Romans chapter 11, we're still in it. Still in Romans chapter 11 for another week after this, it looks like. Paul is arguing in Romans chapter 11 about Israel's future restoration. And that's simply how I've titled our notes. There's notes in the back if you don't have one. Israel's future restoration. And first in chapter 11, he presented five arguments. for why Israel as a nation will be restored. The five arguments he presented were all based on human reasoning. First of all, he said example number one, Exhibit A, was himself. He was a Jew and he was saved. So God wasn't finished with the nation of Israel. He wasn't finished with the Jews as a people yet, because there are still saved Jews in our day as well. So Paul said, even if there's one Jew, God is not finished with Israel. Secondly, Paul argued from using Elijah as an example about a saved remnant, saved remnant of Jews throughout all the ages. There's been more than one, is what Paul was saying, more than one, many more than one saved Jewish person. But then his third point, he argues, is he argues about the Jewish heritage. And it goes back to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the patriarchs and all the promises that God made to them. And in fact, That's one of the reasons why Paul wrote chapters 9, 10, and 11, because if God isn't faithful to his promises he made to Israel, then how can we know he's gonna, and please ignore that when that beeps. Somebody will get it, but that fire alarm is acting up. So, but if God's not faithful to Israel, what makes you think he's gonna be faithful to us as well or either? So Paul argues that now he's moving from the Jewish people to the Jewish nation. He argues the Jewish nation had the patriarchs and the promises, but his fourth point, is that God has the power to restore Israel. God is able. And he talks about there's a possibility. that God will restore the nation, a possibility. We talked about that last week, because God is able, He could do that. And we pray that way many times, because we don't know exactly what the Lord will do, but we do know He's able. And so we pray for people's healing, we pray for financial situations, we pray for unrest and unease in our world. And we know that God is able. So there's a possibility, Paul says, that God will restore the Jews. And then he talks about there's a probability, it's more than a possibility, because God's already done the more difficult thing. He saved many Gentiles. If you graph the Gentile, the wild, unruly olive branch back into the tree of salvation, wouldn't he be able to graft his own people in? So he's already done the most difficult. Along the way, and we covered this last week and a few weeks before this, along the way, Paul is, by this human reasoning, Paul is careful to point out that the Jew must be saved in exactly the same way as a Gentile must be saved. He says that in verse 23 of chapter 11. He says, and they also, referring to the Jew, chapter 11, verse 23, and they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in. Israel, God is able to graft them in, but only if they continue not in unbelief. Only if they continue not in unbelief, only if they believe. Paul says it negatively here to kind of emphasize it, but God's salvation plan has no exceptions. No exceptions, not even for God's beloved people, Israel. They must be saved. They must put their faith and trust in Lord Jesus Christ, for by grace, Are ye saved through faith? That's the same for everyone, Ephesians 2.8. So having carefully examined the human arguments, Paul then, the human arguments, showing that God is capable, Paul makes his categorical statement that Israel most certainly will be restored as a nation. Verse 26, he says, and so all Israel shall be saved. All Israel shall be saved. Let me pause for just a moment and tell a little story. Because every week as I'm preparing my sunny school notes, one of the first things I try to do is work on an outline. And sometimes that's the most difficult thing to do. The outline, I believe, is very important because it's like a roadmap of where we're going. A sunny school lesson is not just a bunch of random thoughts that are put together and spewed out there. But a roadmap, and of course, the master roadmap is right here in scripture. And so I'm looking carefully at what the author and the particular passage we're looking at has said, and try to put together an outline. But oftentimes, I'll look and see what other commentators have said for outlines. And I'll examine their notes and what they've said. And I'll study that over. And I did that this time. So I started working on an outline. The outline is, as I said, the hardest thing to do, and sometimes I write the outline as I go. I usually try not to do that, but sometimes I only have the first point, so I'll work on the first point, and pray the Lord gives me a second point as we work through the passage, as I study through the passage. But this time, I looked through my various commentators and references, and I didn't really see anything that was a decent outline for this passage of scripture we're looking at here, partly because This passage of scripture, really Romans 9, 10, 11, has been called the Roman's Wilderness. It's a passage of scripture that's often neglected and not studied very much. And there's quite a bit of controversy in these passages. And so I was looking through and I didn't find anything. And then you may remember this little sheet of paper. This piece of paper fell out of a book. that Brother Ard gave to me. Brother Ard loaned me a book on Romans, and it came from his father-in-law's library. Brother Huntress, his wife, is breaking up his library and giving away some of his books. And so Brother Ard came back with a couple books on Romans. And as he was bringing them in to me through the front door there, this little piece of paper fell out. And it's actually Brother Huntress's notes on, believe it or not, Romans chapter 11. And I thought, wow. I mean, when they first fell out, I told you all about that because I thought, Providence. Here's Brother Huntress's notes. And I studied over his notes. I used them a little bit in my first message I taught on Romans 11. I pulled these notes out again, and at the very bottom of the notes, so he preached through all of Romans 11 in one Sunday, Brother Huntress apparently did, but then at the very bottom, he's got just a few little lines written, because he outlined the very passage that we're talking about today. And I looked at this outline and I said, praise the Lord, I'm saved. I've got the outline. Now, I had to flesh it out, but the main points you'll see on the outline, the ones in bold, are Brother Huntress's points, and they fit perfectly in here, so thank you, Brother Huntress, for this outline. Divine prophecy, so we back up just a little bit and cover just briefly in a little different way a bit of material we covered last week. Divine prophecy, verse 26, Paul writes, and so all Israel, shall be saved. As it is written, they shall come out of Zion, the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." makes a prophetic statement. Now, you may not have thought of the Apostle Paul as a prophet. We usually think of prophets as being Old Testament. But this statement that Paul makes is not a forecast. Like, I think, or maybe, you know, there's a 20% probability, and that's the kind of forecast we have, or maybe 80%. Even when they say 100%, you know, it's never quite right. But this is not a forecast, not a prediction. It's not an opinion. that Paul gives. And it's not a conclusion from a careful scholarly study. Paul just simply states, all Israel shall be saved. The Lord must have told him that. Paul could have stated that earlier, couldn't he? I mean, we just spent quite a few weeks going over all the human arguments Paul made. Couldn't Paul have just said this at the beginning, all Israel will be saved? End of question. God said it, I believe it. That settles it. Well, not quite, I don't think. And I talked about that last week. Human reasoning is important. If we're going to reach our world, in our day, we're going to need to use human reasoning. We're going to have to meet human arguments with human reasoning. And Paul gives us a great example that we should be prepared to meet human objections to the gospel. We should know both what we believe and why we believe. We should know those things. That's why, may I say again, so important to be present in Sunday school. So important. We should know what we believe and why we believe it. So it's certainty. Paul just states it. All Israel will be saved. It's also A very clear statement, although people, men, have muddied it up somewhat. Who is Israel? All Israel shall be saved. You know, it may surprise you, but there's quite a few commentators out here who don't believe that chapter 11 is talking about the restoration of Israel as a nation. Quite a few commentators out there, and I take their objections seriously. When I see a commentator who's done some careful study, a man who professes to be a Christian, who's studying the Word of God, and they have some opinion that maybe I don't share, I look carefully at their arguments. Because I have a responsibility as a Sunday school teacher to teach as best I can what I believe to be the truth. And that's all I teach, for I believe to be the truth. But I was very happy when I saw Brother Huntress's notes that he agrees. Brother Huntress, a godly man of God, agrees that this passage talks about Israel's restoration as a nation. Israel. So who is Israel? As a nation of Israel. In the context of chapter 11, it can't be anything else. but the nation of Israel. Some people said Israel is a total number of gods redeemed, and they talked about the Israel of God being all the saved of all the ages, and I reject that from chapter 11. This is talking about the restoration of Israel as a nation. All Israel shall be saved. It can't be the total number of saved Jews, either. Some commentators say that's what it is. Because that doesn't make any sense. It doesn't fit into the context. I mean, how can their restoration be like restoration from the dead, like life from the dead, Paul says, if it's just simply adding one Jew at a time over the millennia of history? No, it must refer to a time, yet to be, coming in the future, when the vast majority of Jews who live at that time will embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The veil over their heart will be removed. The scales will fall from their eyes and the impact on the church will be incomparable. It'll be like life from the dead. What was dead now rises back up and the pews are filled with believing Jews. How are they saved? Well, this is spiritual salvation. All Israel shall be saved. That's what Paul's talking about. I mean, perhaps they'll be saved from physical death. Certainly some of them will be saved from physical death. Perhaps they're There's other ways you can be saved, but primarily, Paul is talking about spiritual salvation. He says, brother, my heart, prayer, and desire to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Chapter 10, verse 1. Finally, there's another question about clarity here, point 1b in your outline. Clarity, who is the all in the all? In other words, what does all mean? It says, all Israel shall be saved. You know, and I've been, around some who have said that all means all. I mean, what else can it mean? All means all, but not always. In fact, you gotta be careful in scripture. All doesn't necessarily mean all. All Israel will be saved. It's clear from what Paul's already said that this doesn't mean that every single individual is saved. It's only if they believe. Paul already said that in verse 23, only if they continue not in unbelief. Israel must turn to the Lord. If there's an individual who doesn't profess their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are not saved. All Israel refers to Israel as a nation. By and large, I believe that's majority. but not necessarily every single individual. All Israel shall be saved. There's not only a divine prophecy, but a divine plan. Verse 28. As concerning the gospel, Paul says, they, that is Israel, are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes, a divine plan. Paul's making a comparison here, and there's two parts. He talks about in the present, in the present. He really does two things at the same time here in verse 28. He begins to summarize the entire chapter, all of chapter 11, and He also provides an exposition on his prophetic statement. Paul made this statement in verse 26, all Israel shall be saved. And now he's going to expound upon it and explain it in some more detail. I like that when the apostle does that. And he does that frequently, making a statement and then expounding upon it. He says four, so he's explaining this. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. At the present time, there's a body of people we call the Jews who are regarded as enemies. They are not our enemies, all right? They are not our enemies. They are regarded as enemies by God, no less. They're regarded. They're not actual enemies. The verb here is passive. The verb is passive. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. Passive. They're regarded as enemies. It's in regard to the gospel or according to the gospel. So the bulk And we know this to be true. The bulk of the Jewish nation is outside of the church. There's just a small number, a remnant, who are saved. And it's because they have rejected the gospel. They've been cast off, cut off, in the present. But there's coming a day in the future. Israel will not always remain on the outside. As concerning the gospel, there are enemies for your sakes, Paul says, but then he gives you in the future. But as touching the election, They are beloved for the Father's sakes. Israel will not always be in the outside. They remain, Israel as a nation remains beloved for the Father's sakes. And so God's plan. God's design is for the future restoration of the vast majority of Jews who are alive at that time. That's God's choice. That's his election. And he talks about the fathers, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the first fruits, the root. Indeed, Paul will argue, and he's going to argue in just a minute, that God has a plan, amen? God has a plan, not only for Israel, but for us as well. Aren't you glad that God has a plan, a divine purpose? That's actually the last point on your outline, a divine purpose. You might call it the Apostle Paul's philosophy of history, a philosophy of history, and we'll get to that in a minute. But there's a divine prophecy, a divine plan, also a divine principle. In verse 29, Paul says, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, a divine principle, the gifts and calling of God. First, let's look at the call. Paul now explains how it can be true that Israel is regarded as an enemy. and yet by God, regarded as an enemy by God, and yet God still loves Israel as a people. And this is really another part of Paul's great theodicy. A theodicy as a word means a defense of God. And Paul, If God needed to be defended, he doesn't need to be defended, but if God did need to be defended, Paul would be a great lawyer to have. I mean, Paul rises to the defense whenever there's a... a claim or an accusation against God. Paul's right there. Paul's right there. And that's what he says here. He's explaining God's ways. How can God have the Jews as an enemy and yet they be beloved at the same times? You see, Paul explains that Israel received gifts from God the Father, they're incalculable gifts. This is my covenant, sorry, verse 29, for the gifts and calling to God are without repentance. Israel had received these gifts, incalculable gifts, priceless gifts, they're actually listed in Romans chapter 9. verses four and five, Paul says in Romans chapter nine, verse four, who are the Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises, whose are the fathers and of whom is concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. This is one of the best summaries of Israel's blessings that they received from the hand of the Father, God the Father. One of the best summaries in all of scripture in Romans chapter 9, specific gifts given to Israel as part of God's covenant, the adoption, the law, the divine glory that patriarchs promises, the lineage of the Messiah. You know, may I say that those gifts are priceless. Priceless. You can't put a value on them. Incalculable gifts. Israel also received the calling of God. Verse 29, the gifts and calling of God. The calling of God. God, in effect, called Israel as a nation out of darkness. and into God's marvelous light, the call. There's a song that the choir is often sung at missions conferences and other times, the master's call, the master's call. And part of it sounds like this. Can you hear the call? It's the master's call. Who will rise and give their all? Will you be the one to stand? Will you heed? The Master's call. We heed the Master's call. And Israel received the Master's call. What a blessing that was. You know, Christians, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you've received that call as well. Christians are the called. Paul says in Romans 8, 28, the called of God. That's a noun. They're the people of God because God has called them. And Israel certainly received this divine principle, the call. Paul says the certainty, divine principle, not only the call, but the certainty. Paul says the gifts and the calling of God to Israel are without repentance. Without repentance. That means, hey, They're absolute. God isn't going to give them and then take them back. No, no, no, no, no. God doesn't do that. They're without repentance. It must be that way because God is God, because who God's nature is, without repentance means without being sorry, without regret. Like, oh, what have I done? I gave all those promises to Israel, and they've squandered them, they've wasted them, they've abused them, and they have. That's the principle. God has no regrets. The gifts and calling of God are without regrets. What God has decided He's decided once and for all, there's no second thoughts with God, like us, you know. Maybe you've had that second thought. I bought my first house, and then I thought, I had second thoughts. Maybe you've done that too. Like, what have I done? I said, are there any outlets? I forgot to check for outlets in the walls. Maybe there's no outlets. I mean, of course, by building code, they have to have outlets. But I'm thinking, if they don't have any outlets, I'm in trouble. Regrets. We all have second thoughts. It's like human nature. As soon as you buy something, you have a second thought, or you see a better price. So second thoughts. But God has none. No second thoughts. No regrets. Nothing temporary. 100% certainty and assurance without repentance. There's an application here we can make even before we move on, and that's simply God is faithful. God is faithful. It's one of his attributes. God is faithful to preserve. God is faithful to discipline his people, and God is faithful, ultimately, to glorify his people. Arthur W. Pink writes this quote, I quote it in part. He says, unfaithfulness is one of the most outstanding sins of these evil days. Wow, unfaithfulness. Husbands are unfaithful, wives are unfaithful, children, church members are unfaithful. Unfaithfulness, Arthur W. Pink says, is one of the most outstanding sins of these evil days. How refreshing, he writes, then, and how blessed to lift our eyes above the scene of ruin. Lift our eyes above the scene of ruin and behold one who is faithful. One who is faithful in all things at all times. The gift and calling God are without repentance. We see then divine providence, verses 30 and 31. These two must be taken as a whole. They go together. Verse 30 says, for as, verse 31 says, even so. Paul says, on one hand, for as, and as even so, let's read those, for as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may have turned mercy, divine providence. In the past, first of all, in verse 30, the Gentiles clearly did not believe God in the past. For as ye, speaking to the Gentiles, he's writing to, as ye in times past have not believed God. This is understood not just to be An intellectual disbelief. I mean, unbelief is intellectual, but it's not simply an intellectual disbelief. It's an unwillingness to obey God's commands. An unwillingness. It's not just, hey, I don't like this idea. It's like, no, I'm not going to do it. Unbelief, unwillingness, disobedience. Paul's already mentioned this several times. Romans chapter 1, verse 5, he says, by whom? Romans 1, verse 5, by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith. God doesn't want you to believe up here. He wants you to obey and put some action to your feet. Obedience is the very best thing. And then I will obey right away. Romans 10, verse 16, Paul wrote, But they have not all obeyed the gospel. They have not all obeyed. Paul's reminding us here, even in verse 30, he's reminding us that faith is not simply intellectual. It also includes action. This word for not believe, verse 30, for as he in times past have not believed. That word for not believe implies resistance, resistance, an element of resistance. In other words, you did not, in the past, you did not allow yourself to be persuaded. You know, he said, no, I don't want to hear your arguments, Mr. Evangelist. I just don't want to hear any of that. I'm not going to, I'm, you know, I'm not going to be persuaded. You can't, nothing you can say. That's implied resistance. Did not believe. You refuse God. There's a time when the Gentiles were disobedient to God. Romans chapter one, verse 18. Wow, what a verse that is. It says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. But now, Paul says, but now in the present, you have obtained mercy, verse 30, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief. Obtained mercy, what's a Christian? A Christian, Paul says, simply stated, a Christian is a man, woman, or child who has obtained mercy. A Christian is a man, woman, or child who has obtained mercy. You see, grace, we talked a lot about grace. Grace is God's favor to the undeserving, and certainly that's something we have received, it's something we cherish, but mercy, is an aspect of grace. Mercy is grace shown to the pitiful. Shown to the pitiful. I mean, something so sad and so torn up and so unlovely and ugly that nobody could love it but God. I mean, that was us. That was the Gentiles. That was each of us before we were saved. We were pitiful. We needed mercy. Mercy from God. A. W. Tozer says, mercy, I like this definition. Mercy is an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature which disposes God to be actively compassionate. Mercy, an infinite, inexhaustible energy that disposes God to be actively compassionate. Exodus 33, verses 19 and 20 teaches that the very essence of God is mercy. God says, I will have mercy. upon whom I will have mercy. The very essence of God. Isaiah 57, 55-7 promises mercy to those who seek it. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him. And then Ephesians chapter two verse four tells us that God is rich in mercy. As Paul explains why the Gentiles, that God has granted mercy to the Gentiles because of the Jews' unbelief. Because they rejected God, God has turned to the Gentiles. That's divine providence, God's providence to the Gentiles. But there's also divine providence to the Jews as well. Verse 31, even so, Paul says, have these also now not believed. In the present, even so, Paul says, the Jews by and large remain locked in unbelief. They refuse to be persuaded. Perhaps you've had an opportunity to talk to a Jewish person about the Lord. They're difficult to talk to. Difficult to talk to. I've had that opportunity on a few occasions, even when they're friendly, even when they're a friend of yours. There's a resistance, a resistance there. Locked in unbelief, Paul says, in the present. But he completes his parallel he started, even so, the Gentiles obtain mercy through what happened to the Jews. And soon, the Jews will obtain mercy through what happened to the Gentiles. I mean, what happened to us? We got saved. And that's God's mercy to us. And soon the Jews will receive the same, their salvation. God alone. has mercy that leads to salvation. Now, each of us ought to be merciful. I'm not saying that we should not be merciful. Mercy, we want to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, and God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are both rich in mercy. We should be rich in mercy as well. We should be merciful, but that's not what Paul's not saying in verse 31. that through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy. Through my mercy, it's through the mercy that was shown to us. You know, we can be, and we should be merciful to others in need, but our mercy is not gonna save anyone. Salvation is of the Lord. Paul is not saying the Gentiles are going to save the Jews. It's not the Gentiles' mercy that's gonna bring the Jews back. It's God and God alone. Your mercy, the mercy that was shown to you will now be shown to the Jew. So now, finally, we look at this divine purpose. That's divine providence to the Gentile, divine providence to the Jew. And then verse 32, for God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. This is, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. If you've listened to some of those, if you're an oldie, if you listen to some of that Paul Harvey stuff, the rest of the story, it's a summation of the summation. Paul's been given a summation of the chapter, now he's given a summation of the summation of one verse. a summation of the entire chapter, and, I might add, as only the Apostle Paul could do, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul presents before us, verse 32, a fundamental proposition for understanding all of Scripture, a fundamental proposition for understanding all of scripture, right? It's one verse. You think, wow, I've read that before. Where is it? For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. And Paul is saying, God is not through with the Jew. You see, the Gentile church is not the end of the story. There's more to this story. The nation of Israel will be restored in the near future. Israel as a nation is not the Israel Paul's talking about. Israel, you read about in the paper, you see fighting the Arabs or doing whatever and taking elections. That's not Israel Paul's talking about. Paul's talking about a future day when Israel as a nation, by and large, will be saved. But Paul here, in this one verse, provides a remarkable explanation of God's great and eternal purposes. It's a broad view, in one verse, of all of history, a philosophy of history. Wow, one sentence, 15 words in English. How could the Apostle Paul do that? I don't know, but here's some of the points. You could spend a long time on this one verse, but we won't. But number one, Paul says God has a plan, a great plan, and a purpose. that will be carried out, for God hath concluded them all in unbelief." That's God's plan, that's his purpose, that he might have mercy upon all. God's purpose, God has a plan, God is in control. Everything, point two, is under God's hand. God reigns and lives and is over all. The Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. The Lord reigneth. God is in control. Thirdly, we might note from this verse, that salvation is of the Lord. This verse is all about God and God alone. Salvation is of the Lord. It's through his mercy that we are saved. Fourthly, nothing is impossible with God. He's able. God can save anyone. God can save anyone. He could save Vladimir Putin if he so desired. God can save anyone. The worst enemy you can think of, the worst person you have at work, God can save them. No one is out of God's reach, amen? No one. God is able. Even it says, God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. There's a fifth point here, very important. A fifth principle, Paul's philosophy of history. It simply stated that things are not always what they appear to be on the surface. Things are not always what they appear to be on the surface. There's something deeper. Something deeper. It appears the Jews are lost. It appears sometimes God is through with the Jew, but things are not what they appear to be on the surface. God is at work behind the scenes. We must understand this verse, verse 32. if we're going to understand why Paul breaks spontaneously into a doxology of praise and worship in verse 33. So let's look at not only the rest of the story, but the rest of the details. The rest of the details concluded. Verse 32, for God hath concluded. And that means simply shut up together. That's a word in the King James language that's changed meanings. in our time. So you need to look that up in the back of your dictionary. If you have a dictionary in the back, I have a little archaic dictionary. You need to look that up because it means shut up together. God's shut up the Jew and the Gentile together. Well, then let's look at another question. Who is the all? God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. That's a very important word. In the context, Paul is speaking of the world at his time. all in the world at his time was Jews and Gentiles. That was all. He's talking about Jews and Gentiles, people of all sorts. God has shut them up in all types and all kinds. God has shut up all peoples in unbelief, not necessarily every single individual. The all doesn't mean every single individual, it's referring to types. Jews and Gentiles, God has shut them up on unbelief that he might have mercy upon Jews and Gentiles. Otherwise, if you accept all, to mean all, then it says God will have mercy upon all That's universalism, which we absolutely and utterly reject. We reject universalism as unbiblical. It doesn't mean everyone will be saved. If all meant all, every individual, every person would be saved, and that's not what this means. He's talking about types. The scripture saith, Romans 10, verse 11, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. So the all that God has mercy upon is not, that God has mercy on, the second all, it's not everyone in the universe, but all who call upon him. God has shut up both Jew and Gentile in unbelief that he might have mercy upon each of those groups in exactly the same way. Why? In the world, would God shut up all in unbelief? Isn't that contrary to God's ultimate purpose? Why would he shut someone up in unbelief? Not at all, I would argue, not at all. A violent rejection of the gospel may be a good sign. Violent rejection of the gospel may be a good sign. One notable example, the Apostle Paul. I mean, he was going around breathing fire and slaughtering Christians and hauling them off to prison. And God got a hold of his heart, didn't he, and saved him. You know, the real enemy is indifference. Indifference. Like, yeah, I don't care. Indifference. We knock on doors. Indifference. It's rare you get someone who's angry at you. Rare, at least in our part of the country. It's not true everywhere. indifference. Indifference is a real enemy. Consider opposition to the gospel. A part of God's method simply is allow things to go to the limit in the enemy's favor. And then when everyone says it's over, God arises and his enemies are scattered. God works in his own mysterious ways, and he always receives a glory when all seems hopeless, when all is shut up in unbelief. In our age, it seems like increasingly so. We're shut up in unbelief. But suddenly, God appears, the church is revived, and we see that over and over again in history. One day soon, Paul says, the Jews, as a people, will be brought into the church. What a glorious day that'll be. We will feel, those who are alive, Christians who are alive at that day, and I suppose everyone looking down from heaven itself, if that's what we do, I don't know if that is or not, but we'll feel it's exactly like life. from the dead, life from the dead. Wow, look at this. We thought the case was hopeless, and now Israel has been restored. Israel's future restoration. May that day come soon. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, what a glorious day that will be when the nation of Israel is saved and restored into the church of Jesus Christ, when the vast majority of Jews alive at that day, put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Lord, until then, help us to be faithful in our own day, our own age. Lord, the time you've given to us, help us to be faithful, sharing the gospel, Lord, help us to be faithful stewards. of the sacred trust that you've given to us. Now, I pray that you would speak to us in the service that follows through the preaching, teaching of your word, Lord, I pray that you might lift up our hearts, our voices, our minds and worship. Lord, may all the sin and done bring praise, honor, glory to the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For it is his name that we pray, amen.