Let's begin to look at this in
verse 1. The apostle said this, and you can keep your Bibles
there with me as we read this. Keep your Bibles open. Let's
read this like this. He says here in verse 1 of Romans
10, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel,
natural Israel. The ones in the last chapter
he called his brethren, his kinsmen, according to the flesh. The Jew,
after the flesh. Israel. My heart's desire and
prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. Boy, the Apostle Paul was very
blunt, wasn't he? And I can almost imagine as the
Jews, which they did no doubt, every epistle the apostle wrote,
they got a hold of it and they read it. And I imagine as the
Jews read this epistle, and they read this statement that Paul
prayed for them, that God would save them, that either broke
them or it made them angry. They loved the apostle for telling
them this, or they hated him for saying that. Who is he? Who is this man who has forsaken
his own nation? Who is he to tell us, we law
keepers, that we are lost? Boy, that must have bankrupted
them. Israel is lost. I pray that God would say, In
verse 2, he gives them credit for their zeal of God. I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God. I tell you, they'd have
never did what they did if they hadn't have been zealous for
religion. The Lord Jesus told him, he said,
you fellas cross land and sea just to make one country. That's
zeal, ain't it? On the day of Pentecost, the
Jewish nation held a feast, the Feast of Pentecost. There were
Jews there from 18 different nations. They didn't have the
mode of travel back then. They traveled by ship, they traveled
by donkey, they traveled by cart, they walked. They came to Jerusalem
for these feast days from all over the world. That's zeal,
ain't it? All of the ceremonies, all of
the holy days, all of the Sabbath days, all of the new moons, all
of these laws and commandments, they sought to keep. Why? They were zealous. They had a
zeal for God. But the Apostle Paul said this
about them, but not according to knowledge. The Lord Jesus said, you neither
know me, nor my Father. If you had known me, you would
have known my Father. But you don't know Him, and you
don't know me. Ain't that what He told them?
Why can't you understand my speech? Even because you can't hear my
word. They were just like the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan
woman. You worship, you know not why.
Ignorance is a dangerous thing. Having zeal without knowledge
is a dangerous thing. This is a people of no understanding. Therefore he that made them will
not have mercy upon them. That's what Jeremiah said. And
that's what the apostle confronted these Jews with. And what were
they ignorant about? They had a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge. And look in verse 3. Here's what
he tells us. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. Now, what does that mean? Well,
it can mean several things. The Jews as a nation never would
have admitted this. But they did not believe, they
did not understand, they had no understanding of God in His
essential righteousness. Now if you had asked them, do
you believe God is righteous? They would have said yes, but
you know they never believed that. They were ignorant of how
holy God was. He's glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises, that He's of two pure eyes, To behold iniquity. He cannot look upon sin. And
this is why the Jews never did humble themselves before God.
This is why they never did fear God. They never did see His holiness. You remember when Isaiah saw
Him? Remember when Isaiah, the year that King Uzziah died, and
Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. I saw Him upon the throne. How
did you see him?" I said, Oh, he was high, and he was lifted
up. And his train filled up the temple,
and around him was these holy seraphim, these angelic beings,
and they had six wings, and they covered their faces. These holy
beings covered their faces as they stood before the Lord. And
they covered their feet, and they flew around with their wings,
and they cried one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God. And what effect did that have
upon that holy prophet? He said, Oh, wash me. The Jews
never did see God's holiness. Paul said they're ignorant of
that. Job said, When I saw him, oh, I heard of him, he said.
People told me about God, but when I saw Him with the eyes
of my understanding, what did He do? He said, I humble myself,
I abhor myself, and I repent and dust and ashes. They were
ignorant of God's essential righteousness. Now you go ask the average religionist
today, in our day, you ask the average Baptist preacher, If
he believes in the holiness of God, the essential righteousness
of God, the purity of God, and he'll tell you yes. But you listen
to the way he preaches, and you listen to what he believes, and
you'll find out pretty soon he probably doesn't believe in the
holiness of God, the justice of God, the righteousness of
God. Paul said there isn't any of that. They're ignorant of
the righteousness that God demands. What does God demand of His creatures? The best they can do, more than that. Listen to this
scripture in Leviticus chapter 22, verse 21. This is a scripture
that we often quote. But listen here to what he says.
Whosoever offers a sacrifice, he offers a sacrifice to God.
Whosoever offers a sacrifice, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall have no blemish therein. If it's not perfect, it will
not be accepted. What does God require of us in
our meditations, in our thoughts, in our motives, in our words,
in our actions, in our deeds? What does God in heaven require
of us? Does He require anything? We've
been told today, basically, that God is just this old man up in
heaven, that may have created things, or at least created a
cell that evolved into everything, but he's just setting up in heaven,
hoping and praying and wishing, but he can't do anything. He
just lets his creatures go on. But you know something, brothers
and sisters, God is not only the Creator of all of us and
our sustainment, but He's the Judge of all the earth. Ain't that what Abraham said?
And Abraham said, you've got to do right, What does the judge
of all the earth require of you and I this morning? Perfection. Perfection. That Pharisee that
the Lord told us about this morning that stood there in the temple
and prayed, I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I possess. God requires more than that. Cursed is every man who continues
not in all things that's written in the book of the law to do
them. And you know something? The Jews didn't believe this.
Paul said they'd been ignorant of that righteousness which God
demands. Well, there's something else
they were ignorant of, too. They were ignorant that God had provided
the righteousness that He demanded. Has God provided what He demanded? He has. He has. You can't provide it, Glenn.
I cannot provide it. But somebody else has already
provided it. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Listen to this
scripture. We often quote this scripture.
But we ought to memorize this scripture and meditate upon it.
Get it in our hearts. Romans 5, 18 and 19. By the offense
of one man, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even
so, by the righteousness of one man. Listen to this now. By one man's sin came upon all
of us. We were made sinners by Adam. Even so, by the righteousness
of one man, this free gift came to justification of life. Ain't that wonderful? One man's righteousness. Can
you imagine the righteousness of Jesus Christ being so great? So God satisfied. So the law
satisfied. That it could justify us. By one man's disobedience were
many made sinners, even so by the obedience of one. But the Lord didn't tell us about
that. Christ's obedience unto death shall many be made righteous. God has provided what He requires.
He's provided it in one man, His Son. Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. It's there for me to love it
and obey it. And on the cross of Calvary,
in His death, He suffered its penalty. Now, brothers and sisters,
here's what we've got to understand. Here's what we must understand
in our heart of hearts. This is what the nation of Israel
was ignorant of, and they perished. They perished. God requires perfection,
and He has provided perfection for us. And now every man that's
in Christ is accepted in Him, and because of Him, and for His
sake. The doing has been done. And the Jews, fourthly, were
ignorant of this. How do they obtain this righteousness? If this righteousness has been
brought in and provided, even a perfect righteousness, how
can it become mine? That's a good question. Here's
what they were ignorant of. Look back in chapter 9 of Romans. Look here. Look in chapter 9.
Verse 30, they were ignorant of the way to obtain this righteousness. What shall we say then? The Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith, faith in Christ,
believing in Christ for us. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, have not attained to the law of righteousness.
Why? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumble
at that stumbling stone. In verse 30, as it is written,
Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and
whosoever believeth on him shall not be saved. That's where they
miss it. Believing on Christ. It's not
doing. It's believing. Tell you what
he said, look in chapter 10 again. Look in verse 10. For with the
heart Man believeth unto righteousness, and with a mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not perish." You believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, you've got Him. You've got Him and everything
that comes with it. Righteousness, justification,
life eternal, and in the end, heaven. through faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's been the age-old issue.
Do you know it? Faith alone. Christ alone. They were ignorant of God's righteousness.
Okay then, look back in verse 3 again. Look here. Since they
were ignorant of this righteousness, what did they do? Well, the Scripture
says, going about to establish their own righteousness. Look
at the self-will. Look at the stubbornness of these
people. They went about to do many things
to establish, to build up, to profit their own righteousness
before God. That's just plain old stubbornness,
ain't it? I can do it and I'm going to
do it. Stubbornness is as the sin of
witchcraft before God. And I tell you the chief stubbornness
is when a man says, I refuse the Lord Jesus. I refuse His
righteousness. He's not enough. He's not done
enough. I'm going to do it myself. That's
the height of stubbornness. And look what else. Look at the
rebellion. Just flat out rebellion. Going
about to establish their own righteousness. They have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The Lord says, you won't come
to me. That's what he said to them. You will not come to me.
You go every place else, somebody else come, you'll receive Him,
but you will not come to Me that you might have life." They said,
we will not have this man to reign over. We will not. We will
not. There's a can not and there's
a will not, and theirs was a will not. Flat out rebellion against
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 1 is what I want to
concentrate on just a few minutes for. Be patient with me. Verse
1, some comments I want to make. Brethren, brethren, what a tender
and affectionate man this was. Never exalted himself above others,
did he? He was the chief apostle. I mean,
he said, you know, that he was the cheapest of apostles. When
it comes to defending his apostleship, boy, he'd rise up pretty quick,
because it was important, it was critical that he be received
as an apostle. And he would defend that author,
but I tell you, he never exalted himself. All the things that
God did by this man, and yet he never exalted himself. He
had the authority. We read in the scriptures that
he killed a blind man. We read in the scriptures that
he smote a man with vines. He raised a man from the dead.
They took handkerchiefs and aprons from this man's body and took
it to the houses of people that had diseases, and they were healed. I wish some of these TV killers
would try that sometime, don't you? I've just got a sneaky hunch
that what they're doing, they're pretending to do. There's some
sly tricks going on somewhere. But not with this man. Not with
this man. He was the chief of the apostles.
Received more revelations than all the other apostles as far
as we know. I know what Peter said about
him. Peter said, he's writing some things that I'm having difficulty
understanding. And you know what Paul said?
He said, I was caught up into the third heaven. I caught up
into heaven itself and I heard words there that I can't even
express to you. And I saw things there that I
can't explain to you. Abundance of revelation. And
yet, when he's writing to the church, how does he address them?
I'm Dr. Paul. I'm Reverend Paul. He had never professed something
like that. Who is he? He's just Paul. And when he's
addressing these Roman believers, he says, Brethren. Brethren. Fourteen times in this epistle,
he uses that word, Brethren. Just one of you, we have the
same Father, we have the same elderly brother. Oh, brother,
brother, brother. And something else, not only
does he refer to the believer, his brethren in Christ, but look
over here in chapter 9, in verse 3, look at this. Even when he's
speaking to these lost Jews, look what he calls them. He says
here in verse 2, I have great heaviness, the Holy Spirit will
bear me witness, that I have great heaviness and continuous
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh. My brethren? He addressed those who hated
him as his brethren. That's amazing, isn't it? You
and I are very careful sometimes that we don't call men brethren,
aren't we? But you know there's a sense in which everybody is
our brethren. We don't believe in the fatherhood
of God. I know that. God is not everybody's
father. To be a child of God, you must
be born again. We're children of God by faith
in the Lord Jesus. I know that. And I know that
spiritually speaking, to be a spiritual brother, you must be in Christ. But there's a sense, just as
Paul said, when our fellow man, even though he's without God,
without hope, he's our brother. These men who hated the Apostle
Paul was without Christ. Paul said, they're my brethren,
they're my kinsmen, they're my fellow man, my fellow Jew. Those
fellows over there in Iraq blowing each other up, killing each other. Do you know who those fellows
are? They're our brothers. We can trace all the way back
and they've got the same dad and the same mom that you and
I have. We all come from the same parents. So in that sense,
there's no difference than them and us. No difference at all. You're here this morning, and
you love God. You love the Son of God. You
love the Gospel of God. You love the children of God.
Well, let me ask you this question. Who made you to differ? There's no difference in any
man. You may look at the morality
or the immorality of some people, and you may thank God that you've
not stooped that low. You've not murdered your fellow
man. You've restrained yourself at least outwardly, but when
it comes down to the heart, as we come into this world and stand
before God, there's no difference in any of us. So Paul, he said
here, my brethren, my brethren in Christ, and my brethren according
to the flesh, a fellow man. Scott Richardson was down at
Donnie Bell's years ago. Dave saw him. Bob, you remember
Dave. Hanging himself down in the basement. Poor thing, just got in such
a state of mind, hanging himself. We were down at Donnie Bell's
in a meeting, and Dave went down with me. And Scott never had
met him. And I introduced him. And Scott
shook hands with him and said, How are you doing, Brother Dave? And David said, Well, I'm not
saved, Scott. And Scott said, If I miss you
in Christ, I'll get you an Adam. You're not my brother in Christ.
You're my brother in Adam. I tell you, the Apostle Paul
was such a humble man. Such a humble man. Such a kind
man, such a gracious man. He never exalted himself above
anybody. I am what I am by the grace of
God. That's what he said. What a great
wise apostle. And look what else he says here
in verse 1. Look in Romans chapter 10 verse
1. There's a reason I'm discussing
this with you this morning. Look what he says. Brethren,
my heart's desire for Israel is that they might be saved. Why is this so important? My
heart's desire for Israel is, lost Israel, that they might
be saved. Well, when we believe in the
free grace of God, and begin to teach it and preach it and
promote it, this world brings all kinds of accusations against
us. And one of the accusations they
bring against us is this, you fellas are so unkind. You're
so harsh. You're so calloused. You're too
narrow. You're too dogmatic. What you're
saying is just hurtful and it discourages people. And you had
that to say about some of you. Well, here was a man, the Apostle
Paul, and he believed in this free and sovereign grace of God. And here he opens up his heart,
and what do you find there? Sympathy, kindness, love, a burden
for the lost. And I'm telling you, nobody,
nobody understood and preached what men were in their awful
depravity any clearer than he did. And no man preached the
grace that it was going to take to deliver a sinner any clearer
than he did. Look here, look here what he
says. Look in chapter 3 of this book. Look in chapter 3. Look here what he says in verse
23. Here's what he says about us
and the grace of God that it's going to take to deliver us.
Look what he says in verse 23. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And look what he said back in
verse 19. We know that whatsoever things
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, And all the world become guilty before
God. And then he tells us who's guilty
in verse 23. All are guilty. For all have
sinned. You've sinned. I've sinned. Everybody
in here has sinned. And come short of the glory of
God. We're guilty. We're guilty. We're guilty. That's what he
proves. Well, how in the world, brothers
and sisters, can you take guilty sin? and justify them, clear
them of their guilt and condemnation, and receive them into the presence
of God without His wrath destroying them. How can you justify a sinner? How can God, being just, justify
the sinner? Well, I'll tell you one thing,
the sinner's going to have to be awful good. Yes, he is. He's
going to have to do a lot, a real lot. A real lot. But if you know
something the best you can do in your fallen state, it's not
enough. It's not enough. How then can
we be justified? Look in verse 23, verse 24. Being justified freely. You know what that word means,
don't you? Without cost to you. We've got
obligation on your part. Freely. Freely. Being justified
freely by His grace. Unmerited favor. Unearned favor. God's favor. Grace. Grace. How can God be just and justify
the guilty? Look at it in verse 24, the last
portion. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Free from the
law. What does that mean to you this
morning? Have you got any sense of God's law and the nature of
it that condemns us in our hearts? Free from the law, oh happy condition! Jesus has bled, and now there's
remission. bruised by the law, cursed by
the fall, Christ hath redeemed us, grace hath redeemed us, once
and for all. If a man's ever saved, if a man's
ever justified, if a man's ever cleared from all his guilt, there's
but one way God can do it, freely, by His grace. Look what he says
over in chapter 4. Look here in verse 4. The apostle Paul was a man who
understood what we are by nature. And he was a man who understood
the grace that was going to have to be exercised towards us to
deliver us. Look what he said in chapter
4. Look what he said in verse 4. Now to him that worketh, It's
the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. When a man tries
to earn or merit his salvation, what does he do? He just gets
deeper and deeper and deeper in death. The good that he thinks
he's doing to commend himself to God, that good that he thinks
he's doing is sin. I fast twice a week? Boy, there's
another debt. I pay tithes of all that I possess?
There's another debt. And it just keeps on building
up and building up and building up. We've done many wonderful
things in your name. There's debts. If a man tries
to work for his salvation, God doesn't consider it marriage.
He considers it sin. The Pharisees were counted the
greatest sinners. The Lord Jesus says, publicans
and harlots are going into the kingdom of God before you. Look in verse 5. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth, who? The ungodly. Now there's grace,
ain't it? There's grace. Paul said justification
comes freely by the grace of God. You can't earn it, you can't
marry it, but now he tells us who God freely justifies. It's the ungodly. It's not good
people. It's not good sinners. It's those
who are not like God at all. They're opposed to God. And yet,
they're justified. Now, brothers and sisters, that's
grace. You say, Bruce, what do I have to do to be ungodly, just
to be born number one? The wicked go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies. That's all you have to do, just
be born. But who does God justify? The ungodly. Now, that's grace,
brothers and sisters. That's grace. When we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Everything the Son of
God did, saliently, when He came into this world, it was for the
ungodly. Now it was. He came into this world to save
sinners. He never died for good people.
He doesn't justify good people. Can you see, as you read these
things the Apostle Paul had to say about who we are in the grace
of God, the free grace, can you see why people would rise up
and say, harsh! That's too harsh! That's too dogmatic! That's too
critical! You're so unkind! That's what
people rose up and said, just like they did about us. But oh, to that man, to that
man who has been taught of the Holy Ghost, this grace that the
Apostle Paul taught us, this free grace, this sovereign grace,
this saving grace to justify the ungodly, I tell you, this
is the sweetest sound you've ever heard. Amazing grace how
sweet the sound. that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost and now I am
found. That's grace. Don't you love
it? I once was lost. Why does grace
appear so sweet to the taste of a believer? Because it was
grace that wretched down when he was lost and found him. rescued
him, secured him, delivered him from the bondage of darkness.
Now grace is a sweet, sweet sound. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. How did you get this far? It
was grace that brought me safe this far. How are you going to
get on home? You've got a desert to walk through
full of slime pits and fiery serpents. Hey, you're going to
get on home. The same grace that brought me this far. The same
grace will lead me home. Grace, grace. I was so discouraged one time,
so down. If you folks saw me drooping
around the house sometimes, you'd say, I wish he'd believe what
he preaches. But I was so discouraged and down, I just went and fell
on my bed. Just fell backwards on my bed.
Me and Joe wanted to put up a plaque all over the door. Ephesians
2.8 and 9. And I looked up and I saw that
plaque. For by grace are you saved. and not of yourselves."
Oh, my spirit was just caught up into paradise. Grace. If I'm saved by grace, then I'm
saved. If it's not of myself, but of
Him, then I'm saved. And oh, I was lifted up in my
heart. Grace. That's the grace the apostle
taught. That's the grace he preached. And those who rise up and say,
no, you're too harsh, you're too dogmatic, you're too cold
and indifferent. Well, you may lay that accusation
on me, and part of it may be justified. God forgive me, I
am cold. I wish I had this heart for the
cross of Paul. I wish I had a heaviness, a continuous
star in my heart for the Lord. So somebody may look at me, and
somebody may look at you, and say, look how cold you are. And
it's because you believe that old free grace. And it's because
you're just always looking down and putting yourself down. You
don't have enough self-esteem. They may blame us. But I tell
you, here is not a problem. If you want to know what pure
grace, free grace, what kind of an attitude it will give you,
then look here at this apostle. He believed it. And he says, my heart's desire
to God for lost Israel is. They might be saved. When you and I are talking about
sinners, we're talking about real sinners. You get beyond
the outward morality. You get beyond the farm and the
show. And we're talking about real sinners. When you get to
the heart, that's what we're talking about. The heart is deceitful
above all things. The imaginations of the false
of the heart is evil from our youth. The carnal mind, the unregenerate
mind, is enmity against God. Here's where we are. We're ruined
sinners. We're enemies against God. We're
the ungodly, and the Scripture says the ungodly shall not stand
in the judgment. Men stand and brag here while
they're in good health and living, but I tell you the ungodly will
not stand in the judgment. Their countenance will change,
their knees will smite one against another when they stand before
the Lord of glory on that day. And sinners will not stand in
the congregation of the righteous." Now, that's where man is. And
I tell you, all God has to do to assure a man's eternal ruin
and misery is just leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Don't be gracious to him. Just
don't justify him. Just leave him to himself and
his damnation will be of himself. Now that's true. But I tell you,
if God goes to say, It will be for the sake of the Lord Jesus
Christ and He will be free by His grace. He is obligated to
none. He owes us nothing. And when
He visits us and saves us, it's grace. It's grace. And the world raises up, and
they complain, and they accuse us, and they start a controversy
with us. But what we tell them, your accusations
are not against me and against you. Your accusations are against
the Apostle Paul. He's the one that wrote these
things. And it's really not against the Apostle Paul, but against
Paul's God. It's really against the Holy
Ghost, who inspired this Apostle to write these things down. Here was a man who believed in
the sovereign and free grace of God, and yet his heart was
full of compassion and concern. My heart's desire for Israel
is that they might be saved." He loved Israel more than they
loved themselves. He desired their salvation when they didn't
even desire it. Now here's a man who believes
in sovereign grace. What was it that produced that
in him? I'll tell you what produced it
in him. He knew what he was in time. And he saw the grace, and he
experienced the grace that it took to deliver him. That's what
made him have this attitude. If you love your own soul, and if you've been made to see
your lost state before God, you fell in love with your soul.
You value your soul. And then if you see this grace
has reached down in your darkness and brought you light, and down
in your death and brought you life, you not only love yourself,
you love your fellow man. That's what grace teaches us.
And you have a desire for the salvation of others. The Apostle
Paul said this, I sought to do many things contrary to the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. I was a persecutor. I was injurious. But I obtained mercy. And listen
to this. And the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ was exceeding abundant. And it brought with it to my
heart faith. and love which is in Christ Jesus. Grace. Free and sovereign grace
to ungodly sinners. He said something else here too.
He said this, and we'll look at this and we'll let you go.
Here in verse 1 he said something else. This is very important.
I want to comment on this just a minute. Next time you're talking
to somebody and they accuse you of this, especially free will,
that you're too hard and callous, take them here to this verse.
Don't try to defend yourself, just take them to this verse,
what the Apostle Paul said. Here was a man who believed in
God's grace, real grace, free grace, and here was his heart. I tell you what people don't
like. This world is deceived. It's so deceived. And he don't
understand what true love is. And if you're telling a person
the truth and he gets mad at you, that's not your fault, that's
his. Tell him the truth in love. But
if you go out here and you find somebody's house on fire, and
he's in there inside that burning house, you're going to do what
you can to get him out of there. And if he gets mad at you because
you're rocking his house, tell him it's for his good. If you're
standing outside his burning house and you're lifting up your
voice and crying aloud, and he gets mad at you, it's because
he don't know where he's at. Brothers and sisters, tell people
the truth. No, they're not going to like
it. They're going to call you all kinds of names and bring all kinds
of accusations against you. But something else, not only
he said, my heart's desire, but he said this, and my prayer to
God for Israel is, my prayer to God. What did he do? Well,
he went right to God. He got down on his knees and
he says, Oh God, save Israel. Oh God, save lost Israel. His
heart was so heavy, and he wept in his soul, oh God, save Israel. You say, Bruce, why are you making
such a big deal out of this boy? Of course he prayed for them.
He had a desire for their salvation. Of course he asked God to save
them. There's no mystery in that. Well, there is a mystery in that.
There is somewhat of a mystery in that. And the mystery is this,
what he believed about lost Israel. Here's the mystery. Look what
he said back up in chapter 9. Now look at this. And look here
in verse 27. Isaiah cried concerning Israel,
though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea. That's a lot of people there.
But look at this, a small portion of them, just a remnant of them,
are going to be saved. And that's what he believed.
What does he mean by a remnant? A small portion of them. But
he said they shall be saved, a portion of them is going to
be saved. How can he be so sure of that? Look over in chapter
11 and look in verse 5. He's still talking about this
same Israel after the flash in verse 5, chapter 11. Even so
then, at this present time also, there is a remnant, there they
are, according to the election of grace. He knew a remnant of
them was going to be saved because God had elected them. God had
chosen them to salvation. That was God's purpose. Those
He predestinated, He called, and those He called, He justified.
Those He justified, He glorified. That's God's purpose. Paul said,
God has purpose to save a remnant of them, and they're going to
be saved. Did He believe that all of them were going to be
saved? He didn't, did He? He said they weren't. But He prayed to God to save
them. See what a mystery that is? God saved Israel. God had a purpose
to save them. But that didn't stop the apostles
from praying for them. Now that's a mystery. It seems so contrary, doesn't it?
Well, Joe and I used to go to church several years ago, thirty-something
years ago now. We were studying some of this. I got over my head anyway, trying
to teach them of it, and they didn't understand any of it.
And I was sitting one morning in Sunday school class, and a
fellow behind me, and we'll forget this. And he said, if I believed
that God had already purposed to save who he was going to save,
I'd just go home and do nothing. No sense preaching. No sense
praying. Just go home and do nothing.
Was that what the Apostle Paul did? No. He believed in it. We read it right here. Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sands of the
sea, God is only purpose to save a portion of them. But he didn't
go home and do nothing. How did it affect him? Oh, God
save Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ, He preached
it. He believed it. He didn't stay in heaven and
do nothing, did He? Do you believe God has purpose
to save every man without exception? No. No. Do you believe God has
a wonderful plan for everybody's life? No. How does that affect our prayers?
Oh, God save sinners. Oh, God save sinners. Do we pray
then contrary to the purpose of God? See what a mystery this is. I
imagine, brothers and sisters, you and I pray contrary to God's
purpose probably just about every day. I imagine just about every
day some dear child of God is praying contrary to God's purpose. Lord, give us this day our daily
bread. And yet they die before they
eat another meal. It wasn't God's purpose to give
them another meal. They died before they ate another meal. O Lord, lead us not into temptation,
that for the days over they fall into temptation, and they are
sorely tried. That was God's purpose. And yet
they prayed contrary. The Lord appeared to Abraham,
and he said, Abraham, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. What
did Abraham say? Oh God, that Ishmael might live
before thee. No, no. My covenant is with Isaac. Oh, that Ishmael might live before
thee. The Apostle Paul prayed three times contrary to the Lord's
purpose. that this thorn in the flesh
might depart from him." And the Lord finally said, Paul, it's
not according to my purpose. It just seems to me, brothers
and sisters, that our Lord doesn't judge us,
he condemns us for desiring and praying for the eternal good
of our fellow man. even though he's not been pleased
to save all of our fellow men. I can't get my arms around this,
it's too deep for me. But I doubt seriously if any
dear child of God, desiring the salvation of all men, and praying
to that end, if the Lord condemns him for doing it. My heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. I have continuous sorrow. The wrath of God, he said in
1 Thessalonians 2, has come upon them to the uttermost. They're
contrary to all men. They persecute me. They kill
the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of them are perishing. But
my prayer to God, O God save Israel. The next time somebody
comes up and accuses you of being hard and cold, unconcerned, not
an evangelical at all, because you believe in such free grace,
you take them back here to this apostle. And you show Him how
He prayed. You show Him what was in His
heart. Father, we thank You. Oh Lord,
Your Word is so precious. We've never read any book that has such glorious words
in it as Your Word. Truly, Lord, it's spirit and
it's life. It's full of instructions, full
of comfort to strengthen our faith, to enlighten our understanding. For people that we are, to open
your Bible and attempt to understand it, it's too immense for us. Oh Lord, we'd never read it,
never speak of it, if it wasn't for your Holy Spirit to enlighten
our hearts, to give us some understanding of these precious truths. Thank
you for leaving us your word. Thank you for your grace for
the guilty. Salvation for the ungodly. Lord,
our hearts are encouraged in you. You're not like us. You
are a great Savior. You are a mighty Savior. I pray
this morning for this precious Word, these truths, that you
will be your own interpreter this morning, that these truths
will settle in these hearts, and they will be encouraged.
In our Lord Jesus' name, Amen.