Good morning. Let's ask the Lord's blessing. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for today. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us. Thank you for this word that you've given to us and made it available to us so freely. Thank you for the opportunity we have this morning, Lord, to continue to discuss your word. Help us, Lord, to see the applications of it in our life and that we might live a life worthy to be called a Christian. And Lord, I pray these things, and I ask forgiveness of sin in Jesus' name. Amen. Romans chapter 11. This may be not a great way to teach, but I'm going to try something. I'm going to go to the conclusion today, and then in subsequent studies, work back to that conclusion. The title is, And So All Israel Will Be Saved, Romans 11, 26. And this lesson will be somewhat, at least for me, anti-climatic because how many times have I said, wait till we get to chapter 11? Well, we're at chapter 11. So there we are. One of my favorite quotes, supposedly from Yogi Berra, is when you come to a fork in the road, take it. And the fork in the road is, who is Israel? So all Israel will be saved. So who is Israel? And some well-respected men that I have listened to, read their articles, read their commentaries, they are as amazed about people like me as I am about them. And what I mean by that, they say things like, what's the question? Israel is Israel, you idiot. Don't you know Israel is Israel? Everybody knows that Israel is now that country in the Middle East formed in 1948, calls itself Israel. And everybody knows that is a direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Everybody knows that. In fact, I had a very... It didn't get mean or anything, but I had a very interesting discussion with a young preacher in Kentucky some years ago. And that was his whole basis for believing what he did about the future, was that that country over there, in the Middle East, that's Israel. And it calls itself Israel, but I maintain it has nothing to do with Old Testament Israel or any prophetic Israel. And I'm very glad for that democratic nation. I'm pro-Israel in that sense. But in my belief, they are not, quote, God's people. They're people, they're politicians that make political decisions that we are involved in. Because that's their view of that nation over there. So, we'll come back to some of that later. But if a person comes to verse 26 of chapter 11, and they have not gone through chapters 1, through 10, and especially chapters 9 and 10. And they haven't spent any time in the book of Galatians. They've got a preconceived notion. They already know that Israel in chapter 11, verse 26, is ethnic Israel. Then there's not much you can do. Their mind's made up. I quote Mr. Alexander often on this, but he says, never underestimate the power of a preconceived notion. You can discuss things with people, but if their mind is fixed, then you're just wasting your time. You're not going to make any progress with them. And I say this kind of as a disclaimer. They might say that about me, but I have my position because I've studied it and I've spent a lot of time considering alternatives. It's not something, I don't believe it because that's just what I've always believed. And so I try to be fair with that. And I went through some time ago a set of principles of interpretation. I'm not going to go back through that. But one of the main principles of interpretation of the Bible is how do you view the Bible? What is it about? is the Bible mainly about a people called the Jews. And then in the progress of time and history, the church came into being. And then after what is called a parenthesis period, the church goes away and then it's back to the Jews again. That's a major view of the Bible. That everything in the Bible is primarily about the Jews. My view is that the Bible is primarily about the church. It's about the church. And I find the church, not the corporate body, not like this group meeting in this room this morning, that's the visible local manifestation of the body of Christ. That's the church. But there is a church called the invisible church, the church of the redeemed, the church of all the people from Adam until the last one of God's elect are called and justified, and it's all over with. That's the church I'm referring to. And there are some who get almost angry when you talk about the church in the Old Testament. But I see the church in that universal sense in the Old Testament. And we'll spend some more time on that in a little while. But I think because the focus of the Bible, in my understanding, is on the church, that you must see that there are two Israels in Scripture. We'll spend more time on that later too. But, there is that nation, there is that ethnic Israel, there is those people called the Jews, those people that Paul refers to as his kinsmen according to the flesh. And that is an Israel. There is another Israel that is the Church. And Galatians 6.16 calls it the Israel of God, referring to the Church. That's the Israel that I think we're getting to in chapter 11 and verse 26. It is also my view that all of the promises made to ethnic Israel have either been fulfilled or forfeited. There is nothing yet in the future for national Israel. Now that is radically different from what most people, a lot of people that I know, believe. But I'm trying to be, I'm just telling you what I honestly believe. And I'm not trying to be argumentative or ugly or anything, but this is not a new thing that I've just come up with. All of the promises of land restoration and so on were contingent on obedience. And can anybody read the Bible and maintain that the Jews as a people were obedient? They forfeited the promises that God had made. We've looked at... I've got ahead of my notes here. We're going to look at a passage in Galatians in just a little while that I think establishes the church concept in the Old Testament. God has one method of saving sinners. And again, this makes some people upset when I say, if you say God is going to have mercy in the matter of justification on a people because of who they are, then that's not grace. Every person that God saved, and I'm going to use the word justified, Not to be technical, I think everybody in this room knows what I mean by justification. Some of the people out here may not hear this. But justification is always opposite of condemnation. There are those who are guilty. We come into this world condemned. We come into this world guilty. And by an act of God, in mercy, in grace, He calls out His people and He declares them not guilty. And they are then, quote, justified. So that's what I mean by saved here. And again, I think an awful lot of people confuse God's choosing of a people, setting up a nation, giving them law, giving them dietary restrictions, giving them circumcision, giving them the Sabbaths, And all of that was a great privilege. And they confuse that with people who are then individually justified. And it doesn't track. But that's where I think a lot of the confusion comes in. Because God chose these people and used them, then they were justified. And that's never been the case. There were individuals, the remnant within that body, that were justified. But not as a people. Central to my argument is the view that all the scriptures show that God does not make any distinction between Gentiles, non-Jews, and Jews. And so when you come to chapter 11 verse 26, to me it doesn't follow that then now you make a distinction. that God is going to make a distinction because they're Jews. Nothing could be clearer. I'm going to run through quite a few scriptures and I encourage you to find them if you choose and read them along with me. But these scriptures that show that God does not have partiality as far as individuals are so strong. When you pile them up, It just overwhelms me. And again, I'm not trying to be... I don't know what I'm trying not to be other than just be ugly or mean, but I don't see why people can't see it. But they say the same thing about me. I found at least 30 references. I really like my computerized PC Bible study. You can click on a concordance, put a word in, and before you can blink, you've got all of these references and then you can highlight them and click them and whatever you want to do with them, print them out. I can't imagine what these old translators and Bible scholars like Strong and Cruden, Young, how did they do all that they did and they didn't have a computer? Computers were hundreds of years away when they did their work. And yet they were meticulous in their searching the Scriptures and compiling these lists. Those tools are invaluable. And now you've got them in your computer. It's wonderful. But I'll give you a few and make a few comments. And again, if you want to follow, that's your choice. In Matthew 8, and I'm under the theme here of God makes no distinction in the matter of who he justifies. In Matthew 8 at verse 11, Jesus says, And I say to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Now, Jesus here is referring to some of the Jews. So the idea that all the Jews have some special privilege, Jesus was already dealing with that before Paul came on the scene. And then in Romans. We're in Romans, but there's quite a bit in Romans that, as I said, If you read through Romans very carefully with these thoughts in mind, you will build an overwhelming case that God does not show partiality. In the first chapter, verse 5, through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. among whom you also are the called." And you do some study of this. The Jews were the called of God. And now Paul is using that same term, and he's referring not just to Jews, but to all nations, to the Gentiles. You also are the called of Jesus Christ to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. And the makeup of that body in Rome was Gentile and Jews together. And when we get over into chapter 14, you're going to see why that is so important. Because here are people with basic cultural conflicts. And Paul is saying, if you are a Christian, you must get along. You must live together. You must submit to one another. And we'll get to that. So that's where Paul, in writing Romans, deals with the concept of Gentiles. I'm sorry, Jews. I'm cross-eyed at this moment. In Romans 1 and verse 13. That I might have some fruit among you also, just as among other Gentiles. How many times have we read verses 16 and 17, but one more time. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. You see, Paul is going to be building his case on whomever calls, everyone. This is not a Jewish thing, it's for everyone. For everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Move on to chapter 2, verse 8. But to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. Romans 2 at verse 28. For he is not a Jew, the one who praises God, the Jew. He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, Nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God." And circumcision was extremely important to the Jews. But Paul is saying here that you can be physically established as a Jew and still not be a Jew. You can still not be one who praises God, but the one who praises God is the one who, that symbol of circumcision, that your heart has been circumcised, now you are a Jew. And that's what he's saying there, I believe. In chapter 3, verse 21, Now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed. being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. And he started out saying that this Gospel is based on the Prophets who witnessed to Jesus Christ. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. Then in verse 29 of chapter 3, Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. And in Paul's terminology, when he refers to the circumcised, he is talking about the Jews. And the uncircumcised, he is talking about the non-Jews. clearly said that there's one God and it's by faith. It's by faith of those who are circumcised, the Jews, and it's by faith of those who are not Jews. It's by faith. In chapter 4, verse 9, does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only? Is it only for the Jews? Or, upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And his point again, that being a physical Jew has nothing to do with faith. We be Abraham's children. Okay, then you must have the faith of Abraham. Not just be in the lineage by your parentage, your parents, of being a Jew. You must have the faith of Abraham. Then you are a child of Abraham. Then you are the seed of Abraham. Chapter 4, verse 16. And I'm skipping over a lot of these. There's a bunch of them. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. All believers are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of the faithful. Chapter 9, verse 6. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. And I know I've said this dozens of times, but how can a person read their Bible and maintain that because they are ethnic Jews that they are the children of God? How can you do that? When Paul could not be clearer when he said they're not the children of God, not because of how they were born. And then chapter 10, verse 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." And we can move on. I'm going to move on more rapidly. But 1 Corinthians 7. Chapter 7. 1 Corinthians 7. Verse 19. Same author, Paul. addressing this ethnicity question. And he says circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. You can't count on those things. Don't put your trust in things of who you are. In Galatians chapter 1 verse 6. Now Paul in Galatians is dealing with a problem of those Judaizers, those people who were going about saying that you people who were Jews, who are Jews, and now you claim to be Christians, wait a minute, that's not enough. You must be circumcised. And Paul says that's another gospel. And so in Galatians 1 at verse 6, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again. If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." That's strong language. And then in chapter 2 of Galatians, God shows no personal favoritism to man. That's verse 6. And on and on we could go. But I'm going to spend just a little more time on this chapter 4 in Galatians. I know I've read it before. But I'm trying to make the case that there is a concept of the church in the Old Testament. And those who hold the opposing view argue that there is no church in the Old Testament. None at all. No idea of church in the Old Testament. And I'm arguing that yes, there is. If you define the church as I have defined it, as those who are true believers by faith, that that is the church that's talked about. So in Galatians 4, verse 21, again the same apostle Paul is writing, Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. Hagar and Sarah. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. This is an allegory. Paul is using a historical fact event to make an allegory about the Jews and the church. And then he says, For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and this is the key, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is. Paul says, I'm writing and some of you Jews according, not kinsmen, according to the flesh, you are the Jerusalem which now is. And it's in bondage. You are the offspring of Hagar, not Sarah. You claim to be of Abraham and Sarah, but you are of Hagar. You're in bondage. Verse 26, But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, and even so it is now. What does the Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. There is the allegory. There are the two women, the two sons, the two covenants, those in bondage, the Jerusalem that now is, and the Jerusalem above. I may have muddied it up, but I think it's clear. To me, it's clear anyway. And I could go on. I've got two more pages of these notes. I do want to move on to Ephesians, though. Ephesians chapter 2. Therefore, remember that you, and I believe I'm correct in this, I believe the church at Ephesus was one of the most Gentile churches. I believe that's right. If that's not, somebody will correct me, but I think I remember that correctly. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood For he himself is our peace, who has made both one. Now what's the both? The Gentiles and the Jews. Both one. And has broken down the middle wall of separation or partition. And this is my comment as I always throw this in. And that wall is not going to be rebuilt. It's taken down forever. having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body. This is going to be important when we go back and work our way back to chapter 11, the parable of the olive tree. There is one body. through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity, the hatred. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off, and to those who were near. The far off, the Jews, among the Gentiles, and those who were near, who had the Word of God, they had the oracles of God, they had all His privileges. For through Him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. And there, to me, that's the summary statement the Gentiles and the Jews in one body, the body of Christ. And again, the opponents of this view says that the Jews, the church rather, and the Jews are separate bodies, separate entities, and they never come together, even in glory. And so you can't be more radically different than that. I mean, I'm trying to be as honest as I can. on whether or not it was God who had made that wall of partition in the Old Testament, or whether it was the people themselves. Could you clarify for our thoughts so we can follow you here? Well, my belief is that it was the people who set up this wall. God made a difference, of course, but I don't think he ever intended that the Jews would would hate the Gentiles and discriminate against them in that sense. They were supposed to be missionaries to the Gentiles. So that's my... Do you have... No, I'm just wanting clarification on that. There appears to be, following your definitions, a distinction in the Old Testament era between the Jew and the Gentile. And in the New Testament era, that distinction is no longer there. See, he starts off this paragraph, the uncircumcision that are so called by the circumcision, so I think that's... That's why it's important then that you need to keep your dual definition of the church. Because the church, as we have it now in its fullness, That petition has been broken down. But you can't say in the Old Testament that that church was in that same relationship. There was a distinction that was being made there. The confusion comes from because people think church and they think the local body. And they don't have a concept. In fact, many deny that there is such a thing as a spiritual, invisible, universal church. And so they can't think about it any other way. And so you can't. You'll never come to any understanding if your mind is blocked in those areas. But I appreciate you coming. That's good advice to keep that before, as you discuss these things from time to time, to make it clear that There's the church, and then there's the church. It's like there's Israel, and then there's Israel. There are two concepts here. I did this one time. I was preaching somewhere, and I read several passages of Scripture, and I said, I challenge you now, I ask you, when I read something about the church, you immediately tell or think, what is the church that I'm talking about? And it was an exercise to show that you need to have these concepts clear in your mind. Otherwise, if you're limited to just one concept of church, you'll miss what these passages are about. And that's an important point. The very definition of that, to say, of course, a translated church of the New Testament is the called out one. That's right. That's good advertisement. The Lord willing, I plan to do a study This Wednesday night, Brother Jim's going to be gone, and I'm going to do the Bible study on Wednesday night, and we're going to talk about the church. And we'll never get through with that study. What I try to do is extract about a six-month study that I did so many years ago. But I will say this for the benefit of people that won't hear that Wednesday night study. I borrowed this from John Reisinger. And he did a series of articles on the church. And he said his philosophy professor expressed it this way, and he made the application to trying to define the church. He said, trying to define the church, and what he was talking about primarily is how do you do church. In other words, find me in the Bible that you meet at a certain time, that you have the Lord's Supper, quarterly, monthly, every Sunday. Find all those things in the scripture. And they're not there. So here was his example. He said it's like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat. It's not there. That's a pretty good illustration. A blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat. It's not there. You ain't going back. You know that scripture where it says, Husband love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Now what church is that? Universal. It's got to be. Sure. He only died for the church. That's right. And therefore, if they don't believe the church is in Old Testament, then consistently They'd have to believe they weren't saved. What's the warning in Hebrew? I don't think the word church is there, but do not, as a man of something, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. How about meeting with the local body? Yeah. So, as we're in this room, this is a local body. And I sincerely hope that everybody in this church is also in the universal church. But I have no infallible way of knowing that. You don't know that about me. You can look at me, I make professions, I do things, but you don't know. I don't, you know, I think I know. But in the church, in the visible church, there's always going to be, there's always the possibility that there's people there that are not saved. And that's why we keep preaching the gospel. Your brother Jim, others, We must not just assume, because people have, quote, joined the church, that they don't need to hear the gospel. I need to hear the gospel often and often and often. Well, of course, Scripture does say you'll know them by their fruits. Yeah. Now, what he's talking about there is the false prophets. By their fruits, you'll know them. You can extract to that, but I think in the context of that message, he's talking about you'll know the false prophets by their fruits. Well, let me go on with one more passage, two more passages in Ephesians. Still in chapter 2, verse 19. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. In chapter 3, one more here, I'm like the preacher that says, And finally, and he goes on for ten minutes, and in conclusion, and now I'm going to wrap it up. And he never, you know, he doesn't get to the end. Ephesians 3. For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation, the organization, management of the grace of God, which you have given to me for you, which was given to me for you. How by revelation he made known to me the mystery, and we're going to deal with the mystery when we get back into chapter 11 of Romans, that mystery. As I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise through the gospel." Gentile or Jew. It has to do with individuals. Okay, I've got another page of these references, but I'm not going to abuse you anymore. Now, with all these scriptures, I've already said this one time, but I'll say it another way, hopefully, that show that God makes no distinction based on ethnicity. How can you come to verse 26 and say, He does? I cannot grasp that mindset. So, next lesson, the Lord willing, we're going to start back in chapter 1, I'm sorry, verse 1 of chapter 11, but I want to do a very brief pass-through of some of the things that we will be talking about. In chapter 11 verses 1 and 2, I say then, has God cast away His people? That's the issue. His people being the Jews. Has He done away with them? Certainly not. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. Here it is. 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, torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. And he goes on down. But what does the divine response say to him? That is, how did God answer Elijah? I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not kiss toward, has not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if we can lock on to that concept, and we've already gone through all of these references, God shows no partiality because of who they are. And then there's an Israel within Israel, and there is a remnant. There is that remnant, and that flows through the Scripture. And it's by grace, verse 6. And if by grace, then it's no longer of works. Therefore, grace is no longer grace. But if it's of works, it's no longer grace. Otherwise, work is no longer work. Paul was good, wasn't he? How many different ways can you say the same thing? The Holy Spirit gave this to him. But you cannot take something that is pure grace as that adjective. It's grace. It has to be pure. It has to be sovereign. It's just grace. And how can you then tack anything onto it? Anything, your birth certificate, your good works, and still call it grace, you can't do it. Those are mutually exclusive terms. And so then, in verse 7, what then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks. Now here he's talking about ethnic Israel. But the elect have obtained it, and the rest were herded. So you have a remnant, you have the elect, and then I'm going to skip down to verse 14. We're going to go back over these to the Lord willing next time. In verse 14 he says, If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are of my flesh, and save some of them. Paul is careful here. There's this concept that God's going to save all the Jews. Paul says, I'm praying for them. I want them to be saved. My heart desires for them. But it's going to be some of them. It's never going to be all of them. It's going to be some of them. In verse 21, if God did not spare the natural branches, we're going to deal with the olive tree in more detail. This is a warning to those that were grafted in, the Gentiles that were grafted in to the root. God didn't spare the natural branches, so don't presume that He's got to spare you. It's grace. It's mercy. That's what it's getting at. O. Palmer Robertson, I read a number of his books, and I forget which book this was in, but it was a quote that I thought worthy of copying out. He said, for it must be remembered, the ultimate context of any particular scripture is the totality of scripture. That's a good way to think about it. You cannot just take a verse and lift it out, without considering everything the Bible has to say about that topic. Yes, sir. Having visited a number of churches and sat in on Sunday school classes over the years, it just is mind-boggling to observe how Sunday school is conducted. The Sunday school teacher will normally take a book, a quarterly, or something of that nature. read a text, and then ask everybody in the room to give their opinion as to what that means. And that's called Sunday school. And what you're saying is the masses, including the teacher, is not taking what the text means in the totality of Scripture, just what it means to me at the moment. What does this mean to me? Then how in the world do you ever come up with any understanding? That's why I believe the scripture says God gives teachers. And I'm not boasting in myself. I put you way ahead of me. God gives gifts, and we study, and we consider these things. It doesn't mean we're infallible. It doesn't mean that we can't be on a tangent. But your point is excellent. If a person has not applied themselves and studied, and really consider the matter, what does it mean? What do they think about it? I mean, it's just something that on the spur of the moment, well, I think it means something. And then do you see, my brethren, if a person spends hours in the Bible and preaches a sermon, what that means to the average person that's sitting in this religious environment we just described? Well, that's just his opinion. You get what I'm saying? You hear? The hearer out there is in Sunday school. Well, I'll give you my opinion. Well, the preacher gets up and he's studied for 40 hours in the week. He brings a message. Well, that's all right. That's his opinion. Then why in the world have teachers? Let a kid get up and read the text. That's right. Why go to all this trouble? And that's what most liberal Christianity does. Ten-minute sermons. Just little sermonettes on little ditties. Well, you make another point. And again, I say these things realizing that they may sound subservient. I don't mean it this way because I'm saying it mostly about people like you. What motivates a man to spend 40 hours to prepare a 45-minute lesson? Why would he do that? He can go to the LifeWay bookstore and buy a lesson and read it, and doesn't that work? What is it that drives a man who has many other things to do, who could find many things to do with his time, devote that much time because he loves to do it? And he doesn't want to do anything else? It's either, it could perhaps be a false motive. He wants to present his wisdom. make an impact on the audience or the true motive is that he knows that God is looking in on this situation and that he's responsible for the accuracy of handling God's Word. So whether anybody shows up to ever hear the man speak, he's got to go through that because he's accountable unto God for how he handles. preacher things and again I hope you take it the way I mean it. Brother Jim and myself will spend the same amount of time in preparation if we know there's going to be ten people there or if there's going to be a thousand people there. It has nothing to do with what you, how you prepare and how you try to present it. I had him, I'm not going to name his name, but he became very famous. If I named his name, most everybody in this room would know it. But in my, on my kitchen, in my kitchen table, at my kitchen table, about 40 years ago, he said, I am not going to spend my time preaching to 10 people. He'd come to preach to our church and typical, hate to say it, typical sovereign church. We had about 10 or 12 people there. And he was offended. This grand person had come and spent his time, and he was way above that. Well, that was the end of it as far as I was concerned with him. I never invited him back. But he went on to great things. And again, I'm teasing here. I'm not going to mention his name because that would be terrible. He got his word. He got to preach to thousands of people. Okay, Jim, get off of that. I mentioned the revival was huge multitudes and God pulled him out of that and took him out in the middle of the desert to preach to one person. That's good. Both. Why make either or and say whatever God's providence does. Be ready to fit into that. What's the value of a soul? Why would Philip be sent to one Ethiopian eunuch? Why do that? To get one soul caught. And so, that's the way I try to look at it. I know Jim does too. You come in on a Wednesday night, you come on a Sunday morning, whatever you do. And yeah, you'd love for the house to be full. But you're looking for that. You want to encourage and edify the saints. And you want God to reach that person who is yet to know Jesus Christ in saving faith. And so that's the motivation. That's what it's about. Let me see if I can get to the end of this page of notes here. All right. And so all Israel will be saved. Who is Israel? Who is all Israel? And here's my conclusion. All Israel are the spiritual seed children of Abraham. the Israel of God, and they are made up of elect Gentiles and the elect remnant of the Jews. When it says, and let's look at the passage, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that the hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. I believe here, and this is key also to understanding it. It's not first the fullness of the Gentiles and then all Israel, that is, the Jews. It's not an order of events. But it's in this manner all Israel will be saved. Gentiles and Jews who make up the church, the spiritual body of Christ, who are the Israel of God. And so all Israel will be saved. And so in this manner, all Israel will be saved. And so I will close with this admonition to those who hear this. You can have scholarly, intellectual, theological discussions about interpretation of this passage of Scripture. But, if a person does not individually repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ, whoever is right about this interpretation just won't matter in eternity. I don't want to get too afar here, and I love eschatology and I love all these things, but the thrust is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's it. All right. Thank you, folks.