in the 12th chapter of the book
of Revelation. John has a vision of all God's
elect when salvation is finally finished, when all the ransomed
are with Christ in glory and Satan is conquered. And God's
people are there described by three things. They're described
as a people who have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb. And they're described as a people
who have overcome him by the word of their testimony. That
is the Lord Jesus, by his sin-atoning death, effectually applied to
our hearts, giving us faith in him, has given us victory over
all the deeds of Satan and of hell in everlasting salvation. And God's people, while they
live in this world, triumph over Satan and over hell. God's church
and kingdom always prevails against the gates of hell by the testimony
of the gospel of God's free grace. And then God's people are described
a third way. All who are seated with Christ
around the throne in glory. All who prevail over Satan by
the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. are
a people who loved not their lives unto death. They loved not their lives unto
death. They are a people who once conquered
by the grace of God gave themselves utterly to Jesus Christ the Lord. constantly giving their lives
to him for his glory, for the working of his purpose, for the
saving of his people. I'm calling upon you and the
man preaching to you. Beg of God grace day by day that
we may love not our lives even unto death. but rather that we
may give ourselves utterly to our Redeemer. The title of my
message this morning is a matter of great heaviness and continual
sorrow. The words of my text in Romans
chapter nine express the burden of my soul and the great heaviness
and sorrow of my heart for you who are yet without Christ. under
the wrath of God and upon the brink of eternal ruin. I say the truth in Christ. I'm not lying to you. I lie not. My conscience also bear me witness
in the Holy Ghost. I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. Those words are an expression
of Paul's intense love and concern for his people, his kinsmen,
the Jews, and his great desire that they might be saved by the
grace of God. He could not bear the thought. He could not bear the thought
of those people so dear to him perishing under the wrath of
God. Look down just a few lines to
chapter 10, verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for you is that you might be saved. To that end, I devote my life
to this blessed labor. and count it my great privilege
to carry this great burden and this continual sorrow, desiring
that you know God in everlasting salvation, knowing that you deserve
the wrath of God. What do those words in our text
mean? What was Paul saying when he
wrote these three verses of Holy Scripture? Now, it caused a lot
of difficulty in interpretation. It caused a lot of difficulty,
I think, because they're read not in the context of Scripture,
but only in the context of the single verse three in this ninth
chapter. And some say that Paul is here
reflecting upon his unregenerate state as a persecutor of Christ
and his church. But I am certain that Paul would
not have called Christ, his own conscience and the spirit of
God to bear witness to such a thing. More than that, everybody who
knew Paul knew how he had behaved and where he was found when God
saved him by his grace. Everyone knew how much Saul of
Tarsus hated Christ and hated the gospel and hated his people
before the Lord saved him. So I'm certain Paul's not talking
about something that took place before God saved him. Many argue
that Paul is here expressing a willingness to be eternally
cut off from Christ, eternally damned, that other people might
be saved by God's grace. That certainly is not his meaning.
That certainly is not his meaning. That interpretation appeals to
sentiment and emotion, and it sounds very, very good. I'm certain
that's not Paul's meaning. What he wrote here, he wrote
by divine inspiration. And it cannot be interpreted
in contradiction to something else written by inspiration.
Paul knew that it was impossible for him to be separated from
Christ and forever cast into hell. He just told us about it
in the whole of the 8th chapter. Especially verses 32 through
39. He said it's impossible for us
to be separated from the love of Christ It's impossible for
sin to be charged from it to me. It's impossible for me to
be condemned So it's not possible that Paul saying here. I'm wishing
that I could go to hell that somebody else be saved Some suggest
that Paul Here wishes himself to be forever cast into hell,
and that can't be. He knew that he couldn't satisfy
the wrath of God for the sins of others. He was a sinner himself. And one man can't make atonement
for himself, let alone for another. Christ alone is the sinner's
substitute. Christ alone made atonement for
sin, and he alone could make atonement for sin. Christ alone
is our propitiation, and he alone could be our propitiation. To
wish himself forever separated from Christ for others, even
for those dearest to his heart, will be totally inconsistent
with his love for Christ. and totally inconsistent with
what our Lord requires of us, that we forsake all, father,
mother, brother, and sister, and our own life also, and follow
him. And insist that if we follow
him, we must hate father, mother, brother, and sister, and ourselves
also, to follow him. Such a notion would make Paul's
love for his countrymen idolatry and would put them in preference
to Christ. That can't be, that can't be.
Paul was not expressing a desire to be eternally separated from
Christ for his kinsmen. Much as he loved them, he loved
Christ more and rightly so. Others say that the words of
our text are a hyperbole, an overstatement, an exaggeration. Now, we all know that's not so. When you or I start to tell a
story, especially if you're a good storyteller, you exaggerate. That's how you tell a story.
But the writers of inspiration didn't exaggerate. They didn't
use hyperbole. They didn't overstate things.
There's no exaggeration in the word of God. Had Paul been lying,
he wouldn't have taken an oath in God's name to say so. So what
do Paul's words mean? He's not talking about his unregenerate
condition. He's not expressing a desire
to go to hell in the place of other folks. And he's not lying,
exaggerating the truth. The word translated in our text,
accursed. Paul says, I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ. is the word commonly used for
excommunication. It is a word that sometimes refers
to eternal punishment. It's the word anathema, but the
word basically simply means to be banned or to be cut off. So verse three might better be
translated. I was wishing that myself were
cut off, slain by Christ. Instead of my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. That's a literal translation
of the Greek text. The word translated could wish
or was wishing. I looked again at A.T. Robertson's commentary on the
passage of Word Studies, and A.T. Robertson probably was the
best Greek scholar in the English world since John Gill. He said the word translated was
wishing or could wish is an idiomatic imperfect. It explains it this
way. Paul is referring to a past action
that continues and will continue. The words are idiomatic. That
means they can't be translated word for word without confusion. So they must be understood and
understood as Paul uses them. This third verse then might be
read, I could wish that myself were cut off or slain by Christ
instead of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. And that's
the best sense I can make of what Paul's saying here. I would
rather die than see my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh, perish under the wrath of God. As she was coming in
the door this morning, Celeste said, I read your text this morning.
Have you ever wished to die that somebody else might be saved?
To be cursed that somebody else might be saved? Forever damned,
no. But to die, yeah. I stood at both my mother's and
father's gravesides as I was preparing to preach and listen
to the tomfoolery of another preacher, the fellow who was
a pastor as he, my sisters wanted him to say something. And I just,
I wanted, if I hadn't been hurting so bad, I wanted to hit him.
I wanted to hit him. but my heart broke. And at that
moment, I would gladly have died if God might have used it to
give them life and faith in my Redeemer. And at this moment,
I would gladly die if by that providential event, God would
give you life and faith in my Redeemer. John Gill gives this
interpretation of Paul's words. I could wish that my dear Lord
and master would appoint and order me to die that this nation
of mine but escape the ruin and destruction I see coming upon
them. That's exactly what Paul is saying.
Paul so loved the souls of men that he was willing to die to
see them saved. Friday night a week ago, Brother
Todd Nybert and I spent a good bit of time talking about this
very passage of Scripture. And toward the end of the conversation
before we went to bed, Brother Nybert said to me, wouldn't it
be a great honor to die for Christ? To die as a martyr. And we agreed,
yes indeed, it would be a great honor. Don't know whether God
give me the grace and strength. Don't know that I can do what
those men do, but what an honor. Who doesn't know the names of
Latimer and Ridley and Kramer, of the two Marys, of others put
to death for the faith of the gospel. And I called Todd, talked
to him about a little bit more yesterday and reminded him of
our conversation. I said, I think there's another
honor. that might even be a greater
honor that nobody knows anything about except God and you. What's that, he asked. What an
honor it would be to us if God would give us grace to live as
martyrs. To live as martyrs. To day by
day, lay down our lives in the cause of Christ. Today by day,
lay down our lives seeking the salvation of God's elect, seeking
Christ's sheep. Today by day, lay down our lives
gladly to die daily for the cause of God's elect. That's exactly
what the word witness is. If you read it in the New Testament,
our Lord said, ye shall be my witnesses. Is Mark Henson, you're
my witness. Regina, you're my witness. And
this is what that means. You're my martyrs. The word translated
witness, if you wrote it out from Greek to English, is the
word martyr. What? All of God's people martyrs? Many women who love not their
lives, they don't live for themselves, but for God. They don't live
for themselves, but for others. They don't live for their pleasure,
but for God's pleasure. They don't live to gratify their
lust, but God's purpose. They don't live to increase themselves,
but to increase God's kingdom. They don't live just simply to
get pleasure in life, but their pleasure is to give their lives
to the building of God's house, God's kingdom, God's glory, and
the accomplishment of his will. That's exactly what this man
Paul did. Turn back to Acts chapter 20,
Acts 20. He lived as a martyr, laying
down his life in the cause of Christ, dying daily that others
might live by the grace of God. Acts 20 and verse 24, Paul is
about to leave the Ephesian church, going to Jerusalem. He says in
verse 22, behold, I go bound in the Spirit. I believe he's
talking about the Spirit of God. I'm being driven, compelled by
the Spirit of God to Jerusalem. Not knowing that the thing, or
knowing that the things which shall befall me there. not knowing
the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy
Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me. Now watch this, watch this. But
none of these things move me, neither can I my life dear unto
myself, so that I may finish my course with joy at the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus. testify the gospel
of the grace of God. None of these things move me,
bonds or afflictions or trouble or heartache or death. Neither
can I my life dear unto myself. I had just this one purpose in
life, that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which
I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. Now Baba Estes, either he was
stating fact or he was lying. There's no in between grab. He
was stating fact. Here is a man who loved not his
life, even unto death. Look at chapter 21. Paul has
come with his party to Caesarea Philippi. They were staying in
the house of Philip the Evangelist. And while they were there, we
read in verse 10, we tarried many days. There came down from
Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. And when he was come
unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet
and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, This is what God has sent
me here to tell you. So shall the Jews at Jerusalem
bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him
into the hands of the Gentiles. Some years ago, I was scheduled
to go down to Kingston, Jamaica. Some of you will remember it.
And it's been a long time ago. There was news reports all over
the place, riots in the streets folks being killed, so forth,
and Shelby begged me not to go. Some of you begged me not to
go, waiting to, and your concern was for me. You can just imagine,
here these folks are, and Agabus comes in, he says, God, the Holy
Ghost, didn't tell me there's danger down there. He said, the
Jews are gonna bind you, and they're going to deliver you
to the Gentiles. And so these folks begged Paul. Look at this,
verse 12. When we heard these things, Both we and they of that
place besought him, we begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what mean
ye to weep and to break my heart? For I'm ready not to be bound
only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Here's a man who loved not his life unto death. And when he
would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the will of the Lord
be done. Now, let's turn back to the passage
we read earlier in Exodus chapter 32, Exodus 32. When Paul wrote the words of
our text, I am just sure he had in mind another man like himself.
one who so greatly loved his kinsmen that he was willing to
die for his kinsmen that they might be spared the wrath of
God. In verse 31 of Exodus 32, Moses returned to the Lord and
said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made them
gods of gold. Lord, I know they're sinners.
I know they deserve to die. I know you'd be right if you
sent them to hell right now. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin. And then there's a long pause,
and if not. As if to say, I've considered
this thing with great, great, great care. And if not, blot
me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Now
I have no question at all that Moses is not here praying that
God would blot his name out of the Lamb's book of life. That's
not a possibility. not a possibility. He's praying
that God would take away his life on this earth. The Spirit
of God holds these two men, Moses and Paul, this prophet of the
Old Testament and this apostle of the New. He holds them before
us in the Word of God as examples to follow. Examples to follow. If there was some evil here about
Moses' prayer, if there was some vile thing in Moses' prayer,
something that he ought not to have expressed, surely there'd
be some hint in the Word of God there was something wrong with
it. No, no, no. The Spirit of God holds Paul and Moses before
us as examples to follow. That kind of love is not natural
to the hearts of men. It's just not natural. It's the
gift of God, our savior. It comes from a man who is himself
God, Jesus Christ, our mediator, our Lord. It is quite common
for a mother to so love her child that she's willing to die for
her child. It is quite common for a man or a woman to love
a husband or wife that they're willing to die for such. It is
quite common for friends to love one another. They're willing
to lay down their lives for one another. But it is not a common
thing for men and women to be willing to lay down their lives
for the benefit of folks whose names they don't know. That kind
of love comes only from him who is the God-man living in us,
making us partakers of the divine nature. It is Christ in Moses
and Christ in Paul and Christ in his people who causes them
to love not their lives unto death. All who are saved by his
blood and taught by his grace are taught to love as he loved. hear the Word of God. Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life
for us. And we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren, because Christ laid down His
life for us. We ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren, for the salvation of our brethren, our brothers
and sisters in Christ. We ought to gladly lay down our
lives day by day for the saving of God's elect. Look at Moses,
the prophet of God in Exodus 32 for a minute. We read about
it earlier, so I won't read the chapter again. Here is a man
who truly loved the souls of men. so much so that he's willing
to die that they might be spared the wrath and judgment of God.
Israel's sin was horrible. It was great. They had been brought
out of Egyptian bondage and brought to the mountain of God by the
mighty hand of God. Miracle after miracle after miracle
performed by God against Egypt and Pharaoh and his armies. And
at last brought them up to the mountain of God. And now Moses
has gone up into the mountain of God to receive the word of
God, the very law of God for Israel. And while he's gone up
there for 40 days, the children of Israel, take things in their own hands.
And they had a business meeting. And they said, we don't know
what Moses is gonna do. We don't watch that damn. Aaron,
make us gods. And Aaron said, well, give me
some gold. And Aaron made them a golden
calf. And they, pretended to be worshiping
Jehovah. As they stripped off like a bunch
of barbarian heathen, dancing naked around the altar of a golden
cave and called it the worship of Jehovah. Moses said they rose
up to play. While Moses was in the mountain, this is what happened. And God
saw the whole thing and threatened to kill the whole nation. But
Moses intercedes in verses seven through 14. When the Lord said
to Moses, let me alone that I may consume them. I'll kill this whole nation.
I'll destroy this whole race of people. And I'll raise up
a new nation, a new race out of your loins. Then Moses was
inspired. He said, Moses, leave me alone
that I may destroy them. And Moses took that might. He
said, well, there's hope for them. Maybe God won't kill them. Maybe he won't after all. And
he was inspired with hope that if he refused to let God go,
if he refused to leave God alone, then the Lord God might spare
them. Now listen to his intercession. that he spoke to God for Israel.
Verse 11, he reminded God of his relation to this people.
He said, Lord, they're your people. They're your people. They're
your people. You chose them. You brought them
out of Egypt. You brought them to this place.
In verse 12, he pleaded for Israel on the ground of God's own honor.
He said, Lord, they're your people. You brought them out here. Why
should you destroy them here? And the Egyptians beholden said,
God killed them in the wilderness because he brought them out of
Egypt just to destroy them. He wasn't able to do what he
said he would do. And then in verse 13, Moses put
God in remembrance of his covenant. He said, Lord, don't you remember
your covenant you made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? What's gonna
happen to your promise? What's gonna happen if you destroy
this people? And then we told in verse 14, and the Lord repented
of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. The Lord repented of the evil
which he thought to do unto his people. When Moses came down
from Sinai and saw the sin of the people and the greatness
of it, he dealt with it as God's faithful servant. The sin had
to be dealt with. It must be punished, and Moses
knew it. So he took the law, the tables
of stone, written by the finger of God and smashed them to pieces
to show Israel their crime. He ground their gold and calf
to powder, strode it upon the waters and said, here, take a
good drink of your worthless God. And he called Israel to
repentance. Then he called for the Levites. to take every man his sword,
and they destroyed 3,000 men who had led Israel into idolatry. And Moses said, now you consecrate
yourselves to God, and I'll go make atonement for you. After
this, Moses went back to Mount Sinai. And he made his intercession
for Israel again that they might be spared. He humbly confessed
the greatness of their sin. He begged God to forgive them.
And with fear and trembling, he desired that God might kill
him instead of the children of Israel. Here's a man, here's
a man who loved not his life unto death, willing to die that
his people might be spared. Now look at God's reply to Moses'
prayer, verse 33. And the Lord said unto Moses,
whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. Therefore now go, lead the people
unto the place I have spoken of. Isn't that wonderful? He corrects Moses and he says,
whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
book. Therefore now, go lead the people unto the place of
which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, mine angel. You know who he is, don't you?
Mine angel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, our mediator, shall
go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when
I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. I'll chase them. And the Lord plagued the people
because they made the calf which Aaron made. What an amazing picture we have
here of the condescension of God and the efficacy of fervent
prayer. Rex, one man, one time, a righteous
man, fervently prayed, and more than two million people were
spared the judgment of God. Oh, how condescending, God's
goodness, mercy, love and grace. When Paul wrote the words of
our text, back here in Romans 9, I'm sure he must have thought
about Moses and his prayer of intercession for Israel. Then
about 1800 years later, he offers the same sort of prayer, had
the same heaviness and sorrow for the same people. Paul knew
what was about to happen to Jerusalem. He knew what our Lord had said. He said, not one stone will be
left on that temple. He said, there's coming judgment
on this place, and blood's gonna flow to the horse's bridles,
and everybody in this place gonna be destroyed, and the religion
of the Jews destroyed, and the nation scattered among the nations. Paul understood the meaning of
our Lord's words. He understood the meaning of
Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 9. and how that the Romans would
be sent by the hand of God just after the crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus to destroy the city. And in less than 10 years after
Paul wrote this epistle to the Romans, God sent the Roman general
Titus as an instrument into his hands in 70 AD to utterly destroy
that nation. and scattered them among the
nations of the world. He knew what God was about to
do to those people who had crucified his son. He knew what was about
to happen because he understood the words of the prophets. You
can read it in detail, in graphic, graphic detail in the 28th chapter
of the book of Deuteronomy. Paul understood the book of God. And when he thought on those
things, it was more than he could bear. my brethren, my kinsmen. God's left them desolate and
they're about to be destroyed. Oh, I would gladly lay down my
life if God might use that for their salvation. Paul was not
a man of stone. When he thought on these things,
it broke his heart. Our text is the cry of a man
who loved immortal souls running headlong to hell. It's the cry
of a man who had been in the very same condition they were
in. The cry of a man who knew what was ahead. The cry of a man whose heart
broke for other men. He knew his helplessness. He
knew he couldn't save his people. He knew his brethren could not
save themselves. In chapters nine, 10, and 11,
the apostle is writing to us about the fact that salvation
is God's work. Salvation is of the Lord. It
is not by your will, but by God's will. Not by your choice, but
by God's choice. Not by something you do, but
by what God does. Not by your merit, but by Christ's
merit. Not by your power, but by the
power of His Spirit. If God leaves you alone, you're
going to hell. Oh God, what can I do for them? What can I do for them? Neither
Paul nor Moses could die for the people. Neither Paul nor Moses could
save the people. Paul and Moses were just guilty,
sinful men, like the man talking to you. There's not anything I can do
for you. There's not anything I can do
for you. Not a thing. Not a thing. Not a thing. If God would be pleased to take
my last breath this moment and make that an instrument by which
you'd be called to hear the gospel, I'd give thanks to him for taking
it. Either I'm telling you the truth,
I'm lying to you. There's no in between ground.
There's no in between ground. Oh, but there's one, blessed
be his name, there is one who can save. One who has saved. One who does save sinners by
the merits of his death in the place of sinners. There is one,
just one, who was able to be cursed to take away the curse. Able
to die to put an end to death. Able to bear the wrath of God
that centers by being made righteousness of God, the very righteousness
of God in him. This is what the book of God
tells us about him. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us. For
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The God-man, our mediator, stood
forth in our stead before the world was. A heart erupting with
love for our souls and says, Father, I'll go. and I'll bear their sin in my
body on the tree. And I will be cursed of you for
them, damned for them, cut off for them, that they might be
saved. because there's no other way
for sinners to be saved except by the doing and dying of the
Lord Jesus, who by his one sacrifice for sin satisfied the law and
justice of God for us. Oh, how indebted we are to him. The grace that we've experienced
makes us debtors to folks who have no knowledge of Him and
no experience of His grace. Somehow it just stands to reason
that the very wealthy are debtors to those who are very poor. The
very wealthy having immensely more than they need. are debtors
to folks who don't have what they need. There's no question
about that. That's just reasonable. Paul says, therefore, I'm a debtor,
both to the Jew and to the Gentile. I'm a debtor to you that are
at Rome. You folks, I've never said I'm a debtor to you. I'm
a debtor to you, and so I'm ready. I'm ready to preach the gospel
to you, for it's the power of God to salvation to everyone
that believeth. Why was Paul bound in the spirit
to go to Jerusalem? To preach the gospel to poor
needy souls who would perish without it. And so he loved not
his life, even unto death. Shall we not lay down our lives
for the souls of men to bring sinners to Christ, to bring Christ
to lost sinners? Spirit of God, give me grace
to live as a martyr, laying down my life in the cause of Christ,
dying daily that sinners may hear the gospel and be saved
by Christ. With such a great God and Savior
as Christ set before you, Why will you die? Why will you die? Dare you face eternity without
Christ? Will you despise the blood of
God's darling son? How can you turn your heart against
such a savior? How can you turn your heart from
him? when he declares in his Word, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Quit trying to do something. Quit trying to make something
happen. Quit trying to work something up. Believe right where you are. Don't move a muscle. Don't even
say a prayer. Come to Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Amen.