Romans 11, verse 1. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew, What ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias,
how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord,
they have killed thy prophets and digged down thine altars,
and I am left alone, and they seek my life? But what saith
the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 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 is
it 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
hath 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. Amen. May God bless to us this reading
from his word. Just before we begin, we'll have
another quick word of prayer and let me mention that there
will be a rescue mission this coming week. 6.30 we begin, 6.30 and Mitch will
have responsibility for that service. So do keep that in your
prayers, come along if you are able to and give Mitch a little
bit of support and encouragement as he ministers the word to the
men and women down at the rescue mission Saturday evening. We'll
be back here on Sunday at 10.30 in the gospel. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast given us this
hour together this evening. We bless Thee that in the midst
of our week with all of its business and responsibility and the challenges
that we have, Thou art pleased to meet with Thy people in the
preaching of the Gospel, to nourish our souls, to sustain us and
bless us, and to give us once again a glimpse of Thy person. We rejoice on such occasions
as these, and we pray that Thou wilt give us wisdom as we turn
to the Holy Scriptures, that Thou wilt lead our thoughts,
that Thou wilt guide our minds, that Thou wilt bring us into
that truth which Thou knowest we have need of, and that Thou
wilt be pleased to lift us up in our views of thy glory and
thy person, that we may see the great plan of salvation laid
out before us and the wonders of those things which God has
accomplished for the salvation and redemption of his people.
May it be so for thy name's sake. Amen. If the frequency of a word's
usage in scripture marks or indicates in any way the importance of
a particular passage in the understanding of the subject in question, then
this portion of the Word of God is key to grasping the doctrine
of election. Election is mentioned more times
in this passage and in the surrounding chapters than anywhere else in
the Bible. And so the title for this evening's
thoughts, for this evening's sermon, is The Election of Grace. And we find that little phrase
there in verse five. Even so, writes the apostle to
the church at Rome, even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. Now, cards on the table. Just so that no one is under
any misapprehension, You either love the biblical
doctrine of election or you hate it. And just so we're clear, I love
it. I love it and I hope you do too. You either accept this biblical
doctrine of election or you reject it. Now, what you can't do is deny
that it's in the Bible, because here it is, right in front of
us, as we come to the Scriptures, as we read the Scriptures, we
encounter the language of election, the language of eternal purpose,
the language of covenant responsibility and agreement. We discover that
this word election has to do with choice, but not the decisionism
which is so often preached where men are encouraged to choose
God, but rather the reverse, where we are told in the word
of God that it is God who has chosen men and women. So you can't deny that election
is in the Bible. So what the opponents of the
biblical doctrine of election must do is endeavour to undermine
it, to misrepresent it, to denude it of its power and its strength
and its significance, to dilute it, to water it down, to weaken
it. and to make it mean something
different than the word of God clearly declares it to mean. In the scriptures, We find this
word election used in these chapters, 9, 10, 11 of Romans. We find the word elect
used throughout the scriptures. In the Gospels, the Lord speaks
of his elect. In the Old Testament, we find
Isaiah speaking about the elect. We find in the... apostolic writings
the phrase elect is used and it is used to mean that group
that have been chosen by God and we find that the church is
referred to as God's elect variously it's mine elect So God owns these
people of his choice. I have chosen these people. They
are my elect, mine elect. Again, we sometimes encounter
the phrase his elect because it is God who has chosen. And we find the phrase, mine
own elect, showing that there is a personalness about this
choice by God. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
God's elect. He is the chief cornerstone. He has been chosen and given
a purpose to be that chief and precious cornerstone of the body
of Christ. That building, which is the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, And sometimes we hear this phrase
used with respect to others. For example... There is a phrase
which identifies the elect angels, so that these are the angels
that have been chosen of God, set aside, dedicated for his
purposes, as opposed to those angels which rebelled against
God and fell and were expelled from heaven. We discover that
John speaks about an elect lady, And I personally believe that
he is referring in his epistle, 2nd and 3rd John, he is referring
to an individual. Now it's possible some people
think he's speaking about a church. But I think it's an individual
because he then goes on to speak about her elect children and
her elect sister. So you need to make all of these
to be metaphors unless you identify them as individuals. And I think
it's perfectly valid to assume that we're speaking here about
individuals. And so this word elect speaks
about the choice or the identification of certain individuals to certain
roles, to certain privileges, to certain particular activities. And, of course, we discover that
the apostles were chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ and they were
elected to certain apostolic offices. But the election which
we are speaking about here in this passage is expressly identified
as the election of grace. And it is this subject, as we
continue in our study through the Book of Romans, that we want
to dwell upon this evening. Paul has already spoken about
election in chapter 9 and verse 11 and just turn over the page
there you can see in chapter 9 verse 11 of Romans he says
for the children being not yet born so he's speaking about Jacob
and Esau, for the children being not yet born, so they were still
in their mummy's tummy, neither having done any good or evil,
they weren't even born yet, they were still in the womb, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth it was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. So here we see clearly how the
Apostle Paul is leaving the initiative for election on the part of God,
that the election was God's choice of certain individuals. and we can see that it was a
divine choice. God took the initiative, God
took the responsibility, God made the choice of whom he was
going to identify for a certain preferment, prominence over the
other. And we note from that that the
choice was particular. It was a certain named known
and particular individual that is identified. And here we begin
to understand how God is choosing individuals. And when we speak
about election, when we come to election in the scripture,
we always find that it is certain individuals that are chosen by
God. And these people are chosen according
to God's will, and according to God's purpose. Not the will
of the individual, but rather the will of the creator, the
will of Almighty God. So here we begin to see this
phrase, this definition forming before us. God takes the initiative,
he chooses certain individuals, he chooses them for particular
ends and for particular reasons. And when we come to understand
the phrase, the election of grace, we find that particularly God
has chosen these individuals, these named, these recognisable,
these identifiable individuals for the blessings of his grace. This is the election of grace
to those who are chosen, be they Jews or be they Gentiles, God's
love, God's mercy, and the justifying righteousness which God alone
can give is freely bestowed by God upon these individuals. This is the election of grace. Now let me nail this down for
you, if I can. Salvation is not based upon a
man or a woman's free will choice of God. It's not. You cannot
support that teaching broad, and plentiful as it is from pulpits
up and down this land in these days, you cannot support that
teaching from the Word of God. The Word of God clearly and emphatically
leaves the initiative of salvation in the hand of Almighty God. and it is freely bestowed by
him in saving grace. So it is not a man's free will
that brings him under the blessings of God's grace, nor is it a man's
good works that makes him eligible for God's grace. It is not our
obedience that brings us more likelihood of receiving God's
grace or indeed our disobedience that makes it less likely that
we might. It's not our personal merit in
any way. Salvation is a gift. it is a gift from God bestowed
upon whomsoever he will, he takes the initiative, he bestows it
gratuitously, he bestows it unconditionally, he gives it according to his
choice and he calls that choice the election of grace. Now this contrast between works
and grace is what we are going to touch upon in a moment. But
go back again to Romans chapter nine with me for a moment, please. And just let me touch upon a
couple of verses, verse 15 and verse 16, in order to substantiate
this point about God's giving his grace to whomsoever he will. Verse 15 of chapter 9 says this,
For he that is God saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, there's your free will, nor of him that runneth, there's
your obedience to whatever code of law or works that you want
to imagine. It is not of the will, it is
not of a man's actions or his works, but of God that showeth
mercy. So here we can see that very
clearly the apostle understands, and not as a new piece of theology
or doctrine that the apostle is giving, but from the very
testimony of Moses. Right back in the very beginning,
that great prophet of God, that man who stood face to face with
God, that man who spoke with God, here is the testimony of
God to Moses. And so we can see that this contrast
between works and grace is very clearly understood by Paul and
clearly preached in his gospel. So when we turn back across to
the 11th chapter and we look at verse 6, we can see the point
that Paul is making. He says that the remnant there,
the election of grace, is God's free gift to individuals. And if it's by grace, he says,
and I'm about to tell you what this grace is, he says, if it's
by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. These two things don't mix. They're
incompatible. You can't have 50% grace and
50% works, because the works mean that it can't be a free
gift, and nor can you have the free gift if it's at all dependent
or contingent upon work, because then it isn't free. So these
two things are mutually exclusive. And he says, if it's by grace,
then it's 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 works. And so the apostle has clearly
shown us what he understands by the election of grace. It is God's free gift of blessings
and benefits, of salvation, of redemption, of righteousness
and justification to named known individuals at his sovereign
will. In chapter 11 The Apostle begins
the chapter by asking a question, which is something he has done
throughout this book of Romans. And it seems like he does it
when he wants to make a particular point or emphasize something
which he considers to be very significant. And it's almost
as if he's anticipating a question or an inquiry or indeed a challenge
that he is going to get because of his doctrine and it's similar
here. He asks and then he answers an
anticipated question concerning the nation of the Jews. And the reason why he's asking
this question at the beginning of chapter 11 is because in chapter
10, he's been very emphatic in pointing out that the Jews missed
the proper understanding of God by endeavouring to obtain divine
pleasure divine righteousness, divine acceptance, justification
by the things that they did. And he said, they missed it.
They didn't get it. So he says, therefore, has God
cast away his people? Has he cast away these Jews?
Is the gospel only for Gentiles from now on? I think it's interesting that
that question was being asked and considered and answered by
the Apostle. There obviously was in the mindset
of the people at that time such a change, such an alteration
between the old Jewish religion and this new faith on the Lord
Jesus Christ that people said well it's it's completely different
and if the old Jewish system has been cast off then maybe
this Jesus is not for the Jews at all and I think that that's
why we often encounter the word all and every being used in the
apostolic testimony. So that when we encounter phrases
like, for God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life, then the idea of whosoever
or the idea of all, the idea that this is a message which
was for Jew and Gentile alike and not dedicated to one particular
group is the idea behind this usage of whosoever or all or
every man. And so we find this answer coming
forth here also. Has God cast away the Jews? No,
says the apostle. Salvation is for all whom God
gives it to. And he uses his own testimony,
he says, I'm a Jew, I'm a Jew, and I have experienced the grace
of God. We know the testimony of the
Apostle Paul, how in the Damascus road he met with the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Lord saved him. And so he says, Jews can get
saved as well as Gentiles, because salvation is God's gift. It's an unconditional gift. And I'm going to dwell for a
moment or two on that word, unconditional. Salvation is unconditional. It's not of anything that we
are or anything that we do. It's entirely of grace, not of
works, not of merit, not of nationality, nothing. Nothing that is to do
with the individual has any sway with God as far as his choice
of giving his gift of grace is concerned. It's unconditional. Perhaps you have heard the phrase
used, unconditional election. Those of you who have been around
reform circles for any length of time will know probably the
little acronym TULIP. and how that tulip gives you
the first letter of a phrase, which then opens up to particular
doctrines, which are sort of foundational to the reformed
faith, the T-U-L-I-P, total depravity. What's the second one? Unconditional
election. Unconditional election. So here,
we know this word unconditional. And we know it in the context
of election because what this is telling us is that there's
nothing in the individual which makes them more or less eligible
for receiving the grace of God. It is entirely unconditional. And when we use the word free
grace, again, we need to understand
what that word free means. It means unconditional. It's free because it's not conditioned
or predicated on anything else. It's free. Salvation isn't free. Salvation cost the Lord Jesus
Christ his life's blood. Salvation was the most expensive
thing ever purchased on the face of this earth because God himself
gave his life for it. Salvation isn't free. Grace isn't
free. Not in that sense of it not costing
anything, but it is free insofar as it is unconditional. It is
God who gives it freely to men. Yes, they don't have to pay for
it themselves, but it's the sense of there's nothing conditional
about the receipt of these blessings. And here we find that the apostle
draws upon another theme, another strand in this elective purpose
of God. Because he says in verse 2, no,
it's not just for Gentiles, it's for Jews as well. God hath not
cast away his people which he foreknew. So here's this word
for new or for knowledge coming into the equation also. And this word means not what
many people, perhaps most people, say that it means today. It's
just a logical fallacy to say that God waits to see what people
will do when they're offered salvation, and on the basis of
them doing or not doing, he chooses them to everlasting life. That
is just an illogical nonsense. For knowledge is God's placing
of those certain individuals that he has chosen within the
constraints, within the confines, within the parameters of his
covenant purpose and promise of salvation to those people
whom he has loved before time began. In the eternal purpose
of God, in the eternal counsels of God, in what we sometimes
call the everlasting covenant or the covenant of peace or occasionally
the covenant of grace, God foreknew those people that he chose to
everlasting life, that he chose to be recipients of his righteousness
and his grace. And these individuals were taken
in under the care of the Lord Jesus Christ into the covenant
purposes of God. And the Apostle Paul gives us
an example from the Old Testament to show what he means. And he
says, How about this man, Elijah, or Elias, as he is called here. This is Elijah, the prophet of
God. And Elijah thought that he was
the last believer in the whole of Israel. He thought there wasn't
another one left. And he speaks to God about this,
and he calls on God to judge Israel. He maketh intercession
to God. You know, this is so interesting.
He maketh intercession to God against Israel. Where do you
ever hear about anybody making intercession to God against somebody? You make intercession for somebody. We pray on behalf of one another
to God for somebody, not Elijah. Not Elijah. Elijah prayed against
Israel. because he knew that they were
idolatrous, that they were rebellious, that they were sinful, that they
were iniquitous, and he prayed that God would judge them and
destroy them. He prayed, he interceded to God
against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
they have digged down thine altars, and I am left alone. And look, they're even seeking
my life. They're trying to kill me as
well. The last one left. The last of the Mohicans. He
was the last one left. And he said, and they're trying
to take my life. And what did the Lord say? What saith the
answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 7,000.
Now I think there's so many things that we can take from that. We
can take encouragement, brothers and sisters in the Lord, when
we look around and see so few who seem to be interested in
the gospel of Jesus Christ these days. And it seems as if there's
only a few left. Elijah didn't know another believer
in his life. He didn't know another believer. Can you imagine that? He didn't
have the benefit of the internet or good reformed Puritan books. He didn't have the history and
the heritage that he could draw upon in order to sustain him
in difficult times. He didn't have the fellowship
of the Lord's people. He couldn't go to church and
meet another brother and sister in Christ. He didn't have anyone
to talk to at all. And he knew these people were
after his life. There's lots of applications
that we could take from this story in itself, but here's the
important one as far as Paul's argument is concerned. 7,000 men had been reserved. God had his elect. He had them as a remnant in Israel. And they did not bow the knee
to Baal. They weren't worshipping a false
god. They weren't idolaters. They
were kept faithful and true to the one true God. Now, here's
the point that the apostle's making. These people are reserved. They are reserved. Now you can't
have Reserved or preserved, let's use the word preserved. You can't
have preserved and free will. The two are incomparable. Here
is a people that God had kept for himself. These are the people
that he had foreknown. These are the people that he
had elected. This is the election of grace. These are the people that he
had placed under the care of Christ, under the safeguarding
of Christ. These were the people who were
being kept reserved for his worship. They were just a few. It was
just a remnant. They maybe didn't know too much
about each other, but they were a set apart people for God. And that directly contradicts
free will. You can't have God reserving
7,000 men and those 7,000 men having the free will to choose
whether or not they're going to accept God. It just doesn't
work. God had kept them. He had kept
them in Christ and he had given the Lord Jesus Christ covenant
responsibilities for these 7,000. He had charged Christ from everlasting
to keep watch over the spiritual well-being of those 7,000 and
to safeguard them throughout their life's experience. And
from that example, from the Old Testament prophets, and all the
Jews knew about Elijah and they knew about this incident and
episode, the apostle Paul. by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit tells us that there is yet a remnant. He says still
there is a remnant. Verse 5, even so then at this
present time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. There was an election of grace,
there was a remnant according to the election of grace in the
7,000 that were reserved at the time of Elijah, and so also there
is now. And this is the testimony of
history, that God has a people that he has reserved, preserved,
committed into the care and safeguarding of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he will keep that people for himself. as his elective purpose,
the election of grace. This remnant was a people that,
conduct notwithstanding, free will notwithstanding, God had
chosen to save and to deliver. He had purposed to save them.
And here Paul reminds his readers that grace and works are incompatible. Because what the Jews had tried
to do was to get that same righteousness, that same justification that
had been the gift of God to these 7,000, and get it by another
means. They had tried to get it by their
law works, their obedience to the Ten Commandments, and all
the other commandments that spun from those ten. They had tried
through obedience to please God, but they never could be perfect. They never could come up to that
standard of holiness that God required, and they failed. So
what they sought, They missed. But, says Paul, the election
have obtained it. The election have obtained it.
They tried to get it and failed, but the election have obtained
it. Though they sought it not. Look
at chapter 10, verse 20. Just back into the previous chapter. Chapter 10, verse 20. But Isaiah
is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me
not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. So here was a people that weren't
seeking after God, not like the Jews were, who weren't asking
after righteousness and justification. but to whom God in elective purpose
bestowed his grace and his mercy. And here the Apostle Paul is
building his argument. This is what we mean when we
talk about sovereign grace. We call our church Sovereign
Grace Church. It's what we mean when we talk
about sovereign grace. We mean that God in his capacity
as king, as ruler, as sovereign, does what he wants to do. He
has that power. He has that authority. He has
that control. Nobody says to God, what are
you doing? Nobody says to God, who gives you the right to do
that? God does what he will in the
armies of heaven and upon earth. And this is God's sovereign purpose. His sovereign grace is bestowed
upon a people of his choice. Even a people that weren't even
looking for him. Even a people that asked not
after him. He comes to them and he bestows
his grace and his mercy and his love gratuitously, freely, unconditionally
upon them. Now those whom God has not chosen,
they will not, they cannot be saved because they are not part
of that election of grace. You can't opt out of it and you
can't opt into it. It is a decretive choice of God's
eternal purpose. It is a declaration that he has
made in the eternal councils and it flows through according
to his covenantal purpose. If you're not part of the election
of grace, you're not part of the love and the grace and the
mercy of God. You're not part of that covenant
people. You remember how we started our
thoughts this evening? You either love that doctrine
or you hate it. The doctrine is so stark, so
emphatic that there's no middle ground here. You either accept
the biblical doctrine of unconditional election to salvation, or you
go about finding a way to rationalise, reconstitute, remodel the clear
testimony of the Word of God to make it say something that
it never did in order that you can preach a gospel that you
think is more acceptable to men and women. And that's what we
find is happening today in so many places. The question arises,
is it free will or is it free grace? Remember what we told
you free meant unconditional grace. That's the question. The
question is election. The question is whether God is
God. The question is whether God's
purpose will hold sway over man's will. or whether God is subservient
to man? Who's in control? Comes salvation by the gift of
God or by the will of man? Answer, answer the question. Where do you stand on that question? Where do you stand on that question?
Comes salvation by the will of God or by the will of man? Now, I tried to think of a gentler
way to say this and I couldn't. So, As far as
the Arminian free will gospel is concerned, Paul sticks the
knife in here and he twists it. That's exactly what he's doing
here. And I want you to look at verse seven with me, because
these are the sorts of verses that make our ears tingle. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it. Look at these next five words.
And the rest were blinded. The election have obtained righteousness,
justification, salvation by the free unconditional gift of God. And the rest were blinded. Really? Really? Blinded? What? By their own rebellious
nature? Sure, sure. Man's rebellious
nature blinds him. By the devil? Absolutely. The devil will blind men and
women. He will tempt, he will distract,
he will fill their minds with all manner of things. He will
invent, he will construct, he will reconstruct, he will reconstruct
reconstructions. He will do anything in order
to keep people away from the truth. He will blind their eyes. but it's God who gives the spirit
of slumber. Look at verse eight. According
as it is written. See, Paul's not making these
things up. He's drawing these from the Old Testament scriptures.
He is showing the Jews and the Gentile believers at Rome, but
he is showing the Jews that this is not a new doctrine. This is
not new theology. This is the testimony of the
word of God. God hath given them the spirit
of slumber. He's made them sleep. Eyes that
they should not see, ears that they should not hear unto this
day. These eyes and ears are incapable
of spiritual sight and spiritual understanding, they are deaf
and blind to gospel preaching and the lifting up of Jesus Christ. And it's God that brings this
spirit of slumber upon them. Why? Because they're not in his
covenant. They're not in his elective purpose. and he does not have a salvation
for these people. Now look at verse nine, and I
think there's some lessons here which will resonate with all
of us. And if Paul was emphatic in verse
eight, I think it's interesting to see just how clear and strong
his argument is in verse nine. And David saith, Let their table
be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense
unto them. Verse 10, let their eyes be darkened
that they may not see and bow down their back all way. Now, David says, verse nine,
let their table be made a snare. He is showing us another dimension
to this judicial blindness that is upon the non-elect. This natural state of condemnation
which men and women are under because of the fall, because
of their nature, because of Adam's sin, because of the state of
iniquitous rebellion that they are in. And God is doing nothing
to prevent these things. The Jews And we may suppose all
who try to reach God by their works religion, by their free
will desires, they have a table that is a snare
to them. Right, I think that this verse
will open up if I say to you that that table is an altar. Right? This is talking about
their religion. It's the religion, it's the altar
of men and women that has become a snare to them, that is a stumbling
block to them. Men and women have made their
own religion. They've made their own altar.
They've built their own altar. This is what Paul was saying
when he spoke about Elias. They had digged down the altar
of the Lord. They destroyed it. They were
idolatrous. They had their own religion.
Absolutely, they had their own religion. They numbered their
priests in the thousands and tens of thousands. and they had their high places,
and they had their groves, and they had their temples, and they
had their ritual, and they had all of their religious practices. Let their table be made a snare
and a trap. You know what the biggest trap
is to the preaching of the gospel? Is that religion which is out
there in the world, which makes men and women imagine that they
are righteous, sufficient to please God by their own decisions,
by their own works, by their own obedience. And this is exactly
the snare and the trap that David is talking about. He is asking
God, He is saying as it was with Elijah, he is interceding against
these people and he is saying, let their table be a snare and
a trap and a stumbling block to them. Let their altar, let
their religion become a snare to them. Trap them in their religion
so that they cannot escape. Make it such a stumbling block
that they cannot get over it. They cannot sidestep it. Make
it the very reward of their sin to be religiously upright and
practising in their faith. That's what David is asking for. Let their man-made religion satisfy
their desires. and cause them to sleep in slumber
in their ignorance. Verse 10, he goes on to say,
such eyes are darkened. Their eyes are darkened indeed
because they cannot see the light. They cannot see the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no interest in it,
neither from their own position nor from God's position. They're blind to evangelical
truth. They're blind to spiritual truth. They reject sovereign grace. They reject unconditional election. They hate it. They hate the fact
that God has authority, God is in control, and God gives the
salvation to whomsoever he will. They never see the Lord Jesus
Christ. They never understand that he
is the only way of salvation. David says, they bow down their
backs always. You think about a man whose back
is always bowed down. What is he looking at? What is
he looking at when his back is always bowed down? He's looking
at the earth. He's looking at earthly things. He's preoccupied with physical
things, tangible things, things that he can see, things that
he can do, things that he can touch. Their backs are bowed down and
David's praying to God to keep them like that, to make them
like that and keep them like that. They're preoccupied with
the physical, the ritual, the ceremonial, the religious, and
they never are able to free themselves from that bondage. It's a terrible
condition of the natural man, unless and until God is pleased
to bring light, bring life, bring sight, bring freedom, and break
through that state and bestow his unconditional grace and mercy
upon them. Men and women will be blind and
happily blind, trapped and self-righteously trapped, self-content in their
soul all the way to hell. unless God breaks in with his
sovereign grace, unless Christ is revealed to them. I want to
just turn back for a moment or two to verse seven. I've kind
of come to the end of my thoughts with respect to the verses that
are there, but I want to read a couple more things to you,
if I may, from just picking up on verse seven here. Turn back to chapter 9 and verse
31. Let's read verse 7 first of all. Now look at chapter 9 verse 31. Israel which followed after the
law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness. So that's showing us there that
what they desired was righteousness by the law, but they haven't
got it. And then in verse 3 of chapter
10, They, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. So he's showing us here that
what the Jews desired, they missed. They tried to get it and they
missed it. What then? Verse 7 of chapter 11. Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election
hath obtained it. What is the it? What is it that
the election have obtained? That which Israel sought after,
but by the wrong means. Righteousness. righteousness,
justification. That is what the election of
grace hath obtained. It's obtained justification. It's obtained righteousness. It didn't seek it. It didn't
ask for it, but it has obtained it. The message of the gospel
is that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. Not our works, not our efforts,
not our will, nor anything that is to do with us in our human
flesh whatsoever. Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
If we are to have righteousness, we must have Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. No religion, no obedience to
works, to morals, to lifestyle, to tradition, to dress, to practices,
to what we eat or what we don't eat, or anything else makes us
eligible for God's grace, eligible for God's favour, except this
one thing, that we have Jesus Christ. except God bring us to
Christ, except he opens our eyes to see Christ, except he remove
our natural blindness and set us free, we shall never know
grace, we shall never know peace, we shall never know the righteousness
of God. So if God in his elective purpose,
opens our eyes, we shall see the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who we'll see. We shall see him on the cross. We shall see the blood being
spilled. We will see that that alone can
atone for our sins. We shall see that a lamb had
to be slain to redeem the guilty. prefigured in the Old Testament
altars, fulfilled in the antitype Jesus Christ upon the cross,
a substitute acceptable for those that were lost. So the cross
is not held forth, listen to me, the cross is not held forth
in the gospel as a proposition by which salvation is offered
to men and women upon their profession of faith. It just isn't, but
that's exactly what mainstream Christian religion tells us. The cross is not held forth in
the gospel as a proposition by which salvation is offered to
men upon a profession of faith. It sounds good. It sounds good. It sounds like I can set the
cross before you. I can set Christ before you and
I can say, now, will you believe in him? And if you believe, then
you'll be saved. but it's a deceiving lie and
it's a damnable heresy. Rather, the cross is the means
by which the elect are saved by grace. It's as simple as that. It is the method by which salvation
of God's chosen people is accomplished. And contrary to popular preaching,
we do not believe in Christ's work on the cross in order to
obtain salvation. That would make salvation conditional
upon our believing. But We believe because the Lord
Jesus Christ's work on the cross is the way of salvation and God
will have all his elect to know how much their salvation cost. how much it took to redeem us,
how much it took to save us, how much to make us holy and
to reconcile us with God. When Paul and Silas were in Philippi,
a demon-possessed girl followed them around the city streets,
shouting and causing a scene. And calling her demon possessed,
the scripture says, Luke tells us that she was possessed by
a spirit of divination. And she made money for her masters,
her owners, because she was able to tell the future. But that girl shouted things,
she uttered things. Doubtless overruled by the Holy
Spirit for God's glory, but she uttered things that were theologically
and doctrinally sound. Even the devil has to testify
to the truth of the gospel. Here's what she said. These men,
speaking about Paul and Silas, are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. The way of salvation. These men
show unto us the way of salvation. Christ's death on the cross is
not the way that sinners can be saved. It's the way that the elect were
saved. We don't get saved because we
believe. We believe because we are already
saved. by our Lord's obedience, by his
death, by the power of his cleansing blood to us. This is God's gift
of grace to his elect. It is the opening of our spiritual
eyes and understanding to the righteousness of God, which he
has prepared for his chosen people in Christ. The election hath
obtained it. And the rest were blinded. I'm
going to read you a poem and then we're done. This is called
Christ a Hiding Place by Jehoiada Brewer. So that maybe gives you
some idea how old it is. Unless you know Jehoiada. Okay. Hail, sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail, matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who rules
the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised the mention of
his grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapped in
thick Egyptian night, and fond of darkness more than light,
madly I ran a sinful race, secure without a hiding place. But thus
the eternal counsel ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mount I flew,
But justice cried with frowning face, This mountain is no hiding
place. Her long and heavenly voice I
heard, And Mercy's angel form appeared. She led me on with
placid pace, to Jesus as my hiding place. Should storms of sevenfold
thunder roll, and shake the globe from pole to pole, no flaming
bolt could daunt my face, for Jesus is my hiding place. On him almighty vengeance fell,
that must have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for the chosen
race, and thus became their hiding place. A few more rolling suns
at most will land me on fair Canaan's coast, where I shall
sing the song of grace and see my glorious hiding place. Amen.