I can't explain this, and it
might not be worth much, but I feel in my spirit that the
Lord just might speak powerfully this morning. I hope that we'll
all be like young Samuel. If he does, he will say, speak
Lord, my servant here. Special attention to this message
of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ this morning. I've titled
the message, All Israel Shall Be Saved. Romans 11, beginning
in verse 26, Paul says, And so all Israel shall be saved. Now we know that Paul cannot
be talking about every Jew who descended from Abraham or from
Isaac. We know that's true because most
of the Jews, almost all of them that left Egypt, what happened
to them? They perished in the wilderness
because of unbelief. I mean, they didn't just die.
They died in the wilderness in unbelief. Judas Iscariot descended
from Abraham, didn't he? He perished in unbelief and rebellion.
There's many others in scripture that we know about. So we know
he cannot be talking about every Jew who descended from Abraham.
Second, we know he can't be talking here about physical Jews, because
salvation doesn't have anything to do with our flesh. Salvation
is by grace, isn't it? Not by works. Salvation doesn't
depend upon our flesh in any way, what we do in the flesh,
who we're related to or who we're not related to in the flesh.
Salvation is by grace. The only thing the flesh can
give you and me is sin, because we're all related to Abraham
or to to Adam, and that's where we all became sinners. We all
sinned in Adam. So look back at Romans chapter
2. The Israel that Paul is talking about here is spiritual Israel. He's talking about spiritual
Jews. He's not talking about national Israel or natural Jews. Romans 2 verse 28. For he's not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
But he's a Jew. He's a true Jew, a spiritual
Jew. which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart
and the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God. Now look over at Romans chapter
nine. He says the same thing again.
Romans nine, verse six. Not as though the word of God
has taken none effect, for they're not all Israel, which are of
Israel. They're not all spiritual Israel,
which are national Israel. Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is they which are the children
of the flesh. These are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
One more scripture, Galatians chapter six. Verse 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. See, that's
what we're talking about. It's not in the flesh, is it? It's a new creature,
a new man in the heart, born of God. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon the Israel of
God. Now, the Israel of God is a spiritual
people, not a fleshly people, a spiritual people. So this is
very, very good news for sinners. because God assures us that all
the spiritual Israel shall be saved. Not possible that any
of them will perish. Sinners from every race, from
every generation, sinners of every color of flesh, sinners
of every shape of flesh can be saved by grace, through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That includes us Gentiles. And
just like we saw last week, It also includes some national Jews.
God hasn't just completely shut off his mercy and grace to the
Jews. God has reserved some grace, mercy for the Jews too, hasn't
he? Because God's good. God has a
people, scripture says, from every kindred and every race
under heaven. And that includes some Jews too. Because God's
grace is what saves. It's not anything about the flesh. It's God's grace. That's where
salvation is found. In verse 26, back in our text
of Romans 11, this phrase is two words, and so. What that
means is in the same manner. So in the same manner, all Israel
shall be saved. And that's why I want us to look
at this morning. What is the manner in which God saves his
people? Is there a common manner of salvation? Well, there is. And our text
gives us six things that are common to the salvation of all
of God's elect. If God has saved you, you will
recognize all these six things. Now the first one is this. Salvation
is a mystery. All of salvation, everything
about it is a mystery. Verse 25. For I would not, brethren,
that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should
be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be coming in.
Now this is a mystery, Paul said. What's a mystery? Well, a mystery
is something that you cannot know unless somebody else tells
you. Somebody's got to reveal the
mystery, the answer to the mystery. Here in a couple of weeks, Jan
and I are going to be going on vacation. We're going to go down to the
beach and set up our umbrella, and you know what I'm going to
do all day? I'm going to read mysteries. It's the only week
of the year I read something other than commentaries, and
I'm going to read mysteries. And I've got a particular author
I love, and I'm telling you, You don't know the answer to
the mystery to the last page. I mean, she's got to tell you,
because I can never, ever figure it out. I've read 20 of her books.
I can never figure it out. That salvation, it's a mystery. We look at it and look at it
and look at it and look at it and study it and study it and
study it. And the salvation of a soul is a mystery. Paul says the way God has dealt
with the Jews is a mystery. Everything God does is a mystery.
I never know what God's going to do until he does it. I mean,
I think the Lord's going to bless us this morning, but I don't
know. I just don't know until he does it. The way God has dealt
with the Jews, it's a mystery, isn't it? Blindness, in part,
has happened part of God's reason for giving blindness to Israel
so the Gentiles can see. I don't understand that. And
Israel's going to stay in that blindness until the fullness
of the Gentiles come in. Try as I might for weeks, I've
been looking at this. I don't know what that means.
I know what it's like. Henry said, I know what it says,
but I don't know what it means. What does that mean that there's
going to be a revival and the Jews before the Lord returns?
I don't know. It's a mystery. We'll know when
God does it, I suppose. But this is the real point. You
don't don't get caught up trying to figure that out. Here's the
real point. In like manner, all of spiritual Israel shall be
saved. In what kind of manner? a mysterious
matter. Salvation cannot be explained. It's got to be experienced in
the heart. Years and years ago, I was at a meeting and Brother
Donnie Bell was preaching. This was years ago, I was probably
24 years old. And I was sitting there in the
front row and he was talking about salvation. He said, it's not an experience.
But he looked at me and said, young Frank, it sure is an experience.
Salvation's got to be experienced in the heart or you cannot understand
it. Now, I can tell you from God's
Word how God saves sinners. I can tell you how Christ pays
for sin. I can tell you how God makes
his people righteous through the obedience of another. But
you'll never understand it until God reveals it to you. God saves
you. Then you'll understand the mystery.
It cannot be explained. The gospel, the gospel that we
preach is a mystery. to the natural man. The gospel
that we preach is a mystery to the brightest minds on earth. You all know this, how much affection
and love I have for our children. A hundred years ago, I was one
of them. And we've got some outstanding
teachers and our children are brilliant. I mean, they're brilliant,
but the gospel is a mystery. Now, you can memorize scripture,
you can memorize verses of scripture, you can memorize the points and
the ways that God does things. But the gospel is a mystery to
the brightest of minds. You know, if the gospel is a
mystery to you, don't be too awful disappointed. It's a mystery
to the brightest minds of all time. The Apostle Paul said that. I mean, Paul's a brilliant man.
He spoke to brilliant people. And he said, we speak the wisdom
of God. in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world under our glory. That wisdom of God and how he
saved sinners is a mystery to the natural man. Well, if the
gospel is a mystery to me, this is what I want to know. How can
I understand the mystery? Is there a way that I can know
this mystery? Yes, there is. It's by doing what you're doing
right now, listening to the preaching of the gospel. God reveals the
mystery of salvation to the hearts of his people. It's not just
to the mind, it's to the heart. And he does it through preaching.
Paul said in Colossians 1, verse 26, even the mystery, which has
been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints. How is it made manifest to his
saints? Through the preaching of Christ. In the Old Testament
scripture, we had salvation set forth in type and picture and
shadow, didn't we? It was all in Christ, but it
was in type and picture. Now that mystery is made obvious
through the preaching of Christ, because Christ has come and fulfilled
all the types and all the pictures. He's come and showed us clearly
that salvation is in Him, and that's made manifest through
preaching. But everything about salvation, if you want to call
it a step or whatever, everything about it is a mystery to the
natural man. This is a mystery. Before God created anything,
He chose a people to save. It was God's purpose to save
a people. And He elected those people to
save before He created anything. And the only way we'll ever know
about that mystery, that would be an utter mystery to us, wouldn't
it? Unless God made it known. But He has made it known. Ephesians
1 verse 9. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will. This is the mystery of God's
will and redemption. It all happened according to
His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. It's not because
anything about us. It's all because God is good,
because God elected a people to save. Then how about this? This is a mystery. The mystery
of Almighty God appearing in human flesh. And not just in
a human body, but with the human nature. That's a mystery. Paul told Timothy without controversy. Nobody can argue against this.
Great is the mystery of godliness that God was manifest in the
flesh. And it's not just that Christ appeared in the flesh,
but it's what he accomplished because he appeared in the flesh.
What did Christ accomplish because he appeared in the flesh? He
accomplished the salvation of sinful men and women who are
in the flesh. In our flesh, since Christ appeared
in the flesh, he can be the sacrifice for sinful men and women in the
flesh. Because he appeared in the flesh, he can be the substitute
for sinful men and women in the flesh. An animal, a lamb, a bullock,
a goat could never be our substitute, could it? Different flesh, different
nature. But Christ appeared in our flesh
with our nature so he could be our substitute. So all Israel
shall be saved. in the obedience and the sacrifice
of Christ. That's a mystery. It's not a
mystery that God's made known to you, but until he does, it's
a mystery, isn't it? The new birth, ooh, that's a mystery
that twists people up. But you know why it twists people
up? Nobody, nobody can understand the new birth until they've been
born again. The new birth will be a mystery
to you until you're born again, and then you'll understand it.
Again, that's what Paul said, Colossians 1, 27, to whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles. This is the mystery God's made
known. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's your hope of
glory. Christ in you, it's a new birth.
There's a new man been born in you, the nature of Christ. That's
a mystery. You can never know until God
causes you to be born again. See, salvation is a mystery and
we can't know it. until God makes it known to us.
God's got to be the one to teach us, to make it known to us. And
you know why God does it that way? He's done it that way on
purpose. To keep us from being proud. That's what Paul says,
lest you should be wise in your own conceits. If we figured this
thing out, we'd be as proud as a peacock. You couldn't live
with us if we were the ones that figured this out. I appreciate Eric's prayer. He
prayed I'd have some compassion in preaching the gospel to sinners.
Eric, I couldn't do it, but I figured this out. I was up here telling
you I figured it out. But this is what God reveals to sinners,
that we can preach it with compassion. We can have compassion on each
other. We understand, though. We understand weakness. We understand... The only reason we can have compassion
like that on each other is we didn't figure that out. God gave
it to us. He revealed it to us. Thank God. He makes the mystery of salvation
known to everybody. He says all spiritual Israel
is going to be saved with this mysterious mystery. It's something
that only God could do. Right. Here's the second thing.
Salvation is the result of the eternal purpose of God. Verse
26. And so all Israel shall be saved
as it's written, as it's written. A real salvation from sin agrees
with all of the Old Testament scriptures. At the time that
Paul was writing this letter to the church at Rome, the only
scriptures that they had, the only scriptures that were written
were the Old Testament scriptures. And what he's telling them is
that all salvation has to agree with all of the Old Testament
scriptures because all of scripture tells us what God's eternal purpose
is. God purposed in eternity to save
a people He determined who he would save and how he would save
them. He determined who he would save and he determined that he
would save them through the person, the doing and the dying of his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's God's purpose. Salvation
is not in us making a decision. It's not. Salvation is not in
us deciding to let Jesus into our heart, deciding for Jesus.
No. Salvation is a decision that
God makes. before time began, and He revealed it to His people
in time. God determined a people, He would
say. He elected them, He elected the Savior to save them. And
then, you know what He did? He wrote the whole Old Testament
to show us in type and picture that salvation is in His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation has to agree with the
Old Testament Scriptures. It's got to be through the seed
of woman. It was promised in Genesis chapter
6. The Savior cannot be in the seat of man. If he did, he'd
partake in Adam's sin. No, he's got to be in the seat
of woman, so he didn't partake in Adam's sin. Salvation must
be through the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, who appeared
to take away sin. It cannot be by works, which
are pictured by the fruits and vegetables that Cain brought
him. The salvation is by grace, not by works. Salvation is in
the work of Christ, not our works. That agrees with the Old Testament.
Salvation has got to be in Christ being our substitute, being the
substitute for his people and bearing all the punishment that
the sin of his people deserves. That's what the Ark of Noah represents.
Salvation has got to be in the blood of Christ our Passover,
sacrificed for us, pictured in that Passover lamb. So that God
said, when I see the blood, not the blood of a goat or a bullock
or a sheep, not our blood, not the blood of our sacrifice. When
I see the blood, the precious, spotless, perfect blood of my
son, I will pass over you. See, it's got to agree with that
Old Testament sacrifice. Now, I understand that the Old
Testament gives us the law of God, doesn't it? A bunch, many
pages of the Old Testament are taken up giving us the law of
God. Now, don't fall into the trap of human thinking. God didn't
give us the law in the Old Testament as a way that we could be saved
through keeping the covenant of the law. The law, God gave
us the law to show us this one thing. We can't keep it. Just
shows us the hopelessness of trying to keep the law so that
we would have to look to Christ who did appear to keep the law
for his people, to make them righteous through his obedience
to the law. By him doing something for us
we could never do for ourselves. That's salvation that agrees
with the Old Testament Scriptures. So any salvation that includes
any work on our part at all, any work, even one, is no salvation
at all because it does not agree with the Old Testament Scriptures.
Salvation is all of Christ. It's all in Christ. It's all
of his doing, all of his dying, all of his blood, all of his
righteousness, all of his power, all of his mercy, all of his
grace, all of his love. It's all of Christ. That's why
the Lord commanded when you build a stone altar, you take the stones
just like you find them laying on the ground and stack them
up and build an altar. Don't you touch it with those
stones, with your tools. Because if you take those stones
and you take your hammer and your chisel and you start on
that stone, you know what you're going to do? You're going to
try to make that altar appear more beautiful to the flesh.
You don't preach the gospel in a way that makes it more appealing
to the flesh. No, you declare God as he is. You declare man
as he is, and it's ugly, but you declare man as he is. You
declare salvation as it is. It's a bloody, bloody sacrifice
of God's Son where God's wrath is poured out upon him. Don't
you put your tool to it to make it more appealing, because if
you do, you defile the altar and you defile the sacrifice
that you all offer on it. You take the stones, just like
God made them, that you found there laying on the ground, and
you make an altar. That's the way we preach the
gospel. We take the word that God's given us and we preach
it just like we found it. Don't try to change it, just
preach it just like he found it, because that's how God saves
sinners. That salvation agrees with the
Old Testament scripture. Salvation is all in Christ and
it's got nothing to do with what we do or don't do. Our hand never
touches salvation. If it does, we've defiled it.
That's what's written. All of Israel shall be saved. You know why? That's God's eternal
purpose. All right, thirdly, salvation
is in Christ saving his people from sin. It's not Christ saving
his people from hell. It's not Christ saving his people
from poverty or, you know, disasters on this earth. Salvation is Christ
saving his people from their sin. Verse 26. And so all Israel
shall be saved. As it's written, there should
come out of Zion the deliverer who shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. I love this name, title of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. He's the deliverer. Oh, we're
in bondage. We're captive. We're locked in
the deepest, darkest hole, the dungeon of sin. But the Lord
Jesus Christ came as the deliverer. Christ delivered his people from
sin. He made sin for them. Christ delivered his people from
the curse of the law. He made a curse for them. He
is the deliverer. Christ saved his people from
sin by making their sin to not exist anymore. You know why God
said there's sin and iniquity, why I remember no more? Because
the blood of Christ blotted it out. So all of Israel is saved
from sin. First, all spiritual Israel is
saved from the damning power of sin. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. There's no condemnation
to anyone for whom Christ died because Christ already bore that
condemnation. He already took away all the
judgment, all the wrath that our sin deserves by suffering
it for his people. God's justice is fully satisfied
in the sacrifice of Christ. So God will never condemn anyone
for whom Christ died. We've been saved from the damning
power of our sin. Second, all Israel. is saved
from the controlling power of sin. Scripture says, this is
what's written, sin shall not have dominion over you. If you're
not under the law, but you're under grace. The only way sin
can have dominion over you is if you're trying to keep the
law and make God happy with you. You put yourself under the dominion
of sin. But if you're under grace, sin shall not have dominion over
you. I know what you're thinking. You know, I've covered this many,
many, many times. And every time I hear, We're saved from the
controlling power of sin that still comes into my mind. You
know what I think? I think, I still sin. God must not save me because
everything I do is sin. Well, if everything I do, and
I don't want to, I don't want to sin. I hate sin. I hate that
in myself, but I do. I can't, I can't help it. So
it seems like if I'm doing something I can't help, it seems like sin
has control over me, doesn't it? Well, the believer does still
sin. but sin does not have control
over the believer. That doesn't mean you have to
go out there and sin less than all your neighbors and everybody
else. That's not what that means. See, I make good on this. A believer
sins, but sin does not control them. Now, it is our sin nature
that makes us unable to believe. Isn't that right? Our sin nature,
the nature we're born with, cannot believe God. Our sin nature,
the nature we're born with, is death. So it can't hear the gospel. Now, you can hear me speak, but
you can't hear it in the heart so that you love it and believe
it. By nature, we're spiritually blind, so we can't see Christ. We can't see Christ in the word.
We can't see our own situation. You know, we think we're pretty
good. If we if you think I'm pretty good, I'm better than
other people. My friends are blind. You don't see yourself
as you are. And so you don't see your need
of Christ. You don't understand Christ in the scriptures because
you blind by nature. Our sin nature hates God. People
go around saying, I love Jesus. They're lying. They love Jesus
of their imagination, but they don't love the God of the Bible
by nature. Our carnal mind is enmity against God. So we can't
love him. We can't bow to him. Our nature
is so full of pride. We're so stubborn. We just are
unable to beg God for mercy. That's because of our sin nature.
Well, you who believe, this is one of the, now here's a mystery.
You only understand if God saved you. You who believe, you know
this. Now you do what you once could
not do. You don't do as well as you wish
you would, but you do what you once could not do. Now you see
Christ. Seen before, but now you do.
Now you understand. Oh, that's what that says. It's talking about Christ. You
see. Now you hear the gospel and you hear it. You hear it
in your heart. So you love it. You couldn't
hear it or love it before, could you? But now you do. What happened? What caused this great change?
God's grace reigns. That's what happened. God's grace
reigns over sin. God has caused a new man to be
born in your heart. And that new man reigns. The
old man of the flesh is still just the same as he ever was.
A new birth does not change the flesh in any way. All that old
man of the flesh can do is still sin. But that old man, that sinful
flesh, cannot stop the new man from believing. Try as he might,
he can't do it. He can't stop that new man from
loving Christ. He can't stop that new man from
coming to Christ. He can't stop that new man from
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. He can't stop
that new man from just loving to hear the gospel of Christ
preached. He can't stop that new man from resting in Christ.
He can't do it because sin cannot reign. Grace reigns. Righteousness reigns unto eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that's what the prophet means
when he says the deliverer will turn ungodliness away from Jacob. Now Jacob is still Jacob, isn't
he? Jacob was still Jacob to the day he died. And all Jacob's
sons were just like Jacob, weren't they? But Jacob's ungodliness
is not going to reign anymore, is it? Because now Jacob's got
a new name. Your name should no longer be
called Jacob. Your name's Israel. And Israel reigns. So that on
Jacob's dying day, he said, I trust in the Lord. It's God who shepherded
me all the days of my life. I'm going to lay down and die.
I'm going to lay down and die trusting the Lord. Now you do
the same. That old man, that ungodliness of Jacob couldn't
stop him from believing Christ and clinging to Christ. All Israel
shall be saved because God's going to deliver them from the
controlling power of sin. And oh, thank God. It's like we looked at in our
lesson this morning. One day Christ is coming back. He's going
to appear and he's going to say, it's done. And our relationship with sin
will be severed forever. We will be taken to be with the
Lord. Perfect body and soul forever to be with the Lord. All Israel
shall be saved because Christ the Deliverer came and took our
sin away. Fourth, salvation is in God's covenant of grace. Verse
27. For this is my covenant unto
thee. when I shall take away their sins." Now God is a covenant
God. Have y'all heard that before? God is a covenant God. I bet
y'all heard Brother Henry say that thousands of times. God
is a covenant God. You know what that means? Somebody
not know what that means, God's a covenant God? I'll tell you
what it means. It means that everything God does, He does
because He promised to do it before He created anything. Everything
God does, He's doing Not reacting to you and me. No, everything
God does, He does because He determined He would do it before
He created anything. The word covenant means promise.
Before God created anything, He promised what He would do.
He said, this is my will. And now that He's created man
on earth, you know what He's doing? He's doing everything
He promised He'd do. He's doing everything He determined
to do. God promised that He would be
gracious to His people before time began. Before He created
Adam, before He created the world, For he spoke and said, Let there
be light. God promised he would be gracious to his people. I'm
looking at some folks God's been gracious to. You're an object
of God's grace. You want to know why? God promised
he would. And he kept his promise, didn't
he? God was gracious to his people
because nothing can make God break his promise. There came
a day God promised his son would come. He promised the Messiah.
He promised the Deliverer would come. And one day, Mary brought
forth a baby and he appeared. Peace on earth. God in human
flesh, the Savior appeared. Behold, the Lamb of God was taken
away and sent into the world. Grace came into the world. That
very moment, grace appeared in the world because grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. That's why God sent his son to
bring grace to his people. And grace, God's purpose of grace
was fulfilled in his son. Christ came to obey God's law
for His elect, to give them a righteousness, to make them righteous before
God. And He went and suffered the penalty of the broken law
for them, even though they never deserved it. They weren't seeking
it, they didn't want it, but He did it anyway. That's grace. Grace appeared in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's where salvation is
found. It's in God's promise of grace, God's promise to save
His people. Not because they did anything.
No, matter of fact, in spite of everything they did, God promised
to save him. So salvation can't be in the
covenant of the law, can it? No. People say, well, you keep the
law and then God will be gracious to you. I wish people would think. False
religion makes it sound like grace is conditional, doesn't
it? Well, grace, by definition, can't be conditional. You know,
this is what they say. God will be more gracious to
you the more laws you keep. God will be more gracious to
you the better you keep the law. It's not grace. And that's not
salvation. Because that's not God's promise.
That's a covenant of works, not a promise of grace. Let me show
you that in Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews 8 chapter. Now Moses gave the law, the law
came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Christ Jesus. Hebrews
8 verse 6, but now hath he, the Lord Jesus Christ, hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry? But how much more also he's the
mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better
promises. Don't go looking for the covenant
of the law, the covenant of grace, the covenant of God's grace in
Christ is a much better covenant. because it's based on better
promises. It's based upon the promise of God, which is a whole
lot better than us trying and failing to keep the law. This
is a better covenant, the covenant of grace. I read on verse seven. For if that the first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second. For finding fault with him, he saith, behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, when I'll make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their father, and the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued on in my covenant and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord." See, salvation, he just told us this plainly.
Can anybody misunderstand what he just said? Salvation's not
in the covenant of the law, because all we do is break the law. We
can't keep the law. So that's not a very good covenant,
is it? Because we can't keep it. But here's the better covenant. Verse 10, the covenant of grace.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel, the house of spiritual Israel. After those days, saith
the Lord, I'll put my laws into their mind, and I'll write them
in their hearts. And I will be to them a God,
and they should be to me a people. And they should not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities, till I
remember no more. God promised grace to His people.
That's why God sent His Son to come to this earth to put away
the sin of His people. And God doesn't remember their
sin anymore. Because the blood of Christ,
the blood of the covenant, the blood of the covenant of grace,
make the sin of God's elect to not exist anymore. And then God
causes the Holy Spirit to come and give all of His people new
birth, new spiritual birth. That's when God writes the law,
his laws into their minds. Not this mind. No, the new mind
born of God. He puts the law into the heart
of his people. That's not this flesh. That's
not the nature of this flesh. It's the nature of the new man
who'd been born of God. That new man born of God, he
loves God's law. Law is in his mind and in his
heart. And he keeps it. He can't see it because he's
been born of God. That's the result of God's covenant
of grace. Everybody that God ever says
has to say. I didn't do one thing. It's all because of God's covenant
of grace. He purposed it, accomplished
it, and he applied it. And that's such good news because
the salvation in the covenant of God's grace gives hope of
salvation to the worst of sinners. It does. The worst of sinners
have hope. in the covenant of grace. But
if salvation come by the law, if salvation is in the covenant
of law, like most people think, then Fran, listen to me now.
Nobody has any hope. All right. If salvation is by
the covenant of law, the only people have a hope of salvation
is good people. But what's written? There's none good. So salvation in the covenant
of law gives hope to no one. Salvation in the covenant of
God's grace gives hope to the worst of sinners. You come to
Christ, all of your sin, all of your rebellion, and he'll
forgive you. That's his, he promised to do
it. He's not gonna break his word. All Israel shall be saved
because God promised to save them. All right, fifth. In our text, Romans 11. Now this
is very obvious, but it needs to be said. I've said it already,
but let's make it one point in and to of itself. Verse 27 says,
I shall take away their sin. Salvation is the work of God
alone. It's God's work. Who took sin
away? God does. God does. Salvation
is the work of God. And we don't contribute not one
work to it. If you contributed one work, if it's just one work
of deciding for Jesus, if it's just one work of walking an aisle,
one work, You're not saved. Salvation is the work of God
alone. He took the sin of His people
away. That's His work. And we don't contribute a work
to it before conversion. We don't contribute a work to
it after conversion. Ever. Salvation is the work of
God from beginning to end. When did salvation begin? Well,
it began with God, didn't it? When God elected a people to
save. In the end, God came in the flesh and He saved those
people. He made them righteous through his obedience. He put
their sin away by his death, by his sacrifice. Then God comes
and he gives life to his people in the new birth. We didn't do
anything to make ourselves be born, do we? Oh, God, the Holy
Spirit just came and gave us life. God calls those people
through the preaching of the gospel. We can't make ourselves
here, but when God calls, we're here, don't we? We come. God
gives faith in the heart to believe Christ. Listen, I can tell you
this from God's Word. I can tell you this from my own
experience. You can spend all the time you want trying to make
yourself believe. You can see in your natural mind,
if there is a God, this is salvation. It's the only way that God could
ever save anybody is by His sovereign grace. And you can try to make
yourself believe all you want and you can't do it. But God
gives faith in the heart. You can't not believe. That's
the work of God, isn't it? And listen, God doesn't save
His people and then leave it up to them to keep themselves
sanctified and find their way to the celestial city. No, sir. God keeps those people that He
saved. He keeps them faithful. He keeps them in His hand by
the power of His grace, and they're going to arrive in glory because
God carried them there from beginning to end. Salvation is the work
of God. And all Israel shall be saved
because of who saved them. Because God did, and everything
God does is perfect. So his people shall be saved. All right, last. Salvation is
sure. Because the covenant God, remember
what covenant God means, the God who promised, the God who's
going to carry out all of his purpose. The covenant God is
never going to change his mind. His purpose is never going to
change. Verse 28. As concerning the gospel, they
are enemies for your sakes. but it's touching the election,
they're beloved for the Father's sake. For the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. God has some people he's going
to save. I know he does. I know God has some people he's
going to save who at this very moment are lost in their sin.
I know that's true. Because if all God's elect had
been saved, if they'd all been brought to faith in Christ, God
would wrap this thing up. He'd fold this thing up and put
it away and create a new one. New heavens and new earth. But
he hadn't done that yet, has he? Now, this is still the gospel age.
This is the gospel age because right now the gospel is being
preached. Here and other places, the gospel is being preached
at this very moment. So God's still going to save somebody
because he can do it through the preaching of his word. Now,
I understand those people who have not yet been saved, they've
not yet been called to faith. Right now, they're enemies of
Christ. They're enemies to the gospel.
You think, well, I'm not an enemy of the gospel. I'm sitting here.
You know, I'd say that's true. Well, you're an enemy of the
gospel if you haven't bowed to it. You're an enemy to Christ if you haven't
bowed to him. You're an enemy of Christ if you haven't believed
in him. And I understand because it's the only thing your nature
can do. Those people have not bowed to Christ. They hate him
and they hate God. If you loved him, you'd bow to
him. If you believed him, you'd bow to him. But now listen, they're
in their sin and rebellion and hatred. I understand. All their sin, all their hatred,
all their unbelief is not going to make God change His mind and
cast them off. God chose to save them when they
are sinners. Didn't He? Well, then their sin
is not going to make Him change His mind. Christ died for them
while they were yet sinners. You think of that. Christ died
for His people while they were yet sinners. Now, while I hate
my sin, while I'm determined not to sin, while I wish I wouldn't
do it again, we have this comfort. God's not going to cast us out
because we sinned. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.
God's not going to change His mind. God elected them unto salvation
because God loves them. He sent His Son to die for them.
Then they shall be saved. They shall be. And I can tell
you how they're going to do it, how they're going to be saved.
It's through preaching the gospel. God is going to cause them while
the gospel is being preached, they believe. While they're in
darkness, the light's going to turn on them. While their heart
is hard and will not believe, suddenly they got a new heart
that's a heart of flesh that's soft and warm and they're going
to come to Christ. All Israel shall be saved because
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God's
never going to turn from them. All Israel shall be saved. God
saved you. Do you recognize those six things?
That's why God saved me. Give thanks. All right, let's
bow and pray. Our God in heaven, how we thank
you that you've given us one more opportunity to hear your
gospel preached. This is the gospel age. You're
still sending forth your gospel. Call out your sheep. Father,
I pray you bless your word. Preach this morning. Cause it
to call one of your sheep out of their rebellion, out of their
darkness, out of themselves. Call them to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father, cause your gospel to go forth in power to comfort
the hearts of your people. To one more time see this is
Christ my Savior. All my hope is in Him. And it's
a good hope because it's in Him. Cause the hearts of your people
to swell up with rejoicing comfort and assurance in Christ our Savior. Cause this gospel preached to
bring much glory to your name, we pray. First, that name which
is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
pray and give thanks.