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. All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. I want to
read from verse five down through verse 15. Paul continuing here
about Israel, about national Israel. Even so then, at this
present time also, There is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it is 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. What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it
is written, God has given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that
they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto
this day. And David saith, 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. I say then,
Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But
rather through their fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles for
to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the
riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches
of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to
you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,
I magnify mine office. If by any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of
them. For if the casting away of them
be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them
be but life from the dead? As I briefly mentioned, clearly Paul is still dealing
with national physical Israel. He's not left them out of this
equation. And Israel's dilemma is still
here intact, but the only thing that gave Israel as a nation
any hope for anyone was the election of grace. Thank God that that
elect nation In that elect nation and of that elect nation, there
were also elect individuals. Again, even so then at this present
time also, referring there was a time before. Even so then at
this present time also, there is a remnant, but it's just a
remnant. It's just a remnant. These are God's ordained words,
God's ordained way. Even so at this present time,
there's also a remnant. according to the election of
grace. Also verse seven, what then?
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the
election hath obtained it. All the rest of them were blinded.
Individual election in Christ was the answer to Israel's dilemma. But go back, remember what Paul's
already said. Go back and look at chapter nine,
verse 27. Esaias, or that is Isaiah, also
crieth concerning Israel, though the number of the children of
Israel be as the sand of the sea. You see it? I mean, it's
used to illustrate. That's all it is, used to illustrate. It's not saying the total number
of national Israelites is exactly the total number of all the sands
of the sea. But it's a vast number. Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea, a remnant, that's a scrap, a little piece compared to the
whole. The offscouring, things that, a remnant is usually not
used for anything, it's the cut off pieces. Talk about remnant
rugs, it's just the pieces that are cut off and generally thrown
away. A remnant shall be saved. For. For, he, that is God. For he
will finish the work and cut it short. That's not a duration,
that's number. You go back and look at the actual
Greek word. This is not a short here, doesn't
have to do with span or duration, it has to do with quantity. Has to do with numbers. For he
will cut it short in righteousness. God is right when he did this.
I don't care what men say about election, God's election. I don't
care what they say about it. God's righteous when he did this.
For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. For the believer, that's good
enough. That's good enough. For the unbeliever,
it doesn't suffice. You know, you probably heard
it before, that's not fair. We're not talking about fairness,
we're talking about righteousness. If it were about fairness, we'd
all go to hell. Look, and as Isaiah said before,
except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been like
as Sodom and been like unto Gomorrah. Election is the only thing that
spared any natural Israelite National Israel salt for God's
favor National Israel sought for God's blessing. Now that
doesn't mean every natural Israelite was so, but Israel as a nation
sought for God's favor, sought for God's blessings, sought for
God's benefits, and to an extent, because remember, they had advantage,
and we've already dealt with that. I'm not going back through
that. Every natural Israelite had an advantage. They had some
favor, some blessings, some benefits, but this was only nationally.
Salvation from sin and corruption and death is individual. It's individual. So again, Israel
sought, national Israel sought for God's favor, His blessings,
His benefits, but they never obtained it. But the elect individuals
in Israel, they did obtain it. They obtained it by electing
grace, reserving grace. as was told Elijah, reserving
grace. And this grace is all in Christ
Jesus. It's the only place any human
being will ever find grace. You can't find grace in your
merits, in your actions. Grace only comes in Christ Jesus. Those not individually elected
were blinded. Again, what then? Israel hath
not obtained that which he seeketh for, but I thought every seeker
will find. No, if they don't seek it in
the right person. If they seek it from anything
other than that one person, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, they will
not obtain it, even though they seek after it. Those not individually
elected were blinded. What then, Israel, not obtained
that which ye seeketh for? But the election hath obtained
it. The rest were blinded. You see, God ordained and revealed
this even in the midst of Israel's ancient history. This is not
something God's now trying to catch up with because Israel
was like they were. You see what I'm saying? This
is not Israel had God over a barrel and it's not working out real
good nationally, so God has to resort to a second plan. And
we know that clearly because it says, according as it is written. Written way back yonder. Not
by anybody in Paul's day, but hundreds of years before. According
as it is written. In the Old Testament scripture. The inspired word of God. according
as it is written, God. So there there's no question.
God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. David
said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling
block and a recompense unto them. Why did they say that? Because
they knew God had only ordained a remnant. God specifically told
Isaiah in his day there would only be a 10th. A tenth, that's
only 10% out of 100. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see and bow down their back always. So, again,
God ordained and revealed this even in the midst of Israel's
ancient history. I have two things to give to
you. I'll deal mostly with the second thing. This phrase, the
rest were blinded. all who were not individually
elected in Christ unto salvation, predestinated unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. And let us never forget
that. The glory is not in just in predestination,
but it's predestination to adoption. being brought in, not being brought
out from one family to another. That's what we think of as adoption.
That's not the scriptural meaning of this word adoption. It means
here's a person who is a part of the family, but they come
into full sonship. That's what it's talking about.
But the adoption of children. So again, all not individually
elected in Adam were rendered callous. hardened or as the KJ
translates it here, blanded. In other words, think about it.
That's the first major meaning of this word that we have translated
from the KJV as blanded is this, callous. Where does a callous
come from? Work. Work. Work. They're constant efforts. to ingratiate themselves to God
by their own efforts, refusing to beg for mercy in the Messiah. And that's exactly what Paul
says in different words, but it's exactly what he says in
chapter nine. Let me read it. Chapter nine,
verse 30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, they didn't care about the law. I
mean, that law didn't matter. They didn't care about one God
only. What shall we say then that the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained unto righteousness?
But it's qualified, even the righteousness which is of faith.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained the law of righteousness. Wherefore? In other words, for
what reason? Because they sought it not by
faith. And faith, I'm illustrating now,
faith is like water, it seeks its own level. Faith will seek
its originator. And who is the originator of
faith? Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of faith. So
if a man or a woman has faith, they'll seek Christ. The very
fact that they didn't seek Christ shows they didn't have faith.
Therefore, their only attempt at righteousness was by their
own actions. And he goes on to show us that.
Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were
by the works of the law. Here it is. Here's the reason
why. For they stumbled at the stumbling
stone. You see, the Jews, as a whole,
as a nation, now not every individual Jew, as I said, some Jews were
just wicked, corrupt people like everybody else, you know? Immoral
corruptors. But many were religious people.
And as a nation, they were a religious people. But look, they stumbled
at the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of a fence, and whosoever
believeth on him There's where it's all at. Somebody says it's
too simple. I thank God it is that simple.
I think it's that simple. It's in one individual. All of
my problems are solved in one individual. All of my difficulties
in life can be dealt with as tough as they are, though they
may break your heart and bring you to tears. Maybe even bring
you to start losing your mind somewhat. And yet there's still
some peace when God gives you eyes to see and ears to hear
and a heart to perceive the glory of the person and work of Jesus
Christ. But if you don't see it, you'll
stumble at the stumbling stone. As it is written again, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and he's meant
to be that. Somebody says, I don't understand
that. I don't either. But this is who God tells us
he is. And we either believe who he is or we come up with
our own Bible and our own thoughts and our own religion and shoot
for the best shot. Go ahead, you know, tear yourself
up with it. But I'm preaching the gospel
to you. I'm preaching the truth of God to you. The rest, we're
blinded. God used this to cause a prickling. There's another word, a prickling. Ever laid on your arm or your
hand too long? And all of a sudden, we call
it, my hand feels like it's dead, but yet you know it's not dead
because what? You got all that tingling sensation going on in
there, right? God used this to cause a prickling,
a sensation of a limb asleep. That's actually the way the Greek
would put the word. The sensation of a limb going
to sleep. A stupor, a lethargy of spirit, eye and ear. but it's
not because God was cruel to him, because they rejected the
thing or the person most dear to God the Father's heart, his
blessed son. The Jews believed in a Messiah,
but they really didn't understand what he was for or what he was
about. The Jews, nationally, their national thought about
the Messiah was he's gonna one day come and restore all the
glory of when Israel was in charge of all that was around. They
didn't realize that the glory of the Messiah was coming to
redeem a people from their sins. You see, God didn't make them
bad. They were already bad. God just confounded the issue
by continually forcing the truth on them, forcing the truth on
them, forcing continually make them lay on God's right hand. Their hands went to sleep. They
felt the prickling of it. but all they did was say, they
did not cry out to the Messiah for mercy, they just tried to
shake it off. Huh? They just tried to shake
it off. Yeah. They rebelled and God used
the truth to enhance their dilemma. God in hardening a person, in
blinding, okay, is not making good people bad or mediocre people
worse. He's taking rebels and letting
them partake of the fruits of their own doings. And he doesn't
do it by putting some evil before him, but by putting the most
glorious thing in all the universe before him, the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you think that's not fair,
that's your problem. That's your problem. But let me say this,
do not trifle with God. Do not trifle with God. What
then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for. But
the election hath obtained it, not because the elect were any
better than the rest. Because we've already seen throughout
this letter to the church at Rome, everybody's all the same
by nature. The Gentiles didn't receive it
because they were better, they received it because God ordained
it so. but not all of them received it either. Even amongst the Gentiles,
God is calling out of them a people for his name. So do not trifle
with God. Why? According as written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber. Oh, to be put to sleep
by God, that's serious business. Because when God intends to put
to sleep, when God deadens, when God blinds, it is unchangeable. It is unchangeable. But here's
my second thing. It's not really dealt, well,
yeah, it is dealt with, it's not asked in the text. Now, it's
mentioned in chapter nine, Paul knows what the natural, how the
natural, is there unrighteousness with God? If this is true, since
this is true, not even really if, yet people today are saying
if, it is true, it's what the book teaches. Now, why can't
men and women just be honest, I just don't believe the Bible.
But no, they gotta try to twist the Bible to say what they want
it to say. That's being like Israel. Being
like Israel. Here's my question. Was this
some cruel act of God? God forbid. Absolutely not. One, all men
deserve wrath. So that, this thing, well, but
men deserve a chance. No, they do not. But I need more than a chance. Forgive me if it's a sin, but
I have bought a few scratch-offs. I ain't never won over four or
five dollars. Never. And I kind of quit buying
scratch-offs. The truth is, I send my wife
to buy them. But we still never won big. Joe,
I don't want it to be by chance. I don't want it to be by chance.
I don't want a 50-50 shot. I don't want my salvation, the
salvation of my soul, my forgiveness of sins to be a crapshoot, a
roll of the dice. I need something sure. I need something that's beyond
me and outside of me, from someone that is able to counteract all
I am, but to be able to do it in justice and holiness and righteousness. No, this is not some cruel act.
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather, through their fall,
salvation has come to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. You see? I'll give you three
things under this. Is this a cruel act of God? God
would save some Gentiles, but salvation's only in Christ. Think
about it. God helped us to put on this
spiritual, I mean, a spiritual thinking cap. You cannot be educated
into truth. God's got to reveal it to you,
but he doesn't do it outside of the mind, in the heart and
the emotions. God would save some Gentiles.
This is clear from the scripture. The very fact that he's doing
it now lets us know God would save some Gentiles. but salvation's
only in Christ. God would not have all Israel,
natural Israel, to be saved. Remember, we've already looked
at that. God limited it to a remnant, and that remnant's according
to the election of grace. Thus, some Gentiles were brought
in by Israel's collapse, their collapse. As a matter of fact,
they even collapsed as a nation. Because in 70 A.D., God put a
stop to it as a nation. Now, they were still existing
as a people, but they were no longer a national people. And
then you got some today that say, well, now they're a national
people again. But they still have to be a spiritual people
if they're ever to know the grace and mercy of God Almighty. God
is not in the business of saving national Israel. He never has
been. This is not a change, it's just
God still doing what he's always done. Thus some Gentiles were brought
in by Israel's collapse. But, here's the second thing,
but never think Israel's fall hinders God. Even toward Israel. Now if the fall of them be the
riches of the world, now it's not talking about physical riches.
It's not talking about look how far we've advanced as a society. It has nothing to do with it.
I thank God for the advancements we have. I thank God it's still
not horse and buggy because we would have probably never met.
And we wouldn't be gathering this Sunday morning because I
ain't got time to ride a horse from Princeton, West Virginia
to Beckley, West Virginia. And I thank God for the internet.
I thank God for the medical advances. I thank God that I don't have
to live in the squalor, the squalor of being totally flat broke.
Jack, I've never had to live there. Now some folks have. I'm
not belittling that. But this riches, this is talking
about spiritual riches. Now if the fall of them, that's
national Israel, be the riches of the world, and the diminishing
of them, that's where I got that word there, collapse, that's
what we're talking about. The diminishing of them be the riches
of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. And we can see,
while Paul will look at it later, Paul's not done with national
Israel yet. but he's still not gonna do them
things for them nationally in a national way. It's going to
only be through Jesus Christ. Any Jew that's saved in the future
will be saved by Jesus Christ. Just being a Hebrew or a Jew
or an Israelite don't give you favor before God. It gives you
advantage, but by nature you squander that. For I speak to
you as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I'll magnify
mine office. If by any means I might provoke
to emulation them which are my flesh, my kinfolk, it might save
some. I just hope this thing might
stir up so much, I want to know who this Messiah is. I need to find out what I missed.
God, where did I miss it? How did I miss it? I'm an Israelite,
right? How did I miss it? My rebellion. But, for if the
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the
receiving of them be but life from the dead? And God broke
off, we'll see that God broke off some individual branches
because of unbelief. But he's able to graft in individual
branches back into the natural history. So it's not, if you're
Jewish, you're not a goner. but your only hope's the grace
of God in Christ. Your only hope. So again, never
think Israel's fall hinders God, even toward Israel himself. Thirdly,
God is pleased to show wrath and mercy, not just one. God is not even forced to show
wrath. What if God willing to show his
wrath? Now he does not show wrath toward
righteousness. He shows wrath toward unrighteousness. But our dilemma, whether Jew
or Gentile, is even our righteousnesses, and this is something that's
still hard for me to get a hold of. Even our righteousnesses
are as menses cloths in God's sight. And see, the point is,
I don't see that. I really don't see that, but
that's the way God says he sees it. So that's the way it matters. Oh God, help me to bow to it,
to acknowledge it, even though I can't lay my hands around it
and figure it out, that my best efforts are shot full of hail. So again, thank God, God is pleased
to show wrath and mercy, and he does both in justice. but
he's not gonna show wrath and mercy to the same person. You either be under his wrath
or you're under his mercy. If you're under his mercy, you've
never been under his wrath. Though he may make you feel to
think you are, especially in the first throes of gospel conversion,
because you'll know you deserve wrath. And you know that you
are a child of wrath toward him, just like everybody else was.
You deserve to be abandoned by God forever. So again, God is
pleased to show wrath and mercy. Now think about it, he cannot
show both to all Jews and all Gentiles. You can't show wrath
and mercy. There was one individual came
here for a while, he said, well, I believe God loves everybody and hates
everybody. All the same bodies. How, what? Really? I could ever go over really well
with me and my wife. Baby, I hate you and I love you
too. Well, tell me what parts what. Folks, this is the kind of double
talk that all of this false gospel has brought this whole world.
And listen, it wasn't the economics and the politics that brought
in the false gospel. It's the false gospel that brought
in the bad economics and the bad politics. Because a man or
woman knows the gospel, knows a little bit of something about
justice, and wrath, and mercy, and holiness, and righteousness,
and compassion, all of it. All of it. I mean, if you do
something wrong, you deserve to be punished. Folks, we're
in a spot in our country now where there's some people, if
they don't matter what you do, just let them go. Let them go. And one day, apart from our Lord's
return, or God bringing something down, COVID didn't do it. May have brought this country
to its knees, but it didn't bring them to God. Now did it? Because only the preaching of
the gospel by the power of the Spirit of God will bring men
and women to God, because that's the way it pleads God.