verses of Romans chapter 10. And the chapter famously begins with the words, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Now that seems like a simple statement that should not provoke much conversation, But in fact, believers in grace have been talking about this verse for as long as believers in grace have lived. There were other places where Paul prayed for the conversion of people, that the word of the Lord would have free course, that he would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. but that his service would be accepted of God's people. But here he's actually praying for salvation of people. And the assumption usually is he means their eternal salvation or their salvation to heaven. Whereas I'm gonna say tonight, he's just saying here the same thing he did in other places. He's praying for their conversion. that it might appear that they are saved, that it might be confirmed that they are saved. Now, many people, when they read this, they'll say, Paul's emotions must have gotten the best of him. He was overcome by them and he forgot, as he uttered these words, all that he had preached about election before the foundation of the world, and predestination and definite atonement and irresistible grace and eternal security that his emotions were overcome and he forgot all that and started to pray trying to change God's mind from decisions that God had made before the foundation of the world. Let me tell you I do not believe that is what happened at all. Now someone will ask is it wrong to pray for the eternal salvation of someone else? No. I would rather that we pray for their conversion with the understanding that when they come to Christ in faith we have the assurance that they are saved. I would rather present it that way, but it's a compassionate thing to pray for the salvation of others. But I do have a problem when you're going to say that a statement in the Bible is merely an expression of emotion and is not compliant with our ordinary logic. Now, I realize that people may have emotionally spoken in the Bible. in terms that may not be exactly right, but the Bible portrayed them as doing such. If there are statements in the Bible that are just merely expressions of human emotion, and we cannot take them for their literal implications, then I must wonder, in how many places does this occur? If it happened here in Romans 10.1, maybe it happened in other places. And there are verses that I'm taking seriously that are really nothing more than outbursts of emotion. You see the problem that we're going to have. What he is praying here is for the conversion of the Jewish people. And he calls them Israel. And if you'll ask, what does he mean by Israel? If you'll go to the prior chapter, he went to great lengths explaining to you what he meant by Israel. There in chapter 9, I believe it's verse 6, he said, They are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. For in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Abraham had many sons. There was Ishmael, they were the sons of Keturah, but the promises of God were limited to one. So someone will say that God's promises pertain only to the fleshly seed of Isaac, but Paul continues and explains this is not a fleshly matter. When Rebecca had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, one son was rejected, the other was chosen of God. So we're talking about a spiritual thing. It's not a genetic thing, it is a spiritual thing. By Israel, he means those descendants of Abraham who are also embraced in the eternal covenant of God. He means God's eternal elect among the Jewish people. And in Paul's way of thinking, any Jew who was not this was no different from a Gentile. He's just a pseudo-Jew. The Israel he is praying for is the Israel he defined back in chapter 9, but the Israel he defined in chapter 9 are the eternal elect of God. Then as we continue to read through the narrative that is covered by chapters 9, 10, and 11, he's going to make multiple statements letting us know that his prayer here is not for non-elect, his prayer is for the chosen people of God. Consider, for example, Romans chapter 11, verse 11. Speaking of the same Jews, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but rather through their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles, for to provoke them, that is the Jews, to jealousy. He's saying that these Jews, for whom he is praying, have not finally fallen. They have not permanently fallen, they have stumbled. But their stumbling was allowed by God with a purpose in view. that salvation would come to the Gentile people. But when he asked, have they finally fallen? He answered his own question, God forbid. That cannot happen. If a child of God could fall from the covenant of grace, then all of us are of all men most miserable. Now let's go to Romans 11, 24. Here he's talking with his parable of the fig tree. He said, this is what happened. The Jews were the natural branches in the good fig tree. Those branches were ripped out and cast aside because of unbelief. Then God went over to a wild fig tree, not a very good fig tree for purposes of fruit, And contrary to nature, he took branches from that wild fig tree and grafted them into that good tree. Now he's talking about me and you. We're the old wild branches grafted into the good tree. Then he warns, as far as those natural branches are concerned, if God could graft us in, it's certainly no problem for him to take those natural original branches and graft them back into their good olive tree. What's he talking about here? Is he talking about people being saved one day eternally and unsaved the next, grafted in, headed for heaven one day, ripped out, headed for hell the other? The Bible doesn't work that way. That's not what he's talking about. He is talking about fellowship with God, approval of God, the blessings of God in temporal matters. We are now under the divine favor because we're believers in Jesus. The Jews are under divine disfavor because they have rejected. That's what this story of the olive tree is about. Now watch 1125. And again, the question is, what kind of Jews are we talking about here when he says, it's my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, that they might be saved. Well, Romans 11, 25, he says, for I would not brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, Until the fullness of the Gentiles become in and so all Israel shall be saved as It is written there shall come out of sign the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins now That verse is a real mouthful and and casts a very different light on Romans 10.1, the verse from which we started. When people read Romans 10.1, where his heart stood desiring prayers that Israel might be saved, the way they spend that is, poor old Paul, his emotions got the best of him, and he prayed a prayer that will not and cannot be answered. See how negative people are? When people read that verse, it never occurs to them that Paul was going to be granted his request. And he's told you himself, right here in this last verse I've read, his prayer will be heard. All Israel shall be saved, as it is written, there shall come out of sin the deliverer and turn ungodliness away from Jacob. So he tells us here about some of the depths of the plan of God. Through their fall, salvation came to the Gentiles. God ordained it to be such. And I don't claim to understand everything in the Bible. I certainly don't claim to understand this, but here's how I look at it. I think that God made promises to the Jewish people. upon their obedience that are promises that cannot be fulfilled on a sin-cursed earth. If you'll go back and read some of the promises he made to Moses you're going to ask how in the world are you going to fulfill that promise on a world that's got sin and death in it? For example, God told him you obey me you'll never have any diseases. None. You'll dwell on the land forever. You'll never have any shortages of anything. And I don't think there's reproduction in heaven, but God did say to them that none of you will be barren. Not your hogs, not your cows, not your goats, none of you. Those things don't happen on a sin-cursed earth. You couldn't call it a sin-cursed earth. if those wonderful conditions could be fulfilled here. I think you can only fulfill those promises on a new heavens and new earth. So what happens if the Jews obey? What if they believe on Jesus? Then their sins are gone. His righteousness is theirs. these promises come to bear, and that means the world, the present world, has to be gone, and a new world put in its place. But God is not ready for this world to be gone. He's still raising up elect people through the Gentiles. If the world had been gone 2,000 years ago, you and I would not have even been born. So God is not finished with the earth yet. So he lets the Jews lapse into a state of unbelief. He harvests his Gentile people. When that harvest is done, bang, he turns the light back on in Israel. They're converted to Christ and then the world comes to an end. That's how I think about it. And isn't that what Paul just said? He said, for I would not brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. Now I acknowledge it's a mystery, so I may not have it exactly right. But I would not have you to be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits and exalting yourself relative to the Israelites. That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be coming in. What else can that mean? It means God is harvesting the people among the Gentiles. When that harvest is done or near done, Israel will cease to be blind. Its eyes will be opened to the Messiah. And so all Israel shall be saved the Israel that he defined in chapter nine, the Israel for whom he prayed in chapter 10. All Israel shall be saved as it is written, there shall come out of sin the deliverer and turn ungodliness away from Jacob. All right, now we're asking who is this Israel for whom he's praying? Let's go finally to Romans 11, 28. as concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentant." God had left them in a state of blindness, that's what he just said, but he says as touching the election they are beloved for the father's sake and by the way fathers there doesn't mean God the father possessive it means the forefathers of the Jewish people Jacob, Isaac, Abraham they're beloved for their sakes which doesn't mean they're going to go to heaven because they were the descendants of those men what it means is given the promises that were made to their fathers the Jewish people, the descendants of those fathers, cannot remain in a state of darkness. There must be some point where they will be illuminated and blessed to the knowledge of Christ. All right, now let's move on. For I bear them record that they have the zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Now I've heard some people dismiss this by saying even Muslims have a zeal towards God. Even Baalites have a zeal towards God. And that's very true. Sometimes false religionists have more zeal than people who have true religion. But the zeal that these Jews had should not be compared to that of a Baalite. Because the zeal they had the apostle is commending. He said, I'll bear them record. I'll give them this. They have a zeal of God, a zeal towards the true God. The problem is they just don't understand him. I think a difference has to be made between worshiping a false God and worshiping a true God that you don't understand. I don't completely understand him myself. So does it count for something that they are worshiping the true God? Yes, it counts for something. But it is not enough to give us assurance of their eternally saved state. Before we can confidently say that we or someone else is saved, we must see belief in Jesus Christ. And that's what the apostle was praying for in the first verse. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, And that means the righteousness that God gives to people. Surely the Jews were not ignorant of the fact that God is intrinsically righteous. They knew that. But what they didn't understand is He gives righteousness away as a gift. They being ignorant of this and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. He didn't say that Christ is the end of the law. The law still has a purpose today. It serves as a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. But Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. No longer is it interpreted as a path to heaven. And in fact, It never was. It never was that. It was a hypothesized path to heaven. Obey the law, you'll get to heaven. It was hypothesized, but the hypothesis was utterly rejected by experience. Some of you have been in statistics classes and I'm sure you were thoroughly confused One of the things they teach in statistics is how to test a hypothesis. So what do you do? You assume it's true. And then you show that assumption leads to untenable conclusions. That's what the Bible does with the Law of Moses. Let's assume it's a recipe for heaven that leads us to an untenable conclusion. We're all going to hell. We're all going to hell. But Christ is the end of that hypothesis. When we come to Christ, we know now not to even entertain the idea of the law being a recipe for heaven. And I'm gonna finish here because our time is gone. But over in Galatians, Paul made this statement, I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. The law itself taught him to go to Christ. The law itself taught him not to look to the law for salvation. And so I'm just gonna give you about a handful of places where the Bible does this. There's probably 500 places, but I'm gonna give you about five, and then we'll finish for tonight. Genesis 22, that's getting way back there, isn't it? when Abraham offered Isaac on the Mount. Even the old ancient Jews understood that something was going on there. God was presenting something profound on that Mount. Abraham understood that it was more than just a test of faith. He understood that something profound just happened. My actions, ordered by God, portend something to come. And so he names that mountain Jehovah-Jireh. What does that mean? It means in the mount, it means God will provide. Not God has provided in the ram that was in the bush, but he's going to provide. What's happened here today is foreshadowing something much bigger that is to come. And then the ancient people who were familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac on the mountain, they developed a little saying about that event. Their saying was, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. One day on some mountain, the saving work of God will be seen. All this is pointing to redemption by grace, not through the works of men. We look at all the sacrificial offerings under the law. Why would you need a sacrifice if your works were good? Those sacrifices were for sin. In fact, under other religious systems, if you want to catch a bigger catfish, you give an offering. If you want a bigger corn crop, you give an offering. You want the Dallas Cowboys to win, you give an offering. You might want to give two of them in that case. That was why they gave their offerings. But in the Bible, offerings were all about sin and grace. If you're going to get to heaven by your works, who needs an offering for sin? What need is there of grace? And on all those offerings, the offerer would put their hands on the animal's head before the animal was put to death. Why? Transferring his sins to that animal. Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 Moses prophesied that one day God would raise up a prophet in Israel like Moses and he said you better listen to him when he comes and then Moses explained how this prophet would be like him. Now there are in fact many parallels. Moses condescended from royalty. Jesus condescended from royalty. Moses was drawn out of the water. Jesus was drawn out of the water in his baptism. Moses married a Gentile bride. Jesus married a Gentile bride. See, we could preach a sermon about this, but here's the biggie. This is the one that Moses intended. Moses interceded for Israel and saved them. Jesus intercedes for us and saves us. But why do we need intercession if we're not sinners? Look at this verse in Daniel 9, one of the most famous verses of our times. Daniel 9, 24. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgressions. and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince, should be seven weeks and three score and two weeks the streets should be built again and the wall even in trouble as times now evidently the messiah the prince has got something to do with finishing transgression and bringing in everlasting righteousness because all those things are mentioned together then he continues after three score and two weeks shall messiah be cut off Could it be that the cutting off, that is, killing of the Messiah is what brings in everlasting righteousness and does away with the transgression? So those verses are showing why through the law we're dead to the law. Why we, as Paul says here in Romans chapter 10, do not look to the law at all. Then we'll go to Isaiah 53. Everybody here, all you good Sunday night chosen few very elect church members. You surely know about Isaiah 53, where he is beaten for our transgressions. How we're healed by his stripes. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." This is what Paul means when he says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. I trust that means you and if you've not been baptized in the name of Jesus, I would not delay in that any longer.