered, Lord, to worship. This is not entertainment. This is not excitement of religious
fervor. This is to be a serious reflection
upon our God, thanking upon you of your greatness, your goodness,
your wonderful generosity to us. And Lord, we come to you
this morning having no merits of our own, but rather we come
to you through the merits of our great Savior, that one who
came to save his people from their sins, a mission which he
fully accomplished by his substitutionary death, his burial, and his resurrection. And we do believe and worship
and we serve a risen Savior. and He has gone back to everlasting
glory, where He is seated upon the right hand of the Majesty
on high. And this is our sovereign Savior,
and He governs all things. Lord, as we meet, we ask that
You would shower upon us great blessings and mercies. Let us know individually of the
goodness and the grace of God. Lord, for each one who is lost
in sin, who has not been brought to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, Oh God, how we do cry out to you on their behalf. They
don't know the seriousness of being without a Savior, of being
without a Mediator, without a Redeemer. They have no concept of what
it means to be laden with sins. Lord, we beseech you for these. These who are here and those
who are watching who perhaps don't know the Savior, we ask,
Lord, that you would open the ear. Give sight to blinded eyes. Lord, give a new heart to faith. And Father, for your dear people,
may the Word that goes forth this morning lead us to more
thanksgiving and true heart gratitude for the grace that you have given
to us in Christ. Make this prayer, Father, acceptable
in Your sight through the blood of Christ. Forgive my sins and
the sins of these who bow before You now. And look on us, Father,
in the beauties of Your Son and in the Lord Jesus we know. we
find acceptance with thee. And so seeking to worship, we
call on you, O God, to send your spirit. And if indeed we're able
to render honor to the name of our God, we shall thank you for
that privilege. We ask these things in the name
of our Savior and for his sake. Amen. Well, look at Romans 11 and verse
5. Even so then, at this present
time, there is a remnant, that's the word I want to work on this
morning and this evening, there is a remnant, that's the title
of the messages for this morning and this evening, there is a
remnant according to the election of grace. Well, what is a remnant? Those of you who do some sewing,
you'll be familiar with the remnant. It's the unsold or unused end
of peace goods. It is that which is left over,
or that which is left behind. But it is also that which is
reserved, as in it is set aside. In fact, I thought yesterday,
I decided I'd just pull out Mr. Webster off the bookshelf and see what
he had to say. And in addition to these things
that I've already mentioned, Noah Webster said it speaks of
a group who survives. And I thought that was interesting. That's an interesting definition
for a remnant, a group which survives. Now, to fit this, of
course, into the context, here's the apostle and he writes, and
he says this in verse one, and now let me go back and read the
rest of this context. Here in Romans 11, verse one,
he says, I say then, hath God cast away his people? Has God
cast away Israel? God forbid, he says, for I also
am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.
In other words, I'm living evidence that he hasn't cast away all
of Israel because I'm a Jew. And he says in the second verse,
God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. And then he
says, won't ye not what the scripture said? Do you remember what the
scripture says concerning, he says, Elijah? How that he maketh
intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed
thy prophets and digged down thine altars, that is, they've
dug down to the foundation and they've just absolutely demolished. the altars that were raised to
you, where sacrifices were offered, which we know all of them pictured
our Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, Lord, they've killed
your prophets, they've digged down thine altars, and I am left
all by myself. I'm left alone. And they seek
my life. Here I am in this land of Israel
and I'm by myself. I have no one who stands with
me. But then here's what the inspired
writer says, verse four, but what saith the answer of God
to him? What did God say to him? God
said, I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed
the knee to the image of Baal. They absolutely refuse to bow
to Baal or to bow to any other thing or entity except God. And so then that leads him to
say this, even so at this present time, also there is a remnant. There's a leftover group. There
are people who have been, they've been set aside by God. They are a people who will survive. And they will survive forever. There's a remnant and it is according
to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. In other words, now this salvation
that he's talking about, he brings it down to where we can all grasp
that which he's saying, that which he is setting forth. Salvation,
life, righteousness, Is it by works, by something you do, or
is it by the grace of God through the doing and the dying of the
Lord Jesus? Now, it can't be both ways. Many
people in religion today, they say, I don't know how come we
all can't get together. Let's just join together in unison. Well, we can't do that because
grace and works won't mix. If it's of grace, then it's all
of grace. And works has nothing to do with
our salvation with God. But on the other hand, if it
is by works, if this salvation, if righteousness, if life, if
you can get it by something you do, being a good person, living
by the golden rule, living by the Ten Commandments. If there
is anything that you must do and you have to do in order to
be righteous, then it isn't by grace anymore, it's by works.
So which is it? And I would put that to each
of you this morning and to those of you who are watching by way
of the Internet. Which way is it? Is it God's
way, the way that acknowledges the grace of God and the mercy
of God, the power of God? Is it by the death of the Lord
Jesus? Is it by His righteousness? Is
it by His obedience? Is this the way we're saved?
Is this the way we're delivered? Is this the way that God rescues
sinners? Is it all through the grace of
God given to us in Christ Jesus or Is there something that we must
do by which God then rewards us with everlasting life and
salvation and righteousness? Now, which is it? Which is it? Now, the word of
God is, absolutely certain on this. It is absolutely clear. There can be no misunderstanding
about this. It is by grace. But you see,
it says, and here's what it says in verse seven. Look again. What
then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for. What did Israel seek for? And
really, what is it that I think all of us would like to have?
everlasting life. Surely that's what you want.
You want everlasting life. You want the salvation. You don't want to perish. You
want to live forever with the Lord. You want to know God. That's what Israel, that's what
they longed for. That's what they wanted. Righteousness. life and salvation, but Israel
did not obtain that which he sought for, that which most of
the nation, that which they sought for, they didn't get it. I love
word studies and the word here, the word obtained, really comes
from an original word, which means to hit the target. really
to hit the bullseye. And the illustration is given
as you go into a word study on this, back in those days, they'd
throw the javelin. What is it they wanted to do
when they threw the javelin or when they shot an arrow? What
was it that they wanted to do? Hit the bullseye, right? That make sense? Hit the target. Hit right in the middle. That's
what they wanted to do. And so Israel, they sought for,
they wanted life, they wanted forgiveness, they wanted to be
right with God, but they missed the target. That's what he's
saying. They missed it all together.
Well, what's the reason for that? Well, look back over into chapter
nine and look at verse 30. What should we say then? Just
right in my Bible, right across the page, verse 30, chapter nine. What should we say then? That
the Gentiles, which follow not after righteousness, they didn't
have the 10 commandments, because the 10 commandments weren't given
to the Gentiles, it was given to the Jews. They didn't have
all those laws. And yet the Gentiles, they have
attained to righteousness. They have obtained, they have
hit the target of getting righteousness, even the righteousness which
is received by faith, not by works, but by faith. But Israel, verse 31, which followed
after the law of righteousness, They have not attained to the
law of righteousness. They wanted righteousness. They
said they sought after righteousness, but they didn't get righteousness.
They didn't get perfection. They weren't accepted by God.
God wouldn't have anything to do with them. Verse 32, wherefore? Why? Why? Here's the reason. because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
They missed the bullseye. And I'm telling you, if you seek
righteousness, you seek to be right with God, you seek perfection,
You seek forgiveness. You seek everlasting life anywhere
else except in Jesus Christ and Him crucified by the grace of
God. You, my friend, will miss the
bullseye. You're not going to get it. You're
not going to get it. Because life and righteousness
and forgiveness and salvation is only to be found in the Lord
Jesus. Keep reading here in verse 32.
For they stumbled at the stumbling stone. Ah, as their problem,
they stumbled over Christ Jesus, his deity. Jesus of Nazareth, he is a man. Oh, he's a man, but he's also
God. That's the part they stumbled
over. The Jews said, we know his mother,
we know his father, we know his brothers, we know his sisters.
How can you say you're the son of God? He was born in Bethlehem's
manger. We know who you are, we know
your upbringing. And they denied his deity. They denied that he's God. They
denied he's the only mediator. They denied that he's the only
high priest. They denied the fact that he's
the only one by whom you can come to a holy God. They stumbled
at the stumbling stone. He's the rock. He's the stone. But to them, he was the stone
of stumbling. Verse 33, as it is written, behold,
God says, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence,
Christ the rock, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other
ground is sinking sand. Christ the rock, the rock of
a fence, and whosoever believeth on him, not whosoever worketh,
Not whosoever tries to live by the golden rule, not whosoever
is baptized, not whosoever gives an offering, not whosoever joins
the church, but whosoever believeth in Him. Oh, that's it. Believeth in Him. Shall not be
ashamed. When you stand before God, you'll
have no shame. because you'll appear in the
perfection and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Israel didn't get, Israel
didn't hit the target. They didn't hit the bullseye.
They didn't get what they wanted. Do you reckon you will? Do you reckon you will? You've got your arrow out and
you've got the bow pulled back. You've got your javelin in the
hand. Are you going to hit the bullseye? Well, if you try to come to God
any other way except by grace, through the bloody death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, You're gonna miss it. You're not gonna obtain
that which you seek after. That's clear, isn't it? I don't
think I'd make it any clearer than that. And here's what the apostle says
back in chapter 11. He says, now Elijah, he thought
he was all alone, but God said, you're not alone. I got 7,000
out here that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. You don't know
all the people who are saved, that's what he's saying. You
don't know all of my servants. You think you're the only one?
I got people out here, God says. And then here's what the apostle
goes on to say. Even so, right now, right now,
In this time when Israel was all wrapped up in keeping the
law and trying to establish a righteousness of their own, and the Gentiles
were worshiping heathen gods, yet the Lord says, right now,
at this present time, there's a remnant. Don't lose heart. There's a remnant. There are
those who are going to survive. There are those whom God has
set apart. There are those who will be left
for God's glory. And it's all according to the
election of grace. Understand this. Our God's purpose
of grace, it never has been frustrated and never will be frustrated.
It's always going to come to pass. His purpose can't be defeated. I take issue with much of today's
religion, and I make no apology for being critical of most of
today's religion. because they have a God who's
pretty much defeated, who wants to, but man won't let him. If
that's the God you got, your God's not gonna do you any good.
In fact, your God's gonna drag you down to hell in your unbelief. He'll go down with you. He's
just a millstone around your neck. You see, the God of the
Bible, His purpose, it cannot be defeated. He's not a wimpish
God. He's not a weak God who wants
to, but you won't let Him. His purpose has never been dependent
upon man, and it never will be. He will do his will. A heathen
king finally was brought down low and the Lord did a work in
his heart and he said, the Lord reigns among the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. That's the conclusion
old Nebuchadnezzar drew and he said, none can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? His grace can't be defeated.
He said, my counsel shall stand, I'll do all my purpose. His Word
will always be successful. I don't preach today or anytime
for that matter, hoping and wishing that maybe the Word of God will
be successful. It will be successful. Whether
we're talking about Christ, the incarnate Word, or this the written
Word, the Word of God, is always successful. Because of whose
Word it is. It's not my Word. These words
here, they're not the words of Paul. The words that you read,
they're not the mere words of Isaiah. This is the Word of God. And as it is written there in
the book of 1 Samuel, The Word of God came to Samuel and the
Scripture says none of the Lord's words fell to the ground as though
useless, as though not accomplishing His purpose. Whatever God Almighty's
purpose was and is in having you under the very sound of the
Gospel this morning, all of you here and all of you who are watching
on the Internet, whatever that purpose is, it will be fulfilled. God says so. That's not me saying
it, God said so. His word can't fail. And I'll
tell you furthermore, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, it
cannot have been shed in vain. Everybody he died for, he died
for them on purpose. He died for them because these
people were included in the election of grace. And he paid their debt. Had the opportunity this past
week to speak with a gentleman, a very pleasant man, a little
bit about the things of God. He doesn't attend our church,
doesn't even live in our county. But we talked for a little bit
and he said, you know, I believe God's in control of all that's
going on today. I said, well, I'm glad to hear
you say that. I said, you really believe that,
that God controls everything that's going on today? He said,
well, if he wants to, he can. And then we began to talk about
the death of the Lord Jesus. I said, what, what did Christ
do upon the cross of Calvary? He said, well, he, he paid, he
paid the debt for everybody. I said, well, now I want you
to think about this. If he paid everybody's debt, we're all debt
free. Well, he said it, but he said,
that's where we come in. This is a big problem with religion
today. You gotta bring man in. That's
where we come in, that's what he said. He said, he did, he
died for us. He paid our debt, but we got
to accept the payment price. And I said, that's not right.
And I'm just, I wasn't preaching to him like I'm preaching to
you. I'm just talking in a normal voice. And I said, wait a minute.
I said, if he paid everybody's debt, Nobody's in debt to God. If he settled the issue, the
issue's settled. And I said, nowhere in the book
of God does it ever say that what the Lord Jesus Christ did
upon the cross of Calvary, it never says it's offered to you
for your acceptance or rejection. He said, it doesn't? I said,
no. I said, what he did was offer to God. Offer to divine justice,
and I want you to see that. Divine justice. There was no
payment made to you. God doesn't owe us anything but
death, judgment, and hell. And there was no payment owed
to or paid to the devil. God didn't owe him anything. The death of the Lord Jesus was
a sacrifice, an offering, wages paid to the offended justice
of God because of our sins. And I said, what you're saying
is that the death of the Lord Jesus, the success of it, is
all dependent upon the sinner. He said, yeah, I guess that's
what I'm saying. And I said, if anything that
has to do with salvation is dependent upon us ultimately, I said, we're
all going to perish. Listen, this is secure. This
salvation is secure for a remnant according to the election of
grace. Now listen, election. You know what election is, we
don't have one in November. Election is to choose, in this
case for president, who you want to be the president for the next
four years. It's a choice. Well, if salvation
is according to the election of grace, then it is dependent
upon a choice. but it isn't your choice. Why
can't men understand this? It is not your choice or my choice,
it's God's choice. I know why men can't understand
it and grasp it and bow to it, because it's offensive to the
flesh. It gives God all the glory. But here's what the apostle says
very clearly, even so then at this present time, also there's
a remnant, there's some leftovers. People that God has set aside
for himself, a people reserved, or a people
who will survive. Are you gonna survive? When the fire of God's judgment
devours the heavens, there's a new heaven and a new earth.
Are you going to survive? When you stand before the God
of judgment, will you survive? I'll tell you who'll survive.
The remnant according to the election of grace. What's that? Well, how can I know I'm among
the remnant according to the election of grace? There's only
one way you can know. You believe the gospel of Christ. That's why we read in 2 Peter
1 in verse 10, therefore be diligent, my brethren, to make your calling
and election sure. Have you been called? to believe
Christ, to give up all ideas of saving yourself. You see your
righteousness as this filthy rag. You can't do anything to
please a holy God. You cast aside everything you've
ever done as being acceptable to God and say, woe is me, O
Lord. I cast myself upon Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Save me or I'll perish. Have
you been called? Say, yeah, Lord brought me to
that. Well, you've just made your election,
sure. That's the only way you can know
you're the elect. That's what the apostle Paul
wrote to Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter one. He said, I know
you're the elect of God. Wonder how he knew that. Oh,
he said, because the word of God, the word of the gospel,
The word of grace, the word of Christ Jesus, it came to you
not just in word, though it does come that way, but it comes in
the Holy Spirit power. The Holy Spirit drives it to
the heart. And then you see what you didn't
see before. You comprehend what you couldn't
comprehend before. Salvation's all in Christ Jesus,
by the grace of God. His blood wasn't shed in vain. And you can remain adamant against
the gospel of God's free grace in Christ Jesus. God will not
lose anything. He will still get glory through
your condemnation. You will be the loser. And you tell me, preacher, I
want life. Preacher, I want heaven. Preacher,
I want salvation. Preacher, I want righteousness.
You endeavor to get those things by any effort of your own. You miss the bullseye. You're not going to obtain that
which you're searching for. You see, this matter of salvation,
it goes all the way back, trace it all the way back to the election
of grace. That's right. Go with me back
to that passage in Isaiah chapter one, and I'm just going to make
a couple of more statements here, and then I'm going to pick up
tonight sort of where I'm leaving off this morning. I've got all
my notes for the whole message here before me. I just didn't
know how far I'd get, so I'll just go to where I feel like
it's a good stopping place, and then we'll stop there, and then
we'll pick up again this evening. Let me talk to you about this
remnant. There is a remnant. Now, I hope you can join us again
tonight by way of the internet or perhaps, hopefully you can
be here in person. But I want to give you the roadmap. I want to tell you where we're
going and we'll start on our journey. This morning, and the
Lord willing, we'll finish the message tonight. Here are seven
things about the remnant. I'm just gonna give them to you
right now. Number one, concerning this remnant,
they are a selected people. They are a selected people. They didn't reserve themselves. They didn't appoint themselves
to be survivors They are the remnant according
to the election of grace. They are a selected people. Number
two, though they are a selected people, they are nevertheless
a sinful people. And we'll see that here in Isaiah
chapter one. They are a sinful people. Like
men of every age are born in sin. alienated from God, unable
to do anything to obtain eternal salvation. And this serves to
magnify the sovereign grace of God. Number three, they are a
secured people. They are a secured people. That is their salvation and their
safety have been secured by purchase price. the death of the Lord
Jesus. Number four, they are a special
people. A special people for whom God
has made the one way to enter into his glorious presence. There's
a highway of grace opened up for these people, constructed
by God himself. Number five, they are a stayed
people. A stayed people. We sometimes
sing the song stayed upon Jehovah. Hearts are fully blessed. Finding
as he promised perfect peace and rest. What does it mean being
stayed upon Jehovah? Leaning on him. Resting on him. Trusting in him. Number six,
they are a safe people. They're safe. They'll be preserved. They'll be kept all through this
life. Ups and downs, in and out, sins,
mess ups, everything else. Though Satan attacks, though
your own flesh is in opposition, these people are a safe people. And number seven, They will be
finally a saved people. You see the Bible when it talks
about salvation, it talks about in three different tenses. We
were saved, we were saved in the covenant of grace. We were
saved back in old eternity. We are being saved and now is
our salvation nearer than when we first believed. Someday we'll
die. For those of you who are the
people of God, who rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, we know we're
going to die. There's no question about that,
unless the Lord comes back soon. And these bodies, this body,
it'll be laid in the grave. My soul will go back to the Lord
Jesus, and I'll have a heavenly body of some sort of God's making. And there, and I'll talk about
my death there, in heaven's glory in Christ Jesus and with Christ
Jesus. I'll worship Him and adore Him
and be instructed by Him in the Scriptures and just give everlasting
praise to Him and sing to Him. And then one day, whenever that
is, He will give the Word. All of the remnant, according
to the election of grace, have been brought safely into the
fold of salvation. That's when the end is going
to come. And then I will come back with Him and so many of
your loved ones and all the saints of God from able, from righteous
able, all the way up to the last one who dies, the souls are gonna
come back and our bodies will be raised, incorruptible, immortal. Bodies and souls joined back
together and then, then we can fully say, I'm saved. That's the roadmap. That's the roadmap. We just got
started on our journey this morning, and I think I'll just stop right
here. I've tried to whet your appetite for it. I didn't exactly
know how far I'd get in this. If I get into my next point or
two, then somebody's liable to be looking at their watch and
saying, is it 12 o'clock already? I don't want to wear you out.
I think I've given you enough already to think about. You're
going to hit the bullseye. I believe that's a good illustration,
don't you? I surely do. You're going to
get what you want. Everybody who looks to Christ
Jesus only, you're going to get what you want. You're going to
hit the bullseye. you'll someday be with him in
everlasting glory. Isn't that wonderful? Yeah, I
tell you, this gospel is best news anybody could ever hear.
Why wouldn't everybody wanna hear it? Well, I'd say this is
the reason. Because there are some folks,
unless God humbles them, makes them obedient to the gospel,
some folks want a little bit of the glory Well, not gonna get it. Not gonna get it. All the glory goes to our gracious
God. And we're thankful. And he blesses
us with this great salvation. It's a gift. It costs nothing. Cost Christ everything. Cost
him his life. But he took that life back up.
And He's gone to glory. May the Lord bless His word to
each of us. And we'll come back this evening
and I'll set these seven things before you. Seven things that
are true of the remnant according to the election of grace. There
is a remnant. Thank God. There's a remnant. Lord, We do ask You to bless
Your Word. Oh, how desperately we need the
Spirit of God to do a work of grace within us. We know our
own depravity, at least to some degree, our inability to please
You, to satisfy Your law or Your justice. Lord, help us to see
The Lord Jesus did it all. He satisfied you. There at the
cross of Calvary, Father, you got death, which is the wages
of sin. He died in the stead of your
people. And he is our hope, and he is
our righteousness, and he is our life, and he is our salvation. O God the Spirit, convince each
of us of the successful work of redemption
by Christ our Lord. And may we find blessed rest
and peace in Him that all is well with a holy God. Dismiss us now with the benediction
of love and grace, peace and mercy. That is, may that benediction
abide upon all those who love you, who call upon your name
in truth. For Christ's sake, I pray. Amen.