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[0:00] As the Lord helps me, I would like to direct your attention to some thoughts found in Romans chapter 11 and verse 22.

[0:16] That's the eleventh chapter in the book of Romans and verse 22. Behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God. Unto them which fell severity, but towards thee goodness.

[0:31] If thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. That's the eleventh of Romans and chapter 22.

[0:46] Into this particular chapter, friends, Paul seeks, as it were, to support the fact that though he was called to go unto the Gentiles and to preach the gospel, that truly God had not wholly and solely cut off the Jew from salvation.

[1:03] But yet out of the Jews there was still a rendement to be called by grace. But also into this particular chapter, friends, Paul sets forth something of God's absolute sovereignty.

[1:17] On the one side we see generally, as it were, the nation of Israel departing from God, turning their back upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and upon the means of the gospel.

[1:29] And because of their turning their back, we see how that the Lord, as it were, removed that church. Those church blessings, or those, we'll say, the natural blessings of the ministry of the gospel from amongst them.

[1:44] And yet we find that in spite of the Jews rejecting of the gospel and despising it, that yet the purposes of God would stand sure. And the purposes was this, friends, that God would yet then turn to the Gentiles and call out a people to his name and to his praise.

[2:02] It seems as if when Paul began to meditate upon the secret decrees of God, he also was brought to see how that God is just, as well as without a doubt realizing that man is accountable.

[2:17] Do remember, friends, we are accountable for our sin. We cannot blame our sin, as it were, to Adam. But may we know what it is to realize that it is we who have sinned.

[2:29] It is I who have sinned against God. It is I who have turned my back upon the gospel. It is I who have chosen the broad way to destruction.

[2:41] And yet we see, in spite of all man's perverse ways and determined, as it were, to destroy themselves, yet God in his infinite love and mercy does call out a people to the praise and to the glory of his name.

[2:56] Now when we look upon to the text which lays before us, I realize there is great difficulty here, and I acknowledge it. And I certainly need divine help from above, Lord, to rightly divide to the word.

[3:08] Friends, I need the help from the Lord in order to rightly divide to the word. But to begin with, we see here that he's speaking of these both Jew and Gentile at large.

[3:19] Not dealing with individuals, but as the Jew, as a body, and as the Gentiles as a body. Now he brings forth how that there was as much as to say to the Gentiles, seeing now you have been grafted into this vine, and the Jews have been cut off, you have no reason to boast of yourself.

[3:43] In other words, friends, if we know experimentally what it is to be grafted into Christ, there is no room for boasting. Salvation is of grace and of grace alone.

[3:55] And certainly, friends, if we are brought into that union to Christ, and feel something of that union, and know what it is to feed upon Christ, we'll know that there is no room for boasting.

[4:07] Is it possible that anyone who has grace might then seek to sometimes boast? Ah, when we lose something of the sweetness of grace, and when we want to, as it were, to boast, as it were, some of our experiences, friends, we sometimes can, as it were, even grace can be a snare, and we can sometimes run away without experience.

[4:31] May the Lord ever keep us low, and keep us in the right way, in the true hungering, in the thirsting, so that we might, as it were, never be lifted up with pride. Certainly, I cannot believe that any child of God would, as it were, live in that state of pride very long, because the Lord is bound to make them stumble.

[4:51] You often remember how I often refer to that experience of Pilgrim, how when he walked to caught up, as it were, with his friend. And when he caught up with his friend, he went right on by him.

[5:01] And he turned to his friend, as he took back, and he says, Look how great progress I'm making now in my race. And he soon stumbled, and he fell. And he had to realize that there was no room for pride, there was no room for the flesh and true religion.

[5:18] Now, into this particular text, friends, we see something of God's solemn judgment upon one, and we see something of God's wondrous grace to another.

[5:30] And yet, as if, though you have been granted grace, and though the Lord has bestowed upon you great favor, oh, that we might ever be very careful, lest that sweetness or that goodness be taken away from us.

[5:45] Now, looking at it collectively first, and then let us help, as the Lord might help us, to look upon it as individuals. First, collectively. Now, Paul sets before them the severity and the goodness of God.

[6:00] The severity, or that solemn judgment, friends, which God wrought upon the Jew as a nation, and therefore, as we would call, the Jewish people in general.

[6:13] And yet, we see something of God's goodness bestowed upon these Gentiles. First of all, let us notice something of this severity, and what brought it upon them.

[6:27] To begin with, friends, we know what took place there. When the Lord Jesus came upon the face of the earth, they did not receive him. I know there was a little renmin, but you remember how they wanted him to be put to death, and that they wanted him, as it were, to be put aside.

[6:43] They did not receive him as the Son of God, neither did they want to receive his gospel. And when the early church, that is, the apostles, went forth to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, we realized there was a great multitude.

[6:59] I know one occasion 5,000, another occasion 3,000. But yet, when we think of the multitudes of the millions of the Jews upon the face of the earth, the renmin was very small.

[7:11] But yet, by their refusing, and by their rejecting, and by their open rebellion against God, and against his word, and against his prophets, and against his apostles, we see that the Lord brought his judgments upon them.

[7:27] Now, what were these judgments of which he brought upon them? First of all, remember the judgments which God brought upon to the children of Israel, that is, the Jews as a nation, were just.

[7:38] They were right. We know that in due course, after the 40 years after the resurrection of Christ, for 40 years the apostles labored faithfully amongst the Jews.

[7:51] Mainly Peter and the apostles, but then Paul first to the Jew, and then to the Gentile. He went to the scattered Jews, which were found around through the whole Roman Empire, and when there was the rejection of the gospel on the part of the Jew, then he turned to the Gentile.

[8:05] But to the Jew first. Paul said again and again, to the Jew first. So there was a period of 40 years from the time of the crucifixion of Christ, or at the ministry of Christ, then to the time when the temple was destroyed.

[8:21] And if you would read about the destruction of which took place at the temple at that time in the history books, friends, it's appalling. How the judgment was brought upon to the Jews, their temple was destroyed, their worship was scattered, and the Jew was scattered throughout the whole of this world.

[8:38] And it became a byword. And further, friends, let us notice, the Lord cast off in the measure his people, that is, the Jews as a nation. I know not wholly solely, there was a small little remnant, but that remnant of which God has ever called out from the Jew to this day, friend, has been very, very small.

[8:59] Very rare do we ever find of a Jew called by grace. Thank God for the remnant, but he did cast them off. He removed from them the gospel.

[9:11] Ah, friend, where do we read of a place where the Jews gather around to the gospel? You don't read of it hardly at all, if ever. I'm not saying nowhere. But, friends, after the apostles brought to the gospel, the Lord never returned to the gospel amongst the Jews.

[9:25] Then it was turned to the Gentiles. And the Lord never raised up any Jew to be as a great reformer or as a great witness of the gospel.

[9:39] I know very scattered ones, there's a few here and there who have been called into the ministry, but I'm not speaking, I'm speaking in general upon to the Jew. In other words, God removed the gospel from them.

[9:52] He allowed them to remain in darkness. He allowed them to go on in their darkness, in their ignorance, wanting as a work, seeking to the law, having their forms without any power, denying as it were the verily nature of the Lord Jesus Christ as a part of the Trinity or as the Son of God.

[10:15] And now we can look upon to the Jew today, friend, they are a living testimony of God's judgment upon a people who have turned their back upon God. They are.

[10:27] Look, them scattered through all the whole, I know they're still staying together. Now for 2,000 years, some of the Jews have been scattered upon this world, and friends, they still remain, as it were, a Jew. Some of our forefathers, in fact, all of our forefathers came over from the old country.

[10:45] Some from this country and some from that land. But we all came to, balled into what we call an American. Americans. And our genealogies and our former nationalities seem to be completely dying away.

[10:59] And certainly, if it had been 2,000 years ago we would have been here, we would have completely forgotten all about our genealogies and forgotten all about our forefathers and hardly had known even from what land they had originated from.

[11:11] But not so the Jew. What Lord hasn't planned for the Jew yet, I'm going to leave. And let's not speculate. We've got our soul in eternity, friends. That's the thing we've got to deal with.

[11:23] But I'm trying to bring out before you the solemn severity which God, in his righteous judgment, wrought upon a people who turned their back upon the gospel and says they would have none of it.

[11:39] Oh, the solemn words occasioned on one Paul there in the book of Acts when he came into the synagogue and preached the word of God. And then we read that he said, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.

[11:56] And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. And then he went on to say, Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets.

[12:11] Behold, ye despisers and wonders and perish. For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. And we read later, When the Jews had gone out of the synagogue of the Gentiles, we saw that those same words, the word of the gospel might be spoken unto them.

[12:30] And then we see how the Gentile received the gospel. And then you remember how the Jew came up in rebellion against it and persecuted the church of God and persecuted the apostles and sought to drive them out of their own cities.

[12:44] Well, friend, all that they did against the gospel, friends, the Lord kept in mind. And as I said, he removed the gospel from them. And now the Jew has no place, as it were, hardly, as it were, in the church of God today.

[13:00] Now, don't misconstrue my words. Certainly, we have to say that if we are the Japheth, if we are the chosen people of God, what a mercy by his infinite love and mercy we have moved, as it were, into the tent of Shem, like Noah prophesied there in the beginning.

[13:18] But now we see there is the severity of God upon the one, but there is the goodness of God upon the other, but toward thee.

[13:30] Goodness. Now, what is this goodness? Looking upon it in a general way, the goodness was this, that the Lord commanded the apostles, and the early ministers to go to the Gentiles to preach the word.

[13:48] Now, friends, in other words, if we have the gospel and have the means of God in the general way, it is God's goodness. Oh, I realize I'm not going to boast about my ministry.

[14:00] I've got nothing to boast about. But have you ever thought what a mercy it is that we have a place of worship? I realize it is a poor one, but yet what a mercy if we yet have one of his servants in our midst.

[14:16] If we may at times believe we still have a little token here and there of the Lord's presence. Has the goodness of the Lord ever brought you to repentance, the fact that you can come to the house of God and that you can come on to this day?

[14:29] You have our freedoms, we have our privileges. Ah, friend, that is in one way what the apostle here is speaking about, the goodness of the Lord. And then as much as to say of oh, should we cope to come a little later, but otherwise also that if ye continue in his goodness, in other words, if we make not light of the means of grace, if we make not light of the blessed opportunities and the goodness which the Lord has given us, but it is yet the day of grace.

[14:57] Because coming a little bit ahead of my thoughts, when we look there of many of the Gentile churches, ah, friend, if we would go down into Asia Minor where once the word of the Lord was so graciously blessed, where out from that church at Ephesus, the whole of the gospel went forth into all of Asia Minor and they had all heard the word.

[15:21] Multitudes of men and women were robbed upon and the idolatrous temples were broken down and within 30 years there was a complete change there amongst that whole area and the gospel moved over to Philippi into Greek and finally into Rome.

[15:36] And moved up into the western world. But yet as we look upon to the results now, friends, I mean, I know it's thousands of years. I'm sad, friends, that I believe if you would go into those areas where the seven churches are, you would almost have to, as it were, search, as it were, the candle to find, as it were, any soul who fears God, who has any profession of religion.

[15:57] Ah, the day came when they made light of it, when they sought to, as it were, to incorporate all the things of the flesh and made their religion a mockery and a stink in the nostrils of God. And so we have this, as it were, generally speaking amongst the Jew and the Gentile that they might otherwise take, like they might, as it were, take heed that there might be the continuance of the gospel.

[16:22] I believe many places of which we may believe the candlestick once shone brightly where there were churches where there were men and women gathered in their ungodly fear. And today I'm not, as it were, making judgment upon any we got sufficient on ourselves.

[16:37] But I believe today you can look up onto their doorpost if you had a spiritual eye and you would see it. Ichabod, the Lord has departed. Oh, friends, how careful we've got to be lest in any way we would screave the Holy Spirit and there would be the removing of the candlestick.

[16:54] Do I boast that the candlestick is among us? I don't know. I hope it is. But it may be here one week and gone the next. I hope at times I can see some evidences of it and I hope that the candlestick is among us and I pray that it might.

[17:10] But, friends, how do I know when the candlestick is among us? I read that the Son of God walketh amongst them. Oh, do you know what it is to come to the house of God and pray that the Lord's blessing might be known and felt in our midst and that we might know what it is to prize God's goodness that we have the gospel, we live in a gospel day.

[17:28] We are still in the land of the living and some of you when you're on converted state do you ever thank God you're not yet in hell? That God has not come in judgment upon you and opened the door a pit and told you there's your reward.

[17:43] There's the place of your abode. Oh, do you know what it is to cry out like the hymn writer says, forbid, forbid it by thy grace or prevent prevented by thy grace that I might not be like unto those who go down into the pit?

[18:01] And so there is that, friends, of God's goodness. Now let us go a little further upon some of these thoughts of God's goodness. For certainly we see in this chapter that this goodness of which the Lord bestows upon these individuals is upon the ground of this free grace.

[18:18] And he uses the illustration there of the olive tree. Possibly because the olive tree was something friends which bid bud and brought forth fruit.

[18:30] And it was that olive tree of which they crushed friends which brought forth oil. And it was that oil of which they would often use as a medicine to their body and, as it were, to make their faces shine.

[18:41] As we notice, the olive tree, friend, is something of which is a special thought in the word of God. The olive tree is something which is long-lived. I understand that if you go to the Mount of Olives there to Jerusalem, they claim that many of the olive trees there were the same trees which existed when Christ was upon the face of the earth.

[19:01] They're very old. They live to be thousands of years, if not more. In other words, it is something of God's eternal love and blessing upon his church. But now let us look at the olive tree.

[19:15] There were those branches which naturally belonged to the olive tree. These were the branches of which the Jew and they drew from the sap, they drew from its tree, all the blessings of the gospel which was found in Christ, which was the favors of God to hell-deserving sinners.

[19:34] Naturally speaking, the Jew had a great privilege. To them was given many years before the law, the precepts, the gospel, and it was given to the Jews the Savior was to be born.

[19:45] Who was a Jew? The Jews were the first to write all the word of God is written by Jew. There's not a Gentile to my knowledge who wrote one verse in the word of God.

[19:55] It was all by Jews. And to them was given the articles. To them was given all these blessings. It was only the Jews which were the disciples who were the first spreaders of the gospel and the ministers of the church of God.

[20:11] Later, Timothy, and later, Titus, and later others were finally added but it was first the Jew. Marvelous privileges. But yet, when we think of the election of grace according to the Jew, oh, they withdrew from the sap.

[20:29] They got fruit and praises unto God. But the time come when the Lord began to cut it off. The blessings which they once had were taken from them and judgment was found upon them.

[20:45] But friends, was it then all in vain? We see the Lord by his infinite love and mercy there went to some brands who were nothing more than wild branches.

[20:57] Not only wild, but they were dead. And he takes them, as it were, as brands out of the fire of which we read in the prophecy of Zechariah. And he takes them by his almighty hand of love, mercy, and grace.

[21:10] By a mighty hand. And he takes them into that vine and he makes a little notch, a little schism. And there he takes these wild olive branches, which are dead and worthless.

[21:22] And he plants them, as it were, into the vine or into the olive tree. And they become living. And they bring forth fruit. And these are the Gentiles.

[21:34] Now, for the sake of our young friends, and some of you have heard me tell this again and again, but bear with me. I love to keep the children's attention. I can remember it because we used to have some fruit trees when I was a little child.

[21:47] And my father always used to love to, as it were, putter around the yard with his fruit trees. He was quite proud of them. And I can remember on one particular year, friends, we had a very hard winter.

[21:58] And I trust it was the rabbits which ate all, as it were, they bark around the lower parts of these trees, many of the trees. And he had to bridge graft them in order that the trees might live from the top to the bottom.

[22:11] But he had to use live twigs. Some of the twigs, which are often another tree, which hadn't, as it were, died, and they were becoming now alive in the spring. And they had to bring these in and they put beeswax around them, and friends, the trees lived.

[22:27] They had some hard years, but they survived. In other words, they had to use live twigs, and he had to engraft them, as it were, something of that same nature.

[22:38] Another thing we used to do, we had an apple tree, and he wanted different kinds of apples on that same tree, and so he would take a twig, often a live twig, in the early spring of the year, when the sap was flowing, when everything was just right, and he would take some of those little twigs, and he would engraft it into another tree, and he would have two or three different kind of apples on one tree, as a little novelty.

[23:01] But it had to be a live twig. It had to be a true good apple tree. That's nature, isn't it? But friends, when it comes to the conversion of a soul, everything is contrary to nature, because flesh and blood is never going to enter into our salvation.

[23:22] So what did the Lord do? He went and he found a piece of an olive tree, which was wild. No fruit never grown upon him. But worst of all, it was dead.

[23:35] And he takes it and he puts it into the olive tree, and it becomes a living branch, and it brings forth fruit. Ah, that's grace, isn't it, friend? Now can you follow a little bit with what I'm trying to set forth, and there's a living example?

[23:51] What is man by nature? What have we Gentiles got anything to boast of? Ah, the Jew had once to boast. Something else. They were the children of Abraham. They were the lot, lot of the children of the promise.

[24:04] To them was given the word. To them was given the glorious truths of the gospel. To them were all the prophets. But what are we as Gentiles to boast of? Nothing.

[24:15] Oh, if we rightly look at our root and look at what we came from, friends, we got nothing to boast of. But what are we? We're nothing like that wild olive tree, wild in our own ideas, wild in our own pathway, prone to wander, following the course of this world, dead in our trespasses and our sins.

[24:35] And as I said, dead. Nothing. But there the hand of love, the hand of mercy, as it were, bypasses some twigs. Not that any twig was any better than another.

[24:48] When my father would have to graft, he would take the best of the twigs that he could find. He had to find some good ones. They had to have life already in them. But not so, friends, because there's life, there's no goodness ever to be found in any man.

[25:02] But he takes them and he grafts them into the tree of life. And then we become a living branch. Now what are some of these evidences and some of these marks that I, by God's grace, could possibly be one of those wild olive branches, which is there dead, which is only fit for the burning, and who God, by his infinite love and mercy, takes one and leaves the rest to burn.

[25:36] And he takes this one and that one, and he brings them by the hand of might and empowered and brings them into the olive. Yes, to the olive tree. And they begin to draw sap out of that life.

[25:48] Now let us see if we can see some of the fruits, some of the evidences. First of all, friend, have we ever seen something of ourselves as one of those branches as dead?

[26:02] I realize it's a strange thing. How can a dead person feel that he is dead? We go to the corpse, friends, and that person doesn't know he's dead. At least the body doesn't. But yet, friends, here's amazement.

[26:16] One who is actually quickened into the divine life fears his death. He feels his death. He feels the confines as a man there in a coffin, bound by death.

[26:28] He feels himself to be under the sentence of death, and rightly so, because of his sin. He looks upon the fire and he sees, yes, there's where I belong, and there I will be if it is not for God's grace.

[26:42] He fears he might be cast away as it were from his God, but yet of the fruits is this that he knows what it is in a measure to cry unto the Lord for mercy. He feels the testimony of his own sins against his own conscience.

[26:55] He has every marks of, as it were, God to cast him off forever and to forget him completely, knowing that he has nothing to plead, nothing to come with. The more that he is brought to realize it, the more he needs to seize, he stands in need of mercy.

[27:09] The more he stands in need of free grace. The more that he's brought to realize that salvation is not by the deeds of the law, by the deeds of the flesh, but by free grace and free grace alone.

[27:22] It is that living life which is in it which brings out a cry, it brings out a sigh, it brings out a desire, though so weak, so frail, yet I realize it is a coming and a going.

[27:34] As any plant in our garden, sometimes we might look upon it and we think, well, it looks like it's going to live and maybe the next day it looks like it's so wilted over. We think it's not going to survive. But then the Lord comes with a little shower from heaven, a little warm sunshine, and it seems to perk up and we come to the conclusion that it's got life.

[27:53] I realize it is something to come to the conclusion that I've got life, especially in this beginning days. But oh, what a mercy if we can find some of our traces and experiences of those who are portrayed in the God Word of God.

[28:07] When we can look upon some of the Psalms and see the very desires and the longings of our soul. When we can look upon some of the visitations which God gave unto those in times past in the Old Testament as well as in the New and to know with living desires as Lord, could that be portioned mine?

[28:23] Could I be found amongst that favored lot that I might have those blessings indeed like Jabez there prayed? And oh, Jabez was a good man. You remember the story there which is found in Chronicles?

[28:36] There is that vast name, host of names of mankind. We read of this name and of that name. But it appears as if for those names which are round about them, friends, they were left to perish in their sin.

[28:51] But of Jabez, we read, and he was more honorable than his brethren. What was this honor? It was the honor of God which placed upon him, of God's electing love, of God's quickening spirit.

[29:04] Ah, friend, do you find that to be an honor? Do you feel that would be the greatest honor that life could ever give you? Do you see that it far exceeds all the joys and the pleasures of this world if you could be one of those?

[29:17] David didn't look for great things. He wanted real things. He says, oh, that I could only be a door keeper if I could be the lowest in the house of God. He says, I'd rather be a door keeper than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

[29:33] And so we find that even that woman there, she said, but Master, I just need a crumb. And boy, when she got the crumb, friend, she went away rejoicing. She found a great faith in her Savior.

[29:46] And so what a mercy if you can say, take the world, but give me Jesus. All its joys are but a mine. And then when you slip and when you fall, you find yourself again crying unto the Lord that the Lord might yet draw you by his love and by his mercy.

[30:02] Ah, but we read in the words of our text. But toward the goodness. Now, who were these? Certainly, we read that they were also Gentiles walking after the course of this world.

[30:18] They were also those who were dead in their trespasses and their sin. I often think of that one particular clause, and I don't know if I can quote it very well. But there in the book of Deuteronomy, you remember when the Lord says when they were to bring, as it were, to their bread of thanksgiving, and when they were to offer it unto God of the first fruits, they were to put it in a basket.

[30:40] And it was to go up to the tabernacle or to the temple of the Lord. And then they were to make their confession and say, Lord, and I can only quote you part, we were like those Assyrians which were ready to perish.

[30:54] In other words, we were nothing more than outsiders, ready to perish. And now here I come with all these blessings with me to give thanksgiving unto thee, as much as to say that I'm unworthy of it.

[31:08] I certainly believe this is one of the marks of those who know what it is to be united into this olive tree. They are brought to realize that in their petitions and in their prayers, they're going to say, but Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies, the least of thy favors.

[31:27] But when they do receive it, they're going to be brought to realize it was all of grace and grace alone. Do you see a beauty in the word grace? As I've often said, it means the unmerited favor of God.

[31:39] Does that just suit your case? Does it just seem to set forth what you need and stand in need of? Grace. The unmerited favor of God.

[31:51] Now we read here in our lesson here that those who are grafted in have no room to boast. In other words, friends, as Gentiles, we've been, if we are, been grafted into the tree.

[32:08] And now he says, take no boasting. Lest in any wise you should seek to exalt yourself or make light of these blessings and favors of which you have, and the Lord begins to remove them.

[32:21] And then we find the removing of a branch here and there, which we may believe has done in the history of mankind, hasn't it? In other words, what he's saying here also in this 22nd chapter was this, generally speaking about the favors or the goodness which was given to the Jew once, and by their departings we see how God's judgment was poured out upon them.

[32:46] But being poured out upon to them the Lord by his goodness also brought favors unto the Gentiles. Now these favors will continue to the Gentiles as long as they continue to be steadfast in these things.

[33:04] Now you may say, is there not perseverance of the saints? Is it not once converted and always converted? Absolutely. We certainly see that portrayed in the 8th of Romans, where we read that the Lord says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ and so forth.

[33:19] But in the 8th of Romans, remember, God is dealing as individuals. But when we come into this particular text, friends, God is dealing as a general thought upon to the Jew and to the Gentile.

[33:34] But I believe we all might well take heed to self, lest we should in any ways as it were prove to be a stumbling block, lest in any way we should grieve the Holy Spirit and the candles sticks should take away from us.

[33:48] Now let us make a few more illustrations. Now getting away from my subject a little bit, come to some other thoughts that I had. We see the goodness, the severity and the goodness of God.

[34:01] Certainly when we look upon in the case of Noah, friends, we see the severity of God's judgment upon the world. But we see the goodness of God to a man called Noah.

[34:11] We see the severity of God upon the Egyptians and their destruction. And all of the plagues which were brought upon them, but we see the goodness of God being brought to Israel.

[34:25] And yet may we see the greatest of all the favors that God ever granted to Israel was the redemption which they brought them out of bondage on the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God. So we see then there is the goodness of God and the severity of God.

[34:44] Is there the goodness of God and the severity of God even upon his own individual people? The answer is yes. However, the severity is not of an eternal nature. Certainly the goodness of God was there upon David when the David was called by grace in the days of his youth and how he walked humbly with his God.

[35:05] And how he was in the days of trials and temptation. He still stood fast. Oh, the love of David, the love of God unto David. But when David fell and when David sinned, he did bring the severity upon him.

[35:21] In other words, his sin was not to be too lightly looked upon. He brought sorrows and troubles into his own house and the sword never departed. It was a constant grief. But thank God as an individual, he did not bring a final severity upon David.

[35:35] It was a chastening rod, friends, for his correction. And without a doubt, David bore the chastening rod and the thought of that severity and the thought of his stain of his sin to his very dying bed.

[35:48] Though he felt the pardon, though he felt restored into the joys of salvation, yet he was often plagued with his sin. It was a constant trial to him, especially as he looked upon the waywardness of his children and the departing of his own house.

[36:03] And so we can look upon Israel in many times how the Lord's goodness was upon them. But when they departed under the old dispensation, you remember how he came with his rod. Was it a rod of anger?

[36:15] Was it a rod of hate? Ah, friend, let us look upon the anger and the hate of God as a holy hatred. But in one respect to the children of Israel, it was a rod of love. It was a needs be.

[36:28] I often think of that verse which is found in the book of Proverbs. Folly, or I don't know if I got the right words, but I'll have to use it the best I can.

[36:39] Foolishness is bound up into a child, but the rod must remove it. And so we know that they're bound up into a child, that a child needs a rod, he needs correction, because in him is foolishness, is waywardness.

[36:54] But I think we might look upon it in a spiritual way. Oh, what foolishness! Oh, what folly is bound up even to a child of God! Oh, our likeness, our folly and our foolishness, which sometimes comes out of our mouth and into our imaginations with great regret.

[37:13] And the Lord has to take the rod to drive it out, sometimes by trials and sometimes by tribulations. But also, friends, what a mercy from time to time he brings a little prick into our own conscience.

[37:26] And we become ashamed of ourselves, how we have conducted ourselves for the little time, sometimes even upon the face of the earth and the eyes of others. Oh, the goodness and the severity of God!

[37:41] It'll always be found in the pathway of all of those who truly fear God. God! We have many other illustrations when we look upon in the case of Lot. Oh, the goodness of Lot!

[37:52] A goodness of God to Lot! He was a righteous character. And yet, friends, he was tempted by the allurements of this world.

[38:04] He looked upon the plain of Jordan and it was so well watered. It was beautiful. But the men of Sodom were wicked before God.

[38:16] Oh, if he could have only said, I can't go there. In spite of all the allurements, in spite of all the beauty that is there, I can't go there. Because lest I come near unto those men of Sodom and Gomorrah, and to fall into their sins, and to fall into their temptation.

[38:32] Oh, I'd rather, as it were, go into the wild desert. Even there the Lord can provide for me out of his goodness, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. But the man was overpowered by his own flesh.

[38:47] The Lord allowed him, as it were, to make his foolish choice. And so we read, and he dwelt in the plain of Sodom. Later we read, he was in the city of Sodom.

[39:01] Later we read, he's in the gate of Sodom. Yes, one step leads to another. And finally there he's caught up. In all their filthy conversation, friends, it grieved him.

[39:14] It vexed his righteous spirit from day to day. I suppose he hardly could leave, because I wondered if his family so loved it. And he listened to them, rather than to his own conscience.

[39:28] Now we find the goodness of God to Lot. And bringing him out. And yet the severity of God placed upon Lot.

[39:40] The last we read of that rich man, who had herds and had flock of abundance. Who was, as it were, without countless riches. The last we read of him, he dwelt in a cave with his two daughters.

[39:56] And two of those sons, which later come from him, through his daughters. Which came the father of the land of Moab. And the land of the Amorites.

[40:10] Idolatrous characters. I believe without a doubt that Lot died yet in God. Whether he died in darkness, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.

[40:21] We mustn't play with God's goodness. We mustn't play with God's favors. We mustn't play with the gospel. We mustn't play with our soul.

[40:35] Remember, friend, we got but one soul. And oh, to play with it. To throw it around. I believe I've told you the story, in case some of our young friends have forgotten.

[40:47] I remember the story years ago. It came from a free will man. But the story's all right. He said there was a certain man who went all around the world to find the riches. And finally he accumulated all his riches and he bought one pearl of great price.

[41:01] Not the pearl of Christ. But a pearl naturally. And he was so proud of it. And as he was going to return back to his own homeland with this rich pearl, he stood upon to the deck of the ship and showed all of those round about and he'd throw it up into the air and catch it.

[41:18] He'd throw it up into the air and catch it. And one time the boat gave a little jerk. And the pearl which he had spent all that he had and labored all of his life for went to the ocean floor, never to be found again.

[41:32] Oh, do we play with our soul as such? Are we careless about our soul in eternity? Do we throw it up and then find you the day one jerk comes and we find ourselves in eternity and lost forever?

[41:49] Such is man. Ah, may you know what it is to value that your own soul and desire that you might find the pearl of great price, the pearl of Christ and as a word depart with all that you have.

[42:03] And you can say, as I've already quoted, yes, take this world but give me Jesus. All its joys are but a name. Yes, the pearl. Now, my soul in eternity, it is Jesus I want.

[42:20] Now, as I said, friends, the goodness of the Lord was given to the Gentile. That is the means of the gospel, the house of God, the written word was scattered throughout the whole of the Gentile nation.

[42:31] I wonder what's happening. I wonder what's happening. As I look upon it, friends, I'm wondering if the Lord is beginning to cut it off.

[42:45] Certainly, we can look at England with a well-favored land, with many churches at one time, with many godly men. I don't believe there was a spot in the whole of this world that is in our present history who was so favored as that land, but it's gone.

[42:59] There's a little rendement. We look upon it as a rich yet, as far as we're concerned, but it's gone. It's fast departing, and I could make some statements, but I'm not going to make them. It's too discouraging to hear of them.

[43:13] But what about our own land? What about our own homes? What about our own soul? Are we making light of it? Is the Lord gradually, as it were, cutting it off and taking all the way, the privileges and the blessings of God's favor upon us?

[43:32] Oh, how we often, as it were, to be very careful about these things. For in the last clause of verse 22, otherwise thou shalt also be cut off. That is, with these opportunities and these blessings of the means of grace.

[43:49] Behold. You notice there's a word of our text. Behold. In other words, take note of these things. Let them enter into our soul. And certainly, friend, I'm not standing here preaching against the people.

[44:02] I've got to preach against myself. It's a solemn accountability to stand in the pulpit and to preach to others. As you remember the story there of when Tip-Tap once stood there in that large church in England.

[44:14] The Church of England. He was invited to speak there. The story is amazing how he was invited. But nevertheless, he stood amongst all the royals of that area. The chancellors and the mayors and all the rich men of that city were there.

[44:29] And he began his discourse of this nature. He says, I either stand before you as a servant of God or a servant of the devil. There's nothing in between. So, friends, it is a solemn thing to stand into a pulpit.

[44:44] We are the blind leaders of the blind. We either are compromising the truth with air. We either are rightly dividing the word of God or, as it were, mincing matters.

[44:55] And, friends, I'm not going to make any claims. The Lord has to make his own claims. The Lord has to know what it is to bless me as well as you. But all may we know what it is to behold.

[45:07] The goodness and the severity of God. Goodness to some. And judgment to others. And yet, unto his own people, they will bear it both, don't we?

[45:21] And I believe I can say to some of you who know grace. And what little I know. I have to say, yes, behold. The goodness. And the severity of God.

[45:34] Oh, may we know what it is that goodness of the Lord might lead us to true solemn repentance. And that the favors of which God hath given us may never prove to be taken away from us because of lack of concern.

[45:47] Lack of any interest on our part. Well, friends, it's a mixture, isn't it? I can't very well always divide to these things. But may the Lord make it up all that I have said amiss.

[45:58] And bless these words to each and every one of us. For his name's sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Shall we then conclude our service by the singing of hymn number 833.

[46:23] 833. Thy mercy, Lord, we praise. Of judgment, too, we sing. For all the riches of thy grace our grateful tribute bring.

[46:35] Hymn number 833. Hymn number 833. Hymn number 833. Hymn number 833. Thy mercy, Lord, we praise.

[47:09] Thy mercy, Lord, we praise. Now, God, we praise. How can we sing? For all the riches of thy grace for all the riches of thy grace the grace, the grace of thy grace the grace of thy grace the grace of thy grace mercy may just be quain A stiller grateful one Where loved or deep in the thing Will tremble and приб Simhu Be fear thou hast been found, And what thy righteous love

[48:12] Lifted thy hands and pray, Or praise thy humongous praise.

[48:24] Our Lord is his holy hand, A prayer of all I pray.

[48:42] Thy goodness now is there, Fear love and fear thy name, Thy hands are filled with the heart's end, Where the way is the spring.

[49:05] Thy death is done to thee, For me to my fistful.

[49:17] Thy tender mercy still I keep, No bother, no norm, no doubt.

[49:28] O Lord, again we would seek of thee That thou wilt follow with thy blessing upon thy word, And that thou wilt forgive all that has been said amiss.

[49:42] And may the grace of the Savior, And the love of the Father, And the communion of the Holy Ghost Rest upon all, Now and forevermore.

[49:53] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.