He will turn back with me to
Romans chapter 11. There's much argument and much debate today in the churches all over the
land. And what they're arguing and
debating about is the nation of Israel. What shall become of Israel? We're very careful in our dealings
in the world. When the enemies of Israel give
them unprovoked attacks and so on, we're very careful how we
respond to those things. We're very careful about how
we respond to their enemies. And I believe lots of people
are asking themselves, what's going to become of Israel? What
does God have to say about His Israel? What part shall they
have in the last days? Will the Lord turn them again
to Him and deal with them as He did in days of old? Is that
what He's going to do with Israel? Will He exalt them again as a
mighty nation? What shall become of Israel? I know when I first heard the
gospel, my mind was so twisted by the traditional teaching and
writing of false religion that I didn't quite know what I believed
about Israel. But I was very superstitious
about them. Old Testament Israel and the
New Testament church was set forth in these books. I don't
know that you've ever read any of these books, but if you have,
or if you listen to men talk about it. They set forth Old
Testament Israel and the New Testament church as two different
entities, two different bodies, two different people. God's gonna
do one thing with Israel and he's gonna do one thing with
his church. And his church will have a part in glory and Israel
will have a part in glory. They talked about Israel being
restored to its former state of glory in the last days and
the temple being rebuilt and the sacrifices being brought
back and the Gentiles being circumcised and brought again under temple
worship. And then they talk about all
sorts of variations of this. Just depends on who you're reading. And one morning in the Sunday
morning Bible class, just as you're sitting here, my pastor,
Brother Henry Mahan, read and expounded on Romans chapter 9,
verses 1 through 8. He began with the Apostle Paul
pouring out his heart for his kinsmen, the Jews. You can turn
over there if you'd like to Romans chapter 9, just back a few pages. He calls these kinsmen of his
Israelites. And he identifies them. Those
to whom pertaineth the adoption. That is, taken to himself as
children. And the glory. What's he talking
about there? Well, Israel had in their view
and in their presence the glory of God. The Shekinah glory of
God filled that tabernacle. And it could be that he's talking
here about the glory being the tabernacle itself or the Ark
of the Covenant. And then he says this, the covenants
God made covenants with Israel. He didn't make any covenants
with the Canaanites, or the Hittites, or the Jebusites, or any of the
otherites. He didn't make any covenants
with them. He made his covenants with Israel. And then he gave Israel the law.
This is the only nation on earth, out here in the middle of nowhere
in the wilderness, And God sent Moses up on a mountain, and he
gave him the law as a mediator and sent him back down to Israel. He gave Israel his law. And then
to Israel he gave the service of God. There were no Gentile
priests, just Israelites. They were priests. All the high
priests, all the common priests, They were all Israelites. And
He gave to Israel the promises. What promises? Promises of the
Messiah. Nobody else in this world was
looking for the Messiah except Israel. They looked for His return. They had committees of men chosen
and trained just for that. That's what the Sanhedrin was
all about. They were looking for the coming
Messiah. The Redeemer. And then he says
this about his kinsmen, whose are the fathers. What's he talking
about there? He's talking about Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob. These were all Israelites. These
weren't Gentiles, these were Israelites. And of whom as concerning
the flesh Christ came. You know what he's saying there?
He was a Jew. That's what he's saying. Christ
was a Jew. He was born as prophesied of
the tribe of Judah in the city of Bethlehem, Judah. Jesus Christ was born a Jew. It says in the scriptures, he
took not on him the nature of angels, But he took on him, now
listen, the seed of Abraham. Isn't that what it says? But
the Jews rejected the Messiah. They denied the claims of King
Jesus. They treated him as an imposter. And as an imposter, they caused
him to suffer their cruel mockings and public humiliation and torture. I don't think there's any other
word for it. Torture and death as a common criminal. And as
the Jews cried out at the death of Christ, they cried out to
God and said, let his blood be upon us, and let his blood be
upon our children. And so it was. In 70 AD, the
Romans come in and killed an unbelievable amount of Jews. Just an unbelievable amount of
Jews, more than a million Jews, and that's not counting the Jews
that he killed in Jerusalem. And then they took 100,000 of
those that were left and took them to be common slaves and
servants of Rome. Everything that even resembled
Jewish worship was destroyed in the providence of God. All
of it, the temple, all the stuff out of the temple, all of it
destroyed. And so in Romans 9, 6, Paul quickly
says this. He's talking about his kinsmen,
talking about praying for them that the Lord would save them.
And he says this in verse 6, he said, not as though the word
of God had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. That is, every man whose lineage
proved him to be a descendant of Abraham was not intended by
the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures to be a son of God. They are not all Israel which
are of Israel. Romans 9 verse 7. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are there all children. But in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, verse 8, they which
are the children of the flesh, these are not, I'm going to say
it again, these are not the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. What time? What time? What's he talking about? At this
time I will come and you'll have... He's talking about his time.
That's what he's talking about. In God's time. In the time when
all fleshly hope and potential has been taken away. That's the
time. In the time that not even being
considered by natural men that this thing could possibly take
place, that's when he's gonna come. And Sabra, who is a picture
of the church, is going to begat a son. And he said, that's the
children I'm talking about. Those born of God. Those elect
of God. Those revealed of God. Now the nation of the Jews are
often spoken of in the scriptures, but the true Jew is that man
or woman chosen of God in Christ and brought to faith in Christ. Why don't you take just a few
minutes and turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter
3. Look down here at verse 26. Now, this is a Gentile church. This all made up of heathens. There might have been a few Jews
in there, but not many. This was a Gentile church. And
he said, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew
nor Greek, neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female,
for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Are you with me? All right, go
back with me to Romans 11. In verse 1, having spent two chapters,
Telling us about true Israel, Paul asked this question. I say
then, hath God cast away his people? They rejected him. They despised him. Has God cast
away his people? Did Christ pray for naught when
he said, don't charge this to them? Or did his servant, when
he was being stoned to death, Stephen, when he said, Lord,
lay not this at your church, was that all this for naught?
Has God cast away his people? Did God intend to save a people
back in the Old Testament and supply all their needs and walk
with them and preach to them and call his prophets from them? Has God cast away his people? That's what Paul said. God cast away his people, listen,
God forbid. God forbid. For I'm a Jew. He saved me. Huh? He saved me. Paul was a Jew in
two respects. He was a Jew by natural birth. But he was a spiritual Jew. Born
of God. Chosen of God. Peter, James, and John were all
Jews. Most of the early churches had
Jews in their mixed congregations. God is not, in any sense, cast
off the Jews, but has, according to Romans 11.5, reserved to himself
a remnant. Now, he says, at this present
time, I've reserved to myself a remnant according to the election
of grace. Now, this election of grace includes
Gentiles. I'll show you that in a minute.
It includes all the Gentiles, but it also includes a remnant
of the Jews. And all throughout the ages,
God has, He's mostly gathering in the Gentiles, gathering in
the Gentiles. But as He does, there's a remnant
according to the election of grace of those Jews, and He's
gathering them in too. And he uses one to open the door
for this one, and then when he opens the door for them, and
therein he uses them to provoke the other to jealousy. And that's
what he talks about all through Romans chapter 11. He's talking
about the wisdom of God in these natural things that's going on,
but he brings them all to Christ. He brings them all to Christ. As God's seed, is said to be
taken from every tribe, people, nation, and tongue under heaven.
Even so, he calls some from the nation of Israel. Now watch this,
Romans 9, 24. I'll show you that. Even us,
whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith also in Hosea, I'll
call them my people which were not my people, and her beloved
which were not beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in a place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Israel is both a nation of natural
descendants of Abraham, and the name of the spiritual people
called of God and made up of all God's elect, both Jews and
Gentiles. And all through Romans 9 through
11, Paul is teaching us the difference and showing us God's hand upon
both natural and spiritual Israel. And here in Romans 11, Paul gives
us a picture of what's going on. He shows us Christ as the
olive tree. This is God's tree. And he tells us in verse 17,
speaking of natural Israel, if some of the branches be broken
off, and thou being of the wild olive tree were grafted in among
them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree, don't boast. Don't boast. If he took these
professing Jews and cut them out of the tree, took them out
of the tree, and grafted you in, grafted you in, and caused
you to bear fruit, then don't you boast yourself and don't
you see yourself as so far elevated over these Jews. Don't you boast. Boast not against the branches,
but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. And you say, well, branches were
broken off so I could be grafted in. That's right. Because of
unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Now
be not high-minded. For if God spared not the natural
branches, take heed that he don't spare you. Behold, therefore,
the goodness and severity of God on them which fail severity. I'm telling you, I don't know
what's wrong with our generation. They don't want to ever attribute
anything to the severity of God. God sent a hurricane through New Orleans. And he devastated that place.
And there wasn't one newsman who dared attribute that to the
severity of God. It's just something that happened.
Don't blame God now. Don't blame God for this. It's
just something happened. This is an act of mother nature. But that's not what he says here.
He said, Behold the goodness and severity of God on them which
fail severity. I'm telling you, it's severity
when God's judgment strikes on a man. I'm not going to mention
his name, but there was a man who come to hear me preach when
we was down at the other church. He'd been there several times.
Brother Russell brought him. And one night he left that church.
He didn't say anything in the church, but when he got out in
the car, he said, dead, dead, dead. I'm so sick of hearing
about dead. If I'm dead, there's no reason
for me to go. Dead, dead, dead. You know where
he's at right now? Dead. For good. That's severity. That's severity. The hurricane did damage when
God's judgment falls on a man and he reprobates that man. That's
it. And that's what happened to natural
Israel. They heard the gospel. They saw
the gospel in person standing before them. They saw the Son
of God incarnate preaching the gospel to them and they wouldn't
have it. And God cut them off. Just like you go out and prune
a tree that doesn't bear fruit. You plop, I take them shears
and off it goes. It goes out in a pile and we
burn it. That's exactly right. And that's what happened to those
Jews. But now Paul said, don't you boast because God grafted
you in. Don't you boast. He'll cut you off the same way
he cut them off. This thing's a work of God. He says in Romans 11, 25, 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 unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
be coming. And for about 2,000 years, the
Lord of glory has been doing a gracious work and a mysterious
work and an undeserving work among the Gentiles. adding to his church daily such
as should be saved and calling them through his gospel and begatting
them by his spirit and establishing them in the word of God and the
gospel of Christ. It's the most unlikely and unreasonable
thing ever to be manifested by God among men that God would
save a Gentile, an idol-worshipping adulterer. Save him. Save him. And cut off this Jew. That's the most unlikely thing
that's ever been manifested in this earth. To pass by and judge
natural Israel and to graft in by a work of grace a people that
he pictures in Hosea as a harlot. You know what he told his prophet
Hosea? You need to read the book of
Hosea. It ain't that long. It's very simple. He told his
prophet to go marry a harlot. Isn't that what he told his son? Told
him the same thing. And that's what we are, Gentiles. And Paul said, I want you Gentiles
to fully understand the significance of this. The most undeserving
people in the world, chosen of God, represented in Christ, called
by the Holy Spirit, and grafted into Christ. Blindness, in part, happened
to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Now
watch this. And so, and so. When the fullness of the Gentiles
has come in, what's gonna happen? All Israel is gonna be saved. You mean they're part of Israel.
They are the Israel of God. What's lacking? The fullness
of the Gentiles. And God calling them out, calling
them out, calling them out. And so, all Israel shall be saved. It's written, they shall come
out of Zion, the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. Now, every man, woman, boy or
girl chosen of God before the foundation of the world shall
be saved. Everyone has one, they're all
going to be saved. There's not a doubt in my mind.
Now, I don't know who they are, but whoever they are, they're
going to be saved. jew or gentile, male or female, rich or poor,
educated or uneducated, all Israel. Can you hear what he's saying
here? All Israel shall be saved. Don't let there be any doubt
about that. How's he gonna save them? The Deliverer. Isn't that
what he says? The Deliverer's gonna come. All
Israel shall be saved because God chose them in His Son. All
of the eternal and heavenly blessings of God toward men come according,
according, boy, you need to look at Ephesians one sometime and
do a study on that. Look at those six times he uses
that word according, going down through there. But the first
one is this, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Their security, their future,
their redemption, and their reconciliation were all purposed of God and
made sure by a surety appointed for them before mankind was ever
created. God has saved us, Paul said. When? Way back yonder in eternity. God has saved us. And then he
called us with a holy calling. not according to our works but
according to his own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began at 2nd Timothy 1-9. All Israel shall be saved because
God chose them in his Son whom he appointed as their surety
and as their covenant head. We stand or we fall as we stand
and fall in Christ and Christ can't fall. all Israel shall be saved, because
their covenant head came as their representative, and as their
substitute, and accomplished their redemption. Redemption
is a thing accomplished. It ain't a thing... The church
is preaching today, the professing church is preaching today, that
all these things are unfulfilled, and we're trying to reconcile
ourselves, and we're trying to redeem ourselves, and we're...
Oh no. Oh no. Redemption's already been
accomplished. It's already been taken into
glory and received and accepted of God. And all those redeemed
by Him are accepted in the blood. God has saved us, He said. But here's the second thing,
all Israel shall be saved because their covenant head came as their
representative and substitute and accomplished their redemption.
The law and justice of God demand satisfaction from the sinner.
Not his satisfaction, but God's satisfaction. God's infinite, and therefore
his righteousness and justice are also. And it's absolutely
impossible for any man, alive or dead, to satisfy God's justice
and righteousness. We have a very close relative
who was a Catholic, and when he died, there was money taken
up to buy him out of purgatory. Not alive nor dead. Not alive
nor dead. You can't do this thing. I'm
telling you, it's absolutely impossible for you to give God
satisfaction for your sins. And how do I know this is so?
Well, first of all, because he tells us that hell is forever.
Now, we know what hell is. Hell is for the unbelievers,
for the false prophet, for false religion, for Satan and all his
angels. That's what hell is. Hell is
a place of condemnation. Well, how long do they have to
serve? I go in before the judge and I stole something and he
said, well, I'm going to give you this five years, six years,
eight years, whatever it is. I have served that sentence.
But at the end of that sentence, I come back out and I've satisfied
the law. That's not how it works with
God. God's justice is infinite. When you break his law, your
punishment is forever. That's how I know that no man
can satisfy what God demands. You can't satisfy God concerning
your sins. You can't do it. If you could,
hell wouldn't be everlasting. It would be variable. So much
for this crime, so much for that crime, so on, and then man has
restitution, and that's what the Catholics teach. They go
there because there's varying degrees of punishment, and you
go there and you stay there for a little while, and if there's
enough redemption money, they get you out. He tells us in Matthew 25, 46,
and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. In Revelation
20 verse 10, the devil, the beast and the false prophet shall be
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and shall be tormented
day and night forever. Actually it says forever and
ever. Whatever God requires to put
away sin, eternity is not sufficient for a man to produce it. And
then the second thing I know is this, that the son of god
must take upon himself the form of a man and suffer and die in
our room instead to satisfy god nobody else could do it that's why i know it's absolutely
impossible for a man to redeem himself if a man could redeem
himself christ would not have to become a man and die on a
cross there's not a possibility he said That rich young ruler
walked away, and the disciples said, who then can be saved?
And our Lord said, with man, it is impossible. It's impossible. Oh, you read in Hebrews 10, verse
11, every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oft
times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But
this man, the God-man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Having
satisfied the justice of God, he sat down. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, by his own blood he entered into
the holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us. And once,
he said, in the end of the world, as he appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus Christ accomplished our
redemption by his suffering and death on the cross and he accomplished
our redemption by his representative obedience to the law. You can't
keep the law. I want to. There's nothing in
the law that I despise. Does the law say anything that
Contrary to anything, for you to not want to keep the law,
everything in there is good and holy and just. It's right. It's our nature that despises
the law. It's that enmity of mind that
we have that's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. But I can't keep it. Now that's the truth. I can't
satisfy the righteousness of God by my obedience. And I'm
totally dependent on that obedience of Christ. Paul said, oh, that
I might win Christ. Now listen, and be found in him
not having my own righteousness. Oh, I don't want to be found
with mine. Mine is putrid rags. I agree with Isaiah. Filthy rags,
that's what my righteousnesses are. But his is perfect and spotless. So why would I even want my own
righteousness? I want his. And that's the way
I walk. I walk with that law being satisfied,
that justice being satisfied in Christ. And I walk in a perfect
righteousness, which is imputed to me. And that righteousness
was wrought out by Christ. And He's the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes in Him. And it's ours by virtue of our
union with Him. Christ said, for their sakes
I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth. What truth? The truth that we're
one with Him. Listen to this. He said that
they all might be one. That they all might be one as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, and they also may
be one in us, that the world may know that thou sent me. Accomplished
redemption is altogether owing to our union with Christ and
therefore with the Father. So all Israel is going to be
saved because of their covenant head and because of his representative
accomplishments. Thirdly, and I'll hurry. All
Israel shall be saved, because by virtue of Christ's accomplished
redemption, the Father has sent the Holy Ghost into the world
to seal the promises of God in the hearts and minds of all for
whom Christ died. He's not just going to leave
us here in the simple fact that we're elect, we're going to live
like everybody else, and we're going to talk like everybody
else, and we're going to die like everybody else, and then
because we're elect, he's going to take us in to glory, and because
they're not, he's going to send them to hell. No, he's going
to seal his promises in our hearts and in our minds, and he's going
to make us to differ from this world. Now while Paul said, who
maketh thee to differ from another? He makes us to differ. All Israel shall be saved for
this reason. And if you've yet not committed
this scripture to memory, you need to, 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Paul said, we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved, because God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, listen
to this, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. And I'm telling you, when God
sent the Holy Spirit into this world, that's what he does. He
seals those promises into the hearts of believing sinners.
Yes, He does. And I don't believe that eternity
will prove sufficient for us to even perceive the work of
the Holy Spirit upon the heirs of salvation. I know that the
Holy Ghost works in conjunction with the preaching of the Gospel,
but I also believe His work precedes it. I know that it does. It precedes
it. Before seeds planted in that
field, it has to be plowed, don't it? He gave us a parable about
that. That ground has to be plowed.
It has to be prepared. I go out there throwing seed,
I throw it all over the place. That's what he told me to do.
Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.
Throw that seed everywhere. So what if some hits on the road?
That'd be all right. Some of them gonna hit on a rock.
It'd be all right. Some of them gonna hit on that
old hard road. It's okay. Okay. Throw the seed. Get the seed out. Throw the seed
out. That's what preaching is. But
some of that seed is going to fall on plowed ground, prepared
ground. And it's going to bring forth
fruit. And that's what he's saying here.
He hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth. I don't believe, as I said, that
eternity will show all these things. And long after the believer
is born of God, the Spirit continues to work in him. He continues. What if the Spirit of God suddenly
left you, Winston? What if He just left you alone?
Just left you to your sins? You think you'd have any hope?
You wouldn't have any more hope than before He came. But He don't
leave us. He takes up His abode with us.
We might leave him, but he don't leave us. We're made able ministers by
the spirit. And then fourthly, and I'll just
state this and I'll quit. All Israel shall be saved because
God has sworn by himself that they shall be. Listen to this
scripture. I read this all the time. wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the
promise the immutability, that is, the unchangeableness of his
counsel, he confirmed it with an oath. And because he could
swear by no greater, when he gave promise to Abraham, because
God could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying,
surely, blessing, I will bless thee. He swore by, God said he
would. And he gave us his word and he
took an oath. And God swore upon himself that
he gonna save all Israel. And I'm gonna tell you something,
all Israel's gonna be saved. Every last one of them. Well,
that means we can just go sit down in the corner. Oh no, no,
it gives me hope to preach. That's the very basis. That's
why I go crazy, because I know he's going to call them. I know
that. He said he would, swore he would, and he has. Why would
I doubt him now?