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Bro. Otis Fisher
Chapter 11 in the book of Romans, verse 6. If by grace, then is it no more of work. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
Go to Matthew 1 .21, please. Read that to us. Well, if I could turn pages, sir, I'd be there. Excuse me.
Matthew 1 .21. And she will bring forth a son, and he shall call his name Jesus. He will save his people from their sins.
He shall save his people from their sins. So, I don't want anybody to worry. All of his people will be saved. Because he said so. There will not be a single one of his people that will wind up in hell.
The conscience of a child of God is the voice of God. Everybody hear me? Yes, sir. Verse 7. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which ye seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it. And the rest were blinded.
To be blinded means to grow hard, callous, become dull with the loss of power of understanding. This is a passive verb that represents the fact that the subject receives the action. They have been blinded.
God's grace depends upon what? Does everyone hear this one? Upon God. Yes. It does not depend upon you attending church. Is that right? Singing in the choir, paying tithes, giving to projects, even the Wednesday night service.
Even praying, witnessing, teaching, preaching, or any other thing that a man can think of. Fred, it does not depend on man for God's grace. Verse 8. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber.
Eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this very day. By the very fact that the Spirit of God has come into this world, blindness has been put on all of the seed of Satan.
This proves the very existence of the Almighty God. Would you say that last sentence again? How much? The very fact that the Spirit of God has come into this world, blindness has been put on all of the seed of Satan.
Without the ability of some to see, there would be no blindness. This thing of blindness. If everybody in creation was blind or could not see, would there be blindness? No. You wouldn't even know about sight.
But the fact that we can see and they can't, John proves the very fact that the Almighty God is real. Verse 9 of chapter 11. And David said, Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense.
Now, let their table, what do you suppose this would mean? Fred, what do you think? Everything in front of them. All right. And close to them. The material prosperity of people will become a blindness to them.
It will be a stumbling block. Recompense, Greg, means what? I thought you'd ask me that.
A recompense is a debt, something you owe back or something. All right.
Payment in return for something. And this recompense is unto them that are blind. Let me relate to you a parable since our pastor is teaching parables. I made up one. A young man who had done his king a great favor, in return the king granted him half of his kingdom with all of its land, castles, livestock, with the title of Earl of Cassoway.
Or he could marry the king's ugly daughter, one or the other. Well, the young man went away. He studied about it, and he returned, and he told the king that he would rather marry his ugly daughter. Well, this astounded the royal court to think that there was such a handsome young man with the opportunity to have the prestige and power all that a man could ever desire.
And he seemingly had made the wrong choice. But this wise young man knew that when the king died, he would own it all instead of just half because he would become king, having married his ugly daughter.
That's your earthly story with a heavenly meaning, isn't it?
So be very wise in your choices. Look beyond the immediate. Ten, let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always. This is like slaves under a burden. I say then, have they, meaning the kingdom of the nation Israel, have they stumbled that they should fall?
God forbid such a thinking. But rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. David, this thing of the fall of the nation Israel and then salvation coming to us, did it come to us because of the fall of the nation?
You're talking about our salvation? Yes. No, it didn't. It came to us because of the death of Jesus. All right. That's true. He's talking about historical reference. In the Old Testament times, the oracles of God were with the Jews.
And in the dispensations of time, had the Jews not been blind to their Messiah, theoretically the kingdom would have been set up right there. It would have been a Jewish kingdom. So when they rejected Christ, it opened the gospel up to the Gentiles.
But that's strictly from man's viewpoint. Right. A historical viewpoint. I say then, have they, the nation Israel, stumbled that they should fail? Salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy.
Hard words. To provoke them to jealousy. David, how could it ever provoke a Jew to jealousy? Well, I remember in the early portions of Acts, they didn't want to believe Gentiles could be saved. Kind of reminds us of Jonah, who did not want to go preach salvation to the heathen.
Made him angry when God saved him. And the Jews were that way. They were jealous of God. Jealous of the word of God and the things that they held, the relationship they held. They thought they were the only ones and would always be the only ones.
And Jonah did not preach salvation to the men of ice. Something to him. He preached condemnation to them. Right. And it caused them to think about it. Right. It was salvation backwards. Yeah. Fear. Saved some of the fear.
Man is the object of grace. The atonement is the effect of grace. Christianity is entirely independent of man. Christianity is entirely independent of man. Some Christians are always trying, all of their days, to lay the foundation of Christianity, of their salvation.
And we have this referred to in the book of Hebrews, the sixth chapter. Well, just turn over to that. Hebrews 6. And later start reading that first one. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of the laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.
And this will we do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they should fall away, to renew them again to repentance.
All right. Let's stop there. What Paul is saying is, look, you should be eating meat by now, and you're still on milk. Let's get on with the development of our Christian life. Don't try to lay the foundation all of the time.
Move on. Because don't you know that if you could lose your salvation, and that's what you're acting like because you keep trying to go back and lay the foundation, and if you could lose your salvation, you keep going back to lay the foundation all of the time.
So don't you know that if you could lose it, you could never get it back? That there is no place in the Bible that explains how to be saved a second time. There doesn't have to be, because it's once, and you've done everything to do with it anyhow.
And there's lots of people that are just wallowing around in the front end of their salvation. That's the reason for this class is to develop all of us to get on away from the front. We all are eating meat by now, I hope.
One of the reasons I think that people keep trying to lay the foundation, David, is that they're mixing stones for the foundation that belong only in the building. And they're trying to answer questions about end times and different things that only a mature Christian could handle.
And they keep mixing that in with the foundation, therefore it won't work. This Bible is written to us as a letter. You cannot skip around in it and learn. You have to take it from the beginning. And that's why I hope next Sunday we're going to start Genesis.
We're going to try to finish James today. And I know a lot of you have had Genesis, maybe more than once. But don't let that keep you away, because I guarantee we'll all learn something new. Foundation is pure grace.
If anything, friend, if anything of ourselves is mixed with grace in salvation, it utterly destroys grace. Which, if it be not grace alone, is not grace at all. Verse 12, Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, or if their fall increase the salvation to the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more, how much more their fullness.
Is that the end of that verse? Let me read that from the Amplified. Now if their stumbling, their lapse, their transgression has so enriched the world at large, and if Israel's failure means such riches for the Gentiles, think what an enrichment and greater advantage will follow their full reinstatement.
The Jewish nation will be reinstated. Now, just think how great that's going to be. Since the grace of God came to the Gentiles after the setting aside of the Israelites, what about the Gentiles after the Jews is reinstated in grace?
I believe it will be multiplied. In Acts 15, 16, if you want to flip over to that, After this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all of the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all of these things.
So I think that it will be a time far greater than we have now. For I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles. I magnify my office as much as to say to people that God has a place for you and you are in your place.
So rejoice in it. Is there any question about that fact? Does everybody understand that when it comes to movement or the doing, God controls it all? We're free to think and say whatever we choose. That's another reason, Russell, you've got to be real careful what you say.
But when it comes to the doing, Proverbs 16, 33 says that everything is at the disposal of God. Everything. Fourteen, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, it might save some of them.
Paul had such a love for his people, the Jew. He was 100 Jew. Every place he went and scattered all through his writings, he refers to the fact of his love for his people. Now, they were his people by the flesh, not by the spirit, but by the flesh.
For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, and this word for the world is cosmos, it doesn't mean just people. It means, well, it doesn't mean people until you get a way down in the definition.
Go back to Acts 3 .21. Joy, read that to him.
Acts 3 .21? Acts 3 .21? Yes. I'm getting there. Where the heaven must receive, of the heaven must receive until time of restriction of all things. Restoration. Restoration of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world begun.
All right, there will be a time of restoring. Now, go to Colossians 1 .20. Let's see if we can understand this a little bit better by what he wrote in Colossians. Before we read Colossians, I want to make sure you understand that our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost.
Russell, what was it that was lost? His seed. All right, his seed. And we do an injustice to the word to stop right there. What else was lost? David? The order of the earth. The cosmos, like it was in the Garden of Eden.
All right, what's corrupted and disordered now. All right, he came to redeem everything that belongs to God. That includes all of creation. Not Satan's seed, they don't belong to him. But everything else.
Now, in Colossians 1 .20,. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. So we see that the salvation is not just his people.
It's the entire creation, entire universe, everything that is here. By his blood he restored all of that. See, the world is waiting for a new body just like we are. And it tells us that, So what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?
That's exactly what it is when someone becomes saved. It's life from the dead. For if the first fruits be holy, the lunk is also holy. And if the roots be holy, so are the branches. Now, the first fruits be holy.
What do we think? Roger, what's he referring to in the first fruits are holy?
Bill, what do you think? I think that's the best offering that we have.
Clarence? I think at one time the first fruit was kind of an offering. It was given as a harvest offering. She gave the first portion. In this sense, I think it probably means your first, as you're saved, your salvation, that's your first fruits as you go forward as a Christian.
But what is he speaking of here in this section? Would it be the first Jews who believed in Jesus that he was the Christ? Yes. If the Jewish nation be holy, those that accepted to receive Christ, then the lunk is also holy.
And if the root be holy, which is Christ, so are the branches. So he's comparing the former state of the Jews to the Christian. And if when they were saved, if they were holy, then so are we. And if the root, which is Jesus Christ himself, is holy, so are all of the branches.
And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches.
But if thou boast thou boastest not the root, there is not the root, but the root bears you. Now, we're going to find in the next few verses several terms like broken off, were grafted, were broken off, and so forth.
What kind of grammar is this, Greg? Oh, we're past perfect. Thank you, Fred. Past perfect. What's that mean? Completed in the past. It's perfectly completed. Alright, but is it passive or active? Passive.
What's that mean? It's already done. I don't mean past, I mean passive. It's done to. Alright, it's done to them. So, and if some of the branches be broken off, in other words, they didn't do it, who did?
God. God did. Be broken off, and you being a wild olive tree, were grafted in. Now, who did that action? God. God. Let's talk just a minute about the olive tree. It's much like the pecan tree in this world.
The native olive does not produce a very large olive, like the native pecan. And most of the olive, Dennis isn't here, is it? Most of the pecans are from a graft. Now, the good or, can we say, commercial type pecan is grafted into a root.
Well, the olive tree were the same way. And most of them just come up wild. In Psalms 1, 1, where it talks about being planted by the rivers of water. Well, you can't plant a tree, you have to transplant a tree.
So, we being a wild olive, were transplanted into Christ. Grafted into Christ. The olive, well, there's such a beautiful sermon in just the olive tree. We'll go through that sometime. Alright, wild olive were grafted in.
You and I benefit because of the nation Israel. This is another reason that we should never be anti-Semitic. Because we benefit from that. In other words, if you boast, then you are none of his. If you're boasting about the fact that they were broken off and you were put in, you don't belong to God.
Thou will say, then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. That's the wrong attitude. Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off. And thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear.
Grave, what's high-minded mean? Thinking that you're better than others. Right. So we should do that? Yeah. Alright. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you. Just as the Jew boasted that they belonged to God because they descended from Abraham, don't think that you're saved because you're a Gentile.
Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell. Severity, but toward thee goodness. If thou continue in the goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off.
Notice there's a part in there that we know here, but it seems to be emphasized more in other churches, and the severity part. We're skipping that too much. We're relying just on the goodness.
That's so true, Grave. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God. Both sides now, the goodness and severity. On them that fell, it was a catastrophe. Severity. But toward thee, and who is thee?
A Gentile. That is us. Goodness. If you continue in his goodness. Now, David, what's the meaning here? Well, it's referring to, I think, to the Gentile nations referring in the truth. I mean, remaining in the truth, which they will not.
We know there's a falling away. And so it's a conditional statement, just like in the Old Testament. It said, you'll have all my blessings if you continue in that dispensation, which was the law. This says you'll have all my blessings if you continue in grace.
All right. Is it saying that if you do not, that the grace afforded you depends upon you? No, it's not speaking to individuals here. It's speaking about the Jewish nation versus the predominantly Gentile church.
Don't boast about the fact that God is with the Gentile church and not the Jew, because that's going to be reversed. It doesn't say that here, but that's what the if means. It's when time goes by and the church becomes lukewarm and then cold and then rejects all the truth and rejects Jesus himself, then we're going to find ourselves back in a situation where the Jews, predominantly in the tribulation, will be Jewish evangelists.
All right. Do you all see how important it is to know who's speaking and to whom they're speaking? I've heard people take this and say, it says right there, if you continue, meaning we could lose. That's not what it's talking about.
Now, it does mean that if you do not continue, then you were never his, if you want to put it down on a one-to-one basis, but it's talking about the nation. And they also, if they abide not, if they abide not still in unbelief, boy, that's backwards.
If you do not stay in unbelief, shall be grafted in. There we are again. For God is able to graft them in again. So we're told who does the grafting. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
Brother Otis. Yes. That phrase, grafted contrary to nature, shows that it's not natural for a man to get saved. That's right. There's nothing natural about it. That's why you'll be aided by all those that are natural.
And that's why this is passive, not active. That's right. It could never be active. Has everybody read the little bulletin I put on the table? 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 is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
Now Bill, when is the fullness of the Gentiles going to be?
When God decides that, or, whatever time God will ordain for it to be. You mean we don't know? No. You mean we can't find out? No. Or I guess yes. That's a good and correct answer to that question. Yes, we cannot.
Yes, we cannot?
I've been afflicted by reading so much. All right. Mystery. What is a mystery in the scripture? Diane, what is a mystery to you?
It's a series of events that follow the calendar. All right.
Someone else. Fred, what is a mystery? Well, it's... A mystery occurs when your conceit gives you the wrong answer.
That's good. Well, that's two good answers. A mystery in the scripture is something that in the past was not revealed, but has now been revealed.
All right. A mystery doesn't mean that it's mysterious and it doesn't occur. It's not a food diet. Big word? It's not a food diet. That's right. So, the mystery is what most of you have said, including Russell.
It's something that the Old Testament saints looked for. They knew it was there, but they could not solve it. Well, it was the church. I like this one. Paul says, I wouldn't have you ignorant. And so all Israel shall be saved.
Oh, there's an argumentative statement. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Now, would someone care to explain to me about, so all Israel shall be saved?
Well, is there anyone that would not care to explain it to me? Well, I think I did.
All Israel shall be saved when, at this, it's talking to this nation, after the ungodliness has been removed. So God is doing that. All right, when will that be? That will be during the tribulation, because the ungodliness has been removed.
All right, it will be taking place during that time when all Jews will be saved.
Proverbs 14 and 7. Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion, when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. What's that mean? I think what it says, they will rejoice and be glad.
Doesn't it just be the same as it is with us, all that are in Israel, will be saved as it is with us all in our nation?
At the beginning of the millennium, every Jew will be saved. Everybody will be saved at that point. At the beginning of the millennium. Now, why will he have to rule with a rod of iron if all are saved?
Well, Adam. When Adam and Eve started, you didn't have any bad seed yet. So there will be some more terror-type seeds that are born into the world during the millennial period. That's right. And that's why Satan has to be turned loose.
That's why we have the tremendous battle. Even though we start the millennium with all saved people, there will be others born during that time. Very good.
Brother Arthur. On this partial way to the ungodliness from Jacob, does this have to do with the destruction of the Jews that are received by the Antichrist? You know, it's my understanding that when the abomination of desolation sets up in the temple, that there will be those who will follow him as the Christ.
Is this the cleansing of the Jews that are not the chosen seed? Yes.
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake. For the Father's sake.
God is called Father of the stars, of the heavenly planets, luminaries. Why? Why would he be called Father of the stars? That's scriptural. I didn't get the reference. Why would he be? Where are you getting this, Brother Otis?
This isn't printed in here. Oh, okay. Because he created them. They belong to him. A little observation here. This verse happened to be in my sermon this morning. I figured that. I was studying it this week.
If you'll notice how fathers is spelled, if the apostrophe were before the S, it could be talking about the Father, God. But it's after the S, so that's talking about several fathers. And it's possessive, but it's also plural.
And then the word sakes has an S at the end of it. So this is talking about the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fathers. That's right. And so what this has to do with, let me... Don't give us your sermon, though.
Well, it'll save some time later. I don't have time to put this in a sermon anyway, so I'm glad it came out here. Back in Deuteronomy 7, the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all the people.
But because the Lord loved you, and that goes back to his eternal agape love that was placed on his own before he made anything. But there's a second reason that he's chosen. Because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers.
That's right. And that's what this is talking about. For the fathers' sake. He had promised the fathers that the elect would be saved. Very good. We'll start with verse 29 next week. Verse 29.