And Romans chapter 11, we're
at verse four. I want you to start with me there.
You can you can follow me in your outline. I'll read verse
four again and then we'll begin to develop kind of cap what we
did last week and move forward. But what sayeth the answer of
God unto him? What sayeth the answer of God
unto him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. What's the answer we've got to
him? Who was the him in this context? Elias, right? Elias is praying to God as Paul
is recalling the scenario in which the kings existed and the
prophets were being persecuted and it was a bad time for Israel. This was something around the
mark of 800 years before Christ. Ahab was on the throne. Well,
not really. His wife, Jezebel was on the
throne and he was kind of just in her shadows. And, uh, she
despised Elijah. She despised his preaching. She
despised his God. And she put a contract out on
him to kill him. And he was under the assumption
that he was the only one left. And that's how it goes. Sometimes
when you are being persecuted or being troubled, you can really
think it, it's just you. And so what Isaiah, what Elisha
does is praise to God. Paul said that he made intercession. Do you guys see that over in
verse two? God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew.
What do you know? Do you not know what the scripture
said of Elias? How he maketh intercession to
God for Israel. Is that what it says? Right. So it's important now just for
you to mark that when intercession is made, it's not always for
people, sometimes it's against people. Intercession can be made
against your enemies to God because you need God to deliver you from
your enemies. Intercession simply means to
stand in the gap and to petition in the behalf to stop something
that's happening. And so in this context, intercession
was made by a godly man who happened to be Jewish against an ungodly
people who happen to also be what? Jewish. And so what we
were dealing with last week was making sure that we address an
assumption that happens to be part of a worldview that's held
by the church, or at least it's a theological view that's held
by the church. And that is when you consider
the nation of Israel, the physical nation of Israel, To equate national
Israel as being the people of God is a fallacy in equation. Is that true? To suggest that
national Israel, because they are the physical descendants
of Abraham, therefore makes them what the Bible called the people
of God is a fallacy in conclusion. Is that true? Anyone wants to
debate me on that or discuss that? Let me say it again so
that we can make this clear, because this is one of the things
that Paul is explaining as to why the history has underscored
the repeated failure of the nation of Israel when it came to the
revelation of God in Christ to them. Why didn't Israel as a
nation Receive the true and the living God Paul has stated in
his theology From Romans 8 our Romans 9 through Romans 11 if
you want to go back through those studies But we'll touch on that
in a moment that everyone that's in the physical nation of Israel
is not The Israel of God, is that a legitimate proposition?
well, if you if you accept that proposition then what that does
is changes your definition of the people of God. Isn't that right? The people
of God. Now, I know that this might sound
repetitive for some of you, but please bear in mind that one
of the difficulties that occurs in our present day church scenario
is a misdefining of terms and phrases and concepts. That's
why I'm so very patient and repetitive with this process, because I
want you to be able to have a proper prism and a proper understanding
of phrases. They open up the scriptures for
you more accurately when they do. When you understand the meaning
of words properly, the Bible opens up and brings about a clarity
and a unity you didn't otherwise have. So I'll repeat what I've
shared with you a long time ago up to this point. Paul is only
doing what Jesus did. When Jesus came into the world,
appeared in terms of his ministry, he constantly fought with the
rulers of the church, didn't he? And his battle with the rulers
of the church was predicated upon this mystery. And that is,
Everyone in the physical nation of Israel was not of God. You had what were called the
children. Remember, didn't we learn this
concept? Technos. Technos versus what? Sperma. You had the children
of the flesh called the Spermas and the children of promise called
the Technos. And Jesus said in John chapter
eight, if you were the children of promise, that is the children
of Technos, you wouldn't hate me. You wouldn't reject my words
and you wouldn't kill me. But I know that you are not really
Abraham's Technos. You're merely his sperma. And
what Paul said that was in Romans chapter nine around verse six
or so was the children of the flesh. Now what we have then
in the, uh, The dynamic of the four gospels and the New Testament
epistles is what we call the radical distinction between the
flesh and the spirit worked out in the paradigm of the nation
of Israel versus Jesus Christ. So if you don't bring Jesus into
the equation, you and I might still be deceived to think that
the nation of Israel were the people of God because they existed.
They were there at the time of what Paul calls the fullness
of time. But once you insert Jesus into the element of the
goings and history and behavior and actions of Israel, all of
a sudden you have a conflict, don't you? Now you guys know
it's not possible to have the same Heavenly Father be born
out of the same spiritual womb and hate each other. Do you guys
know that? The Bible is clear about this, isn't it? Whosoever
hated his brother is not born of God. That's 1 John 3. 1 John
3, please know that. He that hated his brother, the
Bible says eternal life does not abide in him. Now, if that
principle is true, when we go back to Cain and Abel, They came
out of the same motherly womb. They had the same natural father.
But one of them was a child of God. The other was a child of
who? The devil. And we follow that pattern through
the scriptures, don't we? And we realize then that is not
the proper perspective to merely look at the flesh and determine
who's on whose side. So just because a person is a
blood descendant of Abraham does not make them a child of God.
I don't know why the church uses that terminology. Israel, the
Jews are the people of God. The Bible doesn't say that. It
never has. It never has says the Jews are
the people of God. To give a carte blanche sort
of check to suggest that that's the case is to confound the clarity
of scripture. So it's very important for you
to know that that's not the case. no more than it is the case that
everyone who says that they are a Christian are really children
of the living God. So you got to understand that
prior to the Jewish dispensation, you had the dispensation of Adam
from Adam to Moses, from Adam to Moses. You had that same spiritual
conflict. The Bible says in Genesis chapter
four in the days of Enosh, which was the third son of Adam, because
Cain killed Abel, and then Cain was driven off, and so Adam and
Eve had no more children. Then they had Enosh. In the days
of Enosh, men began to call themselves by the name of Jehovah. In other
words, God started saving people, and they worshiped the true and
the living God. But while Enosh is over here with the people
of God, worshiping the true and the living God, Cain is over
here building cities, creating music, starting entertainment
businesses. Read it for yourself. And eventually
the two begin to merge in Genesis 5 and 6. And by Genesis 6 they
are in conflict with one another. And the children of Cain so dominate
the children of Enosh are the sons of God that God has to destroy
the world with a flood. And then start all over again
with Noah. And so Noah has three sons, a wife and three daughter-in-laws.
Are all of Noah's sons saved? No! Canaan exposes Noah's nakedness
when he in his indiscretion becomes drunk and is lying in his tent
and Exercising his rights with his wife and his son comes and
sees what they're doing and he runs and tells his brothers Remember
that and his brothers check him and then they walk backwards
with a garment to cover their father's nakedness all of that's
a metaphor for underscoring the distinction between those who
are lovers of God and those who are haters of God. The proverb
says, love covereth a multitude of sins. He that hateth with
his lips discovereth or dissembleth, that is he exposes people. And
so we see that Cain wasn't born of God, he was used of the devil
to expose the nakedness of his father rather than covering his
father's nakedness. And so that conflict goes all
the way through the scriptures. And we even see this in the 12
sons of Jacob, the 12 sons of Jacob are animus against Joseph. They would have killed him if
it wasn't for God's sovereignty and God's providence. Remember
that Joseph sits on the throne. I'll touch on that a little bit
tonight about the concept of preservation. Joseph is a great
type of who and see the parallelism there. Joseph is hated by his
brethren. And the Jews hate Jesus, and
yet God exalts him anyway. And we see that principle running
all the way through the Old Testament. So it is a utter fallacy, never
supported by scripture, to assume that the physical seed of Abraham,
they are automatically the children of God. The maxim that is often
alleged by contemporary Jews and some Christians is that the
Jews are chosen and the church is saved. That's not true. The
Jews aren't chosen and the church isn't saved. The chosen are saved
folk who are saved in Christ Jesus from before the foundation
of the world, who when they hear the gospel, they believe it and
they rest in the finished work of Christ as their savior. And
this is true from the beginning of time to the end of the world.
Are you guys hearing me? And this is why by the time Jesus
had reached the pinnacle of his ministry in John chapter 10,
he says, let me make this plain to you Jews. who are asking me
to be plain to you about who I am. They came and they said,
will you plainly tell us who you are? And Jesus said in John
chapter 10, I've been plainly telling you who I am since I
came. I told you to examine my words. No, you don't want to agree with
what I say. Then I told you to examine my works. You don't want
to agree with my words. The Bible says that out of the
mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.
Jesus taught truth consistently. Nobody could confound his speech.
Nobody could find fault with what he said. He taught accurately. He taught impeccably. They still
rejected his testimony. Then he said, well, if you're
going to reject that, how are you going to reject my miracles?
I'm raising the dead. I'm opening the eyes of the blind.
I'm healing the sick. I'm doing things nobody else
did, nor can do, except he be God. And so the stewards of the
scriptures who understand the qualifications and authenticity
of a legitimate prophet should have been able to say, just based
on Deuteronomy 13 and 18, that this man is of God. But there's
a reason why they couldn't say that he was the Messiah. And
we'll get into that as we work through this passage. And what's
remarkable about Romans chapter 11, and I wanna say it again
for you, and especially for those of you who might have a little
incredulity, a sense of disbelief in my line of reasoning, what's
remarkable is that this is a Jew who's expounding these things.
God raised up a Jew called the Apostle Paul, to explain this
continual impenitency on the part of his own Jewish people.
That makes his testimony far more credible than if it were
a Gentile speaking. See, they can't really pick up
stones and call him what? An anti-Semite. They can do that
to me. And people do. Pastor Jesse's an anti-Semite.
No, I'm not. And I'm gonna show you from the
word of God what Paul is under burden of when it comes to the
truth. I'm under the same burden. If you'll notice, every time
he begins to develop his arguments, he drives you to the what? Scriptures. Paul is under burden for you
to understand the scriptures. What sayeth the scriptures? What sayeth the testimony of
God? What sayeth the answer of God
to these things? So think about this now, let's
do a little psychoanalysis here. The apostle Paul at one time,
he was such a Jewish, proponent that he was killing Christians.
Remember that? He was blinded. I'm going to get back to that.
Blinded to his own self-righteousness and to the maniacal and demonic
drive of his own people. It was called nationalism. Nationalism. And nationalism will blind anybody. This idea that they are a special
people above every other ethnic group in the world. It's called
racism. You do know that, right? It's
a battle that we've all been fighting. Every ethnic group
think they're better than every other ethnic group. It's a huge
fallacy, but Israel was one of the proponents of it. Paul thought
he was something until he saw the glory of God. Then he realized
he was nothing and that everything that he had opposed when he heard
the Christians talking about who Jesus was and what he did
was right. He was humbled to the dust. and
made to realize that the very thing he was opposing was the
truth that the Spirit of God was beginning to work in his
heart. You know what he found himself doing? Studying the scriptures
more earnestly. And after a while, he became
the greatest proponent of the truth of the gospel because he
would allege, as the Bible says from the scriptures, that this
is the very Christ. He would take the very book that
he was using to kill people with and prove that Jesus was Messiah.
And that goes to show you the tangential and sensitive nature
of spiritual blindness as opposed to spiritual revelation. And
so important for us to be able to know, are we operating out
of a sense of biblical revelation or out of mere tradition and
consensus? You guys understand that? It's
a radical distinction between having a biblical understanding
of redemptive history or being in a position of assuming things
are so because it's traditional and the consensus holds to it
and the masses hold to it or my denomination holds to it.
This is the view we've held in our family for so many years.
No, what does the Bible say? And that's where we are here
with the apostle Paul as well. So what he's doing is he's arguing
again for the clarity and understanding of the church in Rome, which
consisted of Jews and Gentiles to understand why Israel failed. And he's continuing to develop
that. So in verse four, He said, this was God's answer to Elijah. Now noticing again, we'll develop
this. I have what reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not
bowed the knee to the image of Bill. That really is a far more
germane statement than one might be able to contemplate at the
surface of it. Because the issue of worshiping
the gods of Babylon are the gods of Baal was a real problem with
Israel. But remember what we began to
deal with. And this is what I want us to deal with now is the concept
of reservation. I have what reserved reserved
reserved. I told you last week there were
two words. Two Greek terms that are used for reserve. One means
to watch over, to watch over. And it's really used in the negative
sense. And we went to Jude chapter one,
verse 13, where it talked about the false prophets being like
wandering stars that really literally should be translated falling
stars. Well, once the star loses its
energy, it loses its gravitational place in the hemisphere and it
falls. And it's a picture of the false
prophet. churches and believers and preachers, all believers
are represented or symbolized by stars. And so you are in heavenly
places. You have a spiritual position
and you are called a light in the midst of darkness. True believers
will always shine. False believers will only shine
for a moment. At a certain time, they always
depart from the faith and false prophets do that too. But what
Jude said was these wandering stars, are reserved for the mist
of darkness forever. And what Jude was alluding to
was God knows they're false and he knows they're falling. And
he has reserved them, that is set them to the side for the
day of judgment, set them to the side. If you do in your own
time, a Bible study on the concept of reservation or preservation,
you'll find that both words are used to be preserved. On the
one hand is what God does when he saves us in Christ. You believe
that? keep your hand here at Romans
chapter 11 and go to the book of Jude I want you to see that
we're going to develop this now to be preserved on the one hand
is what God does for us in Christ it's in our outline if you were
studious last week you may have taken your outline and looked
up some of the verses is the reason why I give you a plethora
of verses so you can do that and you can know that we are
basing our study on those passages look what it says in Jude chapter
1 verse 1 are we there Notice what Jude says, Jude, the servant
of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are what? Now watch this, sanctified, that
is set apart. That's what the Greek word sanctified
means. Haggios means to be set apart
physically. Haggios means to be cleansed. And then it also means to be
used as a threefold meaning to sanctification. For those of
you who don't know the term sanctification, we'll deal with that in systematic
theology, the concept of sanctification. But there's a threefold meaning.
To be sanctified means to be set apart. That's what God does
for every believer, sets them apart. To be sanctified means
to be clean, cleansed. That's what the work of the Holy
Ghost does with the blood of Christ when he washes the guilty
sinner from the filth of his sin and brings him into a spiritual
union with Jesus Christ. He's been washed by the water
of the word by the Holy Ghost and the blood of Christ purged
in his conscience, washed in his soul, washed in his body.
Now he's made a vessel for the service of God. Am I making some
sense? Set apart, washed, and then used. How do I know I'm
sanctified? Because God's using me. That's
what Paul, Peter said, or not Peter, Timothy said, Paul said
to Timothy rather, in second Timothy every man who has a great
house in that house he has vessels of honor and vessels of what
dishonor every vessel of honor is precious to the owner and
he uses it for his glory and God's called all of his people
to be set apart to be washed and to be used so he says that
we are sanctified by God the Father right now watch this and
what preserve in Jesus Christ. Do you see that? Now watch this.
And what? Call. Now, this says, this raises
the question of time. When did God preserve his people
in Christ? What's the answer? Before the
world began. You got it? Because the calling
is what happens when the gospel is preached and God's sheep hear
his voice and then they follow him. Am I making some sense? How many of you are brand plucked
out of the fire like me? I'm gonna give one or two hand.
I'm gonna tell you something. God has taught me almost after
30 years how he preserved me from my youth to the day he saved
me by his grace. You know, you kind of think you
kind of own your own before God saves you. No, you're not. Read
Psalm 139. God goes before you and behind
you. He has his hand laid on you. David says, your thoughts
are so high, I cannot contain them. They are so profound. It's
just hard to even imagine how well you protect your people,
even in their unsafe state. Am I making some sense? He says,
I'm preserved in Jesus Christ and call. I'll take you to a
couple more verses since we're looking at the preservation.
Back on up the first Thessalonians, Chapter 523, this is one I love. This also underscores a doctrine
we'll be dealing with when we deal with the doctrine of anthropology,
and that is the nature of man. Some people would argue, or some
theologians would argue, that man is a dichotomy. Others would
argue that he is a trichotomous being. 1 Thessalonians would
suggest and imply that he is a trichotomous being, that he
is a threefold being, spirit, soul, and body. And if you read
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, Notice what it says here over
in verse 23. Are we there? And the very God
of peace do what? Sanctify you. There it is again. Holy. And I pray God your whole
spirit and what? Soul and what? Body. Now watch this. Be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
guys see that? That's Paul's wish. Now notice Paul's confidence
over in verse 24. Faithful is he that what called
you who also will what? There it is See the Bible tells
us that when God redeemed us by his precious blood He bought
us lock stock and barrel everything about us is owned by Jesus Christ
You know what that means if Christ loses me to hell. He's a failure
Isn't that good You know what that means? It's not up to me
to keep me It's up to him to keep me. He determined to save
me. He made himself my savior. He
became my surety and my substitute. He represented me before the
father and the Holy Ghost. He struck covenant hands with
his father. He made me his bride. He told his father yes. And then
he hunted me down by his own precious life. And then he sent
his Holy Ghost. Somebody better save me or else
God fails. Do you guys hear what I'm saying?
See, the gospel is about God's glory, not yours or mine. And
the salvation of sinners is a byproduct of God's own intention to get
glory to himself by the redemption of sinners. So God's got to save
them. You guys believe that? Yeah,
y'all don't believe that. I know y'all don't believe that.
Remember, Abraham is a great type of God, isn't he? God the
father. Isaac's a great type of God the son, isn't he? You
believe in the Trinity? I do too. You can't understand
the Bible without it, I'll tell you the truth. Abraham's about
to die. Isaac doesn't have a wife. He
tells his servant, Eliezer, I want you to go down to my kindred
house and find a wife for my son. Eliezer said, OK, I'll do
it. And Abraham said, look, don't
you come back without a wife for my son. Did you guys get
that? Eliezer is a type of the Holy
Ghost. He wasn't coming back without a wife or a son. You
see, salvation is the work of the triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. The Father purposed us, the Son
paid for us, and the Holy Ghost by His power is bringing us to
the Son. There's a wedding on the last
day. Do you believe that? That's what we're getting at
here. There's a wedding on the last day. So when the Bible says
here, that he'll preserve us blameless unto the coming of
the lord jesus christ the confidence is that that's because that's
part of god's purposes in here in our church you know we always
i'd say dot can't what lot dot can't what and dot can't what
as just did three things dot can't do now there's a whole
bunch more he can't do but he can't do those three things so
i've got promised it'll bring the past one e all right then
let's go back to our text now there's a reason for which paul
uses the phrase reserved And that's gonna connect us to verse
five. Go back to verse four. He said that God's answer to
Elijah was that I have reserved to myself 7,000 that would not
bow the knee. Just because we've got a good
35 minutes, I'll touch on this. When you're reading the Bible,
read it for all its worth. That means you do need to understand
legitimate and consistent biblical rules for interpretation. But
even before that, One of the things that I press upon our
man is that when you read the Bible, read it with this understanding
that first of all is God's word. That means it's worth paying
attention to. Secondly, when you read the Bible,
read it for every word that has been written down because a preposition
can just enhance the meaning or that particular word that's
in that context. And the sentence itself as a
whole is deliberate the way that is structured to bring about
a revelation to you. What God said to Elisha was this,
I have reserved for myself 7,000. That means a lot. Not that he
simply reserved 7,000, but he reserved them for himself. See, the whole issue of salvation
is about God. It's not about us. And those
7,000 Paul is using as a model and representation of God's faithfulness
to keep his people even in the midst of tribulation. You guys
got that? Also understand because we believe in the doctrine of
election around here. We're not afraid to use biblical
terms and biblical concepts. I really don't understand why
the church has ever argued over these concepts other than the
fact that I know that in the church historically, you have
always had unregenerate men and saved men. An unregenerate man
always despises what God's Word plainly teaches. Because unregenerate
men are hostile against God by nature. That's Romans 8. Isn't
that right? The unregenerate man or the carnal mind is enmity,
hostility towards God. So it's never going to comply
with what God's Word plainly teaches. It will either shave
it on its hard edges or distort it or deny it altogether. But
a saved person will accept what God says. And the doctrine of
election runs from Genesis to Revelation. You can't get away
from it. God chose Abel. God chose Noah. Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God chose Moses and Aaron. You
guys understand that? He chose Abraham and Isaac and
not Ishmael. So God is the one who does the
choosing. And he demonstrates that throughout the scheme of
redemption. And the people that love it that way are undeserving
hell bound sinners upon whom God shines his grace and his
mercy. Isn't that true? See God, I didn't
do anything for God to have to elect me. God doesn't owe me
anything except hell. And so the doctrine of election
is merely the why that people are saved. Isn't that what we've
been talking about in Romans? Why are people saved? Because
they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and
called by the gospel and saved by his spirit through the work
of the truth. That's why they're saved. How
are they saved? By the cross work of Jesus Christ.
Who saved real sinners? Can I get a real sinner in the
house? If I got a real sinner in the house, you can be saved.
God ain't saving righteous folks. You try to squeeze through that
door with your self-righteousness, I guarantee you won't make it.
You're just too fat. I don't care how thin you are.
That way is so narrow. You can't get in with your good
works. Don't let me get started. By faith alone, through grace
alone, in Christ alone, apart from works. God will strip you
down to everything but the word Jesus. And that's what everybody
gonna say when we get to glory. Jesus! And nothing else. arguing with God about how you
got saved. Are you crazy? Anyhow, here's what he says.
I have reserved to myself 7,000 men which have not bowed the
knee. It's interesting, too, because the Old Testament, this
I'll cast this out to you, too, while I've got 30 minutes left.
When we get to some of the more numerological elements in the
book of Daniel and our apocalyptic study, Please understand the
Old Testament does use numbers in a very symbolic way. So does
the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is 95%
symbolic. You cannot understand its message
without understanding that you're dealing with symbolism. Don't
think you're on solid ground because you try to literalize
everything. Imagine what is being said here. God says, I have reserved
to myself what? 7,000. That's a perfect number. Both in the Hebrew and the Greek
culture, the number 7 is the number of perfection. The number
1,000 is the number of completion in a superlative sense. The number
1,000 is the number for completion in a superlative sense. In other
words, The 1,000 symbolizes a perfect completion for all eternity.
That's why the Bible says the Lord has a thousand cattle on
a thousand hills are the Lord's. Well, more than a thousand hills.
Or a thousand years is as a day to the Lord and a day is as a
what? Thousand years. And it's the same thing with
this concept of the millennium of a thousand years. That's symbolism,
folks. You won't find anywhere in the
Bible where the word 1,000 is used in a literal calendar sense. I dare you to find it. I challenge
you, by the way. Find anywhere in the Bible where
the 1,000 is used, uno, kilias, in a literal 1,000 year sense. You guys got that? Because what
God does, is he uses symbolic terminology and metaphors as
a form of economy. Remember, the economy of words. So metaphors and images and pictures
are designed to economize terms. A picture is as a what? Thousand words. And that's how
the Bible is. Why? Because God's not gonna
be denotative because if he were to talk forever, he'd kill us. So the Bible says in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without
form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and
the spirit of God moved. There was a lot going on in verse
one and two, but it's economy of words. Smart people do that. They use words that carry enough
connotation to encompass the significance and the meaning
of things without being over verbose. And that's how the Bible
is. So be very careful to understand
that. I have 7,000, I've reserved to myself 7,000 that have not
bowed the knee to Bill. So verse four also does a couple
of other things. I want to mark this as we're
going. Not only is God saying to Elijah, Elijah, look, rest.
I know it looks bad out there. The people that are dying are
the people that are departing from the faith. Those were never
my people at all in the beginning. You guys got that? That's what
John said, didn't he? In first John chapter two around
verse 17 and 18, they went out from us because they were not
of us. For had they been of us, they
certainly would not have, without any doubt, departed from us.
My sheep hear my voice, they follow me. I give them what?
Eternal life. And they shall what? Never perish.
Neither shall anyone what? Pluck them out of my hand. Why?
Because my father's great. I'm in my father's hand. They're
in my hands. That means I got him and the
father got him and the Holy Ghost is about to get him. Now, who's
going to beat those three? Then they're good. Now, see,
when you start slipping, you better start remember these kinds
of promises, because this is what you need. You need to be
able to remember the promises of God for you in the day of
your weakness and in the day of your calamity and understand
that you're kept by the power of God through what faith. So
he says, I preserved them to myself. Now, notice what he says
in verse five. Even so, then when he uses that
little clause that even so, then he's about to advance his argument
because he is presuming that you agree with him. This is what
is called a parallel clause is a parallel clause. Even so. So
in the same manner, notice what he said at this present time.
So he took an historical account, gave us a paradigm and model.
And then he says in that same way, What's going on right now
in first century Rome is the same thing. You look around and
you see all kinds of people buying into Greek gods and Roman gods
and the Babylonian gods and Jewish works righteousness. But there
is a people who are believing the gospel. You guys got that? So notice what he says. Even
so then at this present time also there is a what? Now it's
interesting because when he went from the word reserve to the
word remnant, he's really saying the same thing from a different
perspective. Because remember what we learned?
If the word reserved, and it's the Greek word katalipo, it means
to have a leftover or to set aside or to put a group over
by itself. That's the, Reserved I have reserved
for myself and I use the example last week out of Luke chapter
15 Where Jesus used the metaphor of the shepherd with the hundred
sheep remember that? What if a man have a hundred
sheep and he do what he does what lose one? What does he do
he leaves the 99 in the wilderness those are called the reserved
They've been protected. They're shielded but they're
set apart while he hunts down that other sheep and So this
is the same thing that's happening with Elisha's day. God has reserved
his sheep while others are being persecuted and put to death or
just wholesale bowing the knee to bail, because that's really
the context. But he always sets aside a people
for himself. Guess who they're called? The
remnant. Now, we talked about that back
when we were in Romans nine, right? Go back to Romans nine
and I'll show you one verse in regards to that. I think it's
over in verse 20. six or seven, let's see here. Verse 27, are we there? Chapter nine, verse 27, Isaiah's
also cry concerning Israel, though the number of the children of
Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be what? Now that's the, what we call
compendium explanation, or the overarching explanation of God's
purpose with the physical seed. Watch this. The masses of the
fleshly seed are as the sands of the sea, but a remnant saved. That's how he opens up the book
of Isaiah. Isaiah is a book that encompasses 66 chapters. In Isaiah
chapter one, you know what Isaiah said? And we're gonna get to
this tonight, I know it. Israel is just like Sodom and
Gomorrah. You know what that means? They're
under judgment. We're gonna get to that tonight.
And therefore, except the Lord had saved a remnant, they would
have been completely consumed. You guys got the remnant concept
now? And that's all through the Bible. That's all through the
Bible. You guys, you probably, those
of you who've been in our Daniel series, you would have noticed
that terminology remnant in Daniel chapter seven. And the beast,
that fourth beast that was diverse from all other beasts would Iron
teeth and iron claws went after the remnant to kill them. Now
the concept of the remnant has to do with that people that are
left over or that people that are part of that end time scenario. Israel in the days of Jesus was
a remnant people. Because Jesus came in the fullness
of time, he came in what was called the fullness or the end
of the Jewish age. Isn't that what we learned? He
came in the last days. the last of the Jewish days,
the last of the old covenant days, and there was a remnant
who believed the gospel, waited for the consolation of Israel
in the days of Simeon, the high priest, and Anna, the prophetess,
remember that? They were a remnant. These are
the remnant who believed the gospel when Jesus came, while
the rest of them hated Jesus and put him to death. The remnant
concept carried over into the death, burial, resurrection of
Jesus and his ascension on high. and we read in Revelation chapter
12. You guys do remember that, right? The symbolic, metaphorical
language of that woman who was clothed with the sun, moon under
her feet, 12 stars over her head, and we understand that to be
the church of God, particularly and specifically the remnant
saints of the Old Testament church, which is the time where Jesus
lived, by the way. Jesus did not live in the New
Testament. Write that down. He did not live
in the New Testament. The New Testament was not inaugurated
until Jesus said, it is finished to tell us that. And the veil
of the temple was ripped by God himself. And he had said by virtue
of Christ crucify the way into the holiest of all now is by
faith in my son, Jesus, not this temple. At that point, the New
Testament church was started. You guys got that? And the remnant
of that New Testament church were the believers whom God had
chosen, the apostles and the sisters, Mary and Martha, all
those sisters who hung out and waited for Jesus. They are the
ones who are now taking the gospel into the world. And we read in
Revelation chapter 12, go there right quick, because I want you
to understand this remnant concept a little bit. What happens to
the remnant in Revelation chapter 12, now that Jesus has risen
on high, now that the devil has been cast out of heaven, now
that he's angry because he has a short period of time? We read
over in verse 13 through 17 of Revelation 12, and when the dragon
saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman
which brought forth the man-child. See that? He didn't persecute
national Israel. National Israel was the vehicle
that the devil used to persecute the woman that brought forth
the man-child. We know this because the book
of Acts is very clear about the main antagonist of the gospel
being who? The Jews. It began in the days
of Israel under Herod when he sought to kill the man-child
as soon as he was born. Remember that? What we're learning
in Daniel is the parallelism between the earthly kingdom and
the spiritual kingdom. That earthly kingdoms are governed
by spiritual principalities and powers in the heavenlies. Isn't
that right? That was true of national Israel. I know this
is hard to believe, but national Israel, their leadership were
under a demonic influence. You guys don't believe that?
That's what Jesus said in John chapter eight. You are of your
father, the devil. That's what Revelation 12 is
about. The reason you're trying to kill me is because my word
doesn't abide in you. And you're jealous and envious
because I am the truth of which you should have been the stewards
of. And now people are coming to me and you want to kill me
because you're losing your business. That's what Jesus said. So the
political kingdom of Israel with its aristocracy of religious
liberalism under the Sadducees and the Pharisees because they
didn't know God they saw Jesus as a threat and they had to kill
him. They didn't know that they had played into the hands of
a God whose predetermined counsel and foreknowledge was that you
through wicked hands were crucified the son of glory. Isn't that
right? And that's what's going on here in Revelation chapter
12. But you guys know that when Jesus rose again from the dead
and ascended on high, the devil had already been kicked out of
heaven. You guys know that, right? Do y'all know that? Some of y'all
still running around thinking the devil has a hearing at God's
ear. You're wrong. The devil has no grounds to come
before God. The devil was a prosecutor, a journey attorney in the Old
Testament. He was a prosecutor. The word
Satan means to resist. or to oppose. The word devil
means to be an adversary. We are dealing with the judicial
concept here because God is judge, right? The devil has always used
God's law to bring God's people before God in judgment because
of their sin. He did it with Job. He tried
to do it with Moses. And then he tried to do it with
Joshua the high priest in Zechariah chapter four. Remember that?
Joshua, the high priest, ordained by God to be washed and to be
set up to take on the mediatorial role of the restored temple.
We'll deal with that when we get to Zechariah. The devil comes
along and says, this man is filthy, he's sinful, he has no right
to be your high priest. What did God say? The Lord rebuke
you, even I rebuke you, the God of Jerusalem. Is this not a brand
plucked out of the fire? So God is standing on the behalf
of the high priest over against his adversary. The strength of
the adversary is the law. Did you guys get that? The devil's
strength has always been the law of God. He's a legalist. He's an attorney. He always uses
God's word. He has no other grounds but the
word of God, the law of God. Once Christ accomplished eternal
redemption for his people, He had fulfilled the law of God
in their behalf. He had established eternal righteousness.
This is what we're going to talk about on Sunday. He had forever
closed the door of any case against any of God's people for all eternity,
since they are now the righteousness of God in him. In the person
of Christ, I have kept God's law from the beginning of time
for all eternity. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything against
the charge of God's elect? It's God that justify. It's Christ
that die. Yea, rather that is risen again,
seated at the right hands of heavenly places in Christ. Now,
if Christ is my mediator and God is my justifier, who can
lay anything against me? Now that's called the gospel.
You guys got that? So when legalists come plopping
the law down upon you, understand what you're dealing with. They
tried to do that with Jesus. Did you know that? I'm going
to show you. Keep your hand here and go to
John chapter 19. It's probably John 18. I want you to see this. This
is remarkable. This is John chapter 19. This
is remarkable. I want you to get this now. These
are the people who are supposed to be the stewards of God's word.
These are the people who are supposed to be looking for the
Messiah. And yet these are the very people whom the devil has
so thoroughly deceived and reposition them to be the prosecutory instrument
by which Jesus is crucified. And here's the strength that
they have against Jesus. I'm in John chapter 19. Are you
there? I'm going to start over at verse five. Then came Jesus
forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate
said unto them, behold, the man, he has a perfect opportunity
for them to say, you know what? We messed up. Now look at verse
six. Now when the chief priest, therefore,
and the officers saw him, they cried out saying what crucify
him. Does that sound like the children
of God to you? Do you know the Bible tells us in first Corinthians
12, no man speaking by the spirit can call Jesus accursed. And
when you crucify a man, you're calling them accursed. Curse
it is every man that what you guys got it. Watch this now. crucify him crucify and Pilate
said unto them take ye him and crucify him for I find no fault
in him because there was no fault in it isn't that right now watch
this the Jews answered him the legal Roman authority the one
man who could kill Jesus or let him go the Jews answered Pilate
this way we have a law. Got it? And by our law, he ought
to die. In the Greek, that word there
is a must. He must die. Our law demands
that he die. They were wrong and they were
right at the same time. Isn't that right? They were wrong
because their hearts were filled with malice And we'll see this
in a moment. They denied the testimony that
was revealed to them both by his words and his works, but
they were right in that Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He would become the sin bearer
of his elect. He would be their substitute.
And the Bible says, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us
all. You got that? This is phenomenal
that the Bible is the burial of the Savior. It's the tomb
of Jesus Christ. Jesus' own words hemmed him up. Jesus' own truth shut him up
to judgment and wrath. That's why John said in 1 John
chapter 3, what manner of love is this that God have towards
us that we should be called the sons of God? that we should be
called the sons of God. What kind of love is it that
a God would stand in front of his own wrath for hell deserving
sinners and bring himself under his own justice and his own truth
in order to redeem a people for himself? Isn't that something?
That's what we're dealing with here. You guys got it? The drama
of redemption is clear when you read the Bible carefully. The
Jews played the role of being the fleshly mediator of the devil
in the condemning of Jesus. That paradigm perpetuates itself
anytime a church sets itself up in opposition to Christ when
it despises the gospel and starts teaching salvation by works.
Did you guys get what I just said? Every church that rejects
the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the sovereignty of Christ
and the gospel of free grace and therefore stands in the way
of Christ to become the means by which you are saved and then
tell you you're saved if you do this, if you do that, if you
do the other thing, if you don't do this, if you're not safe,
if you don't have a shibboleth, you're not safe. See, they're
all legalist. They're all legalist. You guys got that? That's the
battle we're fighting. Just wanted you to see and this
is what Paul is struggling with himself you guys go back to Revelation
chapter 12. I got 10 minutes Revelation chapter
2 a Paul is struggling with explaining what you and I are dealing with
right now for two reasons. He's in attention Remember, he
loves his Jewish brethren He loves him, but he's got to tell
the truth. He's under compunction of the
Holy Ghost to tell the truth It doesn't do any good to love
somebody and don't tell him the truth. I In fact, that's an oxymoron. I know you're dying of cancer,
but because I love you so much, I'm gonna tell you all right. That's an oxymoron. If I know
you're dying of cancer and I don't tell you, I don't love you. See
what I'm saying? Love is not, in the first sense,
something that is emotional, and so we read that the devil
persecuted the woman that brought forth the man child. Verse 13,
we've identified her and the woman was given two wings of
a great what? Eagle. The eagle is a metaphor
for God's majesty in the skies. Remember, isn't this what we
learned in the Daniel account? The lion is the king of the jungle.
The eagle is the king of the air. No one is a majestic and
as perspicuous and as powerful and sovereign in the air as the
eagle. And so the Bible describes God
as an eagle hovering over and protecting his young. Isn't that
what the Bible says? I brought you out on wings of
eagles, he told Israel. And now he's using that same
metaphor for the church. And what it describes is the supernatural
power of the spirit of God to protect his people by grace as
he brings them through this wilderness. I protected you. I brought you
all the way through. Go and study the eagle. Fascinating,
phenomenal. And it's a representation of
God in his power, in his sovereignty, in his highness. Miles in the
sky. Can zero in on the smallest rodent. Swoop down. Powerful, powerful
claw. The eagle's amazing. We've talked
about it many times. Anyhow, notice what it goes on
to say. And to the woman were given two great wings of an eagle
that she might fly into the what? Wilderness. You know what that
is? The world. That's the world. The church
has been in the world, in the wilderness for 2,000 years. Where
did the church start? Jerusalem. Right? The church
started in Jerusalem. It started in Judea. Salvation
is of the Jews. That's what Jesus told the Samaritan
woman, right? And Jesus told the disciples, tarry ye in where? Jerusalem. Until you be endued
from on high with power. And then take this gospel into
all the what? World. Starting where? Jerusalem. Judea, Samaria, the outermost
parts of the world. The world is the wilderness.
You and I are in a wilderness. You don't believe you're in a
wilderness. This world is jacked up. And there's nothing alive
in this world but believers. Now listen to what it goes on
to say. She's been driven into the wilderness, into her place,
into her place. God has a place for his people.
where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from
the face of the serpent. Now, John, by the Spirit of God,
has been made to reach back into the book of Daniel, hasn't he?
That's the first time this, what we call a prophetic calendar,
is used in the book of Daniel, chapter 7. A time, a times, and
a half a time. It's three and a half years.
We'll deal with that when we deal with Daniel 9. Times in
the Old Testament is a Hebrew idiom for years. Times and seasons. Now, notice what it says. from
the face of the serpent and the serpent cast out of his what
mouth water as a flood after who the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood verse 15 describes the
whole of the New Testament period again you're dealing with a metaphor
that Middle Eastern Oriental image of the dragon the serpent
his power is in his tail and his power is in his mouth isn't
that right His power is in his tail. That's the opening of chapter
12, right? He drew the third part of the
stars with his what? Tail. That's Isaiah 9, verse
15, right? The ancient and the honorable,
he's the head. The prophet that teaches lies,
he's the tail. You got it? The devil is a liar
from the beginning, isn't he? And the whole symbolism of being
able to Affect people with the tail means to deceive because
while he's looking at you he can catch you with his tail Got
it. The goal of the devil is to mesmerize
you and then take you out with lies That's what he did to the
woman in Genesis 3 verses 1 through 7 distraction Distortion delusion
deception destruction the five d's of the devil. That's how
he always works He comes to you and he distracts you from Jesus.
You listen to him long enough, he distorts the scriptures. Once
he distorts the scriptures and you accept that distortion, then
you're deluded. You're deluded long enough until
he can deceive you. That's why so many people stay
trapped in false religion so long. They're under the bewonderment
of the devil. And if you stay there, you're
gonna die, perish under the wrath of God. So he spews out of his
what? Mouth. Remember, this is a battle
of words, isn't it? Propaganda, ideology, philosophy,
theological constructs, worldviews, ideologies, that's how the devil
works. And unto him was given a great mouth speaking great
blasphemies against God. That's what you and I are battling
every day. Isn't that what Paul says? Our warfare is not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of every stronghold
and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ.
Every imagination of men which exalts itself against the knowledge
of Christ, you and I have to test it over against the word
of God. Because it's deceiving the masses,
isn't it? We're wondering why our world
is morphing into this morbid, twisted monstrosity of a behavior
pattern on a large social level. It's because we've removed the
Word of God out of the equation and have left men to the diabolical
doctrines of the devil. And you can't do but whatever
the voice that's in your head is teaching you. Either you are
hearing Christ's voice and seeing his glory and being transformed
into his image or you're hearing the voice of the devil and you're
being transformed into his image. That's the mark of the beast.
That's the number of his name and that's his name. It's the
beast. He's a fallen unregenerate creature
who must devolve into a state of abysmal confusion. That's
this world system. That's the battle we're fighting.
It's a battle of truth versus lies constantly. She spews it
out, notice what the text said, in order to carry her away with
the flood, verse 60, and the earth helped the woman. Do you
see that? And the earth helped the woman.
And the earth opened her mouth. I love this. Now watch this.
I'll help you. Remember I said that what we're
dealing with is this whole period from the first century of the
New Testament church to our present hour. And if you were to go back
through church history, you would find that what I'm saying is
true. There have been so many battles over the gospel since
the days of the apostles up to this present moment. Now watch
this, I want you to see this. The devil has opened his mouth
and spewing out a flood. And then there's an earth that
opens up his mouth to swallow up the flood. That means the
devil has had a whole body of theology and doctrine and philosophy
that he has exerted in spewing out upon the masses and somebody
has said, I will receive it. So you got two mouths, one spewing
and one receiving. Do you guys see the vision? The
mouth that's receiving is called the earth. It's a metaphor for
unsaved people, for the unsaved masses of the world, for the
lost masses of the world, for the carnal man. See, that's what
the Bible is saying. My sheep hear my voice, another
they will not follow. But the devil has his own people
who when he speaks, they hear him and they receive him. And Jesus told the Jews in John
chapter nine, I am from heaven, you're from the earth. I'm from
above, you're from below. That's the reason why you can't
hear me. You're earthly. You guys got that? And so the
earth opens up its mouth and receives because it's parched,
is hungry for something. And the devil always has an audience
with earthbound people. Am I making some sense? And God in his providence and
in his sovereignty has always protected his elect. You guys
got that? And so while the flood is being
absorbed by the parched earth, it allows the elect to continue
to escape. The floods run all through the
Psalms. David said, Lord, deliver me from the floods of the ungodly.
The floods of the ungodly encompass me about. They try to overwhelm
my head. Deliver me, oh God. The saints
are crying out all the time to be delivered from all of this
madness. Isn't that true? All the time, and God does deliver,
doesn't he? Even if he has to break your
leg, he delivers, doesn't he? Even if he has to break your
arm. Even if he has to make you sick. Even if God has to put you on
your back, God delivers you from the flood. All whom the Lord
loves, he what? Saves. That's right. See, so
God's elect understand that when we don't run from the flood,
God'll break us. And it'll assure us that we won't
open our mouths and receive that flood. You know, when God goes
to chasing you, though nothing tastes good but the mercy of
God. You know, you don't have a diet for nothing but God. When
he go to chasing you, oh Lord, I want you. That's what David
said in Psalm 42. My heart panteth after God as
the heart pants after the water broke. He said that only after
he had gotten in trouble with Bathsheba. Are you hearing me? God will dry you up and make
you hungry for him and you won't want nothing but God. Have you
ever been there? If you haven't, It must come,
it must happen to you, because that's the way you're confirmed
that you're born of God. When you are born of God, there
is a point in time where it must be that your salvation is confirmed
by this one thing, all I want is God. Did you guys get that? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. One thing have I desired, that have I sought after, that
I might be dwell in the house of the Lord forever. One thing
have I desired. Am I making some sense? And God
brings all of his people there. He has to. Because, you know,
if we live our whole life in this world and we are acquiring
this and we are acquiring that and we are being very careless
about our time and we're not spending that much with the Lord
and we're finding ourselves satisfied with earthly things, how can
we say with David, Lord, I will not be satisfied until I awake
with your likeness. See, David loved him some God.
He was a man after God's own heart. He was a redeemed sinner. That means he was a conflict
in himself. That's what a redeemed sinner is. A conflict in themselves. The good that I would, I do not.
I'm simultaneously righteous and sinful. I'm in a war. I've fallen, but God promises
to raise me up. Am I telling the truth? And even
when I fall, I hate my fall. I hate what I do. Do you? I hate What I do, that's
how I know I'm born again. I hate what I do. And so the
flood comes, but it can't affect God's people because God is righteous.
Look at verse 17. We'll close here. I'm over my
time. Look at verse 17. And the dragon was angry with
the woman. This is the disposition of the
whole New Testament period. The Old Testament church was
promised prosperity. If they obey the New Testament
church was promised persecution. If she obeyed, got it. Yeah. That's strange, isn't it? I better leave that one alone.
I don't want you to go home on a bad note. Y'all might not come
back next week. I heard Pastor Justin say, the Bible says if
we obey, God will promise us persecution. That's right. Read
it for yourself. All that live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer what? In the world you shall have what?
Tribulation. The parable of the sword and
the seed, one of the seeds is very clear. Because of the word,
tribulation comes. Jesus makes it very clear. In
the Old Testament, prosperity is promised on the grounds of
obedience. In the New Testament, persecution is promised on the
grounds of obedience. Why? Because our message is a
cross-centered message. Our answer to the problems of
this world is not finances, is not education, is not philosophy,
it's Christ. and then crucified. You guys
got that? The reason we're fighting and
killing each other now is because people don't see Jesus. Who said
it? I think it was Rabbi Zechariah.
He said, as long as we're not willing to accept the God that
killed his son, we're going to kill our sons and daughters.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
Got it? The world will continue killing
until God stops it, shows his glory. We continue killing, offering
up our sons and daughters, and it will never atone for our sins.
We gotta bow the knee to Jesus. And the dragon was angry with
the woman and went to make war with what? The remnant of her
seed. The remnant of her seed. Who
are they pastor? They are the last group of true
believing Jews who constitute the foundation of the New Testament
church. Because the New Testament church
would be primarily but not exclusively populated with Gentiles. You
guys got that? But the nucleus were Jews. They're called the remnant. All
right, we'll build this up next time. Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for the truth as it is in Christ. We
thank you for the testimony of scripture. May it sink deep down
into our soul. Lord, don't give us over to that
power that could deny you and twist your word and change your
testimony. Give us grace to submit to you.
Bow down to you. Be glad to hear your word. As
we go our way, give us traveling mercies, we pray. Help us, Lord,
to worship you on this Sunday in spirit and in truth. Everywhere
your people call upon the name of the Lord, out of a pure heart
and according to the gospel of your grace. Help them to worship
you. You deserve it. You deserve all the glory and
the honor and the praise. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless
you.