We are in Romans chapter 11,
and we're going to be dealing with a very difficult portion
of scripture. We have already begun to break
into the language that's given to us in verse 25 and 26. And
so you can look at that with me. Verses 25 and 26 is where
we'll be. For those of you who have your
outline, you'll be down in your outline at verse 26, where it
says, And so, this is going to be a little bit of an exegesis,
an exposition of this statement, because As I said to us a couple
weeks ago, dealing with the end, so there are some assumptions
that have to be dealt with. And so the apostle Paul is establishing
what is called a conclusive clause. And so all Israel shall be saved. And so all Israel
shall be saved. Paul is In his own mind, he has
legitimately argued for the mystery of the gospel, and that is, in
God's own purpose and economy, he has determined to save people
from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. In the Old Testament,
he did that primarily through the nation of Israel. In the
New Testament, he's doing it primarily through the church.
In the Old Testament, it was done under that old economy,
and the stewards of that economy were who? Israel, national Israel. In the New Testament, the stewardship
of the New Testament economy is who? The church. Remember
that this is the way Paul thinks this is the way The Spirit of
God has laid it out in Scripture Old Testament to Jews a New Testament
the church and yet both Jews and Gentiles are brought into
the Abrahamic promise which is represented by the olive tree
and that's what we were looking at for several weeks the olive
tree if you back up just a moment in Romans chapter 11 notice what
it says over in Verse 17 And if some of the branches be broken
off, you guys see that? If some of the branches be broken
off, who were broken off? National Israel, that's right.
And notice what it says, only some of them. It wasn't all of
them. We have to be sensitive to the
language, don't we? Now what God had done was cut off national
Israel as a stewardship, but the elect among Israel remained
in the tree, didn't they? Okay, so if some branches be
broken off, and you, who is the you here? The Gentiles, right? The Gentiles. And if you Gentiles
were what? Grafted in among them. Grafted in among them. One tree, a branch that consists
of the Jewish people, a branch that consists of the Gentile
people, right? They're two people groups, but
they're in what? One tree. This means that the Jews and
the Gentiles are slated for the same promise and rooted in the
same scheme of redemption and are won by virtue of the promise.
Is that what the text is teaching? Absolutely. So the argument that
I raise is that there are not two salvation plans. There's
not a scheme of redemption that's for the Jews and then a scheme
of redemption for the Gentiles. Both Jews and Gentiles are saved
one way, by faith in Christ as it was laid out in the Old Testament
scheme under the Abrahamic covenant. So the olive tree is here set
up for us to demonstrate our unity in Christ. And then he
goes on to say in verse 17, if you are grafted in among them
and with them, notice what it says, you're grafted in among
them and with them partake us of the root. Now who is the root?
Some of y'all act like y'all ain't never been here before.
Now who is the root? All right. You gotta, you gotta understand
these things. Paul is not speaking in the air and the Holy Ghost
is not writing this language down so that we can give it or
take it. He's laying down a very clear
paradigm, a very clear blueprint, a very clear message of redemption.
Christ is the root of the tree. Isn't that right? He is the root
of Jesse, is the bright morning star. He's the beginning and
the end and the amen. He's the beginning of everything.
All the promises of God are yes and amen where? That means Christ
is the root that means when God made promises with folks in the
Old Testament He had already established the promise in his
son even before he brought sinners into The blessing of the promise
because the promise wouldn't be rooted in sinners like you
and me even Abraham But rather in Christ Abraham simply was
a partaker of the promise just like you and I so he says we
have been made to be partakers of the root and that root is
Christ in the fatness of the olive tree And he warned the
Gentile church not to boast against the branches. But if you boast,
the branch does not bear you are, if you boast thou bear is
not the root, but the root there is the, and we had already learned
that you and I are not saved are kept are upheld by our own
strength. We are upheld by the root, any
tree, any tree that's planted. only has life and sustenance
by virtue of the health of the roots of that tree. You destroy
the roots of a tree and in short time, that tree will perish.
Isn't that right? It doesn't matter if outwardly
that tree has leaves, it may have branches, it may even have
fruit for a season. But if you destroy the root,
that tree will soon perish. And so you know the Bible talks
about trees all the time, isn't that right? Psalm 1 is describing
the nature of the ungodly as a tree withering and not bearing
fruit. It describes the nature of the
godly as a tree that always bears fruit. Isn't that what it says?
But it's because the roots are planted by the riverside. and
it draws the resource of that living water into the roots up
through the trunk and the base to the branches so that it bears
forth fruit. So you cut off the root and you
cut off the whole blessing. And this is what Jesus warned
about when he spoke about false teaching and false doctrine and
gospels that do not have Jesus as the foundation. You might
bear fruit for a season, but the people of God have been called
to bear fruit perpetually. Do you believe that? You guys
remember what john jesus said in john chapter 15. I have chosen
you you didn't choose me See, so get that right first. Okay
I have chosen you you didn't choose me and I have ordained
you that you should go forth and do what bear much fruit now
watch this And that your fruit should what remain? This is how
you know, it's fruit. That's a consequence of the spirit
of god. It continues The fruit that is
a consequence of the Spirit's work continues. You and I can
do temporary things, but only God can do perpetual things.
And so the analogy of the tree here is relevant, and the Jews
are being warned by Paul. Now notice what he does in verse
20. I just want to set the context so we can get into verse 26.
Well, because of unbelief, rather, I'm sorry, verse 19, you will
say then that the branches were broken off that I might be grafted
in. Well, because of unbelief, they
were broken off. And you are standing by what?
Be not high minded, but fear. Paul's argument is valid. All
of us stand by what? That's right. And faith is what?
A gift of God is rooted in the grace of God. Is that not so?
That means no one in the kingdom of God has a right to boast.
If they boast, their boasting must be in God alone. Is that
what the Bible says? OK, so he goes on in verse 21,
for if God spared not the natural branches, Which he didn't, he
didn't spare them. Take heed lest he also spare
not thee. Now we talked about that, that's
a legitimate warning, right? Because we addressed the distinction
between the individual believer, didn't we? The individual believer
and you need to get this, the corporate church. We've been
talking about that for weeks because it's so necessary for
us to understand the distinction. The individual believer is under
warning to make his calling and election sure. Make sure that
your salvation is the salvation of God. Make sure that you don't
think that you're saved just because you go to church or because
you read your Bible because your daddy's a pastor, whatever. Make
sure that you understand that you are saved by a personal,
vital, living faith in the true and the living God and the person
of Jesus Christ. That is your responsibility.
Now, when God speaks to the church, he tells the church if the church
doesn't do what Christ has called it to do, he will cut that church
off. Isn't that what he's been saying? So, when you read the
Bible and you receive these warnings about being cut off, or God taking
the candlestick away, or God fighting against the church,
be sure to understand the distinction between God's calling the church
to its responsibility in terms of stewardship, and yet the individual
believer, if he is truly saved, he can embrace to himself all
of the promises of assurance and security. Am I making some
sense? In other words, if you're truly,
truly saved, you can listen to John chapter 10, around verse
26, when Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow
me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never, what? Perish.
Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. That's not a
contradiction. That's a legitimate promise to a genuinely born again
child of God. The Bible is very clear that
it's God that works in us the will and the do of his good pleasure.
And the Bible is clear that if he has begun a good work in us,
he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So the true
believer, the genuine believer, in spite of all the difficulties
he has in his life, he can trust that God will bring him to glory
since Christ is his surety, his substitute and his savior. Am
I making some sense? And yet all of us as the local
church, any local church. I'm the pastor of this church
here and this local church stands or falls on the faithful preaching,
the faithful exposition, the faithful commitment of the leadership
of the church, along with its members to the cause of Jesus
Christ. If we were to abandon the gospel
and get caught up in the entertainment, if we were to get caught up in
the politics, if we were to get caught up in the socialism, if
we were to get caught up in just vain, empty, mystical, pagan
religion, Jesus would cut us off in a heartbeat. He'd give
us over to worldly religion like many of our churches are giving
over to right now. Some of the old folk who knew
what it was like to be under sound, solid, gospel, Christ-centered,
God-exalting ministry woke up one day and found the church
turning into sort of a vaudeville, Hollywood-type institution. They
were wondering what's going on. Well, what was going on, it was
the leadership was being corrupted by the spirit of antichrist.
and eventually the Spirit of God backed out and gave it over
to its own lusts and vices. Hence, the church corrupted.
But what happened to the elect among them? The elect found themselves
seeking another foal where they could be fed in the green pastures
of divine truth. Am I making some sense? All right,
let's go on, because it's very important for us to understand
the distinction. So as Paul is talking to the Gentile church
as a whole, he's warning the church not to be presumptuous
or arrogant with regards to them being called by the grace of
God. Verse 22 through 24, we looked at last week. I want you
to go with me down now to verse 25. And we're going to look at
the latter part of verse 25 and 26. Last week, we dealt with
the mystery. In fact, we dealt with that for a couple of weeks.
Verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceit.
I'm not going to develop that too much, because we already
did it in two studies. But when he talked about the mystery there,
he was talking about the mystery of the what? The gospel. The
mystery of the gospel. Everything about the scriptures
fall under the category of the mystery of the gospel, and we
talked about this before. When God uses the term Mysterion
in the Greek, or the Hebrew phrase for parables, or wise sayings,
as in Psalm 78, I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter
dark sayings of old, which your fathers have known, and you have
told us. When he talks like that, he's
talking to us about things that God had purpose to do, that he
had decreed to do and that he was actually doing, but the human
mind could not comprehend what God was doing. Let me say that
again so that you can get this. A mystery, according to the Bible,
is God acting in such a way that without him explaining to us
what he's doing, we would never be able to rationally or intellectually
figure it out. Am I making some sense? You could
watch it happening and you would never know. Give you one example
since today is supposed to be Good Friday for every believer.
Good Friday's every day. I'll leave it like that. Okay.
Now watch this now. Now watch this. No one understood
what happened to Jesus on Calvary Street with the exception of
God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy Ghost. Even
the angels did not know. Certainly the enemies of God
did not know nor did his disciples Understand if you read Paul's
writing in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 He said these things were hidden
from the princess of this world for had the princess of this
world knew That they had crucified the Lord of Glory. They wouldn't
have done it Had they known that the outcome of crucifying the
Son of God would have been the redemption of sinners They never
would have did it but it was a mystery. I It was a sovereign
God who in His eternal decree and according to His predetermined
counsel and purpose was moving the hearts of men and women to
do exactly what He wanted them to do. They were doing it and
not even knowing that they were actually fulfilling God's will.
That's a sovereign God, isn't He? That's the God I believe
in and that's the God I serve. Now, once Christ rose again from
the dead and sent the gospel into all the world, then they
began to understand through the apostolic ministry that what
they did, they did according to the mystery of redemption. It's the same here. Paul is saying
there's some things about the mystery that we want. I want
you Gentiles not to miss. And it's latent for us in our
text. Look at it in verse 25. Here are three things. Blindness,
in part, has happened to Israel. Do you see that? He says, I don't
want you to be ignorant of this mystery. First, that blindness,
in part, is happened to Israel. We talked about this last week.
That blindness, in part, is not chronological. It's measurable
in terms of the numbers or the capacity of the whole of Israel. The blindness, in part, no one
knew would take place except God. and the prophets who spoke
and foretold about the blindness that would take place in Israel's
life. The New Testament church didn't understand it. The disciples
couldn't comprehend it. No one understood why when the
light of the world came into the world and came unto his own,
his own received him not. He was in the world and the world
was made by him and the world did not know him. And when he
spoke and he preached, they were strangers to him because they
did not understand that God had already begun to blind Israel. This was part of the mystery.
Haven't we talked about that? For those of you who've been
with us, Deuteronomy chapter 29, that's one text. You can
write it down. Deuteronomy 29, isn't that right?
In Deuteronomy 29, God says, I'm the one blinded you. I didn't
give you eyes to see. I didn't give you ears to hear.
Then again, we saw it over in Isaiah chapter six, didn't we?
Isaiah was commissioned by God after having seen the glory of
God after the death of Uzziah the king and he wanted to do
God's will and what God told Isaiah to do is go preach to
this people and See to it in your preaching that their eyes
closed Their ears go deaf and their hearts get heavy What a
ministry and then we got it again over in Isaiah chapter 29 Where
God warns? that he has given Israel over
to deep sleep and slumbering of eyes. And if you read your
Bible carefully, Jesus confirmed it in Matthew chapter 13, when
the disciples said, Lord, why are you speaking to them in parables?
He says, because unto you it is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of God. But everyone that's outside,
these things are done in parables, that seeing they may not understand,
in hearing they may not perceive, that they might continue in their
blindness. So the son of God himself is
affirming that part of the mystery, which was written down way, way,
way, way, way back in Moses, was that Israel would be blinded
to the Messiah. What Paul is saying to the Gentiles
is be careful. This blindness is part of the
mystery. Don't you boast? Let me see if
I can help you practically with this. Do you know you and I were
blinded until God opened our eyes? Do you know that? Do you
know how silly you feel when you think you can see? But then
when the light actually comes and dawns and brings revelation
and illumination, you realize how blind you are. See, only
a few of us understand that humility, but it's salvation for us because
everyone is blind by nature. Until the Lord God Almighty causes
the light to shine out of darkness shining in your dark heart to
call you to see the Knowledge of the glory of the God of Israel
in the face of Jesus Christ you and I remain blinded to God Until
God commands the light to shine out of darkness you and I are
blinded now you and I may be sharp intellectually we may have
a major major IQ, but we're complete idiots concerning spiritual things
and Am I making some sense? The Bible is very clear that
God has to open eyes. So we saw it last night in our
ladies meeting in John chapter 9, where Jesus Christ came along
by the temple and opened the eyes of a man who was blind from
his birth. You remember that? Blind from
his birth. And when God opened his eyes, that brother started
defending Jesus, didn't he? But because he defended Jesus,
he was kicked out of the church. Isn't that right? That's what
happens once you start standing up for the gospel. The rulers
didn't have a problem with him as long as he was blind. That's
cold, ain't it? But as soon as God opened his
eyes and showed him the truth of who Jesus was, now he's standing
up for Christ against the rulers. The rulers said, Who are you?
You're nobody. And he says, I know I'm nobody,
but I'll tell you what, once I was blind, now I can see. And
even your own scriptures tell us no man can do these things
that he did if he didn't come from God. And then Jesus came
and comforted that blind man because he was kicked out of
the Jewish church. He said, come on, you can be
part of my church. And that's how God does it. And then he
said to the rulers for judgment, am I coming to this world that
those of you who think you see may be made to be blind. And
for those of you who acknowledge your blindness, I'm going to
open your eyes to see the glory of God in my person. That's the
work of the gospel. Am I making some sense? All right.
OK, the second point is in our outline to not only the blindness
of Israel in part, but watch this now. It happened until the
fullness of the Gentiles become in, do you see that until the
fullness of the Gentiles become in? Now, we talked about that
last week, the fullness of the Gentiles. And we said the fullness
of the Gentiles was that period of time where during the whole
New Testament era God would bring into the church everyone that
God has purposed to save from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue until the whole number is filled up. Isn't that right?
Let's see what Jesus said about this. Go with me in your Bibles
to Luke chapter 24. Luke 24. Now when you talk about the fullness
of anything, I'm only going to go through a couple of verses
so that we can actually get into the end. So, but when you talk
about the fullness of anything, this is going to help some of
you right here. Whenever you talk about the fullness, Luke
21, we're going to be looking at verse 24. When you talk about
the fullness of anything, you know what you're doing? You are
making mention of a predetermined measure or amount. When you talk about a fullness,
you are acknowledging that there is a purpose for a predetermined
measure or amount. Are you hearing me? When you
say my cup is what full, that means it's reached its complete
measure. Is that true? Or when you have
a certain number of whatever the object is that you want to
acquire, once you have reached that number, you say full. Isn't that true? Now, this is
the same way it is in the salvation scheme. I'll just say this and
we'll move on. God's not scratching his head
as to who will be saved and who won't. Do you guys get that God
who is omniscient and knows all things is not sitting around
wondering? Well, I wonder how many Pope how many people gonna
come into the kingdom before I shut this thing down God knows
the number doesn't he and that's why he gave the parable in Matthew
chapter 21 Concerning the wedding feast remember when he gave the
parable of the wedding feast He said go out compelled them to
come in keep preaching keep teaching until my house is what full God
has a number and when that number is accomplished the program is
over with Now notice what he says in Luke chapter 21. If you're
with me in Luke 21 verses 20 through 24, he's dealing with
and describing the destruction of the temple and the destruction
of the nation of Israel as a theocracy and the destruction of Israel
in terms of their stewardship in AD 70. AD 70 is what he's
describing in terms of the destruction and dispersion of Israel. The
dispersion of Israel took place in AD 70. And here's what he
said. And when you shall see Jerusalem can pass about with
armies, then know that its desolation thereof is not. Then let them
that are in Judea flee to the mountains and let them which
are in the mist depart out of it. And let not them that are
in the countries enter therein. For these be the days of what?
Vengeance. Now watch this, that all things
which were written may be what? You know what? God knows everything. God purposes everything. And
there's nothing that happens in this world that takes God
by surprise. Nor is there anything that happens
in this world that is not a part of God's counsel. Read it for
yourself in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11. Everything works
together after the counsel of his own will. And when God utters
prophecy to you and me, He's simply telling us He knows the
end from the beginning. And that when He says a thing
is going to come to pass, guess what? It's coming to pass. Because
God's not like a, He's not like, you know, one of those folk with
the Ouija board or the tarot cards or the golden, the golden,
what do you call it? The crystal ball. God's not like
kind of looking down the corridors of time and just wonder, you
know, it might happen, it might not. If this happens, then that
will happen. If that happens, no, no, no. God determines and
he decrees and he brings to pass everything. Am I making some
sense? He's not just sitting on the
corridors of eternity in a passive way, looking at events. That
doesn't make him God. If God is merely looking at events
and can't determine and see to it that they happen precisely
the way he wants them to happen, then he's not God. He's just
a good fortune teller. Am I making some sense? See,
but everything God has ever said has come to pass because God
doesn't depend on anyone to get it done but himself. All right,
now notice what he goes on to say in verse 22, verse 23. But
woe unto them that are with child and them that give suck in those
days for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath
upon this people. And I said this before, please
understand how to operate in terms of a biblical hermeneutic.
You always deal with context first, context first, context
first, and then larger application. For those of us who are in our
hermeneutics class, we always dealt with what was called a
bullseye. And I just want you to see this. This bullseye is
so critical when it comes to interpreting scripture. You see
the bullseye? Whenever you're interpreting scripture, you always
start with the verse that's in front of you. You read that verse
carefully. And then you understand that
verse in light of the chapter that is in. You read it in light
of that chapter. Then you read it in light of
the book that you're dealing with. Because the book may have
a certain tenor and objective in relationship to the chapter
as well as the verse. Then you look at the whole in
light of all the scriptures. Am I making some sense? Now that's
the biblical hermeneutic that must be followed. In other words,
when we talk about the vengeance of all things as it is written,
Jesus is giving us a pointer passage, which means we should
be able to go to the Old Testament somewhere and find out what was
written. Am I making some sense? So the
point is, is that when you read the passage, be careful that
to derive if there is an historical context, and then you can make
a larger application. What Jesus is talking about is
given to us again in Matthew is given to us in the Gospel
of Mark. And in all three Gospels, they're called the synoptic Gospels
because they give you a perspective of the same account from a different
vantage point. You guys got that? A synopsis
is the same account given from Northeast East-west Northwest
and so they see it slightly differently, but it's the same event That
means while there's a difference. There's no contradiction Got
to get that rule down Why is it that in the gospel? I shouldn't
be going here But I just I got a feeling somebody needs to understand
something about interpreting scripture. Why is it that in
Mark's gospel? It talks about Jesus healing
two blind men, but in Luke's gospel. It only talks about him
healing one blind man Well, that's because Luke only saw one blind
man. Mark saw two. That's no contradiction. He healed one blind man, but
he also healed another blind man. And only one of the authors
decided to make mention of the two, while the one decided to
make mention of the one. And this is what we call developing
credible testimony to the work of Christ. Am I making some sense?
Also, this here continues in the vein of what we call the
interpretive grid. The reason why God allowed the
writers to deal with the perceptions and the perspective of what Jesus
was doing and other prophets of the scripture from these different
vantage points was to thwart or diminish or to eradicate the
claim of what we call collusion. You know what collusion is? It's
when crooks get together and sit down and try to scheme up
an idea. This is what I want you to say.
I want you to say this and I want you to say that. And we all have
to corroborate together. So now what if all three gospels
said precisely the same thing about the same event? You and
I would be scratching our head, wouldn't we? So wait a minute
now. Don't no two people on planet
Earth see the same thing the same way. No way. Is that true? Or else the Holy Ghost wouldn't
need to use men to write it down. Because didn't we learn this,
ladies, last night? The Holy Ghost was there. He is the witness,
isn't he? He is the witness. If he wanted
to write it down in that what we call sort of monoconceptual
way, He could have simply wrote it down himself. He is actually
the author of the scriptures, but he used human beings. That's
what he does. And so what I'm saying is that when Jesus uses
his language, make sure that you guys don't get caught up
in this judgment during the, during the time when women are
pregnant or giving suck cause running is hard when your belly
is full of baby. Isn't that right? Some of y'all
sisters know what I'm talking about. Back in the day, running
the street, six month pregnant, still hit that fence. Didn't
you? All right, I'm messing with you. Went on right to Highland Hospital
and had that baby. But it's hard. And so here's
what scripture says. What he's saying is that the
Jewish people were going to be either worshiping, because in
Matthew's gospel it says, pray that it doesn't happen on the
Sabbath. If they're worshiping on the Sabbath, the Roman Titus
and Nero would know that they are all gathered together. And
in fact, the historical records Declare that while they were
worshiping Rome closed in on Israel And so we've talked about
the beauty of being liberated from the seventh-day Sabbath
haven't we and so it goes on to say because we didn't get
to the verse that I want to get to now look at the latter part
of verse 23 and then let's look at verse 24 Warrant in the war
to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those
days for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath
upon this people wrath upon who the Jew be clear on that if you
need some help read for yourself first Thessalonians chapter 2
Paul says the wrath of God has come upon them to the uttermost
now when God pours his wrath out on you it's a just wrath
when you and I live and continue rebellion against God God has
every right to pour his wrath out on you and do you know God
has two kinds of wrath is active and passive Active wrath is when
God brings judgments against you from the outside, wanting
to get your attention or punish you. Passive wrath is when God
takes his hand off of you and let you live like you want to
live. Am I making some sense? So you and I are under the wrath
of God. If God ever takes his hands off of us, the last thing
you ever want is for God to leave you alone. That's called God's
passive wrath. God's passive wrath is seen in
Romans chapter 1 when the Bible says because when they knew God
they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imagination
and their foolish hearts were darkened and they changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto
corruptible man, four-footed beasts, creeping things and birds
of the air. In other words, they said God is like a bird or fish
or an animal. And ultimately the doctrine of
humanism is God's like us. And the Bible says, because of
this, having changed the truth for a lie, God gave them over.
Isn't that what the Bible says? He gave them over. Remember what
we learned? The Greek term paradidomi means
to make a transition from one authority to another authority.
When God, who has been operating in your life by His Word and
by His Spirit, and wooing you, and drawing you, and as Genesis
chapter 6 says, striving with you, over time gives you up,
He doesn't give you up to a vacuum. He pans you over to another authority. Paradiddle 9 means to be transitioned
from one authority to another authority. Either you are under
the authority of God, or you are under the authority of the
devil. There are no two ways about it. Am I making some sense?
This is precisely what happened when Judas Iscariot sold Jesus
for 30 pieces of silver and he handed Jesus over to the rulers. That's peril diddle my, that's
peril diddle my. And you wonder why our nation
is going to hell in a handbasket is because God has given our
nation over to another authority. Am I making some sense? That's
precisely where we are, as well as Europe, as well as France,
as well as the Netherlands, as well as large portions of Germany,
as well as parts of Africa, as well as Palestine and Israel.
It's given over because we have rejected God. He's rejected us.
You know what the Bible says? Hosea chapter four, he makes
it very clear. He says, my people perish because
of lack of what? Knowledge. Therefore, because
they rejected me, I also will reject them and their children. That's an active and passive
wrath that God brings upon his people. That's what's been happening
in Israel for 2,000 years as a nation. Now look at the next
verse. And they shall fall by the sword,
by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into
all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the who? Until the time of the Gentiles
be what? Got it? God knows when the time
of the Gentiles is up, right? So now go back with me to your
Bibles in Romans chapter 11. Let's start working on and so
all Israel shall be saved This will be a little controversial
for some of you who have been told certain things about how
God works in the latter days But hopefully this will help
you understand something about our text in Romans chapter 11
verse 26 Paul says something quite interesting after he Warns
the Gentiles rightly so not to be conceited He says, Israel
is blinded in part until the fullness of the Gentiles be come
in. Are we at verse 26? All right, now here's what he
says. And what? So, and so, now it's time to
go to work. Time to go to work. We've said this before, and I
said this in warning you, if you have passively listened to
Bible teachers over the years, particularly those of you who
have a pecant, that would be a pechant, a pecant
for prophecy. If you have an inclination, a
propensity for prophecy, and you like the numbers getting
jargled, and you like hearing that newspaper science fiction
sort of dramatic terminology about the Antichrist, and the
beast, and the spaceships, and all of that stuff. And you guys
go to prophecy conferences, and you get all the books, and you
wonder why they keep selling all those books. making all that
money. And then the next year they bring
out another book. But if you'd have read the previous book,
you'd have realized that book was wrong and they had to readjust
it and they readjust it and sold you another book. And there's
another book coming. I guarantee you, for those of
you who like to get caught up into a prophetic riff raff. And so and so does not mean after
this. And so, does not mean after this. Look at your Bibles, look at
what it says. Does anyone have any other translation than and
so? In the verse 26, does anyone
have any other translation in our room? Other than and so,
what do you have? And in this way, I like that. And in this way, what translation
is that? What translation is that? Okay, there you go. And in this
way, it's the English Standard Version. In the English Standard
Version, in many of the passages, they have what is called a more
literal dynamic of interpretation. instead of a connotative dynamic
of interpretation which you have in the King James. In the King
James, the interpretation from the Greek or the Hebrew into
the English is a lot more varied. In the English Standard Version
and in your newer English Standard Versions, there's much more of
a literal grammatical translation. You do get some of this also
in the NIV, with the exception of the corruptions that are there.
But you get a lot of... It's just a problem. We'll get
to that when we deal with textual criticism in theology. But in
a lot of places, there is a valid, valid, much more literal and
accurate translation of the phrase. So this phrase, and so, which
is the Greek word, Hutu, is never translated after this. It's never
translated after this, so that the idea in this text is not. And once the Gentiles have come
to their fullness, and then after this, all of Israel will be saved.
You guys remember me addressing this two weeks ago? I want to
make sure you understand that we are not dealing with what
is called a transitional clause. A transitional clause is a clause
that advances an argument or further advances the discussion
or even changes the discussion. There is no change of the discussion
in our text. And this clause is not moving
or advancing the issue. It's actually explaining the
issue. This is what is called a a parallel
clause, a parallel clause. And we're going to see this in
your outline. I have several suggestions in
this way. Likewise. Right. In this manner. And what else? On this wise. Now, I'm going to show you in
your Bibles the usage of this phrase who to in about seven
passages so that you can understand this. Now the reason why I'm
gonna show you in your Bible is because you need to know that
your Bible is a unity of truth. A unity of truth means that the
Bible is consistent and it doesn't contradict itself anywhere. So
that if an interpretation is given out of this passage and
that particular Greek word or that particular Greek phrase
or that particular Greek sentence is used somewhere else and it
gives a radically different interpretation, you have to go back and question
the interpretation at your original starting point. Am I making some
sense? And this is where precept upon
precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, is
how you ascertain what we call a biblical interpretation. Now
what we're dealing with right now is called a grammatical search. We are looking at a word that
in this grammar, in its Greek grammar, is used over hundreds
of times in the New Testament. I'm only going to take you through
seven or eight places and show you that it is never, never ever
translated after this. By the way, it's not translated
that way in our text. It's translated and so. But and
so can be so ambiguous that it's hard to know what that means.
So start with me a little bit and go back in your Bibles a
little bit. I just want you to see to just go back with me in your
Bible to the gospel of Matthew's Matthew's chapter six. Bear with
me a little while. We've got about 15, 20 minutes.
Matthew's chapter six. I want to I want you to see how
Jesus uses the who to the and so. We're going to go through
the gospels a little bit, a few passages in the new Testament.
Matthew chapter six is this wonderful portion of scripture where Jesus
is teaching his disciples to calm down and don't worry about
a thing. God takes care of his creatures.
He says, don't be praying like the pagan, because if you know
me through Jesus, you can understand that in the covenant I have already
determined to take care of your needs. Am I making some sense? See pagans pray to God because
they don't know him. And they don't know whether or not God
is obligated to love them and obligated to take care of them.
But when you know God is obligated to love you and take care of
you, all you have to do is rest in Him. If you have parents that
you know have demonstrated great diligence in keeping a roof over
your head and food in your belly and clothes on your back, you're
not asking mom and daddy every day, mama, you got a room for
me? Mama, any clothes? Mama, is there gonna be any food
in the house tomorrow? No! You just rest in the provisions
of your parents. Isn't that good? In Matthew chapter 6, this is
what Jesus said to his disciples. After he says in chapter 6 verses
1 through 16, avoid all show religion. That's verses 1 through
16. Don't be like the Pharisees. Don't do anything to be seen
of men. Told you about that. Don't pray because you want somebody
to see how good you pray. Don't give because you want to
see want anyone to see how much money you give Don't do anything
to be seen to men when you and I walk Coram Dale Remember ladies
Coram Dale in the presence of God. It doesn't matter what people
think it only matters what God thinks It only matters what God
thinks and that little woman with her two little might she
could care less what the people thought She gave her two mites
and God saw it the Pharisees blew trumpets so everybody can
watch and as they took their coins and tossed them up in the
air, and the coins flew over into the treasury, and everybody
was going, wow, look at how much money they gave. He gave 500,
he gave 1,000, he gave 1,500. Am I making some sense? Now listen
to it. This is what Jesus says over
in verse 26. Verse 26, behold the fowls of
the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap. The birds. They don't go out in the morning
to try to find a job like we do. They don't work and wait
for the principle of reciprocity at the end of the week. Man,
I hope I get my check and I hope my boss don't rip me off. They
don't toil. They don't sow. Listen to what
the Bible says. Neither do they reap nor gather
into barns, yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Isn't that
wonderful logic? And then he says, are you not
much better than they? That'll put a brother to rest.
Notice what he goes on to say, which of you by taking thought
that is being anxious, be careful for those of you who are literalist,
the phrase there means to be anxious, which is you, which
of you by wringing your hands. Oh, we do it, don't we? Don't don't act like you don't
do it. Oh, Lord. You get up in the morning, you
get ulcers, you get headaches, everything, because you know
you want those bills to get paid. How many of you know, like I
know, that God comes through every time? Now he will put you on the edge. Won't he? He'll put you on the
edge. Because his name is Jesus, which
means he shall save his people from their what? So he wants
us to jump sometime so he can scoop us on up like that mother
eagle, taking up her little ones and bringing them into safety.
See, because we're called to walk by faith and he's strengthening
our faith and he's maturing our faith. So, you know, it ain't
going to always be easy, but he's going to take care of us.
And some of us need to lose a little weight anyway. So We have it
good in America, don't we? And our third world brothers
and brethren, they know how to trust God. Now, listen to this.
And yes, it says over in verse 28, And why take ye thought for
raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they how they
grow. They don't toil. Neither do they spend. And yet
I say unto you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed
like one of these. What a perspective. Now, here
comes our word. verse 30 wherefore if God so
got it if God so clothed the grass of the field it could never
be translated wherefore after this God clothed the grass of
the field no wherefore if in this way God clothed the grass
of the field or in this manner are on this wise likewise which
Jesus used a lot right these are what we call parallel conjunctions
in the same way this happened this happened am I making some
sense and so what he's saying is in the same way that God took
care of that he'll take care of this all right let's go on
to another verse because I want you to see a few more Matthew
chapter 7 Matthew 7 verse 17 the Lord Jesus is dealing with
false prophets and false teachers now which he often did and And
we read over in verse 15 through 17 these words beware of false
prophets. You can't do that unless you
have discernment You can't do that unless you know the truth.
You can't do that unless you know your Bibles in that, right?
David says through your precepts have I gotten understanding therefore
I hate every false way The Bible is very clear that we must study
to show ourselves approved The Bible says prove all things and
hold fast to that which is good. You know what the Bible says
And so he says over here in verse 15, beware of false prophets
which come to you in sheep clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. Verse 16, you shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? No, not really. Men don't gather
grapes of thorns and figs of thistles. This here's what we
call a contrasting analogy. This here's an oxymoron. This
here's what we call an absurdity. People don't go out to gather
thorns and they don't go out to gather thistles unless they
do it intentionally. And the metaphor here is to the
fruit of the false prophet. The fruit of the false prophet
are false converts and false believers and unsaved church
folk. Did you hear what I just said?
Because a faithful prophet is not going to produce unfaithful
people. That's oxymoronic. And that's
why I say God's elect will not sit up under false teaching.
If the gods elect, it just won't do it. Now notice what it goes
on to say. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Here it is now, verse 17. Here's your parallel conjunction.
Even so, right? Even so, every good tree brings
forth what? Good fruit. But a corrupt tree
brings forth what? Even so is our phrase. Likewise
in this same way. All right, let's go on to another
one. Go with me in your Bible to John 3 16 You guys know this
one by heart But I still want you to read
it You know it by heart so much. You haven't read it in about
20 years, but you saw it at the football game. Remember that
Big old sign Jesus loves you John 3 16 now watch this for
God so loved the world You guys got that? That's the emotion
of folks. God so love the world. That's not what that's saying. In this manner that God loved
the world. In this manner. Isn't that right? Remember what
I told you is we're gonna deal with the bullseye. You start
with the passage. You deal with the chapter. You deal with the
book. You deal with the Bible. In the text, it backs up and
it starts talking about the serpent. Look at what it says over in
verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
here it is, even what? Must the son of man be lifted
up? What are we talking about, Calvary? We're talking about
the crucifixion, are we not? That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have what? In this manner, God loves the
world. There's not some emotional gobbledygook
type of love God's love is in his son and his son's love is
demonstrated by hanging on Calvary Street The love of God is in
Christ. It's in the crucified Christ.
This is how God loves sinners He saves them you guys got that
in this manner does God love the world that he lifted up his
son So that whosoever believes on him should not perish but
have everlasting life All right, go with me a couple more. First
Corinthians chapter 14. Am I boring you? Good, good. First Corinthians chapter 14.
Well, you got to hang out with me at least 10 more minutes anyhow.
So even if I am boring you, you're stuck. Just consider this, you
know, exercise, building up your patience muscles. First Corinthians
chapter 14. If you're in 1 Corinthians chapter
14, the whole of 1 Corinthians 14 is dealing with what we have
determined many, many times as the CEO of the scriptures. The
CEO of the scriptures, clarity, edification, and order. Clarity, edification, and order. If the preaching is not clear,
the people will be confused. If the preaching is not true,
the people will not be edified. If the people are not taught
properly, they will not walk orderly. Am I making some sense? And none of God's churches are
Babylonian churches of confusion, disorder, and non edification. All of God's churches are churches
of peace and order and structure. God is a God of order. He's a
God of structure. And the kingdom of God is righteousness,
peace, and what? Joy in the Holy Ghost. The cacophony
of confusion and mayhem is reserved to the pagans. The pagans do
that, not God's people. Will you please hear what I'm
saying? In six days, the Lord made heaven and the earth, and
on the seventh day, God rested. And God has operated in an orderly,
structural fashion from the beginning. But when he gave us the prophetic
word in Genesis chapter one, verse two, and the earth was
without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep,
he was describing for us in a prophetic language the work of Satan, which
is confusion and destruction. And the earth was without void,
without form. That which is without form has
no purpose. And that which is void and empty
is futile. And until God comes along by
his spirit and puts purpose and order and structure in it, it's
merely the work of confusion. Am I making some sense? God never
operates in a way that is out of order. He never has. He never
will. So what Paul teaches in the book
of first Corinthians is this for 14, you Corinthians, you've
got a lot of gifts, but your gifts need to be brought into
subjection and structure. for the purpose of edification.
And so the first thing he does is he gives the metaphor of the
blowing of the trumpet. I want you to see this in first
Corinthians chapter 14, verse seven. Are you there? He says,
I'll start at verse six. Now, brethren, if I come to you
speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you except I shall speak
to you either by what? Or by what? Or by what? Or by what? He says there's no
profit for me to babble. am I making some sense now notice
what he says in verse 7 and even things without life these are
inanimate things wood stone iron metal they give a sound that
was a reproof y'all just didn't know it even things without life
make noise just because you make a noise doesn't mean you alive
oh that hurt Woo, this church lively, not
just because it's making noise. That doesn't mean it's live.
It could be just as dead as a piece of wood or a stone. Now watch this. Whether pipe
or heart, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be
known what is pipe or heart? Do you know God is a God of beauty?
And we are to worship God in the beauty of what? Holiness.
And confusion is not beautiful. Did you know that? Can I help
you for a few minutes before I close it down? I love music. I love all sorts of music with
the exception of chaos. And I have learned to discipline
myself to not like chaos because I know God doesn't like chaos.
And so my my almost all my children are very musically inclined,
as a lot of you know, they they play music or they sing or what
have you. And my 18 year old son actually puts music together
like this is a pastime for a lot of youngsters, right? They got
all these electronic gadgets and they can put all kinds of
sounds together. And me and him, we talk and collaborate a lot
about the whole concept of music and beauty and order and edification. And then that which constitutes
what is called in the rock world, distortion. Distortion. It's interesting. Do you know
what a distortion sound is on a guitar? How many of you know?
Let's help our religious folk here. See only a handful of y'all
know. I'm going to help us religious folk because they don't know
that the devil has come up in the church with distortion. That's distortion. That's not
a sound and it's not beautiful. But over the last 80 years in
America and in Europe, we have conditioned the mind to receive
that type of distorted sound. And you hear that distortion
underlying a whole lot of Christian music today, don't you? The devil
has slipped right on in and got religious folk caught up in the
distortion of sound. See, we haven't made a distinction
between the beauty of music and the cacophony of sound. We haven't
learned the distinction between edification and being driven
by the music, which raises your heartbeat and get your pulse
racing and get your body sweating. And you're now we're in the paganism.
Am I telling the truth? I know I am. And what the apostle
Paul is saying is you don't use an instrument to just drive people
emotionally. It's it must be the aesthetics
must be for edification. See the Bible tells us to do
all things with an understanding. That's first Corinthians 14.
All things with an understanding. Don't do anything just because
it feels good. Everything you and I feel is
not right. Am I telling the truth? If it
feels good, do it. No. Some of us going to hell
because we're doing what we feel. Am I telling the truth? I know
I am. Now listen to what he says. This is quite interesting. For
if the trumpet, verse eight, for if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself to what? Do you know in the Old
Testament, Paul is going back to the Old Testament. This is
in the book of Numbers where God told Israel, when you hear
the horn, it's going to make certain sounds. And when those
sounds are made, it will tell you specifically what to do.
whether this tribe is together, or this four groups of tribes
are together, or whether the whole group is to gather together,
or whether the warrior tribes are to get ready to fight because
the enemy is approaching. And if the sound is not clear,
no one knows what to do. And the trumpet is a type of
the Word of God. Ezekiel was called to be the
watchman that stands on the walls. And God told Ezekiel, you make
sure that you blow the trumpet and you warn my people from me.
Isn't that what he says? Ezekiel 3, Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel
33. And Ezekiel, if you don't warn
them, their blood is on your hand. The necessity of clarity
is critical. The necessity of clarity in the
truth is critical. The ability to distinguish between
hearing the voice of error and the voice of truth is critical
Am I making some sense? All right. I just want to take
you to a couple more and then we'll close out and we'll come back
later Go with me. Uh, well, i'm sorry look at verse 9 because
this is our argument He says so likewise same greek word who
to So likewise in this manner except you utter by the tongue
Words to be what? Understood. How shall it be? Know what is spoken for you are
for you shall speak into the air. Got it. You got it. Good. That's good. And some of
you will get your doctrine straight in that area. Go to one more
verse. First Corinthians 15. And notice what he says in verse
22. And there are many other verses.
I don't want to drive this any further because our time is up.
We'll come back and we'll do deal with the concluding verses
in two weeks. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
the apostle is dealing with the bodily resurrection of the believer,
the bodily resurrection of the believer, predicated upon the
bodily resurrection of Christ. Remember that now. 1 Corinthians
15 is about the bodily resurrection of the believer. It's not about
resurrection in general. We'll talk about this on Sunday,
but about the bodily resurrection of the believer, because men
in that first century in Rome and in Corinth were arguing that
there's no such thing as a bodily resurrection. And what Paul argued
was, if there is no bodily resurrection, then Jesus didn't rise bodily.
And if Jesus didn't rise bodily, you don't have salvation. Because
the bodily resurrection of Christ was the proof that God had accepted
his work on the behalf of those who believed on him. Am I making
some sense? We'll develop that on Sunday.
But listen to the argument over in verse 22. I'm going to start
at verse 20 and go through verse 22 and we'll close in prayer.
But now is Christ risen from the dead. This is Paul's argument.
Paul says Christ did rise from the dead. And he has become the
first fruits of them that slept. Now, slept means to be dead physically. Your body is in the ground, not
your soul. The Bible doesn't teach so sleep. To be absent
from the body is to be what this day, he said to the thief, you
will be with me where in paradise, the soul doesn't go to the ground. Or to Hades, if you are a believer
in Christ, the body goes to the ground and it sleeps in the dust,
waiting the resurrection. The soul is immediately dispatched
to paradise, hanging out with the Lord Jesus. Isn't that good? So believers aren't floating
around in limbo, you know. Man, I saw brother Jesse, man,
he died two weeks ago, but I saw him the other day. No, you didn't
see me. No, you didn't see me. You saw
some image that was all conjured up in the back of your mind.
But Brother Jesse took a flight straight to glory. To be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. And I ain't coming
back down here. Why would I want to come back
down here? Now watch this. How can I help you when I'm in
glory? And can't the same God that took
care of me down here take care of you? Do we have to get our
thinking straight? Don't we? Don't go. I'm gone. I'm out. I'm gone. All right. Just messing with you. Look at
it. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. Verse 22, for as in Adam all
die, even so, there's our phrase. in Christ shall all be made alive. This here is what we call our
parallel conjunction. In the same manner that in Adam
all die, in the same manner in Christ all shall be made alive.
There's no advancement of the subject, there's a clarification
of it. Am I making some sense? Alright, we're done. Let's close
in prayer. Father, we thank you for your time. We thank you for
your word. We thank you for your spirit. We thank you for the
truth of the gospel. As we go our way in this difficult world,
give us traveling mercies. Please get us to our home safely. All of us here tonight and may
our rest be sweet and may our minds be stayed on you and prepare
our hearts to worship you on Sunday. May you get full devotion
out of us and strengthen us that we might worship you with all
of our heart, soul, mind and strength. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. God bless you.