Amen, we are looking at verses
25 through 33 in the last couple two or three weeks We've been
dealing with the so issue and I really don't want to go over
it too much But I do want to just say briefly what we've been
dealing with is the soul in verse the latter part of verse 25 And
so all Israel shall be saved verse 26 rather notice what it
says and so all Israel shall be saved we have been driving
home the point and that that is a fairly weak translation.
If you have an English Bible, if your Bible is similar to the
King James, if you have a New King James, if you have a New
American Standard Version, if you have an English Standard
Version, if you have a fairly decent translation, most translations
say, so all Israel are and so all Israel shall be saved. Anyone
have a different translation? Anyone have a different translation
of verse 26? So everybody's Bible says and so, right? Or so. Okay, so you know we've been
driving home the point that that term so has a radically different
meaning than what has been inserted into the minds of people who
are sensitized to the larger interpretation of verse 26. And
so all Israel shall be saved. What we learned over the last
several weeks is that word so cannot be equal to then. And
then all Israel shall be saved. That would be a flawed interpretation. The clause there is not a progressive
clause. It's a parallel clause. And you
and I have worked through this for weeks, have we not? It's
not a progressive clause. It's not advancing an idea. It's
actually confirming that which has already been stated. So the
little phrase soul, like in John 3, 16, for God what? Soul loved
the world. The word doesn't mean he loved
the world so much. It means that he loved the world
in this way, in this manner, on this wise. When you understand
the context, you understand that God loved the world in that.
He gave his son who was lifted up like the pole that was lifted
up in the wilderness that whosoever believeth on him would not perish,
but have everlasting life so that that little conjunction
or that clause becomes a parallel clause. It's the same thing here
in verse 26. And so, or even so, or in this
manner shall all Israel be saved. I want you to look at it like
that for a moment. And in this manner shall all Israel be saved. How shall all Israel be saved?
In this manner. That's verse 26, verse 25. Again,
for those of you who are new, you have to bear with us because
if you haven't had your senses exercised in the exposition of
verse 25, it's going to be difficult for you. I would recommend that
you get the tape. Listen to the tape and it'll
help you understand verse 25, but go back to verse 25 Because
we'll we'll unpack it just a little bit so we can advance through
the rest of the text verse 25 says for I would brethren That
you should not be what? Agni or and it means to be without
knowledge. It means to be unaware. It means
to not have an understanding I would not brother that you
should be ignorant of this what? Mystery and we have identified
the mystery in the larger sense as the gospel. The gospel is
God's mystery. Is it not? We've declared that
when the Bible uses the term gospel or mystery is not talking
about a mystery in the same sense in which the secular world uses
the term mystery. It's not suggesting the mystery
is something that is so transcendent, so opaque or so convoluted that
it's never understood. We're not using the word mystery
in the same way you use the term secret today. You know, everybody
wants the secret. The word mystery simply means
that if it's going to be understood by us, God has to reveal it. You guys got that? The word mystery
in the scriptures, both in the Old Testament and the New, means
that God has operated in such a way that unless he explains
to us how he does it and why he does it, we will never comprehend
it. The mystery is that way or manner
or methodology that God uses that transcends human, rational,
intellectual thinking. For instance, the way in which
God saves sinners is a what? Mystery. And the Bible says in
John chapter 3, except you be born of the spirit and of the
water, you shall not see nor enter into the kingdom of God.
That's a mystery. You can never fully or adequately
explain what is plainly declared in scripture concerning that.
It's a mystery how that God left Israel and the nations blinded
to the glory of God in Christ in order for Christ to go to
Calvary Street. That's a mystery. There are a
lot of things in the Bible that are a mystery that does not mean
that we can't know them. It simply means, once again,
that God has to explain it to us in order for us to comprehend
it. You guys got that? So, for believers, there are
a number of mysteries that we do understand, we do believe,
we do embrace, we do not fully comprehend them, but the Bible
has made them plain to us. We believe in the Trinity, don't
we? Absolutely. Never will be able to fully explain
it. Never will be able to adequately analogize it. There won't be
an earthly analogy that so compares with the Trinity as to express
adequately all of its facets. But we do believe in the Trinity.
It's a mystery. 2 Timothy 3.16 Great is the mystery
of godliness without controversy. the hypostatic union of the God-man
Jesus Christ. His divine nature brought into
union with a human nature. You and I will never understand
that, but we believe it because it's plainly declared in the
Word of God. Is that not so? All right, so verse 25 is actually
explaining to us, contextually, What the mystery is. I want you
to see it again so we can make our flow. I don't want to stay
here. I want to get out of Romans 11 tonight. But I do want to
make sure that for those of you who are new, you at least will
have some cursory understanding of what the text is saying. Now,
here's the mystery. Look at verse 25. For I would not have you,
brethren, to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise
in your own conceit, which is the consequence of ignorance.
You know, conceited folk are just ignorant folk. You know
that, right? We all have been there, haven't we? ain't nothing
worse than being conceited out of ignorance. It's one thing
to be conceited out of knowing too much, but when you're conceited
out of ignorance, you're in bad shape. And that's the way this
world is in this present hour. This world is conceited. It thinks
it knows when it doesn't know at all. It's conceited. Look
at what he says. Here's the first aspect of the
mystery. Blindness in part has happened to Israel. You guys
got that? Remember what we said, blindness in part doesn't mean
that they were only partially blind and partially incited.
It means they were blinded in terms of a portion of the nation
of Israel was blinded while a portion of the nation of Israel was not
blinded, right? We understand that according
to the context, verse seven tells us that the election hath obtained
it, the rest were blinded. So when he uses blinded in part,
it's not saying that, well, he was blinded 80 percent. No, he's
saying that a certain portion of the nation was blinded to
God's truth. But the elect in that nation
saw Jesus for who he was. So it says this was a mystery.
In other words. If God hadn't revealed to the
apostle Paul that it was God's purpose to blind Israel, He would
have never understood why the majority and preponderance of
the nation of Israel continue to reject the gospel throughout
the whole of its history. By the way, this here is also
by analogy applicable to the human race. It's a mystery how
one day you could be blind to the glory of God and to the truth
of God's word, and then the next day God begins to reveal to you
truth. Remember the two thieves on either side of the Lord Jesus
Christ at the 11th hour one thief At in a nanosecond began to see
Christ for who he was saw his need Confess Christ to be righteous
confess to himself and his friend to be guilty and he said to the
Lord Jesus Remember me when you enter into your kingdom remember
that that's a mystery But what happened in that short period
of time was that God? Revealed to that thief who Christ
was and he left the other thief blind Do you guys see that? All right, so that's an aspect
of this concept of blindness, and it's a word of admonition
and reproof to you and me, and it goes like this. I'll just
use this by way of exhortation. If you know Christ today, if
you've seen his glory, if you've understood his gospel, it's not
because there's something in you better than your next man.
If you know Christ and the truth of the gospel, it's only because,
and you'll hear me say this at the end of the message, God had
mercy on you. That's all. That's all. It's
just because God had mercy on you. Don't be conceited. God
simply touched you. That's all. That's what he means.
So that's one aspect of the mystery. Israel was blinded in part. Now
notice what it says. Until the fullness of the Gentiles
become in. We talked about that, right?
The fullness of the Gentiles underscores a number of things
by inference and implication. First and foremost, that God
had purposed from the foundation of the world to save a whole
host of sinners from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. This,
i.e., is the promise that was given to Abram. That he would
become Abraham. The father of a multitude of
what? That's right. That's the promise.
So what Paul is saying also to the Gentiles is this. The reason
that you're saved is because God purposed you before the world
began, revealed it to Abraham and then brought it to pass in
time. You're only saved by grace. There is no ground for what?
Boasting. So that's the second aspect of
the mystery. First aspect was Israel's blinded. Second aspect
was God's purpose to save you. And the third aspect is until
the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and so, and in this
manner, verse 26, this is where we are. And in this manner, all Israel
shall be saved. So if you had your outline, you'd
know we'd be dealing with some syllogism now. And I'm going
to break this down just because I'm sure there are some of you
here who don't have the outline. And we want you to be able to
at least benefit a little bit from the argument that's going
to be set forth. There are three things that I
want us to consider right now when we deal with this term,
all Israel, all Israel is in verse 26. And so all Israel shall
be what saved. That's the argument, that's the
destiny, that's the purpose, and that's actually part of the
mystery. Paul says, all Israel. There are three conclusions we
can draw, and we'll work this through right now. is all Israel,
which we have right here, means every single person in Israel,
every single person in Jewry, every single person born of the
seed of Abraham will be saved. That's the first possibility
that what Paul is saying is once the Gentiles are brought into
a state of fullness, then all Israel will have been saved. Israel when he uses the phrase
all Israel could it even remotely mean that every single one of
Abraham's blood descendants shall be saved you got it think about
it for a moment I want to get the cobwebs out of here I know
I've been gone one week but This is very important, and this is
actually very important in terms of girding the lines of your
mind and becoming sound exegetes and being able to be informed
as you draw conclusions predicated upon scripture. We have talked
for months now about the distinction between the fleshly seed of Abraham
and the real true spiritual seed of Abraham, have we not? I really
shouldn't have to go over this, but I know that we do because
there's an aspect, a fallacy in our thinking that does not
allow us to stay on a plane of continuity and consistency when
it comes to interpreting God's Word. So we have to be reproved
continually, don't we? Reproof of instructions are the
way of life. You and I default to an erroneous presuppositional
base frequently. And unless we are brought back
into proper alignment by being reminded of what the Bible says,
we simply default to that which has been commonly taught us for
several decades. The conclusion that all Israel,
that is every one of Abraham's blood descendants, were destined
to be saved is an absolute fallacy and an impossibility. So we scratch
that particular interpretation. All Israel shall be saved does
not mean that every one of Abraham's blood descendants were destined
to salvation. Do we know this? We know this
through the tenor of scripture, don't we? Watch this now. We
know that Abraham had Isaac and he had who? Ishmael. And we know
that they were both his blood descendants and yet only Isaac
was saved. We know that Isaac had Jacob
and Esau. And we know that only Jacob was
saved and Esau perished, don't we? The Bible is very clear.
Jacob have I what? And Esau have I what? And so
just right there within what we call the patriarchal primer
The three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there was a
distinction between those who were children of the promise
and those who were children of the flesh. And then when we get
into the 12 tribes, my goodness, the vast majority of the 12 tribes
perished under the wrath of God. They never believe the gospel
for those of you who don't know this in your Bible Deuteronomy
chapter 32 around verse 20 the first time the word faith is
used is used in regards to the nation of Israel and the Bible
says These are a people in whom there is no faith whatsoever
Can you imagine that the children of Israel called out of Egypt
into the promised land called to be God's special people and
yet God says concerning that group of people that were in
the wilderness who perished over 40 years. You are a people in
whom there is no what faith now without faith. It's what and
when you don't have faith, please listen to me. You are not a child
of God. So what I'm getting at is the
idea, and people have been charged by this phrase too, which is
very important for you to know, the phrase all, pontos in the
Greek, the phrase all, cannot ever be interpreted as meaning
or referring to absolutely every single individual. All is a word
that must be always understood in its what? Context. In its
context. I'll give you several Bible verses
if I needed to. There was a place in John chapter
3 and a place in John chapter 12 where the Bible says all men
came to Jesus for to see him. And yet you and I know that all
men don't seek the Lord Jesus. One of the more controversial
passages is in first Timothy chapter 2 where the Bible says
God will have all men to be saved. And yet you and I know that men
perish all the time in unbelief and under the wrath of God. Is
that not so? So whenever you look at, whenever you read the
word all, be careful not to simply default to the idea that the
word all means everyone without exception. That's not true. It
never has been and never will be. So one of the thing that
I would exclude is that the idea that so all Israel shall be saved
cannot refer to every single person who is a blood descendant
of Abraham. We scratch that out. Here's a
second possibility. It's in your in your outline.
For those of you who have your outline, all Israel refers either
to the elect Jews, according to the scheme of redemption that
set out in our text, The elect Jews, according to the scheme
of redemption that's set out in Romans chapter 11, and what
that means is this. Romans chapter 11 has explained
to us a distinction between Israel in the flesh and the people whom
God did foreknow. Remember that? Romans chapter
11 made a distinction between Israel and the flesh who continued
to oppose the gospel and the people whom God did for know
Back up in Romans chapter 11 and look at verse 2 and 3 again
I want you to see it in your context so that we can begin
to understand when Paul uses the phrase all Israel He's speaking
of a category of people that are Already mentioned in our
context chapter 11 verse 1 and 2 I say then have God cast away
watch this his people God forbid for I am also an Israelite of
the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. He just described
his people right now Watch this. God has not cast away his people
qualifier, which he what? You got it now watch this Do
you know do you not know what the scripture says concerning
Elias how he made intercession to God against Israel saying
Lord they have killed your prophets dug down your altars and and
I'm left alone, they seek my life. What was God's answer to
him? I have reserved to myself what? 7,000 men who have not
bowed the knee to the image of Bill, i.e. the Israel that God
foreknew was the Israel that was always faithful to the gospel. You guys got that? The context
tells us as Paul would use the Old Testament account concerning
Israel wholesale apostasy. They had raised up Jezebel. She
was the preacher of that day. In fact, she was the high priestess.
400 prophets of Baal and 450 prophets of Jezebel sat at her
table and she persecuted every true gospel preacher. She sought
to kill Elijah, didn't she? That was a horrible time in Israel.
And Elijah had the complex that, hey, he was the only one. Well,
there were 7,000, but what good is that when they don't stand
up for the truth? You're all by yourself when the 7,000 don't
stand up. So I can't blame him. But here's
the point. What God was saying to Elijah
was this. The vast majority of Israel that
you see living in open pagan idolatry is not my people. My people know my voice and they
follow me. They keep my commandments and
they do not bow the knee to Bill. These are the people whom God
foreknew, whom God preserved to himself, of which now Paul
is saying, even though things look bad concerning Israel with
regards to its wholesale rejection of the gospel here in the first
century, because Israel was already persecuting the Gentile and the
believing church, even in that first century, Paul was saying,
even though it looks like they all together have abandoned the
gospel of Jesus Christ, yet there is an elect who believe the gospel
among Israel. so the preponderance didn't but
a handful did and this is what the text says look at it over
in verse five even so then at this present time do you see
there is a what according to the what election of gray got
it the distinction is the mass Body of the physical seed of
Abraham are not the children, a promise. But there is a remnant
according to the election of what? Grace, whom God has always
reserved out of the seed of Abraham. The vast majority are lost. The
vast majority are the children of the devil. The vast majority
do the will of their father. Remember what Jesus said in John
chapter 8? I know you're Abraham's seed,
but you're not Abraham's what? Children. If you were Abraham's
children, you'd know me, you'd believe me, you'd follow me,
you'd walk with me. But because you're merely Abraham's
physical flesh, and flesh and spirit are diametrically opposed,
you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth. I'm trying
to help you understand not to get caught up in the physical
identity of Israel because that would be a fallacy. The reason
why Israel killed Jesus is because he would not buy into the paradigm
of the physical seed being some special unique people above all
the other people groups in the world. Remember the gospel is
the great leveler of all ethnic groups. The gospel levels us,
and we'll see that again tonight. One of the reason why Paul breaks
out in absolute exaltation and worship of God is because he
understood the mercy of God and the salvation of sinners from
every people group, including the Jews, but not specially the
Jews. The Jews are no special, no specialer,
that's a bad word, than any of the other ethnic groups. They
are on the same plane with the Gentiles. They're under sin. and they need salvation too.
And so this is what Paul is doing. He's saying there is a group,
however, among the Jews who did not buy into persecuting Jesus,
and they are called the remnant according to the election of
grace. Now look at how he explains this over in verse seven. What then? Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for. Do you see it? We already saw
that in Romans nine. The reason why they did not obtain
that which they were seeking was because they sought it by
the works of the law rather than by the hearing of faith. Israel
did not obtain that righteousness. This is Romans 9, 31 and 32. Israel did not obtain that righteousness
for which it was called because when God told them to look to
Christ, they refused to look to Christ and attempted to present
their own good works to God. And God must reject your works
and mine. Salvation can never come on the
basis of human merit. You guys got that? So Israel
becomes for the whole world a model of what it means to come close,
but no cigar. There are a group of people who
had Messiah to be born and raised and live and do the exploits
and the miracles that he did par excellence. He was a flawless
preacher. He was a flawless minister. He
was a flawless person. He was absolutely perfect in
everything. There was nothing about our Savior's
life or ministry Wherein you and I could find fault with him
you can find fault with me. I could find fault with you You
can find excuses not to hear the gospel for me I can find
excuses not to hear the gospel from you, but you can't find
an excuse when it comes to the Savior and Yet Israel crucified
the Prince of Glory But not all of Israel Mary Magdalene remember
that Mary, the mother of Jesus, the disciples, and a whole band
of saints, which ultimately wound up being 120 in the upper room
who waited on him. Out of the tens of thousands
who heard him preach for three and a half years, at the end
of his three and a half year ministry, there was only 120
who waited on the Lord Jesus. They were called the election
according to grace. They were a hodgepodge of hell
bound sinners touched by the mercy and grace of God. And when
they saw Jesus, they saw him for who he was because they needed
him. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And the rest didn't see the glory of God in the person
of Christ. He was in the world. The world was made by him, but
the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. He was the glory of God walking
in the midst of his own people. And they did not see him. That's
called human depravity. When God walks in your midst,
emanating the kind of glory that Jesus did, and you still don't
see God, you're lost. You guys got that? And that was
the condition of Israel. Now, why are we explaining this?
It's because the Bible gives us this material to help us see
ourselves as a big mirror. Israel is a big mirror of the
whole human race. This is how you and I are. This
is how we were before we were saved. And so, The text tells
us that there was an election according to grace. And here's
what it says in the latter part of verse seven. This will help you understand
this second formula to the concept, all Israel. There's another one
that I want you to see as well before we move on. What then
Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the
election hath obtained it. See it. And the rest were what? There is your formula. There's
your mystery. Who obtained it? Who obtained
it? Who obtained it? The elect are
the only ones who obtain it anytime. Please understand, salvation
is not an accident. Salvation is not according to
the will of man, nor the will of blood, nor the will of the
flesh, but of God. Salvation is the will of a sovereign
God who determines and purposes and decrees and actually saves
whom he wills, where he wills, when he wills and how he wills.
Salvation is never ever left up to the creature. And everyone
who has ever saved from Abel and Adam to the last person who
will be saved are called the election according to grace.
That be it the Jews or the Gentiles. Am I making some sense? if I'm
saying this because God chose me in Christ before the foundation
of the world and then called me by his gospel and then quickened
me by his spirit and revealed his son in me you too this is
not accident it's not accident so Paul is explaining this and
I want you to see it because it's very important when he says
here the election hath obtained it the rest were blinded now
go back to verse 26 again Verse 26 and so all Israel shall
be saved now I want to continue to exercise your senses again
on the all Israel said in the second since the all Israel has
to be the elect Among the Jews Is that a legitimate hypothesis?
Isn't that what we've been thinking? Is that a legitimate hypothesis?
Any questions on that before I move on to develop this a little
further and then give you a third hypothesis that I think is even
more substantial than that the all Israel is referring to only
the elect among the Jews. Any questions so far? I know
you got questions, you're just scared to ask them. Or you may not have any questions,
you're just too dumb to even have questions now. I'm doing
that on purpose. You can get mad right now. Who
is he to call me dumb? You're not dumb, I'm dumb. But
sometimes when we don't want to think, we're lazy and that
is not to our benefit. There may be a question in the
back of your mind. Why does Pastor Jesse take the position that
God only has an elect people among the Jews? Because the Bible
says so. He only has an elect people among the Gentiles. And
I'm willing to substantiate that on the larger portion of scripture
if we need to. I just don't want you to simply buy into what I'm
saying. I don't care about subverting you. I want you to be able to
see it in the Bible, comprehend it by the Bible, and understand
the continuity of biblical truth as the premise and grounds for
everything we believe. So if you don't agree with me
on something, listen, the ground's not going to open up and swallow
you up. I would challenge you, however, if you don't agree with
me to take your time and prepare your argument and present it
to me. I would love to hear it. See, we live in days where people
are too late, too lazy even to think. And I don't want you to
believe in something just because I believe it. I want you to be
able to believe it because you can see it in the scriptures
and the spirit of God has confirmed it in your mind. Ah, this is
the truth. Now it's more consistency. Because
see, when you understand truth, In its proper context, there
is a continuity with the scriptures. Now the things that used to be
in conflict and oddball out and not quite fitting here, things
start to harmonize over time as truth starts to lay upon its
foundation. Felix. His question is, it's not related
to our text, but his question is ancillary. In the same way
in which I'm wanting you to be careful of using the word all,
and not drawing the conclusion that the idea all always refers
to everything without exception, but that you have to examine
the word all in its context, and then be informed by the larger
testimony of scripture, is the same thing that's true, not only
for the word world, but for everything in the Bible. The Bible is its
own interpreter. God makes it plain as we read
it in light of its context, in light of its larger text, and
in light of everything that the Bible informs us about that particular
subject matter. So when you are reading words
or trying to understand biblical doctrines or concepts, you have
to be very clear on what the whole of the Bible says about
that before you draw a conclusion. Now, you're going to draw conclusions
because as human beings, we we kind of think we are halfway
there all the time. And here's what happens. You
draw a conclusion out of laziness and ninety nine nine point nine
percent of the time you're wrong because you're lazy. You didn't
do what the Bible said. First Thessalonians, chapter
five, around verse 19, prove all things hold fast to that,
which is good. Second, Timothy two, 15 or first
Timothy two, 15 study to show yourself approved under God.
So when the Bible says be diligent to study, be diligent to labor,
prove all things, be like the Berean, really labor, don't talk
about laboring, really labor. And if you're not gonna labor,
let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. What that means is
I don't know. You're safer when you say you don't know than to
assume you know because you borrowed somebody else's doctrine because
of the consensus. Am I making a little sense? This
is very, very important. And so with regards to the world,
yes, you have to be careful to read the world in its context
and in its usage in scripture. Most of the time, people think
that when the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have everlasting life, that God loves absolutely
every individual in the world. But that's a fallacy if you read
it in light of everything the Bible says, right? How can God
love absolutely everybody in the world and yet hate Esau? There's just one person now that
God has explicitly said he hated poor Esau. But now, you know,
when you read your Bible more carefully, God says he hate all
the workers of iniquity. He abhors the liar. He abhors
the person that leases. God hates the wicked and is angry
with the wicked every day. There are a whole bunch of people
God hates. And in fact, everyone that ends up under the wrath
of God for all eternity are hated of God. You guys got that? And so be very careful about
how you utilize the love of God. We've talked about that before.
Let's go on. My brother, did you have your
hand up? Yeah, I can see it up there. Paul says that even the
very last, you know, has an opportunity to even lose their salvation. you got it you got it first of
all you just made a proposition that you didn't substantiate
on the scripture so now you can put it in a question form and
we can help you but if you put it in a propositional form like
you just did the Bible never says that even the very elect
could lose their salvation nowhere But you may have been reading
passages that present to you the idea that if a person doesn't
make their calling and election sure, they might very well find
themselves perishing under the wrath of God. He that continued
unto the end, the same shall be saved. He that endured to
the end, the same shall be saved. So you'll have many passages
that will warn you to persevere and press forward and to make
sure that you actually end up in glory. But that concept does
not militate against the idea of the eternal security of God's
elect. One is God's decree. That is, God decreed our salvation,
and if he decreed our salvation, then we will be saved. Because
God can't what? And he can't what? And he can't
what? That's right. But he does use a methodology
by which he sees to it that we get the glory. And that methodology
is encouraging us to press forward. And he uses warnings to make
sure that we who say we are elect better be real. Because like
Judas Iscariot was able to sneak in surreptitiously among the
11 disciples and we found out that he was a devil. and that
he was a son of perdition he never was genuinely saved and
he was predetermined a thousand years beforehand to be the very
one that gives up jesus he wasn't saved in there lost his salvation
he never was saved in the first place and he did not heed the
warning to make his call in an election sure so there are many
passages my brother that will warn even us as god's elect people
is that not so you better make sure you're one of god's sheep
He gives a great parable in the gospel of Matthews around Matthews
22, where it talks about the wedding feast. And there was
a fellow who came into the wedding without a wedding garment. How'd
he get into here, into the wedding? Now, the wedding feast is the
last day when God's bride is gathered together with Christ,
the great bridegroom. And there is a fellow in here
who doesn't have on a wedding garment. He was able to get past
the gullible Christians in his era He got past the silly preacher. He was able to deceive the deacons
and the elders. He deceived everybody, pretending
that he was a true believer. But the Bible says, but the bridegroom
or the king or the person who gave the wedding came in and
saw him. You know what that means? He
didn't deceive Jesus. The parable is a warning not
to pretend to be saved, but to be serious about salvation. So
you're going to have a lot of those accounts in scripture where
it appears that the warning is such as in Hebrews chapter 6
and Hebrews chapter 10. You might have been considering
Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10 too. Hebrews chapter 6 says, for when
they have once been enlightened and have tasted of the good word
of God and of the Holy Ghost and of the powers to come to
as it were to turn away or to fall away or to reject the gospel
there is no basis for repentance for them some people would interpret
those passages as passages where they were saved and brought into
an experience of grace and then lost their salvation but if you
looked at those passages carefully those passages too would teach
that it wasn't a matter that that individual saved, but he
or she came under the auspices of the gospel blessings in the
same way men and women come under the auspices of the gospel blessing
in a local church. In the same way Judas Iscariot
was allowed to be among the disciples, numbered among the 12, even given
the ability to go out and cast out devils and the commission
to preach, and yet he himself was lost. So the warnings are
legitimate to the sheep, that is the elect and non-elect, but
they really only apply to the non-elect, for it will be the
non-elect who will not make their calling in election shooting. I probably went way over on that,
but I knew this help would help a lot of you because there are
many passages in the scriptures that would bring about these
kinds of warnings and would tell you to be very careful. And those
are legitimate passages, but they don't infringe upon this
reality that God has from before the foundation of the world chosen
a people for himself. unto salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth who will be called they
will be saved they will be sealed unto the day of redemption they
will not be lost because God will keep them that's the promise
that God has now on our side our responsibility is to make
our calling intellectual make sure that we're one of those
real sheep am i making some sense Make sure that we're one of God's
real sheep. If we make our calling and election
sure, then we can be confident that there will be an abundant
interest into the kingdom of God on the last day when we die,
when the Lord Jesus calls us. Does that help a little bit?
Good, good, excellent. And there are many questions
that can't all together be fully answered, but be very sure of
this. God has a people who will make it to glory because he purposed
them to get there. And when they get there, They
will give God all the glory for getting the glory. They won't
attribute to themselves one vestige of the effort of having either
been smarter than somebody else or stronger than somebody else
or wiser than somebody else. No, we are the weakest. We are
the most foolish. We are the most fickle. We have
no confidence in our flesh. We totally trust in the true
and the living God to save us to the uttermost. And that's
what we gonna say when we get the glory to if I get the glory
I'm gonna say like the song said I'm just a sinner saved by grace
That's all this is my story to God be the glory. I'm just a
sinner saved by grace All right. Now I want us to develop this
a little bit more we've got about 20 minutes here and I want to
make sure that we close this out the supposition is that The
elect is all Israel The all Israel is the elect and if you look
over in chapter 9 again I want to exercise your senses in verses
6 through 8 For this very purpose to make sure you understand that
Paul used this term all Israel Even before we got to the 11th
chapter. I want you guys to see this. Are we in chapter 9? I'm
going to start at verse 6 through 8 and Paul is explaining now
What we have just been talking about concerning election I use
a formula concerning salvation and it goes like this. By the
way, for those of you who are visiting, the CDs are free. All
of our materials are free. You can get them right after
the study and you can listen to them over and over and over
again. If you find some kind of argument again or some kind
of flaw in my teaching, you're welcome to confront me with it
and we can address it. But here's how this works. Election is the
why people are saved. Election is the why people are
saved. Why is one man saved and another
man not? Election. Election. Listen to me now. Calvary is
the how people are saved. The how people are saved. How
did God save his people? By the death, burial, and resurrection
of their substitute and surety and Redeemer, Jesus Christ on
Calvary's tree. You and I say, because Christ
took our place on Calvary's tree to bear the wrath of God, to
establish an everlasting righteousness, to impute it to us so that we
stand before God as the righteousness of God in him. That's the how. The why is election, the how
is Calvary. Listen, the when, the when is
when the spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel broke
into your heart and caused the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ to be manifested on that day when he said to you, you're
mine. when He saved you by His grace,
when He raised you from the dead, when He opened your ears, when
He opened your eyes, when He opened your heart, when He broke
you down, when He showed you you were a hell-bound sinner.
when he convinced you that you were the only sinner in this
world and you deserve to go to hell and then he pointed you
to his darling son and he told you he is your substitute and
convinced you of Christ's righteousness and then he convinced you in
John 16 8 that Christ bore all your sin and therefore for you
there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus
and you walk the way liberated free happy thankful joyful it
was amazing that God saved you and you didn't deserve it. That's
the win. That's the win. It happened at
a certain time in your life. You may have been conscious of
it. You may not have been conscious of it. All you know is once you
were blind, now you see. So the wise election, the how
is Calvary, the win is when the gospel comes in power. See, the
gospel is a call. We've talked about that. There
are three calls. There's the call to life, Every one of us has
been called to this life. There's no accident that you're
here. Then there's the gospel call. Go ye into all the world
and what? Preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
what? Damned. And then there's the final judgment
call. The Bible says the hour is coming when all that are in
the grace shall hear the voice of the son of God and some shall
come forth to the resurrection of the just others to the resurrection
of damnation. The last call is that great trumpet
call where every one of us will stand before God on that last
day. That's what's taking place in the call, so the why is election,
the how is Calvary, the when is when the gospel comes in power.
That formula will work every time, so remember that. in Romans
chapter 9 verse 6 Paul is explaining the why when he says not as though
the Word of God has taken no effect for they are not notice
now all Israel you guys see that you can circle that Paul knew
what he was saying before he even got to the 11th chapter
how come Israel seems to have completely rejected the gospel
well it's not because the Word of God has not taken any effect
God doesn't lie God doesn't change God can't fail But he says here's
the reason for they are not all Israel which are of Israel see
Verse 7 neither because they are the seed of Abraham Sperma
are they all children Tecna? But in Isaac shall your seed
be called do you guys see that Paul made a very clear distinction
between the flesh and the spirit didn't he says they're all physically
Abraham seed and but they're not all children of the promise.
Now this is the why some believed Jesus when he came and the reason
why the rest didn't believe. And Jesus said in John chapter
eight, you are of your father the devil. If you were Abraham's
seed, listen, you do the works of Abraham. Abraham believed
on me long time ago. Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
Abraham believed God. You guys see that? So in Romans
chapter 9, as Paul is actually dealing with Israel from Romans
9 through 11, Romans 9 through 11 is dealing with Israel, but
he's parsing between the flesh and the spirit. He's making a
distinction between the elect and the non-elect. And if you
don't keep that distinction there, then you're going to have your
understanding convoluted. You guys see that? All right,
so now here's a third possibility. I think that this one will work
even more fully in our context, that the elect constitute both
Jew Gentile as all Israel as all Israel you guys know about
a month ago or two months ago we were developing the the larger
theological premise that the Apostle Paul comprehended as
God revealed to him the mystery And wherever Paul preached, whether
it was at Corinth, or Ephesus, or Colossae, or to the Hebrews,
if he wrote the Hebrews, the letter to the Hebrews, here's
what Paul plainly said in all of his teaching. Now watch this.
In Christ, in Christ, there is neither Jew, nor Greek, nor bond,
nor free, but we are all one in Christ. He said in the book
of Ephesians chapter two that God had broken down the middle
wall of partition which had divided Jew and Gentile and made of both
Jew and Gentile one new man. So making peace. He said in that
same chapter of Ephesians 2 that the Gentiles have been brought
into the commonwealth and the citizenry of Israel, and they
are partakers now of the whole scheme of redemption. And what
that means is all of the nomenclature, all of the terminology, all of
the appellations that were ascribed to the children of Israel, we
talked about this, are applied to Gentile believers today. Here's
what I mean. Is a Jew who believes the gospel
Abraham see? So is a Gentile. That's Galatians
chapter 3. Is a Jew who believes the gospel
called the circumcision? So is a Gentile. That's Philippians
3. We are the circumcision who worship
God rejoicing Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
Paul said in Romans chapter 2 around verse 21, 22, a true Jew is not
a Jew who is a Jew in the flesh. But one whose circumcision is
of the heart whose praise is not of men But of god what that
means is a true jew is one who is a jew in the sight of god
Not in the sight of men It has nothing to do with your fleshly
or physical lineage or physical circumcision And then the bible
calls us zion hebrews chapter 12 says we have not come to that
mount Which which burned with fire and brimstone and a horrible
tempest, but we've come to mount zion We've come to the church
of the firstborn, the assembly of those who are part of the
great shepherd, Jesus Christ. We are a part of God's Mount
Zion. This is Jew and Gentile. Now go with me in your Bible
to Galatians chapter six. I want you to see this. Now what
I'm sharing with you is the way that Paul sprinkled his theology
throughout all of his epistles to all the Gentile churches to
let the Gentiles know that they were not second class citizens
the kingdom of God because that's the fallacy in your dispensational
pre-millennial eschatology that somehow the church is like you
know a stepsister to the true Jews but God really has a special
people called the Jews the seed of Abraham and Paul militates
against that and I want you to see it here in Galatians chapter
6 before we advance through the last portion of the Romans text
in preparation to deal with Romans 12 next week. Now, Galatians,
as you know, is an epistle written and poised by the Apostle Paul
to deal with the legalist who had come into Galatian, which
were primarily Gentiles. I mean, Galatians 6. Paul wrote
the epistle to the Galatians, the church that he had established
there, primarily dealing with those Jewish brethren who had
come out of James and Peter and John. Remember, James, Peter
and John were the apostles to the circumcision. And Paul was
the apostle to the Gentile, him and Barnabas and Silas. But Paul
had to come back to Galatia after having established the gospel
because there were many Jewish. Brother, in quote, unquote, who
had come into the Galatian camp and said, Now we know you have
made Jesus your Lord. You have accepted Jesus. You
call him your savior. But you really are not a true
believer unless you be circumcised and keep the law. The whole epistle
to the Galatians is written to militate against salvation based
upon human works versus salvation rooted in the finished work of
Jesus Christ on Calvary Street. And in fact in Galatians chapter
2 Paul said they were false brothers. Paul said they were false brethren.
In other words, if you say you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
but you are confident that you're going to heaven based on the
fact that you were baptized or based on the fact that you speak
in tongues are based on the fact that you made a decision for
Jesus are based on the fact that somehow you keep the law, which
you don't do any of that to tell it true. You pretend to. Like Paul said
to the Galatians, they make a fair show in the flesh. They look
good. But the kingdom of God is not in word, he said to the
Corinthians, but in power. Now when I get there, we're gonna
find out if they know the Lord or not. There's a way to know. And Judaizers, work mongers,
legalists, self-righteous religionists, they always pretend to be holier
than they really are. Religious folk love to pull the
wool over ignorant, naive people's eyes, pretending to be holier
than they really are. I know it hurts, but it needs
to hurt. It stinks to high heaven when you think you can put your
filthy stench of self-righteousness over against the perfect, spotless,
impeccable righteousness of Jesus Christ and stand before God and
say, God, I want to get in based on Christ's work plus my work.
But now y'all know better, don't you? You know that your work
plus Christ's work, what? It won't ever work. The Bible
tells us in Titus chapter 3 verse 5, don't ever forget it. By his
mercy have God saved us. God saved us by his mercy through
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. God
saved us not by words of righteousness, which we have done. So when a
person comes to understand the grace of God, the sovereign mercy
of God, he knows that from beginning to end salvation is totally What
of the Lord he will never frame his lips to say he contributed
at all whatsoever to his salvation So we had to kill that devil
now while we're in Galatians chapter 6. I want you to see
what Paul says Over in verse 14 now, he's closing out his
epistle. This is wonderful because he's closed out his epistle in
chapter 5 Pleading with the Galatian church to walk in the Liberty
where with Christ has set them free Don't ever be brought into
bondage by self-righteous legalist If you go to hell, go to hell
on your own. Don't go to hell because of some
lying preacher or some lying religious system. Why are you
going to go to hell trying to do something you can't do that
somebody's telling you you got to do when they're not really
even doing it? They're just telling you to do
it. Some of you have been part of
these legalistic type churches And after God removed the blinders
from your eyes and you stopped being naive and ignorant, you
were able to start seeing the people for what they really were,
hypocrites. You were like, well, look here,
she telling me to do one thing and she doing the very thing
she telling me not to do. Isn't that right? And then you
become disillusioned with religion because you trusted in your leader. When your problem was is you
were never looking to Christ. You had never been taught the
gospel. You had never come to an understanding of the grace
of God the whole issue. So hold on got to keep going
Galatians chapter 6 notice what he says. I'm going to start at
verse 12 Galatians 6 12 as many as desire to make a fair show
in the flesh. Do you see that phrase? He's talking about the
Judaizers. Listen to what he says. They
constrain you to be circumcised. Do you see it? Now the word circumcised
means that they have a list of do's and don'ts that if you don't
pass, you're not saved. Got it? Only, watch this, lest
they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. What
is Paul saying? These are the Judaizers who had
heard the gospel and they had heard the message of Christ,
but they were at a crossroads where they were going to be persecuted
if they embraced the gospel. See, the Jews are no joke. The
Muslims, the hostile, radical Muslims of the day. Well, that's
how the Jews were. If you don't believe that, read
the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts is clear. Our brethren,
the apostles, they went through it with the Jews. Those folks
sent away with this man. He doesn't deserve to even be
on this earth. There were people who committed
vows, made vows not to eat until they hunted down the apostle
Paul and killed him. That's radical. And yet they
thought they were doing it in the name of God to glorify God.
This is called blind, demonic, zealous, self-righteous religion.
Paul said. The reason why they want you
to be circumcised is so that they, while they profess to be
Christians, won't be persecuted by the Jews who hold to the law.
Got it. In other words, it's called compromise.
Now, watch this. for neither day themselves who
are circumcised, what? That's what I was saying five
minutes ago. Oh, I keep the law, you fool. You're an absolute fool. I keep
the law. No, you don't. Two things, you
don't keep it and you just make God a liar. Because God said
you don't keep the law. Do you know three times that
phrase is used and you don't keep the law? Guess who kept it? Who
said it? First, Jesus said it. If you need it in your own time
read john chapter six and seven jesus said to the jews moses
gave you the law And none of you keep it. So now you're gonna
argue with jesus argue with jesus Then paul said the same thing
to the church at corin God gave you the law, but you didn't keep
it and now he's saying it here. Oh, i'm sorry It's used again
in the book of acts chapter seven where stephen right before he
was stoned to death The spirit of god so emanating from his
life that he looked as it were an angel in the face of these
hostile bloodthirsty jews He says god gave you the law and
none of you keep it. Ye do always resist the holy
ghost And so stephen said they didn't keep the law and now paul
is saying that they didn't keep the law Why did did do they say
that they didn't keep the law because they didn't keep the
law And you and I don't keep the law Do you know if you keep
the whole law and violate one point of the law, you have broken
the whole law. Do you also know that you not only have to keep
the law from this point until you get to Jesus, you have to
have kept the law from the time you were born to this point and
then from this point till you get to Jesus. So if the Bible
says all have sinned and come short of the glory, and if the
Bible says that by one man sin has entered into the world and
death has passed upon all men for all have sinned, that means
we come out behind the gun. Am I making some sense? What
that means is for you and I as sinners, born sinners, to take
the phrase I keep the law and stick it in our mouth is the
ultimate quintessential oxymoron. What does that mean, Pastor?
That means we're contradicting ourselves. We never have kept
the law. We might fancy ourselves keeping
the law, but do you know what it means to keep the law? It
means to keep the law perfectly. That means you have to love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, and with all your strength all the time. Got it? Now there was only one man who
walked into time and space continuum as we know it for 37 odd years. He was wholly harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. One man who could say to the
rulers who had deceived everybody, the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
he could say to them, which one of you can convince me of sin?
One man who said, any of you point a sin out in what I said
or what I did or what I think. I always do those things that
please my father. And to confirm it, the father
broke the heavens open and said, that's right. This is my beloved
son in whom I am. Well, please watch this you better
listen to him You got it one man came in and went out Without
ever transgressing God's law One man the Bible says there's
not a just man upon the earth that do it good and sinners night
now what the Bible says is If you want to know where that is,
it's Ecclesiastes chapter 7 around verse 29. There's not a just
man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That means
every one of us continue to sin. Isn't that what the Bible says?
If you don't want to go all the way back to Ecclesiastes, you
can stop at Romans chapter 3 verse 9. There's none that doeth good. Now hold on. Now that's one of
the phrases that encapsulates everybody. There's none that
doeth good. Well pastor, I do good. You just
make God alive. You don't do good. If you do
anything with the slightest selfish motive, it's sinful. The Bible makes it very plain
that even the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to God. The
Bible says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked
above everything who can know it. Are you guys hearing me? Do you want we teach we teach
the doctrine of absolute total depravity? We don't believe nor
do we declare that there's one thing in the human race that's
worthy of merit before God you and I are totally Desperately
hell-bound Undone sinners and if God doesn't reach down and
save us we're going to hell deservedly so I've been convinced of that now
for 30 years. Have you? And when He, the Holy
Ghost, has come, He will convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. That's how you know you're saved,
because the Spirit of God has smitten your heart and wounded
you and convinced you that you are the only sinner in the world. Isn't that right? Not your neighbor,
not your husband, not your son, not your daughter. You know,
they're bad sinners. Lord, I'm a sinner, but I'm not as bad
as them. No, you haven't been convinced yet. The Spirit of
God hasn't taught you yet what it means for you to be the sinner. When you are the sinner, you
are the one that go into the temple and you smite your breast
and you say, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. And you don't
look at anyone else. You don't look at anyone else.
When the Holy Ghost begins to save a sinner, he sets that sinner
apart like a leper in a leper colony only. He's the only one
in the colony. separate, shut up to God, realizing
that if God sent only him or her to hell, God would be just. That'll stop you from looking
down your narrow nose at your brother or your sister. Isn't
that right? And your stinky self-righteousness,
because we're deluded in the thinking somehow that we got
something to offer God. And when the Spirit of God shows
you the perfections of Christ, this is what gospel preaching
does, set you on a sideline. And the Spirit of God shows you
the beauties and the glories and the impeccable nature of
Christ, the exaltation of Christ. And you see him, you say, now
that's what I need. I got to have it. I got to have
it. And that's what you see in the
gospel. You saw a whole bunch of sinners chasing Christ down.
They got in boats and ships and went on. You know, you really
need a brother when you get in boats and ships in the middle
of the night, go across the sea to get to that man. What made
Jesus radically and distinctly different than the Pharisees
and the Sadducees? He was a real, genuine savior. And they were just a bunch of
religious cons. There was something about Christ that real sinners
needed. On the other hand, if you're
just religious, Christ will do you no good. Remember the rich
young ruler? Lord, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? He said, why are you calling
me good? Remember he said, good master, why are you calling me
good? It wasn't good. Now you sure you got the right
good now? Are you calling me God? He wouldn't
do it. He wouldn't do it. He says, you
know what the law says. Love the Lord with everything
in you and get ready to pull follow me and you'll be good
to go And he was sad to his heart Why because he had to depart
from his riches See, but when you see Christ for who he is
No amount of money in the world Will ever do Got it All right,
listen to what he says I want to be able to close out right
here listen to what he says And I'm in verse 13, for neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have
you circumcised that they may glory in your what? Fleshly religion
stinks. Fleshly religion stinks. See,
this is all horizontal glory. Horizontal glory. They got you
praying and fasting and tithing and giving and doing. and they
talk about how holy you are and how righteous you are and how
good you are and got your name up on the wall and got your name
in the friend and get your name in the bulletin and the preacher
talk about you make you feel good your head blow up like a
big balloon and floating to the ceiling and you need the gospel
to come in and bust that bubble because you know you gave grudgingly
You prayed half-heartedly, you did those good deeds with selfish
motives all in it, and it was nasty in the sight of God. God
rejected it purely. And you know that there was no
real spiritual merit in it. It was a labor, it was a toil,
it was gruesome because it was of the flesh. And yet we glory
in that in religion, don't we? Paul knew something about religion,
didn't he? Yes, he did. He was the best of them before
God saved him. Remember that listen to what he says verse
14, but God forbid That I should glory except where in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ By whom the world is crucified unto me
and I unto the way I saw, you know, you've been born again
I'll leave that one right there for you to meditate on this is
how you know, you've been born again because God has Detached
you from loving this world You know, you've been born again
you have your struggle but you don't love this world Got it
Paul says By whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the
world in other words the world don't want him and he don't want
the world That's a brother in love with Christ, isn't it? verse
13 verse 15 for in Christ Jesus and Neither circumcision, that
is the Jews, availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, that is the
Gentiles, but a what? A new creature. Got it? Got it? See what Paul says? The only
thing that matters is whether or not you are in Christ, whether
or not you have been born again, whether or not you are a new
creature. It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or whether you're
a Gentile. It only matters whether you've been born again. Whether
you know Christ in the truth. That's the only thing that matters.
circumcision doesn't impress God, that is good words, neither
does your profligate sinning impress God. This is called antinomianism. Way over on the other end of
the spectrum, there are people who arrogantly, and Paul deals
with this in Colossians and in the book of Ephesians and partially
in Philippians, there are people who are almost seared in their
conscience to think that they can live like hell and still
go to glory. Please listen to me, it will
never happen. It will never happen that you
can live in what we would call the impunity of sin, where your
heart is hardened against the truth, where you just live like
hell, arrogantly committing all the abomination that you can
commit in your Adamic nature and think you're going to glory.
It won't ever happen. No one will go to glory who doesn't
love the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you guys hear what I just
said? See, when you say watch this now, Romans chapter five
says that God pours sheds abroad the love of God in your heart
by the Holy Ghost. When a man or woman is saved,
they are brought into a state of a holy conflict. They hate
sin. They hate their sinful nature.
They hate their sinful deeds. They hate falling prey to sin.
They hate being trapped by sin. They hate being deceived by sin.
They hate it. That's how you know you're born
again. I hate what I do. If you love what you do, you're
not saved. And I'm here to tell you as a whole generation of
folks right now who call themselves Christians and they are unclean
in the sight of God because they don't have the new nature, the
new nature in the person that's saved. Despises sin it can't
sin. That's John chapter 3 that which
is born of God cannot sin Because it's born of God the one a man
has Christ in you the hope of glory you Cannot sin you cannot
sin with impunity. You cannot easily engage in sin
and wickedness. It won't happen So Galatians
chapter 5 described for us this the conflict that a believer
is in Are you ready? The conflict is this. When my
fallen nature would be inclined to do evil, my new nature is
saying, no! No! And if I'm wise, I would fall
on my face and say, Holy Ghost, help me. Spirit of God, help
me. Lord, give me grace. Help me to live the way you want
me to live. If you don't, I'm going to sin
against you. I don't want to sin against you. I love the gospel.
I love walking in peace. I love walking in liberty. I
love walking in triumph. I love walking in victory. I
love keeping my eyes on Christ. I love keeping my mind stayed
on you. I love meditating on Christ. I love rejoicing in the
things of God. I do not like this sin. wretched man that I am did you
guys get that because there are a whole bunch of people that
don't know this grace that I'm talking about right now they
think they're say way outside of the kingdom not born again
so make sure that's not you make sure you hate the sin that you
do listen to what he goes on to say for in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision avails anything neither circumcision but a new
creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace
beyond them do you see that and mercy and upon now watch this
the Israel of God God has an Israel did you know that You
know who that Israel? Jews and Gentiles from every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue who look to, who love, who rejoice
in, who hope in, who wait, who need, who can't have nothing
but Jesus Christ. Got it? That's the Israel of
God. That's the Israel of God. Those are the folks of whom we
have been describing now for this last hour. You recanted on your question?
Okay. Is it relevant? Okay, what's
the question? What Bible what Bible do you
have the NASB New American Standard Go back to Romans chapter 11
I'm going I'm gonna close here by just reading through the language
and I'm not gonna come back here Because I want to open up chapter
12. Chapter 12 is a wonderful, wonderful chapter that I'm looking
forward to several studies in with us because it actually deals
with church life, the life of the body, the body of Christ
and its call and commission. And it chapter 12 is built upon
a crescendo that's given to us in chapter 11. And I want you
to see that crescendo, that premise, and then we'll build upon it.
Notice what it says in chapter 11. In chapter 11 Paul goes on
to explain in verses 26 through 33 God's promise to save that
all Israel that I'm talking about Jews and Gentiles from every
nation kindred tribe and tongue He says in verse 28 as concerning
the gospel. They are enemies. That is those
who are persecuting the believer But as touching the election,
they are beloved of the Father They are beloved for the Father's
sake that's verse 28. Do you see that listen very carefully? The elect and the enemies here
are one in the same. They are enemies for the gospel
sake. When you and I were lost, we were enemies of the gospel.
But we were still chosen in Christ, elect and therefore loved of
God. And when the gospel came in power,
our lives were changed. And now what we hated, we love. What we persecute, we embrace.
This is what happened to Paul. He went around killing Christians
until the Lord knocked him down on the Damascus Road. Isn't that
right? Now he's ready to die for the gospel. All of us were
enemies of God. The Bible says while we were
yet enemies, Christ died for us. Isn't that what the Bible
says? So don't think that the concept enemy negates the concept
of election. Election means that God chose
us before we did any good or evil. And in fact, he chose us
while we were in our evil to bring us into Christ and make
us good in Christ. So what Paul is simply explaining
is this, the Jews in their hatred and animosity of the gospel are
doing nothing any different than the Gentiles in their hatred
and animosity of the gospel. But there's an election among
the jews as there's an election among the gentiles whom god loves
And they're coming in And they're going to come in Through you
who already believe the gospel because it's your job to preach
the gospel to god's enemies Who may be god's elect? Did you guys
hear what I just said? I just want to follow this through
because it's so I could develop it But I don't want to verse
29 for the gifts and calling of god are without repentance
for as you in time past see the word for that's your purpose
cloth for as you in time past have not believed God see you
were an enemy weren't you yet have now obtained mercy through
their unbelief even so have these also now not what believe they
are in the same situation that we were before the gospel came
in power to us listen to the language Also may obtain mercy. Uh, they have not believed that
through your mercy. They also may what obtain mercy
What is he saying your mercy? What does he mean? What does
he mean on a practical level through your mercy? They may
obtain mercy Through your sharing the gospel with them by which
you obtain mercy They too might obtain mercy through the gospel
Because it's the gospel that communicates mercy to undeserving
sinners. Remember, it's going back to
Romans chapter nine. What if God willing to show his
wrath on vessels that are fitted for destruction, vessels of wrath
fitted for destruction, and to show his mercy on vessels whom
he has chosen to salvation, both of the Jews and the Gentiles.
Beloved, listen to me. If you're saved, you are a vessel
of what? Mercy. You are a vessel of mercy. And as a vessel of mercy, your
job is to pour mercy into other sinners as somebody poured mercy
into you. That's what Paul is saying. Now,
this is the mechanism by which all Israel is saved. This is
the mechanism. You guys see that? God has chosen
to save the Gentiles through the Jews. And he's chosen to
save the Jews through the Gentiles, in order that he might have a
full Israel made up of both Jews and Gentiles, part of that olive
tree. Remember that? Now watch how
Paul closes this out. This is remarkable. He says over
in verse 32, for God had concluded them all, who? Jew and Gentile. In what? Unbelief. Here's the
purpose. That he might have mercy upon
all. Who? Jew and Gentile. Do you guys
see that? Now right here is where Paul
launches into doxology. He launches into praise and adoration
and thanksgiving to God because God had made known to him that
all of this conflict, all of this hostility, all of this warfare,
all of this antipathy and rage between the Jew and the Gentile,
the believer and the non-believer, is part of God's eternal purpose.
See, and true believers can rejoice in that. Listen to what he says. The depths of the richest both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his
judgments in his ways past finding out What is he saying? He's saying
the mystery if God hadn't revealed it to us. We'd have never knew
this Are you hearing listen to what he goes on to say for who
hath known the mind of the Lord and or who had been his counselor?
Did you sit at God's elbow before the world began, before he draped
the universe with his stars and his galaxies and his billions
and gazillions of planets? I know my daughter told me there's
no such word as gazillion, but were you with God before he created
all this? Did you sit in his council chamber
telling him how to save sinners? You see what I'm getting at?
Paul is amazed that God has revealed to him this syllogism, lost in
darkness, saved through the gospel, now helping others who are lost
in darkness to be saved through the gospel. That's the great
mystery. Now listen to the last part. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath first given unto
him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. You see verse
35? That destroys all works religion. God didn't save you because you
did something. That means if that were true, that means that
God owed you and salvation based on works And not on grace you
got that who has given unto God and God must recompense him again
Do you guys see that now watch what verse 35 36 is for verse
36 for of him? That's called first cause remember
that ladies and through him that's called process and To him that's
called teleos are all things. You know what that means? Everything
starts with God. And until God tells us, we don't
know. Everything is sustained by God
through him. And everything where we're down
to God's glory. You guys got that? That's called
a full loop system. And what Paul is doing is rejoicing
in this reality. God has a salvation that is infallible. It will not fail because God's
the author he's the sustainer and he's the perfecter of it
and here's what he's saying and I want to close on this and make
sure that you guys understand this because this will help you
go into Romans chapter 12. Here's what God's saying. Are
you saved? Are you a Gentile that has been
called out of darkness into his marvelous light? Are you a rebel
Jew who by nature are proud of your lineage and of your pedigree
and of your good works? And God has brought you out of
that foolishness into the glories of his son, Jesus Christ. Are
you saved by the grace and mercy and goodness of God? Has God
revealed to you his sovereign mercy and grace? Are you rooted
and built up in Jesus Christ and Christ and him alone? Then
you need to be rejoicing that God has purposed to bring you
into his body, because to be brought into his body is to be
brought into his plan. And his plan is a glorious plan,
which glorious plan includes every one of us who are members
of his body, Christ being the head, which at one point in time
in the future will redound to the glory of God, the awe of
angels, the condemnation of devils, the condemnation of those who
rejected the gospel see you and I were unemployed at one time
now we've been employed you and I were dismembered at one time
but now we have been remember doc remember doc uses these alliterations
that aren't really legitimate but it works he was talking about
the thief on the cross and Lord remember me and the idea is that
he was a member of the body that had not been attached to the
body yet and God reattached him I like it, don't you? Remember
me when you enter into your glory. And that's what God did when
he saved us. Isn't life wonderful in Christ? Isn't life absolutely
wonderful in Christ? I love being in Christ. I love
being in Christ. And I wanna know him and the
power of his resurrection. I wanna be made conformable unto
his death so that I might be a partaker of his resurrection.
I wanna know everything about Christ. I wanna divulge his full
glory, don't you? I wanna be just like Christ. And that's what he's doing for
all of his people right now. That's what he's doing for us. And Romans
chapter 12 will get us into that process. It's gonna be a very
good study. but it's going to hurt a little bit. So if you're
brave, show up. All right, let's pray. Father,
thank you for this time. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for the truth as it is in Christ. Thank you for not waiting
on us. Thank you for not waiting on us. Thank you for moving on
out into the program of salvation on your own. Like the Lord Jesus
did when he called Peter, James, John, and the rest of them, follow
me. And they straightway dropped
their nets and followed Christ by the power of his spirit. May
that be the case for us today. If we don't know you today, Lord,
be gracious and in your sovereign mercy and in your sovereign power
begin to draw to yourself those who are hearing your voice but
not responding to your spirit even now as we go our way give
us troubling mercy prepare our hearts to worship you on sunday
lord in spirit and in truth in jesus name we pray amen