And that was a bit of a problem for the Jews who were now being told, as the Gospel was going out, that this is the Christ, this is the Savior. Well, if that's the case, how come all of our leaders rejected Him? See, that would come to their mind. And there are a number of other things that would come to the mind of a Jew. The Gentiles now are being accepted simply by faith. What's the point of all the stuff that we got from God? You know, the temple, the sacrificial system, all the prophecies, the prophets, the revelations. You know, aren't we special in some way? I mean, hasn't God like sort of forgot us by saying the Gentiles now can enter in, save us? I mean, doesn't he have some obligation towards us that we might have a relationship with him, eternal relationship, and not reject us? So those three things come to mind. And a number of other things is this rejection of the Jews If it's true, if it's really true, why are the majority of the Jews rejecting Christ? Why are they not accepting him as the Messiah? Why do most of them just say, no, I'm gonna stick with Judaism? And number three, isn't God obligated to have mercy on the Jews? Doesn't he have some sort of obligation to save them? All right, first of all, is this a denial of No, the promises made to the Jews were made to true Jews, that is, those who are truly spiritually in a connection with the living God. Look what he says. It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are his descendants, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated. At the appointed time, I will return and Sarah promises to the supernatural descendants of Abraham. Abraham had several other children besides Isaac. At first, they're saying, well, God made this promise, and Sarah comes up with this idea. Well, why don't you have sex with my maid here? It's not exactly right, but maybe a child will be born, and everything will be great. We'll have that child. Well, they did that. is not the chosen one. This is a blood descendant, if you will, of Abraham, but not of Abraham and Sarah according to the promise. So that didn't come until later. That was supernatural. Because she was like barren. I mean, she was like super old, and he was super old. This is a supernatural child. So that is the child, and that is the descendant that have been made. After Hagar died, or after Sarah died, he remarried. Abraham remarried a woman named Keturah. And there were six boys born to that union. They were not people of the promise. They were descending. They were not people of the promise. And so, in other words, it's not the natural descendants Israel, supernatural as it were. And so the problem with the Jews is they were thinking in terms of all of the various things that they had that were material or were tangible that you could hold on to. You could say, well, I have to trace my line all the way back to Abraham or so on. That is what I'm trusting in. They were trusting in the temple. The temple was a huge thing for them because that was supposedly where God was, or at least that's where God manifests himself, remember? In the Holy of Holies. And you had to go to the temple in order to worship God and all of that. So they started to idolize the temple. And they idolized themselves as the special people of God and everybody else, the Gentiles and infidels, and they're not going down. got it wrong in their heads about God's choice of them through Abraham. And this was happening all through their history. When they wanted a king, they picked who? Saul. Why? He was tall. That was it. Who was God's choice? It was the one who had a heart for God, the little guy, the David. God looks on the heart. Man looks on the outward appearance. The Jews look on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. It's always been this way. In Romans 2.28, Paul has already stated, a man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. See how clearly he's trying to make this. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart. by the spirit. So salvation is not this outward mechanical thing that some people still today think it is. That somehow by you doing something or going somewhere or having some sort of relationship or association with something is going to give you salvation. No, it has to do with the heart. It has to do with what's going on inside of you. It's not mechanical. It's not collective. Oh, I'm a part of this family. No, that doesn't matter what your descendants are and so on, your bloodline. Remember how Jesus said to certain Jews who were in a debate with him in John chapter 8, you belong to your father the devil, not Abraham. They were all claiming that they were children of Abraham. And that they didn't need to be set free because they were somehow connected to God. Automatically, because they were descendants of Abraham. to have this inner transformation to make you a child of God. It's always been this way. The prophets, like Jeremiah, now again this is 700 years BC, he said, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Your hearts, internally. You're not automatically right with God just because you're a part of this nation. No, no, no. Your heart needs to be transformed. Paul puts it this way in Galatians 3.7, those who believe are children of Abraham. Once again, believe, faith, internal. So the application for us, as we consider this information about Israel, is this. You and I are not right with God on the grounds of our personal associations with things of God, whether they be the Church, Or whether they be a family where Christ is honored. Or a bloodline of somebody in your family that's a notable Christian or something. There is no association other than your personal trust in the living Christ who died for you that gives you a status with God. You understand that? That is the application here. You are not automatically or in any way related to God because of where you go or what you do or what you wear. Remember Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, it's not this mountain or that mountain, that is, it's not this temple or that temple. No, you worship God in spirit and in truth. This is the day of making this absolutely clear. Even though it was spoken all through the Old Testament, it's made clear The being related to the church is sort of like giving to the police, a benevolent order of police, giving some money to them and getting a sticker that then you can put on your car, very strategically located where when a cop comes up to you and says, I would like your registration, he can see it right there. So as that he might have more mercy on you And say, okay, you're going too fast, but you're going to slow down. Because he sees the benevolent sticker. So this is your salvation right here, you see. And you're thinking, well, I go to church. I go to church how many times? Let me get this straight here. Let me mark it on my calendar. Let me put it in my head. Or all the things I've done for the church, all the things I've done that are somehow related to religious stuff. and says you're speeding, you've been sinning. You go, oh yeah, but I went to church. I did it several years. I mean, sure, I was little and my mom and dad made me, but nevertheless. And you have this idea that somehow these things are gonna save you, no? No, you need Christ in your heart, not just being near him. You know, the Jews are sort of like a little kid who's like maybe five years old who goes to Disney World And they finally get there, and they park, and they're all excited. And then they get in this shuttle. And the shuttle goes to another place where you get on a tram. And then you get on the tram, and then you get on a boat. And the kid goes, wow, this is so cool. This is so cool. This is not all it is, though. You're not even in the Magic Kingdom yet, right? If you've been there, you know what it's like. It's like, when do we actually get there? Well you know the thing is with the Jews, they have thought in their minds that all this stuff that we have is the real kingdom. No, all this points to the kingdom. It's supposed to get people to the kingdom. You see? And that was their problem. So they're like toddlers at Disney World. What are you trusting in? Secondly, why are the majority of the Jews rejecting Christ? If this is really the good news, the gospel, the thing that has been planned for all these centuries, and now here it is, why is it that the establishment considers Jesus a blasphemer, a deceiver, somebody worthy of death? But not only just death, but crucifixion, which is the worst thing possible. Why? Why? It seems like that must have been in their minds. is saying that he's not the Messiah. In other words, he can't be the one. This will come to your mind as a person in this culture that is majority non-Christian. I mean, really, in actuality. They think you're kind of a kook to believe that you need to have Christ and be in Him alone. And certainly they have rejected all Christian morality and so on. We're not in majority. I don't think we ever have been, but nevertheless, this is something that must have been in their minds. And in Romans 9.27, the same chapter but a little farther on, he quotes Isaiah 10, "...though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved." So he's got to make this point that God's plan all along did not have to do with this great mass of Jews coming to Christ. There was always simply a remnant that would actually believe. They would get all this information and have all this privilege and know all these things, but only a few of them were actually going to believe. So we look at the history of the Jews, which already turn away. They get to the point where it's so bad that God sends them into captivity. Northern Kingdom is taken captive by the Assyrians and they just disappear into the world. And then we have the Southern Kingdom taken into Babylonian captivity. And this is something that is disastrous. The temple is destroyed. All the outward appearances of them being the special people of God are gone. But this took years. They were people who were rejecting continually. In Elijah's day, he went to the northern kingdom and he said to God, I'm the only prophet left. I mean, this is how bad it was. These people were worshiping Baal. They were offering their children on altars to have them murdered in Moloch. I mean, they were doing this on a regular basis, even though they were No, they were so bad, as a large group, that they were taken into captivity. They were judged. So we've got to remember this history. Then, secondly, the prophets were never heeded. I mean, these guys would stand up and start speaking, and people would go, are you telling us we're really bad and God's going to judge us? Well, you need to go into a pit. That's what happened with Jeremiah. And in Acts chapter 7 he says, was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, that would be Jesus, and now you have betrayed and murdered him, you who have received the law but have not obeyed it. You know, he's kind of summarizing the history of the Jews. as a result. So what do we get from this? We might say this. Certainly the majority is not the arbiter of truth. Just because the majority are rejecting Christ, that has nothing to do with whether or not he's truly the Messiah. Because this is certainly the history of the Jews. The majority rejected the prophet's words. majority stopped obeying and fulfilling what God wanted. The majority were worshiping idols instead of the true God. So this has always been the case. Remember it was the majority In China, the majority are atheists. In several Muslim countries, they're 100% Muslim. Pakistan, Mauritania, I mean on and on. You can list a whole number of countries. The majority, does that make it true? In India, the majority are Hindu. Does that make it true? What makes it true? What makes something true? Is it the number of people that are buying into it? Signing up for it? anything to do with the majority. As a matter of fact, the majority is probably wrong. Because the majority is based on a human sense of what is true and false. And that human sense that comes from the human heart is always going to look for something that's contrary to what God has presented. So the human sense is that, oh, I can get right with God by my own good works. The human sense is I can do more good works than my bad works. I know I do bad works, but come on, I can do more good works. That's the human sense, and that's typical human religion worldwide. And so the majority seems to always do the wrong thing. And so don't look at the majority, don't care about the majority. Listen, all of your friends, anybody around you, all of your relatives, they're not gonna be there when you stand before the judgment. It'll just be you. It'll just be you. You have got to start thinking What other people think? I am going to put my trust in this Christ, this Christ alone. And I don't care what they say about me, because they're not going to be there. This has to do with me, my soul, before God, the Holy God. You've got to start thinking this way. often wrong. Jesus said it this way, enter through the narrow gate where wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter there but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and few there be that find it. Are you part of the broad group that's heading for destruction or the few that find it? Very few people will admit that. Most people say, oh, yeah, I do my sins, but I don't deserve wrath of God. Come on, I never killed anybody. I'm not Paul Potter. I haven't killed all these people. You deserve the wrath of God. If you don't sense that, you're a part of the broad road that goes on the way to destruction. But if you see yourself this way, you're a part of that narrow group that understands my only hope is in the blood of Christ, the work of Christ. And then finally, isn't God obligated to save the Jews? You know, you think, oh, well, they have the law, all this revelation from God, they're kind of the special people of God, you know, from Abraham on, they've learned all these different things, many of them are quite devout. That is, they're religious, they kind of keep the religious rules, they attend all the feasts, they do everything they're told to do, and yet, they still have to repent and turn God is sovereign. God is sovereign. He can save who He wants to save. And He does. The people that are saved are saved because of His choice. Look at the text. It can't get much clearer than this. Not only that, but Rebecca's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done any good or evil or bad, in order that God's purpose in Not by works, but by him who calls. She was told the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." See how he's making this clear, and he's going to get more so in the coming verses, that this is God's selection. This is God's activity. This is God's will. It's not something that he is obligated to do to anybody for any reason. It is something he chooses to do in sinners. So even the devout Jew has to repent and receive Christ. And Gentiles are received because of God's choice to bring them into his relationship simply by belief. Is this unjust? No. This has always been his prerogative. This God is the God who saves. If you are saved, if you are forgiven, if you are related to God, it's because of him, not because of you. And nobody says, boy, I thank God that I saved myself. Why would you even thank God? You saved yourself. No, you thank God for saving you, for doing this work in you. So it's not based on merit, it's his prerogative. The word elect, or chosen, is found 47 times in the New Testament. This word comes from ek-lego, ek-from, lego, to choose. You know, kids have a bucket full of Legos, and they pick one out, they put one out, they put them together, they ek-lego, they pick something. This is what the word means, where it comes from. It's choosing, it's God electing, choosing. 25 of the 27 books of the New Testament include this word, elect, eclect, or its corresponding other synonyms. In other words, like, this idea is found in every single book of the New Testament, practically. So you can't say, well, you know, hey, what's the story here? This has got to be some kind of weird doctrine. No, it's found all through the New Testament. And so what does this mean? It is not based on merit or anything in you, it is based on God's choice if you are saved. Not by works, verse 12, not by works. 2 Timothy 1.8, God who has saved us and called us not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. His own purpose and grace. Another verse, Ephesians 111, we were all chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. The purpose of His will. In other words, if you're saved, it's because of God's will. And it's not on foreseen faith. No, he talks about these twins who haven't done good or evil. They have the same father. They have the same mother. Everything about them is exactly the same. They were conceived at exactly the same time. And yet he chooses one over the other. He chooses Jacob over Esau in the womb. And then he goes and he says, want to show mercy, and whom I want to harden my heart." You'll see that later on. But the sovereignty of God in salvation. You know, we talk about the monarchs, you know, Queen Elizabeth died, and monarchies, you know, these seven different monarchies, quote-unquote, in Europe. What are they really? Are they really They're sort of like figureheads and they're certainly heads of state. They kind of go and do all these ceremonial things, but the power in that country, the power to make law or to enforce law and all of that comes from the parliament. It comes from a different source. They're not really monarchs, but God is a monarch. monarch, just consider all the different things about your life that you had absolutely nothing to do with. I mean, the family you're born into, totally dysfunctional, violent, crazy, out there, or relatively stable. Mom and dad still married, intact. What's the difference? Who made the difference? school, how easy it is for you to understand things. Do you have anything to do with that? No. It's all God. It's God. What about your sex? Do you have anything to do with that? Whether you're male or female? How about your physique? How about your skills, your abilities? Wait a minute. Who made me different? Who makes and on it goes. Why are you born in America? Why are you a citizen? Why aren't you born in some place like in Afghanistan? I just saw this picture of this family in Afghanistan in this tent. They've been there for two years in this little lousy tent, five people, and they're looking out and they're all hungry and they're all just barely surviving, trying to make it through life. Why aren't you there? Why aren't you one of those kids in that little tent? God has been merciful to you. God has chosen to do things that are outside of our ability or anything to do with us that all had to do with Him. Why can't we let this also be something that's ultimately in His hands? Is this unjust? Remember the words that are used here, mercy, I will have mercy on those I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on those I will have compassion. You don't have mercy on somebody who is not under some kind of punishment or whatever. You don't say to your dad, give me mercy. I know I've done wrong. You don't even ask for mercy unless you acknowledge you did something wrong. The cop pulls you over again. I don't know why this always comes to mind. But anyway, cop pulls you over, and you make an appeal for mercy. Why? Because you were going over the speed limit. There's no sense of having mercy or compassion unless you're already guilty. So this election, this choice, starts at the point where you need someone to show you mercy. So it's not just totally arbitrary as if everybody's innocent and God just chooses some to be saved. No, everybody's guilty. And it's certainly not something that we would blame, let's say, the president or the governor for pardoning somebody. All these people who are not pardoned are not facing their punishment because God or the governor didn't pardon them. They're facing their punishment because they're guilty. They've already been charged. They're guilty. It's been clear. They are guilty. And so when God shows mercy to us, So this is not unjust. God's choice is at the bottom of this activity and this whole thing of your, even your interest in God, even your sense that there is such a being. There's so many people who just reject it. We look at ourselves and, okay, here I have all of these parts that I can move and do all these things and make my own choices and this and that. But you started with a little sperm, tiny little thing, and a little tiny egg the size of a dot of a pin. And somehow when that happened, you began. So when it comes to your salvation, there is a beginning point that has to do with the mind of God. In his mind, he decided you would come to know him through all kinds of means. I mean, certainly there's all kinds of things that are necessary for that little sperm and egg to develop and so on. But he's at the base of it. I think this is interesting. Spurgeon, you know, when he was like a teenager, he's at church, and he's sitting there and he's hearing things that the preacher was saying, and he says, one night when I was sitting in the house of God, the thought struck me. How did you come to be a Christian? truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him. Oh, I prayed, I thought. But then I asked myself, how came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures. How came I to read the scriptures? But what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that he was the author of my faith. And so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me. You see how he just reasoned it back and said, no, God is at the base of this. God is at the base of it all. We need to do the same. This is unfathomable. And remember in this passage in Romans 11, 33, O the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments. Unsearchable are his judgments. I looked up some other translations. Inscrutable his ways. in this world, that we just have to acknowledge creation itself, out of nothing comes this world. Out of nothing. Of the infinite being, I am, who always has been, never had been, never non-existent. I mean, all of these, hell, I mean, this is something we can't get our minds around. The deity of Christ, why did God leave Satan? Why did he let us into the garden? Why did he make us with a free will in the sense that we could sin? I mean, people in heaven still have a free will, don't they? And they don't sin. In other words, these are mysteries. We have got to say, I'm gonna let this go. I'm just gonna say, look, God chooses, that's what it says. There are certain things I cannot fully grasp. To you belongs all the glory. It wasn't me. I'm not smarter than everybody else. I'm not gentler. I'm not like, you know, okay, I got a better heart than everybody else. No. If I'm saved, it's because you did it. You did it. Thank you. If you're unsaved, you don't have to worry about whether you're elect or not. What you have to worry about is whether you've repented and believed. I mean, it has nothing, don't even go there because it's, It's not in, we have no ability to know. The only people, the only way we can know if somebody's elected is if they repent and believe. Deuteronomy 29, the things that are hidden belong to God. The secret things belong to God. The things that are revealed belong to us. What is revealed? Repent and believe. Christ is the Savior. So move towards Christ. Forget about this election in the sense of like, oh, am I elected? Am I not elected? He says, come to me. Just come. just as you are. And when it comes to evangelism, speak to whoever. You have no clue as to who's elect and who's not. You cannot make a judgment based on looking at somebody as to whether or not they're a candidate for salvation, because God may have his hand on that person, and he has had work in them, and you need to share the gospel. Whatever needs to be said. And let God do the rest. Let God do the work. You know, I read something that kind of troubled me today. Prince Andrew, you know, the, I don't know, what, king elect? What do you call him? He's not a, you know, he's a guy, he's gonna be the king, right? Andrew. He said this in reference to his mom. I have found your knowledge and wisdom infinite. with no boundary or containment. Wait a minute. Hold it. That's a bit much. That's beyond the pale. There's only one person who has knowledge and wisdom that's infinite. It's God. And I think that his mother would rebuke him for this. She's like, what are you saying? I mean, you know, I had a certain level of wisdom. I mean, certainly she was somebody to commend. Father, we thank you that we worship a God who is way beyond us. We have come to know a being that is controlling all things in whom we live and move and have our being. And we are amazed. We step back and we just say, oh God, we are lost in wonder and praise. And we Worship you, Lord. We don't always understand you. We don't understand what you're doing. All the various providences of life, the evil we see around us, all these other things. Lord, help us to say in our own minds, you are God. You are God. You are my God. I trust you. I look to Christ. I look to that blood. I look to that resurrection. It's as simple as that. That's what I'm going to cling to. Oh God, give us grace to do this. In spite of the fact that we can't understand. All that you do, we do know you have given us this gospel. So give us the grace to respond to it in faith and repentance and leave it at that and move on with thanksgiving in our hearts. We pray in Jesus name.