Alright, let's look back now
at Romans 10. Heart faith. Saving faith. God-given faith. Faith in Christ
the Lord. Faith that saves. It comes by
hearing. And hearing by the Word of God.
And the word hearing here is preaching. This faith comes by
hearing the preaching of the gospel. That's what he's saying.
The word hearing in verse 17 is used the same way that it's
used in the preceding verses. Look at verse 14. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him? How shall they have faith in
him? of whom they have not heard.
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. How beautiful
are the feet of them that come from a far country to declare
this gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But everybody hasn't obeyed the
gospel. Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed,
I report. But some have, because faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, hearing the
preaching of the gospel. You see, God sends his prophets
and God sends his apostles and his pastors and teachers into
the world to preach this gospel. this gospel of God, this gospel
of grace, that men by hearing who Christ is, hearing what Christ
has done, hearing why Christ came, hearing where Christ is,
might believe. How are they going to believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? But by hearing, they believe. And those who truly hear with
the heart and believe with the heart, They call on the name
of the Lord, and they're saved. For whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So then,
saving faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,
and that through the preaching of the Word of God. The Scripture
says it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that
believe. Our Lord was a preacher. The
apostles were preachers. And God has used preachers down
through the years that His sheep might hear His Word and believe.
Don't ever, ever underestimate the power or the importance of
the preaching of the gospel. Then He says in verse 18, But
the question comes, have they not heard? Talking about Israel. Didn't they hear? Of course they
did. Moses preached the gospel. Our
Lord said, Moses wrote of me. David, Isaiah, all of God's Old
Testament prophets preached. They heard. They heard. They heard the choice preachers.
The best preachers that God Almighty had. And yet one of them said,
who hath believed, I report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Paul tells us in Hebrews what
the problem was. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. He tells us, they heard the gospel. Have they not heard? Yea, barely
they heard. They heard God's choice preachers,
Hebrews 4, verse 1 and 2. Paul writing to the church said,
Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For
unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. Look back at Chapter 3, verse
19, the last verse in chapter 3, verse 19. So we see they could not enter
in because of unbelief, but the gospel was preached to them.
What's the problem? Verse 2, chapter 4, unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the gospel, the
word preached, hearing is the word, did not
profit them. Because they didn't believe. Not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. There's the problem. They didn't
enter in. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. But a lot of people hear who
do not believe. Israel heard. The Gentiles heard
too. Look at verse 18. Have they not
heard? Yea, verily. Their sound, you
see, you'll find this in Psalm 19. God has two books, the world
book and the word book. The heavens declare the glory
of God so that everybody is without excuse. And then the word goes
forth into all the world. God has sent his prophets from
the beginning into all the world. And men have heard The sound
went into all the earth, their words unto the end of the world.
The Jews heard the gospel and the Gentiles heard the gospel.
They certainly did. Did they not hear? They heard.
But they didn't believe. The people of Noah's day heard,
but they drowned. They didn't believe Noah. Noah
was a preacher of righteousness, his own? God's righteousness. The Egyptians heard Moses declare
that God's coming through here at midnight. Put the blood on
the door. They didn't believe it. And verse
19, I say, did not Israel know? Did not Israel know what? Three
things. Did not Israel know God? Sure
they knew God. They knew the true God. Turn
back to Romans 9, and it gives you an account of what these
people had. Romans 9, verse 4, who are Israelites? Listen, what
did they have? To whom pertaineth the adoption?
The glory, where was the glory of God manifested? Over the mercy
seat in Israel. The covenants, with whom were
the covenants made? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. The giving of the law, who received
the law? Israel. The service of God, the
tabernacle, the sacrifices of the priesthood, who had that?
Israel. The promises, to whom were the
promises made? Israel. Whose are the fathers? What was Isaiah? A Jew. David? A Jew. Moses? A Jew. Of whom concerning the flesh
Christ came." The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth. He didn't come as an Anglo-Saxon,
as a Norwegian, as an Italian. Chinese is a Jew. Jew. They heard, they knew the
true God. His glory was manifested right
in their midst. They killed the Passover. Did
they not know the gospel? They knew the gospel, not spiritually,
not experimentally, not in the heart, but they knew it in the
head. Israel knew the gospel. A woman at the well said, the
Messiah is coming. The Pharisees said in reply to our Lord's question,
What think ye of Christ, whose son is he? They said, Son of
David. They knew. They heard. They knew. They knew the true
God. They knew the gospel. And they knew this. Thirdly,
they knew that God would call the Gentiles too. That's right. Listen to what it says in our
text. In Romans 10 verse 19, did not Israel know? Well Moses
said, listen, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that
are no people, by a foolish nation I'll anger you. I'm going to
call Gentiles too, God said. Moses told him that. And Isaiah,
he told them that. He said, I was found of them
that sought me not. That's Gentiles. I was made manifest
to them that asked not after me, Gentiles. But what did He say to Israel?
All day long, from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, all the way down,
I stretched forth my hand to a disobedient, rebellious, Argumentative
people. How does God stretch forth his
hands to Israel throughout these years? By the sending of his
prophets. One after another. One after
another. And which of the prophets did
not your fathers kill? But I sent them, God said. John
the Baptist. You were willing for a season
to rejoice in his life, but you finally killed him. Christ came. Came to his own. Did they welcome
him with open arms and open heart? Said, we're not going to have
this man either. Ran over us. And the apostles. And they murdered
every one of them but one. I've stretched forth my hands."
Well, Proverbs, early on back here, Solomon wrote about it,
about the Lord stretching forth his arms to this rebellious,
argumentative, debating, quarreling people. He said in Proverbs 1,
the Lord speaks, verse 24, because I've called and you refused.
Proverbs 124, I stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. You've set
it naught, all my counsel, would none of my reproof. I also will
laugh at your calamity. I'll mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, and distress and anguish cometh upon you. shall
you call upon me, but I will not answer. They'll seek me early,
but they'll not find me, because they hated knowledge. They hated
knowledge and would not choose the fear of the Lord. They would
none of my counsel. They despised my reproof. Therefore,
they shall eat of the fruit of their ways and be filled with
their own devices. Israel here? They heard. Did
they not know? They knew. Well, then comes here
in verse 1 of chapter 11, an objection arises before the Apostle
Paul by his adversaries, I guess. They said, well, has God cast
away His people? Has God through with the Jews? Has God reprobated all the Jews? Is there nothing else for that
great nation? Has God cast away all these people
that He once called His people? God forbid. God forbid. That's Paul's usual
way of answering an objection which is obviously wrong and
foolish. Many times people would confront
Paul with an objection to his preaching that was, to him, foolishness. For example, one fellow said
one time, well, you preach salvation by grace alone apart from work. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Paul said, God forbid. God forbid. What foolishness. Another fellow said, well, Israel
didn't believe. Does their unbelief make God's
covenant without effect? God forbid. God forbid. Another one said in Galatians,
well, Christ saves us apart from works, the law. Is Christ therefore the minister
of sin? God forbid. And here he says,
as God cast away his people, God forbid. He says, I'm a Jew. You're looking at one whom God
didn't cast away. You're looking at one. I also
am an Israelite. I'm of the seed of Abraham. I'm
of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn't cast me away. He not
only called me, saved me, but He made me a preacher of the
gospel, a minister of the gospel. And verse 2, here is such an
important statement. Paul said, God hath not cast
away His people whom He foreknew. whom he foreknew. God has not
and will not and does not cast away anybody whom he foreknew. Jew or Gentile. Turn back to
Romans 8. Verse 28. Listen. Now all mankind,
in a sense, are His people. His creatures. He created them. His subjects, His to do with
what He will, when He will. But all are not foreknown. All
are not objects of His grace and love. Matthew 7, He'll say to me, I
never knew you. So when this fellow raises the
objection, then are you saying that God has cast away His people? He said no! God hath not cast away his people
whom he foreknew, for, Romans 8 verse 29, for whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called
them he also justified, whom he justified them, every one
of them. He also glorified. Well, what
shall we say to these things? Well, if God be for us, if God
knows us and loves us and makes us objects of his grace, who
can be against us? Who can be against us? So Paul
answers that question. Even though Israel was chosen
from among the nations. Even though Israel had the prophets
and the promises. Even though Israel had the law
and the tabernacle. Even though Israel knew the true
God and heard the gospel. They didn't believe. And they
weren't his people. Because my sheep hear my voice. And they follow me. And I give
them eternal life. Turn to Romans 2. Listen to this. Romans chapter 2, verse 28. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly. That doesn't make a man a Jew.
Romans 2, verse 28. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
Many of those people were outwardly Jews, but not inwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but true circumcision is a rending
of the heart, an operation on the heart. the cutting away of
the flesh of the heart. He is a Jew. He is an Israelite,
which is one inwardly, known of God, loved of God, predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Christ, called of God, justified
of God. Circumcision is that of the heart,
in the spirit, not the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. Now Romans 9, verse 6 and 7,
listen. We read that a while ago about
what the Jews had. Romans 9, verse 4 and 5, the
fathers, the prophets, now read verse 6, Romans 9, 6. Not as
though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not
all Israel which are of Israel. Oh, that clears it up, doesn't
it? Israel had all these advantages, and all of these prophets, but
they didn't believe. And therefore they're not all
Israel, which are of Israel, verse 7, neither because they're
the seed of Abraham, or they're all children. But in Isaac, the
miraculous birth, the promised son, born supernaturally by the
power of God. That's his seed. That's whom
he foreknew. And so he says here, Israelite,
Gentile, whomever, my people are those whom I foreknew. My
people are those whom I love with an everlasting love. My
people are those whom I've chosen and given to Christ, and that's
true Israel. spiritual Israel, and God's never
cast away any of them. I'll never leave you, and never
forsake you. You see back here in our text
in Romans 11, even old Elijah, it says here, verse 2, God hath
not cast away his people whom he foreknew he can and won't
have given to Christ. Do you not know what the scripture
says of Elijah? He made intercession to God,
for Israel, no, against them. He didn't pray for these rebels,
he prayed against them. Instead of praying for them,
he talked about their idolatry and their blasphemy, their contempt
and their unbelief, and he too thought God was through with
all of them. For he said, Lord, verse 3, they killed your prophets,
destroyed your altars, and I am the only one left. You're through
with Israel. There's not a soul in Israel
that belongs to you but me. Well, he was wrong, wasn't he?
But that's what he thought. That's what he thought. And I
know some sovereign gracious who think that today, that they're
the only ones. But what came the answer? What's
the answer God gave to Elijah when he made that statement?
How'd God answer him? What saith the answer of God
to him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not
bowed the knee to the image of Babel. Elijah, you're not alone. I have chosen and called and
foreknew and reserved to myself 7,000 men that you don't even
know about. God will not cast away any whom
He foreknew. And today, even though it seems
quite dark in most places, the Lord has a people whom He foreknew,
whom He gave to Christ, for whom our Lord suffered, and their
names are Israel, the seed of Christ. For it says in verse
5, even so at this present time, right now my friend, thank God,
in Paul's day and my day, even so at this present time there
is a remnant, there is a minority I know among living, breathing,
walking adults. But that remnant, that minority,
That people are chosen of God from the foundation of the world
and given to Christ is according to an election of
grace. Bound to give thanks to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the
beginning chosen you. God chose us. God chose us in
Christ. God chose us from the beginning.
God chose us to make us like Christ, to conform us to His
image. And God chose us according to
the good pleasure of His own will. It's the election of grace. Turn to Romans 9 again. You can't
preach Scripture without Scripture. The best commentary on Scripture
is the Scripture. There's a remnant according to
the election of grace. Romans 9 verse 10, And not only
this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even our father
Isaac, the children, twins, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, the election of grace, might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, it was said to the mother, The elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. And what shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? Here he goes again,
God forbid. How can you accuse God of being
unfair? He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, It's not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth
mercy. Mercy is of God, according to
His will, His purpose, not our will, His will. For the Scripture
saith to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised you
up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy. and whom He will, He'll harden.
You see, this election of grace is not based on our will or our
works, but solely on God's will, God's grace, and God's purpose
given us in Christ before the world began. That's what Paul
said to Timothy over there in 2 Timothy 1. He said to Timothy, In 2 Timothy chapter 1, don't
be ashamed of the gospel, verse 8, nor of me, his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who saved us, listen,
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ. before the world began. At this present time, right now,
here, all over this world, there's a remnant. And it's according
to His purpose, His will, and the election of grace. Thank
God for the election of grace. Christ is my first elect, God
said, Then He chose us in our head. Now listen to verse 6. And if this election of grace
is by grace, if it's all of grace, if salvation is by God's grace
alone, then it's no more of works. Then our works and our deeds
and our merit is not involved in any way, is it? If God chose us before we were
born, What happened after we were born made no contribution
to His choosing us. If God chose us before the foundation
of the world and gave us to Christ based on His merits and His blood
and His righteousness and His deeds and His love, not our love,
we didn't love Him. Not our choice, we didn't choose
Him. Not our seeking Him, there's none that seek God. Not our works. We didn't have any. It's all
of grace. And if it's of grace, it's not
of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace. You know what it says?
If it's of grace, it's not of works. Otherwise, grace is not
grace. If our salvation comes to us
by our works, by our decision, by our assistance, if we make
what God will, to be put in operation. It's not grace. It's got to be
like a free gift. Bought, paid for, wrapped up,
and given. If you reach in your pocket and
hand me anything, it's not a gift. If I hold it back and say, now,
I've got this all ready for you, my buddy, but you're going to
have to get on your knees and beg me for it. That's not grace. You'll be willing. If you cherish the gift and know
your own poverty, you'll receive it. If you can find any reason in
you, about you, of you, why God should save you and make you
an object of His blessings and give you to Christ other than
His own will, His own purpose and His own grace. You've missed
grace. You've fallen from grace. It's
not grace. That verse is so plain, read
it again. If it's by grace, it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is not grace.
But if it be of works, then forget the grace. I wish preachers today,
what they preach, would quit using the word grace. It's not
grace, it's works. You do this and God will do that.
That's not grace, that's works. God's done all He can do, now
it's up to you. That's not grace, that's works. God's got it all
packaged up and sitting on a shelf. You have to come and pay for
it. I'm sorry, that's not grace. Verse 7, what then? Those who heard, those who labored
and worked, they have not obtained that which they seek for, but
the election hath obtained it, and the rest are blinded. We
conclude four things from all that the apostles said. Listen
to these four things. I'll let you go. I conclude four
things. Number one, God hath not cast
away anybody whom he foreknew. whether they're found among Jew
or Gentile. Christ prayed in John 17, Father,
you've given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal
life to as many as you gave me, all whom you foreknew. And I
pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast given
me. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. And I have manifested
your word to them. God has not cast away his people. Israel had not obtained what
they sought for. You know why? They sought it
by works and not by faith. That's why. Look back at Romans
9. Romans 9, verse 30. Listen to
this. Romans 9, verse 30. What shall
we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness,
have attained to righteousness. Even the righteousness which
is the faith, the faith of Christ. But Israel, which followed after
the law, had the tabernacle and the priest. They have not attained
to the law of righteousness. Why? Wherefore? They sought it
not by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. That's
the problem. Can't have grace and works. And
Israel did not attain what they sought. Righteousness, acceptance
with God. Why? They sought it through works.
The stupid, ignorant, lawless Gentiles, they have attained to righteousness.
Why? They believe God. They believe
Christ. Isn't that something? These people
promoted and programmed and ceremonialized and did all these things to find
acceptance with God and lost it. These folks over here, God
called them, gospel preached to them, they said, praise God,
I believe that. Righteous. The third thing, verse 7, Israel hath not obtained
what they seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it. What
shall we say that Abraham our father hath obtained? Righteousness.
How did he get it? By works? No, by faith. He believed
God. Counted to him for righteousness.
And what's this last line? And the rest were blinded. The
election, the election of God, people whom he foreknew, people
whom he chose, people whom he gave to Christ, they have attained
righteousness by faith. And the rest, wherever you find them, are blinded,
groping in darkness. And the very things that ought
to be the means of grace have become stumbling blocks and snares. And today preachers are reading
the Word, they're going through the motions,
they're making signs, they're making prayers, but they're seeking
acceptance with God in those things. And those things The reading
of the word ought to point me to Christ. Prayer ought to lead
me to Christ. The law, instead of being a standard
by which I live, is a standard by which I am shut up and stripped
and sent to Christ. And these very things that ought
to be means of grace become stumbling blocks. And the people are blinded. You can't see. 512. Let's sing that hymn in
closing. 512. Saved by grace. Saved by grace. An election of
grace. If it's grace, it's not work.
It's not work. It doesn't contribute one thing.