Two Streams – Romans 11:1-10

 Over the years, I have seen parts of hundreds of North American rivers, both big and small. And I suppose that most of you have as well. We have seen many at their source and later seen them at their mouth. For example, most of you have seen the beginning and end of the short-lived Spokane River. I have seen the mighty Columbia at it source in the Canal Flats, just north of us in British Columbia. Then I have crossed it many times at Golden, as it flowed north, and again at Revelstoke as it flowed back towards the south. I have crossed it several times in central Washington and again as it turns heading west in southern Washington. Then I have seen it at its mouth near Astoria, Oregon, where it’s hard to determine if it is river or ocean. I have seen the Mississippi and two of her great contributors, the Missouri and the Ohio. I have lived close to the banks of the Missouri in Nebraska, and I have crossed it at just about its confluence with the Mississippi. Along those banks the river is very different from the way that it looks at its Great Falls in Montana. I have seen streams and rivers like the Bow and the Moyie which looked clean enough to drink. And I have seen rivers like the Mississippi, Missouri and the St. Francis in Quebec, which looked as if you could walk across them without sinking, getting only a little muddy in the process. I’m sure that most of you could probably tell similar stories. Using our spiritual imaginations (but using them only slightly), we can see two streams in this scripture.

Elijah, God’s first great prophet since the days of Samuel, ministered in the days of wicked Ahab. Despite that dark, dark period, the Lord accomplished amazing things, miraculous things through Elijah. It was as though He moved the prophet’s hand to turn off the faucet of rain, and then to turn it on again. Elijah raised the dead and accomplished other feats, which only the servant of God could do. And of course there was the spectacular, miraculous spiritual conflict on the eastern slope of Mt. Carmel. As we said last week, following that battle, Elijah fell into a great depression, which sent him spiraling down to Sinai. And there in one of the caves or crannies close to the place where God gave the law to Moses, Jehovah had a conversation with His prophet.

Elijah told the Lord that as he looked at the world, he could see only two kinds of people. Actually, he could only see himself and everybody else, but the Lord corrected him as far as the numbers were concerned. There are only two kinds of people in the world, and as Elijah described them, they were basically – “them” and “me.” God’s correction changed the “me” to seven thousand people who had not bowed their knee to the idols of king Ahab and his consort Jezebel.

Let’s use this scripture to outline the flow of two streams, one perfectly clear and the other polluted and poisonous. These two rivers don’t have the same source, and they don’t flow into the same ocean. Don’t picture yourself in a boat on one or the other, but as a fish or a swimmer into whose pores and scales the nature of the water has permanently established itself. You might for a while swim with the current, against the current, or simply across, but eventually that river will bring you to its own particular ocean. You are going to spend eternity in one or the other of these seas, after spending your life in one or the other of these rivers.

Stream One.Notice that in verse 7 Paul says, “Israel hath NOT obtained that which he seeketh for.” I believe that there is a part of every human being which instinctively says that there is a God, and that both He and we are eternal beings. I am convinced that only through brainwashing do some people force themselves to forget these truths. So into this world a little boy is born, and he innately believes in God and Heaven. Of course, he is a sinful little creature because every baby is a child of sinners, who were children of other sinners, who were children of the first sinners – Adam and Eve. As this little boy grows, he will place his love and interest in a great many differing things. Some of those things will be relatively harmless, like toy trucks and catching butterflies. But over time some of his interests will be more sinful than others – filthy music, filthy pictures, violence and so forth. As he matures he might have a muddy, muddy mixture of interests – both good and evil. For example, he might choose a religion, but also a vocation driven by greed and self-centeredness. He might have a foggy sense of God, but also a cupboard full of pet sins. Because he is a sinner, whose life has not been interrupted by the grace of God, the general direction of his life – his river – is toward eternal destruction. And yet, in the back of his mind he still knows that there is an eternity beyond death, and he’d rather enjoy that eternity than suffer throughout its course. You could say that the average boy/man, girl/woman is seeking, in the sense of looking forward to an eternal ocean filled with the unending blessings of a God who will overlook his or her faults.

Ah, but that is all pie-in-the-sky – a myth. Even the most religious people on earth – no matter what their religion might be – will not obtain that for which they seek. For example, Israel, the nation to whom God gave the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, expected their Messiah to come and fill up all that their dreams had lacked to that point. Individually, they were anticipating pleasure and joy in some sort of regenerated bodies in the land that God had promised to Abraham. But the prophet, whom God was then using to speak to Israel, was saying that the Jews were NOT finding that promise.

And the reason, contrary to popular opinion, was that as a nation, Israel had not been CHOSEN to receive it. To see that, all we need to do is to consider what Paul says in verse 7. “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it.” No matter how a person chooses to define “the election,” this scripture says that ELECTION is the reason that one swimmer ends up enjoying one ocean and another ends up poisoned and dying in the Lake of Fire.

Sadly, the hearts of proud men, demand that they abuse, contort and in the process, destroy the word “elect.” They will say that “the elect” are those people who repent of their sins & believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Bingo! That is absolutely correct. But what those false-teachers try to say next is that it is because of their faith and repentance that some people become elect. To “elect” someone refers to a way in which someone is “chosen” to a certain office or position. Some people say that when a sinner decides to stop kneeling before Baal and start kneeling before God, then Jehovah chooses, or elects, that sinner. By definition the idea is preposterous. That is akin to saying we have a new President of the United States because he voted for himself. He probably did vote for himself, but that is not who elected him to be President. No, going up stream just a little bit, we learn that this election is according to God’s grace. And once again, “grace” refers to God’s unmerited favor. If election is a result of something that God sees the sinner do, then it is not an election of grace. If God’s choice to save someone comes about because that sinner has done something – even if he has done extremely good things – then it is a reward, not a gift of grace. As verse 6 says, if something is of “grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

Do you see the comment in verse 9? “And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them.” This reference to David is not to one passage but a summary of three or four. David did teach these things in his Psalms, but this is not a direct quote. And when Paul speaks of Israel’s “table” it appears to be in the light of, and in the attitude of Malachi 1 – “Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.” Paul’s point was that even Israel’s religious services were polluted and rendered useless because of sin. In fact, their corrupted religion made matters worse and would be made a recompense unto them. There would be judgment against them for profaning the pure worship of the Lord.

If you believe that I am repeating myself and that you’ve heard all this before, it’s because I am, and you have. Please look back at Romans 9:31 – a passage from which I’ve preached at least once – “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” By chapter 11 Paul has changed his tune but the words to this song remains the same. Israel claimed to be seeking the Lord, and following after the law of righteousness. But they have not attained to the righteousness of God and they have not reached the ocean of God’s eternal blessings. And why? Because they sought it not by faith but by the impotent works of the law. And what is the source of faith? “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Bible says that faith comes at the command of God – the spoken word of God – the decree of God.

Not only have the swimmers in this river not sought the Lord and his salvation by faith, but this river is filthy and polluted to the point that they can’t even see clearly. “The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (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 day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.” There are hundreds of species of fish which are completely or partially blind. And there is a logical reason – most of those blind fish live in waters where there isn’t any light – in caves or in the ocean depth. Over and over again, the Bible describes sinners as being like those blind fish. Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel in the Old Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, II Corinthians, Ephesians, I John all speak about this in the New Testament. For example I Corinthians 2:14, suggests that this blindness is universal and hereditary – “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The word “discerned” means “examined” or “judged.” The things of God cannot be seen, understood, examined or properly judged by any natural son of Adam. Then beyond that there is a spiritual enemy, whose sole goal is to destroy the reign of God through Christ. And a part his plan of attack to make sure that these blind souls of ours remain that way. II Corinthians 4:3-4 – “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Most religious people can live with these two bits of revelation, but they hate the third component of this spiritual blindness. God Himself, guarantees it. The Lord has given the nation of Israel the spirit of slumber, blind eyes and deaf ears. To deny that fact is to deny the explicit words of God, and proves one’s self to be a rebel against the Lord’s revelations.

There is a stream into which every child of Adam has been spawned. It is foul; it is polluted; it is poisonous. And it ultimately ends in the ocean of God’s wrath and eternal justice – the Lake of Fire. To use the words of the Lord Jesus and changing the illustration somewhat – “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” But there is also a “strait is the gate, and narrow … way, which leadeth unto life.”

This brings us to the second stream.Verse 7- “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it.” There is a river, beginning in the heart of God, which flows toward an entirely different ocean. This is that blissful sea, that tranquil ocean, which every wise soul desires to enjoy. There is only one river that reaches this ocean and its golden shores. It is the river called “salvation by grace.” And it springs from the fountain of “election by grace.”

Let’s read together Ephesians 2 – “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. or by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Notice that in similar but different language Paul says, that we were all swimming in the polluted waters of God’s wrath. We “were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” But in the mercy of God, which has its source in “His great love wherewith He loved us, God saved us.” To say that God loves those that He condemns to Hell, that He loves them with the same love that He has for those whom He saves is shear nonsense. Yet some of those who were aliens to God and Israel, hath the Lord quickened and raised up. You could say that He picked them up out of one stream placed them in the other, and “those who were once far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” He is our peace, having reconciled us to God, and made us fellow-citizens with saints like Elijah and David.

But when and where did this stream of grace begin? To find that source we turn to Ephesians 1:3-4 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

Remember from earlier in the chapter that Elijah was complaining that he felt that he was swimming alone in God’s river of grace. The Lord then rebuked him by saying that there were thousands of others much like himself. Specifically, God said that those 7,000 had been “reserved.” Even though they might have testified that they refused to submit to the heresies of Jezebel’s idolatry. They might have said that they had always striven to love and serve Jehovah. They might have spoken of their faith and even of their sorrow over sin. But ultimately, the true cause of these things was the love and grace of the Lord toward them beginning in eternity past and which during their earthly lives “reserved” them to God.

There are two kinds of people, two streams of people in this world. Many there be that go into the broad, smooth river that runs into destruction. But what we need – desperately need – is that narrow stream which leads to life everlasting. Those who are in that stream prove it through their repentance of sin and by their faith and love in the Lord Jesus Christ. The vast majority of Israel believed that they were floating down God’s blessed river, but they were wrong. Where is your soul headed?