A Remnant Chosen by God!

Welcome to the broadcast ministry of Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews, where we seek to glorify God by making Him known and guiding others towards their true purpose in life.

No one is here by chance. God put us here for a reason. And the most important thing we can do is discover His plan for us and commit ourselves to it.

Keep listening as we learn from the Bible how to live wisely in God's world, which is the first step towards finding your purpose. And I'm specifically talking about ethnic Israel. So I want us to look at the spiritual problem with Israel. But first, I want you to understand some of the history of Israel.

Here's why I want you to understand it. I want you to see how blessed they were as a nation, how they began so blessed and how they really blew it. I believe that Israel is the most blessed nation in the history of the world.

But as you know, they've been the most rebellious nation in the history of the world. And we learn about their formation in the book of Genesis when we've come to learn that they basically came out of they did. They come out of the birth of three patriarchs.

Who are they? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Jacob's name was changed to what? Israel. And Jacob, Israel had how many sons?

Twelve. And they became the twelve tribes of Israel. And by the time you get to the end of Genesis, you learn that one of Jacob's sons named Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers because Jacob favored him, which you're not supposed to do. And he was sold into slavery.

He ended up in prison. And then miraculously, he was set free from prison through a series of dreams that he interpreted. And he actually rose to number two in power, only to Pharaoh. And later, and I know this was the hand of God, he caused a severe drought in the land of Canaan, in the land of Egypt. And Jacob's entire family, which I think numbered 75 at this point in time, moved down to Egypt because Joseph was there and he could take care of them.

And they gave him some prime land there. And over the course of time, Joseph and that whole generation died and a new Pharaoh became the new sheriff in town. And the nation of Israel, these Hebrews, these descendants of Abraham had multiplied and become so numerous that the Egyptians were worried about them taking over.

So they enslaved them and put them under great bondage. And we learn about this in the beginning of the book of Exodus. But God, this is what I love about God. He saw their misery and he heard their cries for help.

That's what he does for you and me. So he raised up a man by the name of Moses, who was a Christ-like figure who became the deliverer of Israel. And that brings us, this is where I'm headed with this, that brings us to Exodus chapter 19. If you want to, you can turn there.

If not, just listen to what I have to say. But by the time we get to Exodus chapter 19, these descendants of Abraham, these Hebrews, they've experienced many blessings of God. First, under the leadership of Moses, they were delivered from Egypt where they've been enslaved for how many years?

430 to be exact. And then, God led them out to the Red Sea where they thought they were trapped. And he put his divine glory between them and Pharaoh's army as they were pursuing them so they could not attack Israel, the Israelites. And then he supernaturally parted the Red Sea and then when they got on the other side, they looked back and watched as the same Red Sea returned to its original level and drowned the entire Egyptian army. And then, as they wandered throughout the desert for 40 years, did God take care of them? He provided them manna from heaven and water from a rock. And so when they arrive here at Exodus 19, they're actually encamped at the base of Mount Sinai when suddenly God calls Moses to come up on top of the mountain.

Because he had a message for his chosen people and he was going to deliver it to them through Moses. And so when Moses got to the top, here's what the Lord said to Moses. He said, here's what I want you to go back and tell my people. And here's what God's words were to the Israelites. You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself. Now listen to this. He said, now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all the nations of the earth you will be My treasured possession.

Did you hear that? Treasured possession. Can you imagine if God said that about you? Well, I believe He does if you're in Christ.

You're His treasured possession. He said, although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. He said, these are the words you're to speak to the Israelites. So Moses went back down and he summoned the elders of the people and he told them what God said.

And the people all responded together and here's what the people said. We will do everything the Lord has said. And then Moses went back up on the mountain and he told God what the people had said.

So here's what I want you to see. Israel was chosen by God to be His treasured possession. And they were to be holy, that is set apart from the world. That's why all of those laws, the ceremonial laws and the civil laws that seem kind of strange to us today, they were all given to the nation of Israel because He wanted them to be pure and holy. And they were to be obedient. And if they were holy and obedient, then they could be a light to all the nations of the world.

So what happened? Did they obey God? No. In fact, they broke God's covenant. By the way, this was a conditional covenant. Obedience was required if they were to remain God's treasured possession.

Really just like it is for us today. If you want to remain in God's favor, you have to be obedient because this is what God said. If you obey Me fully and if you keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession.

But if you read throughout the entire Old Testament, you will see that Israel time and time again was unfaithful to God and rebelled against God. And so God had no choice but to judge them, and He judged them severely. How did He do this? Well, He divided the nation. He split them in two. For nearly 400 years, they were divided because they were under the judgment of God.

Why? Because they had begun, here's why. They had begun to worship false idols under the leadership of Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines. And he had married many foreign wives, which God had commanded them not to do. Why did God command them not to do that? Because those wives would lead them to worship the gods of those pagan nations that they came from. So God divided their nation. And they were a divided nation for 400 years. And during that 400-year period, a total of 39 kings reigned over the divided nation, the northern kingdom Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And out of those 39 kings, I think I've told you this before, how many were godly? Who said that?

Thomas, that's good. Five. Five were godly. The rest were evil. In fact, they were so evil that some of them actually burned their sons alive as offerings to false deities.

And I'm gonna get more into this when we get to Hosea in January. Now, during these 400 years, you know what God did as an act of mercy? He sent one prophet after another. And these prophets went to the Israelites and said, you need to repent and turn back to God. Do you think America needs to hear that message? If they did not repent, then he would send disaster upon them.

And that's exactly what he did. In 722 BC, the Assyrians ran to the northern kingdom of Israel and carried them off as slaves, never to be heard from again. And then in 586 BC, the Babylonians did the same thing to the southern kingdom. They defeated the kingdom of Judah and they took Daniel, Meshach and Abednego and a host of the rest of the Jews back to Babylon where they were enslaved for how many years?

Seventy. So this was an act of mercy that God sent these prophets. But what did they do to the prophets? We learn in Hebrews that they were persecuted, they were stoned to death, and they were sown in two. And then we fast forward to Acts chapter 7. You can turn your Bible there if you want to. Here we find Stephen standing before the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of Israel, the Jewish ruling body.

It was like the Supreme Court, a religious Supreme Court. And here's what, so they bring Stephen. He was one of the seven deacons that were chosen in Acts. He was chosen because he was a godly man and he was out preaching the gospel. And so the Sanhedrin, the same group of men that crucified Jesus, called Stephen to come and stand before them. And Stephen began to give them, basically what I'm doing right now, he gave them a history of their people.

And then he got down to what he really wanted to say. He said, was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one.

And now you have betrayed and murdered him. You who have received the law that was put into effect through angels, but have not obeyed it. Do you think that made them happy? When these pious, proud religious leaders heard this, it says that they were so fierce that they gnashed their teeth. And then they dragged them outside the city where they stoned him to death. And the witnesses there took their clothes and laid them at the feet of a young man by the name of what? Saul, who became who? The apostle Paul. Now since the Israelites would not listen to the prophets, God in his greatest act of mercy sent who into the world?

Jesus, his son. How did these same Jews respond to him? They actually did more than crucify him. First they tortured him. They beat him with rods. They put a crown of thorns on his head, thorns that long, and they took the rods and beat that onto his head just to make sure it stayed there. And then they scourged him with a cat of nine tails.

That can kill a man. It almost killed Jesus. And then they crucified him on a Roman cross. Now in doing this, they invited the judgment of God upon their nation, and that's what God did in the form of the Roman army.

In 70 AD, to put down a Jewish rebellion, General Titus, who was sent by the emperor at that time, I can't remember his name, but it was actually Titus' father who was the emperor. He came in with 60,000 soldiers, and they squashed that Jewish rebellion. They ransacked and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and they burned the temple to the ground and did not leave one stone upon another, just as Jesus had prophesied. It is estimated that between 600,000 and 1.1 million Jews were slaughtered, and thousands upon thousands were executed by crucifixion. They said that the streets living into Jerusalem from every side were lined with crosses as far as the eye could see. So from 70 AD, for nearly 1900 years, the Jews were without a homeland, as they were scattered really for a second time around the world. The second diaspora is what it's known as.

That means scattering. They have been the most persecuted people in the history of the world. But then on May 15, 1948, a miracle occurred. Do you all know what that miracle was? A prophecy from Isaiah chapter 66 verse 8 was fulfilled. How can a nation be born in a day? Israel was. So for the past 76 years, since 1948, the vast majority of Jews around the world still do not believe that Jesus is their long-awaited Messiah.

So what's their problem? And I'm talking about their spiritual problem. Well, Paul gives the answer in Romans 10 verse 21. So y'all, have your Bibles open to Romans now, Romans 11. But begin with Romans 10 verse 21, where Paul says this. But concerning Israel, the Lord says, all day long I've held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. So here's the question I want to answer tonight. Is God finished with Israel? You're not supposed to answer that yet.

In other words, and you're right. Are the Jews without hope of ever being saved? Well, the answer is found in Romans chapter 11. And so from Romans chapter 11, here's what we're going to see. We're going to see how God works in salvation to save a remnant. God works in salvation to always save a remnant by His what? Grace. So I want to answer two questions.

Here's the first one. Has God totally rejected the Israelites? Well, look at verse 1.

Paul says, I ask then, did God reject His people and how does Paul respond? By no means. We don't understand in the English how strong this language is, but the King James Version and the New American Standard seem to get it a little bit better. The NASB says, may it never be. And the King James says, God forbid.

That's how strong this no is. Even though the Israelites had been obstinate and disobedient, God will not mend and has not given up on the Jews. John MacArthur puts it like this. It is God's faithfulness to Israel that guarantees her ultimate redemption and restoration. And he goes on to say, God's grace always surpasses His people's sin.

Did you all hear that? God's grace always surpasses your sin. No matter how deep in sin you go, God's gracious hand goes deeper. So after Paul says, by no means will God ever reject His people, he offers four proofs and the first one is himself. Look at verse 1 again. Paul says, I'm an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. What Paul is basically saying to the Jews is, look at me. And he had reason to be confident because he not only came from the tribe of, from the land of Abraham, but he also came from the tribe of Benjamin, which was the favored tribe. And this garnered him special respect so the Jews would listen to him, at least at first. So how did Paul come to understand this truth that God always preserves a remnant for himself?

Well, it happened for him. He learned the truth on the way to Damascus. He was on the way to Damascus one day for the purpose of what?

Arresting Christians. He had papers from the Pharisees in Jerusalem. And while he was on the way to Damascus, he was struck blind by a light.

It was really the Shekinah glory, I think, of Jesus Christ in his glory. And he said to Paul, at this time his name was Saul, he said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And what did Paul say back to him? Who are you, Lord? I think right there he knew who he was and the rest is history. He went on to become the greatest apostle of all time.

So Paul's own personal salvation serves as evidence that God is in the business of saving a remnant, a remnant by grace. And here's the second proof, the doctrine of election. Do I have a problem with that?

Seriously, you can say yes, a lot of people do. Are you confused about election? Well, you know what it means?

It means to elect. That's what we're taught in Bethlehem. Well, look at verse two. God did not reject his people whom he foreknew.

We studied this word back at least two weeks ago. God in Romans eight, when we're in Romans eight, verse 29, it says, those whom God fore what? Knew, he also predestined. And those he predestined, he also called. Those are three important words, foreknown, predestined, and called.

And this is what election means. His foreknowledge is a word that also can be translated to foreloved. And it goes back to eternity past where God in his infinite mind, and remember, he stands outside of time, but in his mind he foreknew those who would belong to him as his children. He foreknew them, okay, ahead of time as belonging to his children. The fact that you're in Christ is only because God foreknew you as belonging to him.

And here's the main point I want you to take away. God always preserves a remnant by his grace. And if he did not, listen, if he did not exercise his divine foreknowledge, no one would ever be saved. So do you like God's foreknowledge if you're in Christ?

Yes, you do. And by the way, I heard J. Vernon McGee say this one time. Do y'all know who he is or was? He's been on the radio as long as I've been alive, it seems like. But he died I think back in 1983, and he's still on the radio. He's got a walk through the Bible radio ministry. So he takes people through the entire Bible over the course of five years.

He's on the radio I believe almost every day. But he said this, the doctrine of election should give you the greatest assurance that you can never lose your salvation. Jeremiah 1.5 says, now this is God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah, who's one of my favorite prophets in the Old Testament. He said, before I formed you, Jeremiah, in the womb, I what? Knew you.

That's that word foreknowledge. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. That's the same thing he did with Paul. Paul wasn't pursuing God, but who pursued him? God.

You think Paul would have ever been saved if Jesus had not intervened and blinded him with that light. He never would have been saved. No one seeks God.

No one understands. No one is righteous. No one's seeking God. So God has to seek us. Here's the third proof.

I had a great quote by MacArthur, but I got to move on. Y'all can read it in the outline. The third proof is the prophet who? Elijah. Look at verses two through four.

Paul writes, I can't believe I'm only on verse two. Don't y'all know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah? How he appealed to God against Israel? Lord, they've killed your prophets and torn down your altars.

I am the only one left, and they're trying to kill me. And what was God's answer to him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

What does he say there? He says, I have reserved for myself. If you're in Christ, it's because God has reserved you for himself.

Do you realize how fortunate you are? I hope and I believe most of you are in Christ. That means God reserved. Do you know how many people out there are lost? In 1 Kings 19.

Y'all can read. Guys, by the way, in preparation for Hosea, you've got to read 1 and 2 Kings several times, okay? If you really understand it, read 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and you will be blessed in doing that. All right, Elijah learns in 1 Kings 19 that this wicked witch of the West by the name of Jezebel, does anybody have a daughter by the name of Jezebel?

Good. She was literally the wicked witch of the nation of Israel. And she was married to King Ahab, who was also wicked, but he was a wimp. And so she had all this power and authority because he was such a wimp. That's the problem with America today.

We've got a bunch of wimps who are fathers. That's another sermon. And so what she was doing, she was going all around killing all the Lord's prophets. And so there's a man, I think his name is Obadiah, who actually hid 100 of them.

He put 50 in one cave and 50 in another. Well, guess what? Elijah, he had this great moment on the top of Mount Carmel, where he executes false prophets and priests. Do you think that made Jezebel mad?

So she puts a price tag on Elijah's head. And you know what he does? He runs for his life. In fact, he runs all the way down to Beersheba. Again, they're up in the northern kingdom. He runs down to Beersheba, which is the furthest city south in Judah.

Why? He's trying to get as far away from her as he can because he's terrified. And when he's in Beersheba, the Lord came and spoke to him, I love this, in a gentle whisper. And he asked Elijah, Elijah, what in the heck are you doing here?

He didn't have the word heck in there. And Elijah replied, I have been very jealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with a sword. I'm the only one left.

And now they're trying to kill me too. I can say this about America. America has rejected your word, broken down your churches by what they're preaching, and they're persecuting solid preachers.

And you can feel like you're the only one left. But God has a remnant in America. In Romans 11 five, Paul says, so too at the present time, there's a remnant chosen by grace. What Paul was saying was during the first century, God had chosen a remnant of Jews who believed in him. And you can read about some of them in the book of Acts. This brings us to the fourth proof, which I think is one of the greatest proofs.

It's the what? The grace of God. Look at verse six. And if by grace, it is no longer by works. If it were grace, it would no longer be grace.

Let me read that again. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works. If it were, grace would no longer be grace. What do all the religions in the world, including churchianity, religiosity, with the exception of Christianity, which I don't include as a religion, it's about a relationship. But what do all these other religions teach? That you're saved by what?

Works. You can't add a thing to what God has done. Baptism does not save you. Circumcision does not save Jews. Confirmation does not save you. Going to church does not save you. Recite the apostles' creed does not save you. What saves you?

God saves you. Y'all heard of the Protestant Reformation? Yeah. They had something called the five solas. That word sola come from the Latin word, which means only. So these are five onlys. And here are the five solas. Sola gratis, sola fide, sola Christus, sola scriptura, sola deo gloria. Don't you love that?

And you can pretty much translate those yourself. So if you're sitting here tonight and you know you're in Christ, which means Christ is where? In you. Ephesians 1 13 and 14 says that when you believe, He seals you with His Spirit, who is a mark guaranteeing your salvation. He seals you with the Holy Spirit. So if you're in Christ and Christ in you, then I want you to understand how you got saved, okay?

And the Reformers got it right. We're saved by what? Grace is in your outline. Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.

And guys, that's what saves us. That's how we're saved. This is what the Reformers did like Martin Luther and John Calvin. Martin Luther went to what was then the Roman church and he nailed 95 theses on the door because he came to realize you cannot earn your way into heaven, which is what the church then was teaching.

And he almost lost his life over it. By grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. Now let's look at my second question quickly. Why did Israel as a whole not obtain salvation, even though they pursued it earnestly? Well, look at verse seven. Paul writes, What then, what Israel sought so earnestly, it did not obtain, but the elect did.

That's that word elect again. So Paul, what he does here, he quotes three Old Testament passages to show why the vast majority of Jews did not believe. Deuteronomy 29, verse four, which gathered, guys, the Bible can divide, the Old Testament can be divided into three sections. The law, especially the first five books, the prophets, and the writings. That's the Old Testament. So he quotes from the law, he quotes from the prophets, Isaiah 29, 10, and he quotes from the writings what David wrote in Psalm 69, verses 22 and 23. Now look at verses seven through 10. The others, now who are the others here? They're the Jews who were not part of the elect, were hardened as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see, and ears so they could not hear, to this very day.

It continues to this very day. And then David says, May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and their backs be bent forever.

So here's what I think that word table means. I think it's, and commentators differ, I think it's referring to all the blessings that God gave to Israel, both physical and spiritual, which became a snare, a trap. In other words, their religion became a trap. Think about how they were blessed. They were chosen to be God's treasure possession. He revealed their glory to them when they delivered from Egypt and went through the Red Sea and wandered throughout the desert. The glory of God was with them in the tabernacle. He gave them the promised land. He gave them covenants. He gave them the law. He gave them temple worship and he gave them countless promises.

And from their very own lineage is traced the human ancestry of Christ. In spite of all these blessings, they rejected God time and time again. They rebelled against him. They didn't believe him. They wouldn't follow him. They wouldn't obey him.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1. He says, Jews demand miraculous signs. They always wanted to see more.

Remember that? If you just show us a miracle. He'd already shown them miracles.

That was the religious leaders who were asking for that. Always another sign. Just a little more proof.

I've already given you enough proof. Jews demand miraculous signs. In Greece, us Gentiles look for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. Is God finished with Israel?

He is not. And we're going to see next week that Paul is going to show us what I believe is a great future spiritually for the nation that's over there right now, the Jews in that land. But I want to leave you with this warning. Everything that I've said tonight about Israel can be said about America. They offer their sons as sacrifices in the fires of Baal and Molech.

They burned them alive to the gods of Baal and Molech. Are we just doing the same thing with abortion? Do you think God can turn a blind eye to the murder of 65 million children that are created in His image?

The moment of conception is a human life. It's created an image of God. Do you think God's going to turn a blind eye? Or do you think we're doing some other things similar to what the Israelites did? I believe the Lord must be saying to us all, to us all day long, I've held up my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. That's America.

What should we do? Just look around us. Look at what's happening to our physical land. Look at what's happened to us spiritually and morally. Someone said that a wicked nation, to a wicked nation, God gives wicked leaders. We're under God's judgment.

But I believe that He can show us mercy. And we need to be on these everyday praying for God's mercy. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews. This broadcast is made possible because of the prayers and financial gifts of listeners like you. If you want to learn more about our ministry or support us as we reach others with God-centered Bible teaching, please visit us at findingpurpose.net. .