The appointed hour came and a large number of people gathered into the quarters that
were rented by this man.
They had come at his invitation because he desired to explain to them some things about
the Kingdom of God and particularly he wanted to persuade as many of them as possible that
Jesus was the Christ, using as his means of persuasion the law of Moses and the prophets.
Some of those who heard during that day-long seminar and discussion actually believed,
but there are others who would not believe.
When the Apostle Paul saw the consternation and the confusion and the disagreement, before
they left, he said one final thing to them.
And these are those words quoted for us in the book of Acts.
The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, Go to
this people and say, You will keep on hearing but will not understand, and you will keep
on seeing but will not perceive.
For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and
they have closed their eyes.
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their
heart in return, and I should heal them.
And then that aged apostle undoubtedly looked up and he said, Let it be known to you therefore
that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles.
They will also listen.
And when he had spoken these words, the Jews departed having a great dispute among themselves.
I wonder if that doesn't pretty well summarize the Jewish condition for the last two thousand
years.
A lot of infighting, particularly over the question as to who Jesus Christ is.
Three or four years before that occasion, the apostle Paul picked up a pen and he wrote
to the believers in the city of Rome, a place he had not been up to that point.
To them he penned an explanation, a logical outline of what salvation is all about.
And one of the key questions that came up in his letter, as the Spirit of God led him
of course, was what about Israel?
Israel has rejected this gospel.
Where do they fit in now in God's plan?
We find the answer to that in the book of Romans where we've been studying.
In chapter nine, Paul explains to us that God chose Israel for himself to accomplish
his plan of redemption.
But as he writes in chapter 10, Israel rejected the message of God and consequently was set
aside.
Now what about the future of the Jews?
Is there a future for the nation of Israel?
Is there anything today beyond the present turmoil and war and strife and danger for Israel?
The answer to that according to the Bible is a resounding yes.
Because for Israel the best is yet to come.
God has a future for the Jewish nation.
There are six evidences of that as found in chapter 11 of Romans.
I've outlined all six of those for you on the copy you have in your worship folder.
But today we're going to focus on just the first two evidences.
God has a future for the Jewish nation.
How do we know that?
Number one, because of the pattern of the apostle himself.
Notice in Romans 11, 1 these words, I say then, God has not rejected his people, has
he?
May it never be.
For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
So the first thing the apostle does is to point to himself, not in a boastful or proud
way, but simply to acknowledge that there is something about him that assures that God
has a future for the Jewish nation as a whole.
He begins by asking a question that assumes a negative response.
God has not rejected his people, has he?
And he responds by saying, may it never be.
Such a thing is reprehensible that God would forsake them utterly and completely.
He says, for I too am a Jew.
He says, I'm an Israelite.
I've been descended from Abraham.
In saying that, he's pulling his notches out so people can see them.
He's saying, I'm even better than those who are proselytes and Jewish.
Rome had many of those, you see.
Gentiles who had come to believe in the Jewish religion.
And so they were converted.
They were Jews, and yet the natural born Jews felt that they were a few notches up.
And so Paul pulls that.
He says, I am a natural born Jew.
I'm not a proselyte.
And he says, I'm from the tribe of Benjamin.
What would that mean?
The tribe of Benjamin was the smallest of the tribes.
And from Benjamin came Saul.
Now he was the first king, but he was a bad king.
He was disobedient to God.
Why would he say, I'm of Benjamin?
Well the reason is that the tribe of Benjamin was the only tribe, the only family that stuck
with Judah when the nation divided after the death of Solomon.
They were the ones who had continued the line of David, his seed, on the throne.
They did not go with the apostates in the northern kingdom who began to worship false
gods and the Baal, as we'll see a little later.
Rather Benjamin was faithful to God.
So Benjamin had that little mark in which to boast.
And so Paul says, look, you want to brag about being Jewish?
I'm Jewish.
I'm a natural Jew.
I'm even from the tribe of Benjamin.
And he says, God hasn't forsaken the Jews.
I'm proof of it.
Now he may have been trying to cut short those who would accuse him of anti-Semitic feelings.
After all, he has said some pretty harsh things about the Jewish nation.
And he has some more to say.
Lest anyone should say that he hates the Jews or has turned against them, he wants to emphasize
himself as a Jew.
But I believe there's more than that.
Paul points to himself at this point in his argument because there is something about
him, something in his conversion that speaks to the point that God has a future for Israel.
Let me explain what I mean.
In 1 Corinthians 15, 8, the apostle calls himself one untimely born.
The idea really is a premature birth.
He says, I was born ahead of time, before I should have been spiritually.
What does he mean by that?
I think we understand if we keep that in the back of our minds and turn to 1 Timothy chapter
1, I'm going to ask you to turn there with me.
Verse 15, we have this familiar statement.
It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance.
The Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all, says
Paul.
Now verse 16, 1 Timothy 1, And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me
as the foremost, that is as the foremost of sinners, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his
perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.
What does Paul mean by this?
He may mean that his conversion is an example of how patient God is with sinners.
If God is patient with Paul, then he's going to be patient with us.
That certainly can be an application.
I believe that Paul means more than that because you see the word example here is a word that
means a sketch, an outline, a delineation of something.
Paul is saying what happened to me is a sketch of something.
And here's what I think Paul really means.
Think with me of Paul's conversion for a moment.
He saw a bright light from heaven, so bright that he was blinded.
He saw the Lord Jesus Christ before his eyes went black.
He heard the voice of Christ speak to him.
They had a conversation and so overwhelming was this vision he was stunned and knocked
to the ground.
How was Paul's conversion?
When was the last time you saw an invitation that something like that happened?
It's been a while, huh?
You see, that's not normal.
Paul isn't saying that what happened to me on the Damascus road is a pattern, an outline
of what's going to happen every time a person gets saved.
That's not what he's saying.
Here's what he's saying.
He is saying what happened to me in that spectacular incident is a sketch, it's an outline of what
is going to happen to the people of Israel in the future.
Just as he was dramatically converted by the appearance of Christ and the overwhelming
pressure of that vision, so much so he was stunned by it, so someday Israel is going
to be converted in such a dramatic occasion.
Now I want you to turn with me back to the Old Testament, to the book of Zechariah.
Zechariah is near the end of the Old Testament.
You will find it if you go to Matthew and start backing up.
That's the easiest way.
Don't get discouraged in Malachi, just go on.
Zechariah chapter 12, and look at verse 10.
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit
of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on me, whom they have pierced.
They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over
him.
Verse 1, chapter 13.
In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity.
In other words, there will be cleansing of the nation's sins in that day.
Go on to chapter 14, verse 4.
And in that day, the same day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in
the front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle
from east to west, verse 9, and the Lord will be king over all the earth.
In that day, the Lord will be the only one and his name the only one.
What is taking place here in Zechariah's vision?
It is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
It is that same day the angels had in view when they spoke to the disciples gathered
on the top of the Mount of Olives, and they said, You men of Galilee, why do you stand
here gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as
you've seen him go away.
Those angels were not talking about the rapture of the church.
They were talking about the coming of Christ to the earth when his feet would land on top
of that mountain.
Zechariah says, When he appears, when the sign of the coming of the Son of Man appears,
then the Jews will see him whom they have pierced, and they will weep and mourn and
repent nationally for their sins.
They will be cleansed.
His feet will touch the top of the mountain, it will break in two, and he will establish
his kingdom upon the earth.
Now that's dramatic.
And that's what the apostle Paul meant when he said, What happened to me is an example,
it's an outline, it's a sketch of what's going to happen in the future.
For just as dramatic, just as overwhelming as was my vision of the glorified Christ,
so will be the vision of my people Israel when Jesus comes back.
That look at the glorified Christ whom they have pierced will create national repentance
immediately and they will turn back to the Lord their God and be restored.
So Paul is saying, Do you want proof that Israel has a future?
Look at me.
Look at what happened to me.
I was born out of season.
He said, I should have been saved then because of what happened to me, but God allowed it
to happen ahead of time so that I could be a pattern, an encouragement so that you might
know that the Jews have a future.
Now let's go to the second evidence in verses two through 10 of our text in Romans chapter
11.
We have here the principle of the remnant.
A remnant is that which is left.
It's very small in relation to the whole.
It's just a little piece of it.
It's a part of it.
One of the things that we notice in the Word of God is that God always works with a remnant.
You can mark that down.
God always works with a remnant.
There is a certain principle that's involved here that proves to us that the best days
for Israel are yet ahead.
He begins by saying in verse two, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
If you've been with us a while, you've seen that word foreknow before.
We talked about it in chapter eight, and we learned that when God foreknows, it means
more than that God knew something ahead of time.
That would be rather obvious, wouldn't it?
What it entails is that God not only knows ahead of time, but he selects, he decides,
he determines ahead of time.
That's what foreknowledge is.
What it means here is what it said in chapter nine of Romans, that God chose the nation
of Israel to be his people.
He chose to accomplish his plan of redemption through them.
So he says, God has not abandoned, totally rejected his people whom he chose.
He immediately proceeds without further statement to an illustration from Israel's history.
He says, do you not know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he
pleads with God against Israel?
Remember that man of God from the Old Testament?
First Kings, we read about Elijah going up to the top of Mount Carmel on what a day that
was.
And he, as the lonely prophet of God, stood there in opposition to 450 prophets of Baal.
They called upon Baal to answer by fire on their sacrifice.
Elijah called upon God.
And to shorten the story, of course, God answered by fire.
He is the only true God.
The prophets of Baal were put to death.
And when Queen Jezebel, who had brought them into the land, heard about the death of her
prophets, she was furious.
And she immediately put out a death warrant for Elijah.
And that man who had stood against 450 prophets could not stand against one angry queen.
He must have been exhausted.
And he ran.
He went down into the desert, down to Mount Horeb, which is probably Mount Sinai.
And there, in that deserted place, by himself, he met God.
And one of the things he said to God is found in verse 3, Lord, they have killed thy prophets.
They have torn down thine altars, and I alone am left.
And oh, by the way, they are seeking my life.
You knew he would get to that.
How did God respond to him?
God said, Elijah, I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
What is God saying to Elijah?
Well, really, I think he's saying, it's time to stop the pity party.
You're not by yourself.
Because Elijah, I want you to know that I have kept for myself in Israel 7,000 who have
not bowed their knees to Baal either.
Now, there were many more than 7,000 people in Israel.
And the reason that Paul draws upon this illustration is to evidence to us that in that time when
the nation of Israel was in great apostasy, when they were worshipping false gods and
Baals brought in from Phoenicia.
Now, I'm talking about Jews.
They were worshipping these idols.
In that time of national idolatry and apostasy, there was a remnant.
Not a remnant of people who were more intellectual than the others and therefore they saw the
truth.
No.
A remnant that God selected.
A remnant that God kept for himself.
Now the apostle applies that in a very spectacular way.
He says, in the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time, in this age,
a remnant according to God's gracious choice.
And if it is by grace, it's no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no
longer grace.
Works and grace do not mix.
Works flows out of grace, but you cannot put them together and mix them, for it immediately
nullifies grace.
But what he is saying is that just like there was a remnant in that day when they rejected
the word of God and turned to idols, so in this present age there is a remnant of Jews
who do believe.
Now I don't know if you know many Jewish people.
If you know many Jewish people, you probably know far fewer Christian Jews than Jewish
people and the reason is that there are so few, just a fraction of Jewish people who
have been completed, if I may use that term, who have received their Messiah.
Just a few, just a remnant, but folks the point is this, those few, that remnant are
proof, they are a pledge that God is someday going to restore the whole nation.
He is going to restore the Jews and fulfill to them the promises that he has given in
his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It's a great thing.
The second evidence that God has a future for the Jews is that remnant of Jews today
who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ.
Most Christians are Gentiles.
By and large the church is a Gentile church.
The message has gone to the Gentiles, they've received it, but a few Jews have trusted Christ
and they are God's pledge of what he is going to do in the future.
He goes on to say in verse 7, that which Israel as a nation is seeking for, it is not obtained,
that is righteousness with God.
But those who were chosen obtained it, that's the remnant.
Now look at this, the rest were hardened.
The rest were hardened.
That's a difficult statement isn't it?
John Calvin would make that a very harsh statement indeed for he would say that God just arbitrarily
hardened them.
But that is not the case if I understand my Bible correctly.
The fact is that they as a people hardened their own hearts against God and for that
God hardened them.
It was a reciprocal action on God's part.
They rejected God's message, God hardened them.
It happened to Pharaoh, God's message to Pharaoh was let my people go.
He said no, God hardened his heart.
God said let my people go, he refused, God hardened his heart.
And ten times in Exodus that whole procedure takes place again and again and again.
He hardened his heart against God and God hardened his heart.
It is a dangerous thing to harden one's heart against the Lord.
The Jews did that as a nation and for that God judged them.
God hardened their hearts as a nation and that's the condition they're in today.
This word hardened means to be calloused.
It means to grow an extra layer of skin over something.
A callous builds up in time and prevents that spot in your hand from being so sensitive.
And that's the way it is with the heart too.
With the heart of the nation of Israel.
They knew Jesus Christ, they rejected who he was.
His works testified of him, they rejected who he was.
They heard his words, they rejected who he was.
And that rejection, that rejection, that rejection result in God's hardening, God's hardening,
God's hardening until a callous is built up.
And this has been prophesied in the Old Testament for he quotes now from Deuteronomy where it
says God gave them a spirit of stupor.
The word stupor means to be stunned.
It means to be slapped in the face so hard that you are just absolutely unable to respond.
You're shocked, left speechless, unable to move.
And that's exactly what God has done to the nation of Israel.
He has given them a spirit of being stunned, paralyzed.
They're in a stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not down to this very day.
And David says, let their table, here he quotes from Psalm 69, let their table become a snare
and a trap.
What's a table for?
Well a table is a place, it's a place where you sit down with people and you eat and you
fellowship and you communicate.
It's a place of blessing.
And what he is saying is that the blessings, the table between God and the nation of Israel,
those blessings have now become a snare and a trap to the people of Israel.
Their very blessings have become curses, as Malachi says.
An example, they were given by God an elaborate ceremonial and sacrificial system.
Now the purpose of that system was to constantly remind the people of their heart's sins and
to bring them to repentance for them that they might atone for their sins.
It was to bring them to faith in the promise of God.
But they set that aside, the meaning, and focused on the ceremony, the ritual, right?
So that that which was to be a blessing to them actually became a curse because they
began to trust then in the ritual, in the ceremony, rather than in the God who had given
it to them.
Became also a stumbling block and a retribution.
And he says, let their eyes be darkened to see not and bend their backs forever.
The word forever means continually.
And the idea is that as long as their hardened heart persists, let their backs be bent with
burden and with judgment.
Those are not very happy words, are they, for those who reject the word of God?
But the point in the passage is on the positive side.
It's the fact that in the midst of these people who have apostatized and gone away
from God, who are under the judgment of God, there is a remnant who are saved.
And that remnant is God's pledge that someday the whole nation is going to repent and turn
to the Lord.
Now, rather than going on to another evidence, I want to draw some application here for us.
Because I see an alarming parallel between Israel of old and Christendom today.
And when I use the word Christendom, I want you to know I'm getting out the biggest
umbrella I have.
I am talking about anybody and anything that talks about Jesus Christ.
Anybody that has a church or meets on Saturday or Sunday, I don't care, they talk about
Jesus as being a prophet or a moral teacher.
I'm including them in Christendom.
This would not include the Moslems.
This would not include the Far East religions.
But you throw in everything else just about.
That's Christendom.
Israel of old, as a nation, had the word of God.
But most of them rejected it and were judged and their hearts were heartened.
Only a few believed.
And so it is, my friend, within Christendom today.
For all of Christendom has the Bible.
It has the word of God.
But there are only a few, there is only a remnant within this broad umbrella of people
who genuinely know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and walk in obedience to Him.
Yes, we have people today who call themselves Christians, who try to dilute the potency
of what the Bible says, to twist its meaning or to undermine its authority, its reliability.
They talk about traditions which are equal to or which surpass the Bible and authority.
The words of men or new revelations which out date this.
They talk about cultural problems that make this not applicable to today.
In various ways, there are efforts within Christendom to dilute the message of God because
they don't want to receive it, they want to reject it.
And at the same time that they reject this, they turn to a false God.
That happened in Israel.
Israel not only turned from the Lord, but they began to worship Baal.
If you know anything about Baal worship, you know it was an immoral, filthy religion.
There was ritualistic prostitution.
There was the offering up of children to be killed as sacrifices to the idol of Baal.
The Jews adopted that religious system when they turned from God's Word and rejected
it.
That is why the prophets cried out so strongly.
That's why Elijah got on top of Mount Carmel and did what he did.
Because the ten northern tribes of Israel, descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
who had the Word of God, turned from it and began to worship Baal.
We have Baal worship today too.
Only we are a little more sophisticated in our day.
We wouldn't put up a little statue of a man with a helmet on and horns holding a club
in his hand, which was their god Baal.
Today our God is man himself.
We don't call it Baalism, we call it humanism.
For man is put into the center of the universe, it all revolves around him and he becomes
the source of all things.
And whatever pleases him is right.
He is the source of truth.
If he discovers it and says this is so, then that is truth.
It doesn't make any difference what the Word of God says.
So what?
That's for another age.
I mean, we want to be relevant.
And so there are those who call themselves Christians and yet agree with and even practice
abortion.
We are overlooking that too much, dear people.
It is time for the people of God to rise up and say with a loud voice that that is murder.
We would condemn the Jews of old because they would take their children to the god Baal
or Malik, another god.
Malik was a god with his arms outstretched like this.
They would heat up Malik until he was white hot and then they would put their babies on
the arms of Malik and offer them a sacrifice and fry them.
You say that is heinous.
You say that is terrible.
Is it any more heinous and terrible than what takes place hour after hour in the abortion
clinics of this land?
They called themselves Jews and did that.
People call themselves Christians today and do that.
There's apostate Christianity is what it is.
It's Christianity that has fallen away from the truth.
I have seen a man in cloth, in religious cloth, stand before a state legislative committee
and argue in favor of homosexuality because the Bible is irrelevant, you see, to him.
He doesn't want it.
He rejects it.
As a Christian, he stands before the state legislature to say God okays homosexuality.
We have the great movement of feminism in our land.
Some of you have brought to my attention an article that was in the St. Paul newspaper
a week ago, dramatic breakthrough, Baptist to host feminist play.
Perhaps you saw it.
The play's director, I quote from the article simply.
You've already read it so I don't reveal anything here that you don't already know.
The play's director, Dr. Susan Ogden Maloof, who is head of the drama department at the
Baptist affiliated Bethel College in Arden Hills, says the drama is an important expression
of women's frustration with the male dominated power structure of the church.
The title of the play she is directing, she did not write it, but she is directing it,
now the title of it is I Have Prayed Our Father Too Long.
And when asked by someone in our church this week how she would pray, she replied by saying
I would say our mother.
Now the point is not that there are some injustices to women in our land.
There have been injustices and those should be corrected.
I speak about the feminist movement which is something far broader than that.
Far broader than that.
The implications are staggering in that.
It is a part of the worship of man himself, mankind.
What about liberationism?
We have a great movement for children's rights in the land.
What about political liberation which is supported by so-called liberation theology which is
neither liberation nor theology.
The emphasis in the liberation movement is rights, not responsibilities.
The word of God puts the emphasis on the responsibilities.
You see this is humanism.
It says the rights are the important thing.
It argues for the separation of church and state and says the Constitution demands that
when the Constitution doesn't mention it.
Actually what that little slogan is representing is a movement to liberate government from
biblical morality.
That's what it's all about.
It's man's attempt to liberate himself to what God says is right and wrong and the value
system that God gives.
You and I are today a part of Christendom which is by and large apostate and that should
not surprise us because the word of God declares that that would happen.
Stand with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 for a moment.
There were some believers there who had heard a word from someone that the rapture had already
taken place and they were in the day of the Lord, the time of judgment and tribulation.
Now he says don't be disturbed by those kinds of words.
Verse 3, let no one in any way deceive you for it will not come, that is the day of the
Lord, unless the apostasy comes first.
The apostasy, the word means the falling away.
It refers to a great falling away from the truth of God's revelation which will occur
in the days immediately preceding that time called the day of the Lord.
Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
And here we have more indication of the timing.
He says the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith
paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
In the latter times, that is the closing time of this age in which we live, there will be
a dramatic sudden movement causing Christendom to plunge away from the truth that it once
professed.
And it will pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines being promoted by demons.
In other words, a lot of the Baalism of our day, humanism that is, a lot of the philosophies
and the theologies that come out of all of that have their roots in demons.
Now why are demons involved?
Because you see they control the world system through Satan, or Satan controls it through
them rather.
They control the world system and their goal is to bring about the Antichrist.
And so they work invisibly behind the scenes introducing these new ideas and relevant concepts
and new philosophies and different theologies to bring the thinking of man away from the
truth of God's Word to the lies of Satan.
There is much at work in our day.
Second Timothy chapter 3 with this one we close.
Just realize this that in the last days difficult times will come.
The word means times hard to deal with by God's people.
Pressure packed times.
And then he begins to describe what men will be like and I don't think there's been any
civilization in history that so perfectly fits what's said here than our own.
So skipping to verse 5 he says, holding to a form of godliness.
In other words it will be a outwardly religious thing.
It's not going to be totally secular.
It will be a religious thing.
There will be the structure of religion, a form of godliness, but in its essence it denies
its power, its reality.
He says avoid such men as these.
Dear people that is where Christianity in its broadest sense is heading today.
It's what the Word of God predicts.
Those of us who love Jesus Christ, those of us who love the Word of God and believe it,
we are not in the majority and we are mistaken if we think we ever will be.
We are a minority, we are a remnant in this world.
But be encouraged, God has always had a remnant and with that remnant he has accomplished
his purpose.
Are you a part of the saved?
Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ as Savior?
Would you do it today if not?
And then what about those of us who are saved?
Stay with me here in 2 Timothy just for a moment as we see four things that we are to
do as we live for Jesus Christ in this day of spiritual apostasy.
These are encouragements, these are exhortations to God's remnant in our day.
Number one, expect persecution.
Number two, expect persecution, number three, verse 12.
He says, indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
We have basically gotten off pretty easily in our own society, but I believe that the
day could well be coming much more quickly than most of us realize if we will live godly
in Christ Jesus, if we will stick with this book, if we will be faithful to Jesus Christ
we will pay a price.
And in that day there will be a sifting won't there?
All who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
My friend that time is at hand.
Number two, continue in the things you have learned, verse 14.
You however continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from
whom you have learned them.
In other words, he says in those days there is going to be a lot of pressure for you to
change.
New ideas will be presented to you convincing arguments as to why what you have been taught
from your youth is not true.
But he says continue in those things that you have learned knowing from whom you have
learned them.
In Timothy's case it was his godly mother and grandmother and from Paul himself.
In your case it's from that godly pastor back home or those parents of yours that raised
you up in a Christian home and who pray for you.
It's that person who disciples you.
Continue in those things.
Do not be swayed.
Do not compromise what you have been taught.
You sit in the alien atmosphere of a classroom in college or university and you hear someone
say things that do not match with what you have learned from people you trust.
It doesn't correlate with what you understand the word of God to mean.
And look at it very, very carefully and continue in those things that are true.
Three, preach the word.
And only continue it.
Preach it.
Chapter four verse two.
It doesn't make any difference if people listen or not.
That's not the important thing.
Just declare it.
Isaiah was told to go and preach.
Nobody would listen, said God, but go and preach anyway.
Jeremiah the same thing.
Nobody would listen to poor Jeremiah and here he is out here with all these antics trying
to communicate to the people of Israel that judgment was coming and nobody would listen.
God said, that's okay, Jeremiah.
Tell them what's going to happen anyway.
You and I are called upon to be exactly the same way in a day of apostasy, just like those
prophets of old.
And then in verse five of chapter four, we're to be balanced.
In a day of extremism, it's easy to become an extremist.
And we want with the grace of God to avoid that, don't we?
He says, but you be sober in all things.
The word sober means to be steadfast.
It means not to be shaken.
It means to have your wits about you.
It means to be in control of what's going on.
And he puts it in the present tense, he means continually live that way, be balanced.
And then he says three things that seem to be subordinate to that idea.
He changes the tense of the verbs.
He says, endure hardship when it comes.
Do the work of an evangelist as you have opportunity.
Fulfill your ministry every chance you get.
And in doing those things, you will be balanced.
So how are we to live in a day of apostasy, a day when God's judgment is preparing to
fall upon apostate Christendom?
We are to do exactly what it tells us to do here, to expect persecution, but nonetheless
to continue in the things that we've learned and to preach them in season, out of season,
with all boldness to declare it to the world, not just from the pulpit, but out there in
the office and the letters of the editor column.
Wherever you have opportunity, tell them what God says.
If they don't listen, tell them anyway.
And then be balanced.
Is that what your life is today?
Is your life in sync with what God expects from you as one of the remnant?
I hope it is.
If not, will you make the decisions necessary today to get your life back in step with the
Lord's plan for your life?
Let's pray.
Father God, I pray that you will bring to a fitting conclusion in each heart what the
Spirit has been saying.
And if there are some of us today that need to make specific public commitments, then
may we have the courage and the faithfulness and the sincere repentance perhaps to come
forward and indicate that publicly.
Lord, if there be someone here without Christ today altogether who may even be a part of
that which is falling away so very fast from the faith, from the truth, may they today
come out and trust the Savior, be a part of your remnant in these last days in Jesus'
name, amen.