Well, this morning we're in our 22nd session on what it means to be reformed. And I've been trying to bring to your attention something which I think should bring you great joy, not only at this Christmas season, but as you live your life in the years to come. And that is that God has great purposes through our Lord Jesus Christ to save many people among the nations, that this present evil age is not going to end in a whimper, but there's going to be a glorious period of time toward the end of this age which many Reformed theologians have called the latter day glory of the church. You and I need to believe this because this was a doctrine that was really discovered from the Bible and set forth by the Puritans in the 17th century quite extensively and then largely lost in the middle 1800s at the advent of premillennial dispensationalism, which is the, by the way, the prophetic scheme which most believers hold to in our present day, unfortunately. Because both with regard to amillennialism and premillennialism, you will notice that there is not a lot of hope for the future in their eschatology. But the Bible knows nothing of that. The Bible says that there are going to be great and mighty things that take place in the earth, great works of conversion. among many nations, even the conversion of nations at large, where a majority of people in those nations shall come to know the Lord." That's what I've been trying to show you over the last two sessions. Why am I doing that in relation to what it means to be reformed? It's because I believe that we need to have this expectation as Reformed Baptists. We need to see that even though things are so dark and difficult in the day in which we are living, that it will not always be this way. And we need to pray for the hastening of this day to come. There will be a set time when this time period shall come, when Christ shall conquer among the nations, and when a nation will be born in a day." These are the kind of things that are not discussed much because they are not generally understood much in our day, and yet there ought to be this tremendous hope. It was called the Puritan Hope by Ian Murray who wrote a whole book about it. There are many writings about it which have largely been lost to the church. There have been whole books of commentary by Thomas Scott, the great commentator, which are not republished any longer because they are post-millennial in their view of eschatology. that we have this great expectation as a church. We should have this great expectation as a church, and this is what I'm attempting to prove to you, and that's why I'm including it in what it means to be Reformed. Because why? Because I would like many Reformed churches to come to this perspective that I'm laying before you, have been laying before you over the past two sessions, and will continue to do so today. Now this morning I want you to turn with me back over to Romans chapter 11. I began to show this to you last Sunday. I want to attempt to bring it to your attention here today. Romans chapter 11 verses 1 to 5. And I'm going to read these verses that I'm discussing today for the sake of time so I can make more headway here today. I love to have you all read. And I'm going to do that in the future too, but today I feel like it would be good if I could just read some of these verses for you so that I can make some fast tracks in the Word of God. Chapter 11 of Romans verse 1, I say then as God cast away his people, Certainly not, for I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life? But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so, then, watch this, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded or hardened. just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their back always. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and save some of them. For if they're being cast away, now he's just mentioned that they weren't cast away, but now he's mentioning that they were cast away. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be? In other words, there's something future coming. What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? And if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them. He's talking about us Gentiles. and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Do not boast against the branches, but if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." In other words, the Jews support us. It was Jews who were apostles and Jesus was a Jew. You will say, then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said! Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell, severity, but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. If you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. Oh, what a great mystery it is. Lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel, and this whole context shows and proves he's not speaking of spiritual Israel, he's speaking of the Jews. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written, watch this, this is an act. The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Concerning the gospel, they, that is the Jews, are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved. for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. In other words, God doesn't take back what he once began, what he once started. Now there's some things here that you and I need to see and to understand about Israel. Israel is an elect nation, as I said to you last Sunday. an elect nation. God chose Israel out of all the nations of the earth and set his love upon them alone. He did not set his love upon anyone else except whom he brought into their group, into their nation. The proselytes like Ruth, Amoebitus, or Rahab, the harlot, or others. God just simply says in Acts 17, He passed them by. For a whole millennia He passed them by. He did not set His love on the nations of the world. He let them go their own way. He let them do their own thing. He didn't do really anything savingly with them to amount to a great thing that we would all be impressed with in terms of numbers. We need to understand that. We need to understand this in terms of the doctrine of election. That God is not done with this old world, and that He is going to save many. And you know who He's going to begin with? He's going to begin with the Jews. And He's going to begin with them because they are the most unworthy of any, not because they're worthy of it. But I want to try to show you this from the Scriptures, not just simply because I'm asserting it. Let him who asserts prove. Or as Albert Martin used to say, show me the book. So I will. I want you to turn with me over to Zechariah chapter 12. Zechariah chapter 12. And I want to show you something that's never taken place in the history of the world, and certainly not in the history of the Jews. Zechariah chapter 12, and I want to read verses 7 to 14. Now this is showing us here what the Lord will do in the coming day in the conversion of the Jews as a nation. says thus all Israel shall be saved. He doesn't mean all the elect will be saved, all spiritual Israel will be saved. You can't possibly mean that in the context of those verses. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in a spiritual Israel of God because the Bible specifically mentions it in the book of Galatians. But we won't go into that right now. I want you to see here that the Lord has the power to save not only just a few people, but he has the power to save great numbers of people at the same time. It says in verse 7 here, the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the one who is feeble among them, and that day will be like David. And the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them." Now if that isn't mighty language, I don't know what, but that is mighty language. And it shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look on me whom they pierced, and they will mourn. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son. and they will grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. And in that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Ramon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself." Watch this, every family by itself. The family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves. The family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves. All the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves. Now that's meant to give us here a picture. It's meant to give us a picture of a tremendous work of God that takes place among ethnic Israel. Not among the Gentiles, certainly. Among ethnic Israel, which has never happened in the history of the world, but will someday. The deliverer will come out of Zion. The deliverer will come out of Zion. That is, in the preaching of the gospel, Zion is a picture of the New Testament church, as well as the Old Testament, literally, where the temple was built. And we need to see that God will do these great things in a day. In a day. God can save... Maybe we ought to start small first. Maybe I've scared you too much this morning. I'm sorry if I have. I don't mean to do that. But why don't you turn with me over to Acts chapter 11 and verse 13. Acts chapter 11 and verse 13. I think we ought to start a little bit smaller. How about households? Let's go for households. Acts chapter 11 verse 13. Well, I need to show you the household here of Cornelius. It says, verse 12, Then the Spirit told me to go with them. Doubting nothing, moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house, that is, Cornelius' house, and he told us how, Peter is speaking now, and he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. And then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us, and we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was I that I could withstand God? and when they heard these things they became silent and they glorified God saying then God is granted also also granted granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. Now you remember this this man Cornelius was an exceptional man he often prayed to God he often fasted he was a worshiper of God and yet he was not saved why not was because he'd never heard the gospel about Jesus Christ. So Peter had to preach to him words by which he would be saved. He and his whole house, his whole household. Look at Acts 16. Acts 16 verse 31. Oh, these are precious things. Acts 16 31. So they said, This is to the Philippian jailer after the earthquake that opened all the doors and set everybody free. And they didn't go because Paul told them not to. They just witnessed this earthquake. And Paul said, no, we're all here. We're not going to go anywhere. But then he said, what must I do to be saved? And this is what he says. He called for a light. He ran in, verse 29, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you and you will be saved and your household. So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house. And he took them the very same hour and washed their stripes. And immediately he and his family were baptized. Just like that. No waiting. They were baptized. When he brought them into his house, he set food before them and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. That's really precious. I love it. I love it. So what I'm trying to show you here is on a very elementary level that God is able to save more than one person at a time. I've already asserted to you in past sessions that he does save one person at a time. That's how he saves as he liked. But he is not constrained to save one at a time. He can save many at a time, is what I'm trying to bring to your attention. And he can do so all at once, all at the same time. Now, what happened on the day of Pentecost? Do you remember that? Peter preached one sermon. And how many people were saved that day? 3,000 people were saved in one day, one sermon. baptized and added to the church. Oh, these are good things to think about. Let me give you a whole bunch more verses, which I don't have time to give you, but I'll start, okay? I'll start. I want you to turn with me over to Isaiah chapter two, and we'll look at this verse again, probably look at it from the context of Micah the next time, but Isaiah chapter two in verses one to four, and then I'll close. Isaiah chapter two, and verses 1 to 4. I'm trying to make a case now that God can save many, many people all at the same time, even though now in our days He's not doing that. In fact, conversion work has become rarer and rarer in our country in these days. You rejoice when you hear of one person converted. Well, look how it'll be in a coming day here. This is Isaiah chapter 2 verses 1 to 4. The word of Isaiah that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem now shall come to pass in the latter days. Now don't let that phrase throw you. The latter days. The latter days means the latter days of this present age is what it means. In other words, it doesn't always mean when it says the last day or the latter days. It doesn't always mean the whole church age. from beginning to end. But it may mean a more specific time within this present evil age. And that's what it means. And it says, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains. Now what are mountains a picture of? Before I close here. They're a word picture and they're meant to represent what? kingdoms or nations. That's what they're meant to represent. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house, that is His church, His kingdom, shall be established on the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow to it. Has that happened? Not in the history of the world. Not thus far. Many people shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law." There it is again. For out of the church, that is out of God's people, Jew and Gentile, for God has broken down the barrier between Jew and Gentile, made them one new man. The word of the Lord shall come from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many nations and rebuke many peoples. Notice the language. and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore." Oh wow, I wish I had an hour to preach to you on this, but I don't. I only want to give you a taste of what the Bible says in regard to these good things, and then hopefully that you will come to believe in them as something that the Lord will do. maybe even in our own day. Well, let's pray together. We thank you, Lord, for the study in your word. We thank you for the expectancy and the great hope that it gives to your church, your people. that your kingdom shall be established on the top of the mountains, and that all nations shall flow to it. And Lord, we know we've never seen anything like that in the history of the church. But we do expect it, and we expect it because you promise it. And so we pray that we would have this great working in our heart to believe the promises of you, our God, of the great things that are coming because of Jesus Christ, our Lord. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.