All Israel shall be saved. All Israel shall be saved. That's the title of my message.
My text is Romans chapter 11, verses 23 through 32. I've told you many times from
the very beginning of my days in Bible college, both the schools
I went to, we were bombarded incessantly every day, every
day. I don't believe there was a single
day this wasn't just pressed heavily upon the students. God
will one day regather the nation of Israel He will rebuild the
temple in Jerusalem, reestablish a Jewish priesthood, and men
and women will worship God at the temple in Jerusalem. And
Christ will come at last and sit physically on the throne
of David in the land of Israel. It was pressed so hard without
any basis whatsoever in any place in Scripture that I just immediately
called it into question. But it's constantly pressed,
constantly pressed. Cut Scripture up, put it back
together, and say, here's what it teaches. The place they pointed
to most frequently to establish this as fact was Romans chapter
11, and they interpreted Romans chapter 11 totally without foundation
in making such an assertion. The scripture says all Israel
shall be saved, but that obviously does not refer to everybody in
the nation of Israel. That's just not even a possibility.
The vast majority perished in the wilderness. That shuts them
out. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had
been in hell for a long time. Judas Iscariot had been in hell
for 2,000 years. No possibility everybody out
of the nation of Israel of Abraham's physical seed shall be saved. Those facts simply cannot stand
with the idea that everybody shall be saved. Secondly, that
everybody in Israel shall be saved. Second, our Lord Jesus
tells us plainly in John chapter one, verse 12. that nothing comes
to sinners from God. Grace and salvation never comes
to anyone by flesh and blood. Being related to Abraham won't
make you a saint. Being related to the most godly
man or woman as your parents will not make you a believer.
being raised up in the house of God, under the sound of God's
word, under faithful gospel preaching, taught the word of God, all your
life will not give you the new birth. God gives his grace to
whom he will, flesh and blood notwithstanding. Well, what's
this talking about then? All Israel shall be saved. Let's look in the word of God
and see what it says. portion of Scripture, God the
Holy Spirit reveals the purpose of God in casting away the nation
of Israel. God cast off the physical seed
of Abraham, the nation of Israel, shutting them up in spiritual
darkness and blindness because of their determined unbelief.
sent the gospel, the light of the gospel, to the Gentile world
that he might save all his elect, Jews and Gentiles, that is all
the Israel of God. Those who are saved, they are
God's Israel. Those who are chosen, Jew and
Gentile, they are God's Israel. Those who are redeemed, they
are God's Israel. Those who believe, Jew, Gentile,
black, white, male, female, it doesn't matter. Those who believe,
they are God's Israel. This is God's purpose of grace. I didn't listen with much care
or much interest last week to the stuff going on at the UN.
But in passing, I saw a brief statement by, what's his name,
Netanyahu, I'm not sure I pronounced it right, over in Israel. And
he stated with great firmness, the light of Israel will never
go out. And I thought to myself how sad.
He can't see, the light's been out for years. The light of Israel
has been gone for 2,000 years. This is what the Lord God is
doing. He's fulfilling his eternal purpose,
saving his elect. That's the great mystery of providence
as Paul states it in Romans 8. Nothing is out of order. Nothing
has altered God's purpose or caused the Almighty to change
his mind If you found my text in Romans 11, let me show you
God is saving Israel and God shall save Israel His Israel
the Israel of God. I want to show you five things
in these ten verses. I First in verse 23, Paul speaks
of these two things, judgment and grace. Here is God's judgment. Because of Israel's sin, God's
judgment has fallen upon the nation. His judgment has fallen
upon the Jews as a people, as a nation, because of their determined
unbelief. No, not upon all. There is, among
the children of Israel, an elect remnant, a remnant according
to the election of grace. There is, scattered through the
four corners of the earth, a remnant according to the election of
grace. And that elect remnant takes in people out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. That includes Israel. but the
great majority of Abraham's physical seed is shut up in darkness because
of unbelief. Now, I want you to understand
this. Are you listening? Divine judgment is always a matter
of just retribution. Divine judgment is always a matter
of just retribution. Yes, it is a matter of divine
predestination. Yes, it is a matter of absolute
purpose from eternity. But that which God does in judgment,
he does in justice. And just in case you're wondering,
divine mercy is always a matter of just retribution. That which
God gives sinners in his grace, he gives them because of justice
satisfied by the sacrifice of his son. But when God sends judgment,
he sends it because you deserve it. If you go to hell, you'll
go to hell because you fully deserve it. Look at verse 23,
and they also, If they abide not still in unbelief, shall
be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in. Unbelief is
man's damning sin. Unbelief is man's damning sin. If you go to hell, it won't be
because you stole the watermelon. It won't be because you cheated
on tests when you were in school. It won't be because you committed
adultery or fornication. It won't be because you got drunk. If you go to hell, you'll go
to hell because you refuse to trust God's son. And your unbelief
spawns all the evil behavior that's described in scripture
as iniquity, transgression, and sin. who are yet under the wrath
of God are condemned in your own consciences and Will be condemned
forever in hell in the torments of everlasting darkness and fire
because of unbelief Because you refuse to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want you to see this turn back
to John chapter 3 John the third chapter Verse 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Moses' serpent was a picture of Christ crucified and lifted
up on a pole is a picture of Christ lifted up on the tree
and lifted up to you by the preaching of the gospel. And as men and
women in Israel, bitten of the fiery serpents, looked to that
brazen serpent, immediately were made whole. That's a picture
of faith in our Redeemer. Read on, verse 15. That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. There's
no way on this earth for you to have eternal life, except
by Christ crucified. And believing on him, you have
eternal life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. How come? Because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this
is the condemnation, that light has come into the world. And
men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were
evil. Why is it you won't believe his
son? Because you love darkness and
hate light. Why is it you will not trust
Christ? Because you love darkness and hate light. Why are you forever
condemned in hell if you believe not? Because you will not believe. Because you love darkness and
hate light. Verse 36. He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. You see, the issue between you
and God is His Son. The issue between you and God
is his asserted right to be God, to do with you as he will. That's
always been the issue since the fall. Unbelief is the rebellion
of God-hating sinners against God. Nothing more and nothing
less. Unbelief was the original sin
of our first parents. Unbelief drove Adam and Eve out
of the garden. Unbelief calls God a liar. Unbelief tramples underfoot the
precious blood of the Son of God. Unbelief is the root and
essence, the source and cause of all of the sin. That's precisely
what we read just a few minutes ago in Isaiah 59. Your iniquities,
your sins have hid his face from you. Your hands are defiled with
blood. Your fingers drip with iniquity. Your lips speak lies. Your tongue
mutters perverseness. None call for justice. None plead
for truth. Trust is in your, you trust in
vanity and speak lies. You trust yourself. And because
you do, you can see mischief and you bring forth iniquity.
You make every path crooked by your unbelief. You pervert everything
by unbelief. Unbelief is the source of all
other iniquity. It calls the princes of this
world to crucify the Son of God. Paul says so in 1 Corinthians
2. Verse six says, if they had known who he was, they wouldn't
have put the prince of life to death. Unbelief. Unbelief puts
the Son of God to an open shame and says constantly, I will not
have this God to rule over me. I will not have this God rule
over me. I will not bow to Jesus Christ. I'd rather see him dead. I'd
rather see him dead. When God the Holy Ghost comes
to sinners, in saving mercy and convinces men to trust the Lord
Jesus, turning them from unbelief to faith, turning them from death
to life, causing them to live by the power of his grace. He
convinces them of three things. The first thing is of sin. He'll convince you of sin. He'll
convince you the problem is you don't trust God's Son. That's
what our Savior said, because they believe not on me. He'll show you the hideousness
of not believing God. But Paul also speaks here of
grace. He tells us in verse 23 that any Jew And every Jew who
repents, who turns to God by faith in Christ, shall be saved,
because God is able still to graft him into Christ. They also,
if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God
is able to graft them in. The same is true of you. If you believe on the Son of
God, if any sinner, any sinner believes on the Son of God, if
any sinner trusts the Lord Jesus Christ, that means you. That
means me. No matter who you are, no matter
what you are, no matter what you've done, If you believe on
the Son of God, it is written, whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. If you believe on him, God is
able to graft you in through the blood and righteousness,
through the merit and mediation, through the power and efficacy
of his darling Son. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Will you believe? Will you now
bow to Christ? Or do you prefer to go to hell
with your fist shoved in God's face? Those are your options. Judgment and grace are spoken
of in this verse. God cast them off, and God'll
cast you off if you believe not. God saved his elect, didn't it,
in the past, and he saves his elect, didn't it, now, if you
believe. All right, look at verse 24.
Here's the second thing. Here the apostle speaks of our
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, as a good olive tree. For if
thou work cut off or cut out of the olive tree, which is wild
by nature, and work graft contrary to nature into a good olive tree,
how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graft
into their own olive tree? Now, what is that talking about?
When Paul says here that we were cut out of the wild olive tree,
He is reminding us of what we were and are by nature as the
fallen sons of Adam and how God has saved us by his grace. A
wild olive tree is like a wild cherry tree. If we have one spring
up, I cut it down quickly. It's just an aggravation. A wild
olive tree grows in the open field. It has no fruit. It has no usefulness. It's a
worthless thing. It just cumbers the ground. It
produces nothing of benefit to anyone. That's a pretty good
description of fallen man. We are by nature children of
wrath, sinners full of unrighteousness, without any fruit of holiness.
We were Gentiles, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers
to the covenants of promise, foreigners, without God, without
Christ, without hope in this world. In the field of this world,
just a wild olive tree, worthless, of no account, unprofitable. But by the mighty operations
of His free grace, The Lord God Almighty has cut us out of the
wild olive tree of fallen humanity. In election, He cut us out. In redemption, He cut us out. In His providence, He cut us
out. In the calling of His Spirit,
the gift of life and faith in Christ, He cut us out. Cut us
out of the wild olive tree of fallen humanity. Oh, children
of God, let us never forget what we were and where we are and
what we still are by nature. But the Lord God graciously sought
us out and cut us out of the wild olive tree of fallen humanity. Isaiah says, hearken unto me,
ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto
the rock which you're hewn and to the hole of the pit which
you're digged. I prayed for you and for myself
a little bit ago as I do incessantly. My God, keep my sin ever before
me. Thank God it's not before Him.
Keep it ever before me. Let me never breathe a breath
without thinking of both my sin and His grace, my sin and His
righteousness, my sin and His redemption, my sin and His free
forgiveness. But never, God never let me for
a moment forget the rock from which I've been used. the pit
from which I've been dug, the wild olive tree out of which
you've cut me by your grace. Paul here refers to our Savior
as a good olive tree. Now, I can't help but to ask
the question, why didn't he say the good olive tree? Why did
he say a good olive tree? Is there another good olive tree?
I thought about that a good bit, did a little research. In the
scriptures, God's church is called a green olive tree, fair and
of good fruit. That's you. That's you who are
God's. A green olive tree, fair and
of good fruit. Man, you don't know some of them,
I do. Yes, I do, I know me. A green olive tree, fair and
of good fruit. You can read it in Jeremiah 11.
Young believers are compared to olive plants in the house
of God in Psalm 128. David said concerning himself
as a believer, I am a green olive tree in the house of God. I know
so because I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. The Lord Jesus, our savior, is
a good olive tree. And God's elect graft into him
by the grace of God are made olive trees, fair and good in
the house of God. So that God now accepts our works. as a fruitful olive tree in his
house. For as he is, so are we in this
world. Imagine that. Imagine that. Sinners
saved by grace, being graft into Christ, are so really and truly
one with Christ, that everything he is, we are in him. Is he wisdom? He's made of God
unto us wisdom. Is he righteousness? He's made
of God unto us righteousness. Is he sanctification? He's made
of God unto us sanctification. Is he redemption, resurrection,
complete deliverance from the dead? He's made of God unto us
resurrection too. Now, read the last line of verse
23 again. God is able to graft you in. God is able to graft any believing
Jew into Christ who is his own olive tree. How is that? The Lord Jesus our Savior is
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's Abraham's seed. He was a
Jew by birth. God is able to graft you who
are wild by nature Gentiles into Christ the good olive tree and
make you an olive plant in his house Now here's the third thing
verse 25 Paul speaks of the fullness of the Gentiles For I would not
brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery Lest ye should
be wise in your own conceit that blindness in part is happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Now a mystery is something you
can't figure out. If you can figure it out, it's
not a mystery. A mystery is something that can only be known by the
one who is performing the mystery. You can't logically figure it
out. You can't sit down with reason to figure it out. You
can't take mathematics and figure it out. You can't in any way
figure it out. The only way you can know what
the man is doing, who's doing a mysterious thing, is if he
tells you what he's doing. You just can't figure it out
on your own. God's performing a mystery. And
God tells us what he's doing. The mystery is the work of God's
providence, including the Jews despising him, crucifying his
son and nailing him to a cursed tree. Including all the evil
in this world, as well as the good. Including all the events
of time, all of them. all the faithful work of faithful
men preaching the gospel, all the heresies that abound, everything
is included in this mystery. Watch what it says. The Spirit
of God tells us that God's purpose in sending blindness to Israel
as a nation and causing Judaism to be the darkness of base idolatry
is that he might send salvation to the Gentiles. to you and me. And it was predicted way back
in Genesis chapter nine. You remember Shem, Ham and Japheth? Shem saw Noah drunk and he went
in and uncovered his father's nakedness. He said, Shem and
Japheth, he said, come here boys. I always told you the old man
was a fake. Let me show you what daddy looks like today. And Shem
and Japheth refused to look on their father's nakedness. You
see, it is wickedness, only ungodliness, only hellish to expose evil. It is godliness to cover it.
It has godliness to cover it. Shem and Japheth took a blanket
and they went in backwards and covered their father's nakedness.
And Noah gave this prophecy. He said, Ham is forever cursed
and he shall forever be servant of servants to Shem and Japheth. In other words, all the reprobate
of this world exist only to serve the benefit of God's elect. And
Japheth, God's elect among the Gentiles, shall dwell in the
tents of Shem. And in Christ, Shem and Japheth
come together, and here is the Israel of God. That's exactly
what our Lord told us he was doing when he sent judgment upon
the Jews in Luke 21. Listen to this. They shall fall
by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into
all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden
down, constantly oppressed of the Gentiles. How long? Until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. The fullness of the Gentiles
refers to the salvation of God's elect among the Gentiles. The
gathering of his sheep, scattered through Adam's fall into the
four corners of the earth, gathered at last into his fold of grace
by the mighty hand of Christ the Good Shepherd. Now, look
at this fourth thing. Verses 26 and 27. Here the Lord
God assures us of Israel's salvation. He concluded, verse 25, with
the fullness of the Gentiles. And so, that is by this means,
by God casting off Israel and God sending the light into all
the four corners of the earth. And so, all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins. Here, the Apostle
Paul was inspired by God the Holy Ghost to give us a quotation
from Isaiah 59. Not an exact quotation. but rather
he gives us the message of God given in Isaiah 59. That's how
you rightly interpret scripture. You give the message of the text. In Isaiah 59, we're told, and
the Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob. And here he tells us, a deliverer
shall come out of Zion and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Well, which is true, both are
true. The Lord Jesus Christ came out of Zion for he's one of Abraham's
sons. He is a physical descendant of
Abraham by his mother. He is in his flesh a Jew by nature. and he has come to Zion, come
to the Israel of God, come to God's elect scattered through
all the earth when he comes in saving mercy and grace. He came
unto them, Isaiah said he would come to them who turn from transgression
in Jacob. Paul says he shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob, which is true, both are true. He turns
ungodliness away from his people. And when he does, they turn to
him away from their ungodliness. He turns and he turns you. He accomplished repentance and
he brings repentance. He accomplished faith and he
brings faith. That's the gift of God in his
grace. And so all Israel shall be saved. Repeat obviously Paul is not
telling us that every natural-born Jew is going to be saved contrary
to popular opinion the physical political nation of Israel is
not the object of God's love grace and favor There's no promise
given by God to the Jews or to anyone else based upon race,
nationality, or any other earthly distinction. I know folks argue,
well, but God hasn't yet fulfilled all that he promised Abraham.
I beg you to go back and read the last two chapters of Joshua
and come back here tonight and tell me that. Joshua said, this
day, this day, God fulfilled every promise he gave to Abraham.
You say, amen. And they said, amen. This day,
they're all fulfilled. This needs to be understood.
All the promises of God are in Christ. They're made only to
sinners in Christ. The promises of God are promises
of pure, free, sovereign, unconditional grace. They're revealed to and
given to faith in Christ. You see, God truly is no respecter
of persons. He has no regard for who you
are or where you came from. He has no regard for your circumstances
or for your circumcision or your uncircumcision. God has no regard
for man or woman Before him, male and female is nothing. God
has no regard for race, nationality, or works. God sees no worth in
human flesh. Jewish flesh, Gentile flesh,
white flesh, black flesh, God sees no worth in human flesh.
We are all by nature guilty sinners in need of mercy. And God no
longer deals with the Jews as a nation. because their unbelief
has cut them off. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how
often I had gathered thee as a hen gathers her chickens under
her wings, but you would not. But you would not. Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate. Without question, God sovereignly
rules the nation of Israel just as he rules all others. And any
Jew who believes on Christ is saved just as any Gentile who
believes. Let no one understand what I'm
saying as in any way being anti-Semitic. Nothing could be further from
the truth. I have dear, dear friends who are Jewish people.
I love them dearly. Folks who are Jews indeed, both
physically and spiritually Jews being saved by God's free grace.
I have friends who are black, dear, dear friends who are black.
And I have friends who are white, dear, dear friends who are white,
believing men and women Jew, Gentile, black and white. There's
not a hint concerning any kind of racial prejudice or anti-Semitism
in what I'm saying. I'm just telling you the truth.
Jewish flesh doesn't matter. And black flesh doesn't matter.
And white flesh doesn't matter. And female flesh doesn't matter.
And male flesh doesn't matter. Not before God. God Almighty
is no respecter of persons. Then he speaks of the Israel
of God, not as that little nation over in Palestine. It's absurd
how men twist the scriptures. I recall years ago, this is years
ago, a young preacher, not a young preacher, old preacher came down
preaching chapel when I was in school at Piedmont. And of course
this is real popular down there. And he was from up close to where
I lived, later lived in West Virginia. And there's a little
town there called Hinton. Nice little town. Shelby and
I like to go there. Every time we go through, we wind around
a little bit, find a drugstore where we can get a fresh, squeezed
orangeade. Oh, they're good. Little town
called Hinton. But in Hinton, Houses are so
close together. You could date a gal, be engaged
and get married, just talking through the window. I mean, some
of them that close together. Just crowded, one on top of the
other. Every building in town, crowded one on top of the other.
He said, you know why it's like that? You know why Hinton's never
prospered? Because long ago, they were so
opposed to the Jews, they wouldn't let a Jew have business. What
the poor soul couldn't understand, it was completely surrounded
by water and mountains. If you're gonna build, you gotta
build it in a little lot, because there's not any big ones there.
Either that, or you gotta leave. No, he's not talking about all
the physical seed of Abraham, all of that nation over yonder
being saved, no, no. We who believe are the circumcision,
Paul says in Philippians 3. Paul tells us again in Romans
2, we're Jews not outwardly, but inwardly. Not with circumcision
made by hands, but circumcision made without hands in the heart.
The Israel of God, these are the people of God's covenant.
These are the chosen blessed nation of God's elect. God's
church, his elect. are all that Israel that shall
be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. God's
church, the Israel of God will be complete when all elect Gentiles
and all elect Jews have been brought to Christ by his almighty
grace. There shall come out of Zion
the deliverer. Wait a minute. He came he came
out of Zion now. We're told he's gonna come to
Zion Christ is that deliverer Who has come out of Zion and
come to Zion? He comes out of Zion Physically
and it comes out of Zion as the Word of God goes forth into all
the world and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 2,000 years ago, on the curse
tree, in fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy, Zechariah 3, verse
9, in one day, he turned away ungodliness from Jacob by the
sacrifice of himself. And he comes in the day of his
grace, and he graciously sprinkles the conscience of guilt with
his blood and turns away ungodliness out of Zion by the application
of redemption to our hearts. Rejoice, rejoice, O my soul. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. For
this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their
sins. that is redemption accomplished
and applied. Salvation experienced in time
is the fulfilling of God's everlasting covenant of grace, his covenant
of peace, that which he first spoke to Adam in the garden,
and then to Noah, and then to Abraham, and then to Moses, and
then to David. And that covenant reiterated
over and over and over again to different believing men in
this world, fulfilled when God brings salvation to His elect. And so all Israel shall be saved. Now one more thing, verses 28-32,
we have God's purpose revealed. All of this was done and is being
done, not by accident or blind fate, but by the unalterable
purpose of God Almighty. these very things were prophesied
when Isaiah saw Christ in His glory in Isaiah chapter 6. He
said, Go preach until there's not one man in Israel believe
it. Go preach. The blindness has
come to the whole nation. Romans 11, 28. As concerning
the gospel, they're enemies for your sakes. The Jews constantly,
relentlessly, since before the crucifixion, opposing Christ
and His gospel. But as touching the election,
they are beloved for the Father's sakes. For the gifts and callings
of God are without repentance. For as ye in time past have not
believed, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief,
Had they not crucified the Savior, had they not rejected Him, you'd
have never heard the gospel, but now you have. Even so have
these also now not believed, that through your mercy, by you
declaring the gospel to them, they also may obtain mercy. For
God hath concluded them all, all the nation of Israel, in
unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, all the Israel
of God. You see, God never changes. God's purpose never changes.
God's gifts never change. All that he gave his covenant
people, his Israel, his princes in Christ before the world was
can never be taken from them by anything in time. God's calling
never change. He called us His own before the
world was, and He will never uncall us. God's rule of providence
is but the unfolding in time of His purpose of grace in eternity. Let's read again, Romans chapter
8, and rejoice in God's providence. Verse 28, we know, we know, How do you know? Well, if you
ever find out, you'll know. We know. We know because we read
it in this book. We know because God the Holy
Spirit has taught us. We know because we've experienced
it. Haven't you? Haven't you? I'm asking you, my brother. I'm
asking you, my sister. Have you not experienced it?
That all things work together for good. to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. My brother Don, what's all that
got to do with me? If God be for us, let hell do
what it will. Let men do what they will. Let
devils do what they will. If God be for us, who can be
against us? And so, just like that. Israel shall
be saved. Amen.