On the day of Pentecost, the book of Acts tells us, there were Jews in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. The Apostle Peter, on the same day, cried out to these same Jews, be saved from this perverse generation. And being saved, as Peter understood it, involves several things. It involves God separating individuals from their perverse generation. It involves someone else paying for the sins of these same individuals. Those who continue on in this perverse generation will pay the penalty for their own sins. But to be saved from this perverse generation is to be saved from this penalty for sin. Being saved from this perverse generation also involves being given a new heart. Individuals who are saved from this perverse generation cannot live like they are a part of it. Since sin comes out of the heart, these same people must be given new hearts. And to be saved by God in this way is truly the only way to have assurance about going to heaven. And so Peter urged his listeners on the day of Pentecost be saved from this perverse generation. But as much as Peter urged those Jews to be saved, many were not saved. Many, in fact, persecuted the Church and were hardened against the Apostles' teaching and preaching. Why was this the case among those Jews of long ago? Why was this so? The Apostle Paul gives us a partial answer in Romans chapter 11, verse 7. What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened. First of all, we have the situation we are talking about, verse 7. that which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained. Many did not obtain salvation. But second, many of the Jews did obtain salvation. Who? Verse 7 again, but those who were chosen obtained it. But then third, What about the rest who did not obtain salvation? Paul answers again, and the rest were hardened. These are three points from Romans 11.7 that bring another fundamental of the faith before us. The truth is this, not all people are saved. But those who were chosen to obtain salvation are saved, and the rest are hardened. Today, this is the Bible truth that draws our attention. Again, here is the situation. Not everyone who is urged to be saved is saved. This is the simple fact of the matter, and the Apostle Paul puts it this way. What then? That which Israel is seeking for it has not obtained. Now when Paul says Israel has not obtained, he is talking about Israel as a whole, as a nation. And the truth of the matter is this, that Israel as a nation, as a whole, with every person in it, did not obtain salvation. We could say the same thing about our own nation, the United States of America. It is obvious that the United States of America as a whole has not obtained salvation. There are many who go to their graves not trusting in Christ unto salvation. This was the case among the Jews to whom Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. The nation as a whole was not saved. In fact, many rejected faith. in Christ. This was true, even though Israel was seeking for it. Look at verse 7 again. What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained. Paul says, that for which Israel is seeking, it has not obtained. Yes, you see, even while the Apostle Paul is writing this letter to those who are at Rome, Israel was seeking. And for what were the Jews seeking but for salvation? They were seeking for God's kingdom. The Jews sought to be right with God. The Jews sought to have peace with God. They sought to live as God's people, and they sought to be acceptable in the sight of God. But what Israel was seeking, Paul bluntly says, it has not obtained. Israel, you see, attempted to show God that it was righteous by doing good. Israel attempted to show God that it was righteous by keeping the Ten Commandments. In this way, Israel tried to be right with God. Israel tried to be pleasing to God. But Israel could not please God in this way. Every generation of the nation, Israel was a perverse generation, just like the generation Peter preached to on the day of Pentecost. And we have seen that Peter called that generation corrupt and crooked. And look at what Paul says about such people in Romans chapter 8, verses 6 through 8. Romans 8, 6 through 8. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Such people, the Apostle Paul says, are unable to keep the law of God. Such people, therefore, cannot please God. They are incapable of pleasing God. So when Israel tried to please God by doing good, it fell flat on its face. When Israel tried to show God it was righteous by keeping all that the Ten Commandments require, It stumbled and fell. Israel did not obtain salvation by proving to God it was deserving of salvation. What Israel sought so earnestly, it did not obtain. This should be a solemn warning to each of us, this fact. Israel, you see, attempted to prove to God that it was holy and that it was righteous as a nation. It failed. And if we try to be acceptable with God by attempting to do good, and if we try to be saved by proving to God we are good enough, we will fail. Now, with this understanding of the situation before us, we may ask this question. Who among the Jews to whom Peter preached were saved? The Apostle Paul clearly and unmistakably answers in Romans 11, verse 7. What then? That which Israel is seeking for it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it. The New American Standard Version reads, those who were chosen obtained it. The New International Version says, the elect did. The King James Version says, the election hath obtained it. And I think the King James Version here has the better translation, and if you have the New American Standard Version, you can look in the margin and it says, the election Another way to put it would be the selection, and the word we're concerned with places emphasis upon the process which takes place. For instance, it's Saturday morning, and you go into the donut shop to buy a couple of dozen donuts. And my, when you get in there, the display case is full, and it's really difficult for you to make up your mind which doughnuts you're going to buy. But when the doughnuts you want are all lined up in rows in a nice box, those doughnuts represent the selection you have made. You see, the emphasis is not so much upon the doughnuts as upon what you have done. These doughnuts are your selection, and this is just the case when Paul says, the election obtained it, or the selection obtained it. The emphasis is not so much on the individuals as upon what has been done. As the new American standard version has it, those who were chosen obtained it. And you see, this is the clear answer to the question, when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, who obtained salvation? Those who were chosen obtained it. Now, to help us understand what Paul is talking about, and to make crystal clear The teaching of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle himself gives us an example, and the example he gives us is in verses two through five. Let's read them. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, or do you not know what the scriptures say in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have torn down thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." But what is the divine response to him? I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. In the same way, then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. Here we have Elijah of old. Elijah knew for sure that his generation was a perverse generation. Look again at what he says in verse 3. He says, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have torn down thy altars, and thy alone have left, and they are seeking me. Oh, he says, Lord, they have killed every other God-fearing person, and I'm the only one left that serves you. and they're trying to kill me also." This is what Elijah thought about his generation 900 years before Christ. But now the Apostle Paul points out God's response to Elijah. Verse 4. But what is the divine response to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. God says, I have kept, I have reserved, I have kept for myself 7,000 men. In other words, God separated 7,000 men from the perverse generation of Elijah's day, and God kept these 7,000 for himself. They were not worshippers of the false god Baal. And these 7,000 that God separated from that perverse generation of long ago were the election of that day. Those 7,000 were those who were chosen to obtain salvation. This is exactly how the Apostle Paul interprets what God did. He does so in verse 5. Let's look at it. In the same way, then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. I'd like to read you the rendering of verse 5 from the King James Version. Even so, then, at this present time also there is a remnant to the election of grace. Now, I want you to see something here. Verse 5 uses the very same word as verse 7, the election. Paul says that the 7,000 men separated from Elijah's generation were the election, were the selection, were the choosing of God. These 7,000 were God's gracious choice. They were chosen by grace. And Paul goes on to say, that in the same way, at the present time, God's election exists, God's selection exists, God's choosing exists. In other words, when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and said to the people, be saved from this perverse generation, who was it that obtained salvation? The answer is, as Romans 11, 7 says, the election. Those chosen obtained it. Now, to understand verse 7 properly, you must also understand that Paul is talking about God's grace. But this is also important. In verse 7, Paul is talking about the election, those who were chosen. And at the end of verse 5, Paul is also talking about the election, those chosen. Notice that Paul adds the words, in verse 5, of grace, by grace. In verse 5, the election, the selection, is the selection of grace. In other words, those chosen to obtain salvation are chosen by grace. That's how the New International Version translates it. And what is grace? Grace, very simply, is the unearned favor of God. God was and is under no obligation to save any human being. No individual can perform the proper work to earn salvation from God. Grace excludes all human work or performance. This is what Paul is talking about in verse 6. But if it is by grace, he says, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. You see, grace means that no one No one is deserving of salvation, and that every human being is a part of a perverse generation and deserves eternal death. That's what grace means. But grace also means that God does not allow all men to suffer eternal death. Grace means that God saves many by separating them from their perverse generation. Grace means that those who obtain salvation have not earned it, and they do not deserve it, but they have been unconditionally chosen by God to obtain it. Who are those who obtain salvation? They are the election, those chosen by God. This was true in Elijah's time, when God kept 7,000 men for himself. This was true of Israel in the days of Peter and Paul. As Paul says in verse 7, that which Israel is seeking for it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it. And it is true of each of us who sit here. None of us deserve salvation. We are saved by grace, as Paul says in Ephesians 2.8, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We obtain salvation only as God has chosen us to obtain it. But what about the rest, you say? What about those not chosen to obtain salvation? On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached, Be saved from this perverse generation, there were many who were saved. And the Apostle Paul tells us about the rest. Look at verse 7 again. That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained. but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened." Yes, the rest were hardened. Or as the New International Version translates it, the others became hardened. Or as the King James Version has it, the rest or blinded. This is the awesome truth of the Word of God. And the word hardened or blinded is used mostly to refer to hardened hearts in the Bible. A hard heart is a blind heart. A heart without insight or understanding. Hardness of heart is ignorance of God and alienation from God. The hard heart, therefore, cannot tell good from evil or truth from falsehood. And here is the truly awesome thing. Those who did not obtain salvation were hardened by God. Notice the text says, the rest were hardened. Verse 8 tells us very clearly who hardened these people. Just as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day. God hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes. Compare, if you will, Romans 9, 18. So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. God hardens the hearts of men Look at the rest. Look at the text again, that is. It says the rest were hardened. Literally, it means the remaining were hardened. And this means there was no middle ground. In other words, there were those who obtained salvation and there were those who were hardened. and those who refused to listen to Peter on the day of Pentecost were hardened. At one time we find them persecuting the church and throwing the Christians in jail, and on another time we see them forbidding the apostles to preach about Jesus. The very same thing is true today as it was in Peter's day and as it was in Paul's day. When people are urged to be saved from this perverse generation, many of them thankfully are saved. And what about the remaining? They are hardened, as Paul says. You see, there is no middle ground. There are those who are saved and there are those who are hardened. And what is the final result of this hardening of heart? Those who continually reject Christ and are hardened face eternal punishment for sins. Such persons must pay the penalty for their own sin and will be thrown into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. David says the very same thing in the Old Testament. When the wicked sprouted up like grass and all who did iniquity flourished, It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. You see, it is therefore of the utmost importance to be saved from this perverse generation, and only God can save you from this crooked generation. Those that obtain such salvation, as the Apostle Paul says, are chosen by God to obtain it. and these individuals are separated by God from their corrupt generation. This is the Bible truth that is before us today. Now let me ask you, are you a Christian? Have you repented of your sin? Have you trusted in Christ to save you from the death penalty for sin? Have you been born again? Have you been saved? Can you say yes? Then here, oh dear friends, is the wonderful truth. You could not save yourself. But God, in his mercy, chose you to obtain salvation. Let that wonderful fact soak in. You see, it might have been otherwise. God might have hardened you. But he didn't. God in his mercy chose you to obtain salvation. Thank you. Thank you. But then perhaps you are not a Christian, or you are not sure, and you are now asking this question. Am I one of those chosen to obtain salvation? Let me tell you. There is only one way to answer that question. Come to Christ. Repent of your sins. Turn away from your lying and cheating and stealing. Trust in Christ as the only one who has paid the penalty for your sins. Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come to Jesus. Confess Jesus as your Lord, and your question will be answered. For if you truly come to Jesus and believe that He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, then you will know that God chose you to obtain salvation. So do not delay. Come to Jesus now. And don't try to answer the question in any other way. You can't do it. You cannot figure it out. You cannot look into the mind of God. So please, please do not try. If you try to figure it out, you will only become depressed and defeated. The only way to answer the question, am I chosen to obtain salvation, is to come to Jesus. If you are a Christian, The question is answered. Thank God. Thank God for your salvation. And if you are not a Christian, I urge you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Then you may know for sure that God has chosen you to obtain salvation, then you may say, with a full heart, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Amen.