Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you wish to follow along,
turn to Romans chapter 11. Yeah, I believe it's on. Romans chapter
11, I will take up reading where I left off. We got up to about
verse 24 last week, but I want to read 25 all the way to the
end of the chapter. My hope is to finish up with
Romans 11. this morning. So Romans chapter
11, Paul is continuing and says in verse 25, for I would not
brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. lest
ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part
is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved,
as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer,
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerted
the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. but as touching
the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes. For the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance, that is,
without change in God. God does not change His gifts
and His calling. As Joe has pointed out, God purposed
all this eternally. Then he says, for as ye in time
past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through
their unbelief. Now think about these words.
These are astounding words. For as ye in time past have not
believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief,
even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy
they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all
in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon them all. And then
he summarizes this with this astounding statement. Oh, the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments. And that's not just talking about
condemnatory judgments. It's all about God's determinations,
determination over everything. How unsearchable are his judgments,
and look at it, and his ways past finding out, past finding
out. In other words, we could say
it is impossible to discover them all. For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who
hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things,
to whom be glory forever, amen. Amen. My title this morning is
coming from what Paul wrote here, and he wrote it this way, and
so, all Israel shall be saved. That's basically the thrust of
what Paul's talking about, especially in this last part of what we
call chapter 11. And so, all Israel shall be saved. Now consider this, believing
Gentiles, I wanna just briefly go back, tie this all in together,
what I said last week and what I'm gonna say today. Believing
Gentiles, That's us. Believing Gentiles must never
boast against unbelieving natural Israelites. Unbelief is the root
cause of all men's problems. Unbelief has to do with the crown
rights of Jesus Christ the Lord. Unbelief is not just a lack of
belief. It is a refusal to submit to
the kingship and lordship and redeemership of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So our particular text, verses
25 through 29 in particular, Paul kind of sums this up. Now
I want to give you five things this morning. And I'll try not
to be too long, but I want to try to cover all of this. Here's
the first thing I want us to consider. Never, never, Never
even think that God has negated eternally, or even temporally,
for that matter, because everything that's done temporally, God purposed
to do in eternity. Joe's covered that quite well
this morning. Never even think that God has negated eternally
all present unbelieving Israelites. In other words, someone says,
well, God's done with the Jews. No, he is not. For there is even
now a remnant according to the election of grace. And of course,
as we read in verse 25, for, and let me look at it, for, I
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery. That is something, a mystery
is something beyond full comprehension. We may get little glimpses of
whatever's a mystery. We may get little glimpses, but
a mystery is beyond our full comprehension. As a point of
fact, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in
the flesh. It's not something spooky, but
it's something beyond full comprehension. I under, no. I believe that God
was manifest in the flesh, but I cannot understand how that
took place. As Earl used to say that God confined himself to
a virgin's womb. The God whom the heavens cannot
contain confined himself to a virgin's womb. For I would not, brethren,
that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should
be wise in your own conceits. Do you see it? That blindness
in part, now see it? That blindness in part. is happened
unto Israel. And I'll stop right there for
a moment. Blindness in part, even today,
we can still say blindness in part is happening to Israel.
Now, this does not mean that some Israelites see partially,
but they don't see fully, because none of us see or know anything
yet as we ought to know it. He's talking about certain Israelites,
certain Jews, certain natural Israelites, they are left blinded. They're left blinded. In other
words, part, though it probably is a great part, a large part
of Israel, God hath left blinded. But notice what he says. For
I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness
in part is happening to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. So I'm just gonna drop that for
now, for right now. Here's the second thought. There is a fullness
of the Gentiles. Now let's see this. This is established by the Word
of God. This is the Apostle Paul being moved by the Spirit to
write the truth of God. There is a fullness of the Gentiles.
How do I put that? Let me put it this way. God's
elect among the Gentiles is a specific number, down to the individual. What that number is, I have no
earthly way of knowing. God is not trying to get as many
as he can in. He is calling out of the Gentiles
a people for his name. That's according to James, recorded
by Luke in Acts 15, 13 through 17. So there's an exact number
of Gentiles that God's gonna save. All right, that's established
here, right? All right, number three. Number
three, not every Israelite was blinded. But some were, and I've
already mentioned that, and we're gonna move through that. Not
every Israelite was blinded, but some were. In other words,
that blindness in part. Now remember, it's not some Jews
are saved, but Jews can only see so far, see so much. That's
not at all what he's talking about. There are people who teach
that. The Jew really don't get it,
because it's got all this legal baggage. Listen, we all have
all our baggage. Jew or Gentile, we have our baggage.
A lot of us have a lot of religious baggage. And that's worse than
legal baggage, because legal baggage is necessary. It's necessary. God uses the law to show us what
sin is. All right, so here's number three again. Not every
Israelite was blinded, but some were. That blindness in part
is happening to Israel. So let's refer back to what he
said, same chapter, verses seven, what then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded. Now that doesn't mean that when
Paul spoke here that every elect Jew had already been called.
There are some who, but they pick out certain points of this
and then try to make a doctrine or establish a doctrine over
it. And it's not so. What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded as it is written.
This is not some new thing. I mean, this is not something
all of a sudden God starts doing something different than what
he's prophesied before. Look, according as it is written,
God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. It's
always been like this. It's always been like this. And
David said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a
stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be
darkened that they may not see and bow down their back always. So that's the third thing. Here's
the fourth thing. When the Gentile fullness comes,
okay, we're looking at exactly what Paul says here. When the
Gentile fullness comes, and the partial Israelite blindness is
lifted, all elect Israelites will be then saved. Now, I know
there are some premillennials that teach what God's done with
the church. and all the elect Jews and Gentiles
in the church are saved, then God will then reestablish the
kingdom with Israel, and all, if you're an Israelite, you're
a shoo-in for glory. Paul does not teach that. You
cannot abandon anything he's already said. They're not all
Israel, which are of Israel. And that's always been the fact,
and it's never going to change. Not every Israelite is elect,
because nor not elected, and we're not saved by blood, by
the will of the flesh or by the will of man, but we're saved
by the will of God. So again, number four, when the Gentile
fullness comes and partial Israelite blindness is lifted, and clearly
Paul says that's going to be the case, correct? God's going
to save, but all that I can gather here, Joe, God's going to save
It would seem to me a large number of natural Israelites at the
end of Gentile fullness, but it will be at the end of Gentile
fullness. So let me go back and read it
again. When Gentile fullness comes and
partial Israelite blindness is lifted, all elect Israelites
are saved. This is all Israel being saved
by the deliverer. That includes the elect Gentiles
because the elect Gentiles, according to, we can't abandon what he
said, we have been grafted into the root stock of Israel. So all Israel can't be saved
unless all the fullness of the Gentiles become him. That's included
in all Israel being saved because we're part of Israel now. Now,
this is not what I was born and raised being taught. I was not
born and raised being taught there was an election either,
other than the fact that God looked down through time, seeing
who would believe and be a believer, seeing who would serve the Lord,
and God chose those. This book teaches nothing like that for
Jew or Gentile in any dispensation. I don't care if it's 1,000 years.
If there is, and I just put it that way for the sake of argument,
if there is 1,000 years of Christ literally reigning on this earth,
anybody saved will be saved by Jesus Christ just like he's been
saving us for some 6,000 years now. So again, then all elect
Israel are saved. This is all Israel being saved
by Christ the Deliverer. So let's read it again. For I
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits. In other words,
unless you start to boast against the Jews, even unbelieving Jews. That blindness in part is happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And
so all Israel shall be saved. Now note it doesn't say and so,
it says and so, it does not say now after the fullness of the
Gentiles. because he's including the Gentiles
in all Israel being saved. You see? That's something the
dispensationalist refuses to acknowledge. He just refused,
he or she refuses to, and so, not after that, not, and so then
all Israel shall be, that is, God saves all the Gentiles he's
gonna save, then he's gonna start saving Jews again. Nowhere is
Paul saying anything like that, yet men have twisted it to say
stuff like that. And so all Israel shall be saved,
as it is written. Now there's something I wanna
point out here. I'm spending a lot of time on it, but as it is written,
in other words, Paul said, this is not new. I've heard before,
none of this was known in the Old Testament. It's not so. Now
maybe a lot of it, Ellen, may not have been understood by people
of the Old Testament. And I figure that's probably
true because even people today who have the New Testament still
don't understand it. Because they refuse to bow to the actual
language of Scripture. We all got a way of, we think
this is what it is, so we'll make the Scripture fit what we
think it's supposed to be. Look, and so all Israel should
be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer. But I'm gonna say this before
I even look at it. Paul changed the wording. And we'll look at
the actual wording in the Old Testament. There's a reason for
it, and it's a valid reason. But look, there shall come. So
what is Paul saying here? It's as though this is still
future, right? There shall come, okay? And I can say that because
when we look at what the prophet actually said, we'll see how
Paul changed it, but we'll see why. There shall come out of
Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from who?
Oh, think of Jacob. Not Israel, because God has never
beheld iniquity in Israel. Remember Balaam the prophet?
The apostate prophet, but nonetheless he spoke the truth. God hath
not beheld iniquity in Israel. Not in his Israel he has not,
but he does know Jacob's full of it. He said, but he will take
away and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Notice, not turn
away Jacob from ungodliness. The ungodliness is the problem.
The deliverer's got to take care of the problem first. Do you
see that? And shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away
their sins. As concerning the gospel, they're
enemies for your sake. That is right now. But as touching
the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes, for the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God is still
dealing with his Israel. He's still dealing with his Israel.
So having said that, let me put it this way. There is but one
deliverer. Okay, there is but one Deliverer,
or I could say Redeemer. There's another word the Apostle
Paul changed, but it's Deliverer means the same thing. In the
Greek, Deliverer means a Redeemer. So there is but one Deliverer
or Redeemer, that is one who takes away sins. Turn to Isaiah
59 now. We're gonna look at the passage
which Paul quoted from, Isaiah 59. All right, Isaiah 59, let me
keep my spot in my notes. Isaiah 59, look at just two verses.
Look at verse 20. And the, what's that word? Not
deliverer. Redeemer. But I'm not saying
that Paul changed the meaning of the word, it's just translated.
It's a different Greek word, but it means the same thing as
this, a redeemer. But look, and the redeemer shall
come, what's that say? Not out of Zion. See that slight
change? See that slight change? And the
Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to them that turn from transgression
in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee and
my words which I put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed,
seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. So Isaiah says,
come to Zion looking for the Messiah. The Messiah had not
come to Zion yet. but he's gonna come too, and
that's where he actually put away sins. Hebrews chapter one,
verses one, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high. But Paul says, out of
Zion, because Messiah had already come out of Zion. Do you see
it? But there's also that sense in which sins are put away when
God Almighty regenerates, that is, washes and converts by the
gospel, his dearly beloved ones. And that's the main reference
that Paul is making in Romans chapter 11, the verses of our
text. So Paul says, out of Zion because
the work was done. And again, I say, notice it's
Jacob. That gives me comfort. It gives
me comfort because I'm a Jacob too. I'm a supplanter. I'm in rebellion against God.
I'm in rebellion against God. But thank God he turns away ungodliness
from who? From Jacob's. All right, here's
number five. Israelite animosity to Christ. And that's what it is to be opposed
to the gospel. To be an enemy of the gospel
is not about, well, I just don't like this doctrine or I don't
like that doctrine. If you oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're
opposed to Jesus Christ as a whole. Because you can't pick and choose
what you want to be true about Jesus Christ and what you don't
want to be true about Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ
is who he is as declared in this book. Now he's probably, no,
he's far more than what's declared in this book. But he is exactly
what is declared in this book to be true about him. You either
take him as his whole, or you don't take him at all. You bow
to him as he is, or you don't bow to him at all. You either
believe the gospel as it is clearly declared in this word, or you
don't believe the gospel at all. But again, listen, Israelite
animosity to Christ, that is the gospel, is a Gentile benefit. But even gospel animosity never
negates God's election. Aren't you glad? Because we too
were in unbelief. Isn't that amazing? Now look
at it. For as ye in time past have not believed God. See, we're
just like, we're just like, we're just, our unbelief is just as
much unbelief as a reprobate Israelite. One totally rejected
of God, Jack. Our unbelief is the same kind.
We ain't got a little bit better unbelief than unbelieving Jews.
All the unbelief is the same. It's rebellion against Jesus
Christ. For as ye in time past have not
believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief. That this is just astounding
to me. And I'm not gonna try to explain that. Why do I? He
said what he meant. I can't explain it all. I can't
give you an analogy that will help this all fit in our puny
little finite minds. Mm, through their, obtain mercy
through their unbelief. Listen, even so have these also
now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain
mercy. Now he switches the whole thing
around to a totally different thing, doesn't he? You see it?
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have
mercy upon all. In other words, Paul's going
right back to what he's already established in the Word. God
Almighty is absolutely sovereign in this thing. He does as he
wills amongst the armies of heaven, but even more, even amongst the
inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? And also this, those that walk
in pride, he is able to abase. So again, number five. Israelite
animosity to Christ is a Gentile benefit, but even gospel animosity
never negates God's election or his ancient promise to his
ancient people of faith. Now, it's the fathers, not Israel
as a whole. Do you see that? It's the fathers,
those that God made the specific promise of the Messiah to. Man's rebellion never dictates
or limits God's purpose. By what I read here, there will
be a day in the end when God will save a lot of natural Jews. And somebody says, but how could
that be? If that happens, the world's bound to see this, and
everybody know the coming of Christ is soon. When God saves
somebody today, he saves them in obscurity. The world don't
know it. God could save a million Jews
today, but you know where it's going to happen? In little places
like this. Back off out of the way where
the world will never know. They'll never know. I'm not saying
nobody will. He could save, Joey could save
millions of them, but he's going to do it through gospel preaching
in little despised, mocked at. I mean, people see this and I'm
sure they just say, there can't be anything to that. There is
nothing to this. But there's everything with our
Christ. And there's everything. We may be a small group, but
our God ain't small. Our God may have confined himself
to human flesh eternally. but he's still not small, and
he's far more than just human flesh. He is God manifest in
the flesh. Now, maybe some of you might
be like me, and I didn't intend on trying to go through this
and explain how everything works and put everything. Now, certain
things have an order here, but we can't put timelines on it,
we can't put timeframes on it. All we can do is say, thus saith
the Lord. That's the best place to leave
it, don't you think? That's the best place to leave it. Now someone
says that this is, I know what I used to hear. Maybe some of
us used to hear this stuff. I said, I know what I used to
hear and we had it all marked out. I say we, not because I
had it marked out, but I was told they had it marked out.
And they could tell you exactly when this happens. When it gets
to the tribulation, they could tell you exactly when which bowl will
be poured out at what time. I mean, they've got charts. Y'all
seen them. Even if you wasn't trained up in that, you've seen
the big charts. They understand everything. They can go through
the book of the Revelation and tell you the timeline of how
everything's supposed to happen. Now, am I lying on them or not?
Am I building a strong man to beat the devil? That's how they
feel. But maybe you're like me, you say, I'm still confused.
Because we want everything analytically presented before us. We want
all of our ducks in a row. We want to have Roman numeral
one, Roman numeral two. I do. I like that. I mean, my mind's wired that
way. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. Quit trying to figure
it all out and just believe what God says. And that had better
be centered around the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because
even if your charts are right, if Christ is not at the center
theme of all of your soul, you'll perish in spite of the chart's
accuracy. Right? Christ is all in it all. Not prophecy. As a matter of
fact, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. All
prophecy that doesn't have Jesus in it, I don't care how historically
accurate or prophetically accurate it is, it is damning to the soul. So if someone says, I just, I,
The longer I study this book, the more I realize I don't know
as much as I thought I used to know years ago. I look at it
for, unsearchable, so if it's unsearchable, why am I trying
to search it out? When God tells me through our apostle, the apostle
to the Gentiles, that's unsearchable, then Jack, why do I keep looking
and trying to search it out? And his ways, past, finding out. I can't even explain to you,
for as ye in time past have not believed God, yet now have obtained
mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not
believed that through your mercy they might, I can't even find
all that in my head. I can't get my mind grasped around
all of that. Mm, for who hath known the mind
of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath first
given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again, for
of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom
be glory forever. So be it. So be it. Let me read it. That's one of
the reasons I picked out this song. God moves in a mysterious
way. It's not spooky. It's not spooky. It's something that cannot be
fully grasped by us now.