Think on These Things

Why is it that belief and right understanding about the day of salvation so very important?

Presented by David Johnson
Cincinnati, Ohio - July 19, 2008 (45 minutes)

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Sermon Transcript

In the religious world, the unique teachings of any religious group are referred to as "doctrinal distinctives," those things which set one group apart from another by the beliefs that they have. The belief, for example, in transubstantiation and the infallibility of the Pope when he is speaking ex cathedra are Roman Catholic doctrinal distinctives. The belief in the teachings of Ellen G. White is a doctrinal distinctive of the Seventh Day Adventists. The belief in the inspiration of the Book of Mormon is a doctrinal distinctive for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Some people like to emphasize the similarity of their beliefs with other groups; but it is, in fact, the doctrinal distinctives that very often set us apart and, ultimately, divide one group from another. For many people, those distinct beliefs are seemingly unimportant because they assume that all paths lead to heaven, which conflicts with a certain doctrinal distinctive that you and I have; but, nonetheless, many people think that as long as you're doing the best you can do with what you know, then this is going to get you to the same place, and God will be quite happy with you.

Recent surveys, in fact, have shown that increasing numbers of religious people, especially younger people, really don't even know the doctrinal distinctions of their particular faith; or, if they do know, they really don't see them as having very much importance. In fact, probably the most popular approach in much of religion today is the nondenominational approach, which, basically, just tries to emphasize nice things and, "We don't really have to be all that different. We welcome anyone and everyone to come in and be a part of what we're doing." It's kind of a come-as-you-are mentality.

We had a church in the last area where we lived, we would drive by there on our way to head for Sabbath services as we headed for Paducah, you'd drive by their sign; and for some time there, the sign just said, "The come-as-you-are church." And it always kind of struck us as unusual. I'm sure for many people, it felt very good. For us, we went by and we thought, "Well, wouldn't it be neat to have a sign that said, 'The come-before-the-Holy-God church.'" That might be a little bit different than just come as you are. But, nonetheless, that's a very popular approach among many people today.

The idea of having doctrinal distinctives—things that set us apart—it just really wasn't that important for many people. We, of course, have our own set of doctrinal distinctives—the keeping of the Sabbath and holy days, the identity of the United States and Britain, the refusal to eat unclean foods—all of these are distinctive teachings of the Church of God, things that we believe and set us apart.

A number of years ago, Mr. Armstrong was talking with a group of people, and he asked them what they thought the most significant doctrinal distinctive was in our belief. Several people put forward various ideas. Probably the Sabbath, the holy days, would certainly stand out as unique in many religions today, so they put some of those things forward; but Mr. Armstrong said he felt there was something else that was the most important of those distinctives. That is, the belief that this is not the only day of salvation—a unique belief, a belief that sets us apart in many ways from most of practicing religion—the idea, the concept, the realization that, as a matter of fact, there is a plan and not everybody is being called at the same time, that this is not the only opportunity.

Most religion teaches that this life is what you have. This life is your opportunity. You will either embrace Jesus Christ in this life or you are lost forever; and we don't believe that. We believe something very, very different.

Many times people misunderstand what we believe. They accuse us of believing in a second chance and so on, and we don't believe any such thing. We believe in one full chance, but we don't believe in any second-chance type of thing. No, that's not there. It is a unique belief that we have. As important as that doctrine is, as that belief truly is for us, in many ways, the only time we really focus on it specifically is when we come to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. On that day, we very often focus on the fact that those who have never known the truth of God will be given their opportunity ultimately. But much of the time, we don't talk about it that much the rest of the year. Oh, it may come in a little bit here and there, and that's fine; I'm not meaning that critically. I'm just simply saying that it's one of those things that, while it is very important, sometimes we just automatically assume everybody understands it. And, of course, what we're finding more and more is that we can't make that assumption. We all need to be reminded. That's one reason why God has us go through that holy day every year, so that we can be reminded and keep it firmly in our minds that God has a plan for all mankind.

Why is that belief, that right understanding, about the day of salvation, so very important? Now, this doctrinal belief is not directly stated as one of our twenty fundamental beliefs in our constitution; but, at least, two of those statements within the constitution refer to that understanding. For those who like numbers, 2.1.12 says, "We believe in the commanded observance of the seven annual holy days given to ancient Israel by God and kept by Jesus Christ, the apostles, and the New Testament Church. These holy days reveal God's plan of salvation." So there is in that a statement that we recognize there is a plan revealed through the holy days.

2.1.19 says, "We believe that the only hope of eternal life for mortal humans lies in the resurrection through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We believe that at the return of Jesus Christ, a resurrection to spirit life will take place for all who have been God's faithful servants. We believe that after Jesus Christ has ruled on this earth for a thousand years, there will be a resurrection to physical life of the vast majority of all people who have ever lived. We believe that after these people have had an opportunity to live a physical life, if they become converted, they, too, will receive eternal life. We also believe that those who reject God's offer of salvation will reap eternal death."

In those two statements, we do find allusion to the fact that we recognize this is not the only opportunity for salvation for every human being on this earth. When you stop to consider it, that belief really has a profound impact on the way that we live, the way we approach relationships, and, especially, on the way that we do "the work"—the approach that we take toward doing God's work.

Consider what the misunderstanding of that truth has brought. In many ways, it's caused a lot of grief for some very well meaning people who have lost loved ones who had never embraced Christianity. They just never had. Whatever reason, they never chose to live that way. Perhaps they always thought they would at some point, but they didn't want to do it just now, and they died before they could ever make that commitment, or whatever it may have been. There are many people who suffer with those feelings of, "My poor loved ones who are gone, and it's too late. They're gone and they've had their only opportunity, and now..." Of course, if you believe the basic ideas of going to heaven or hell, they're not in heaven, so they're not in a very good spot. And there's a lot of suffering and difficulty with that.

You may well have friends or relatives who really feel a need to get you to change your beliefs. They're well meaning people. They mean to do well. They don't dislike you. They love you very much; but because of this misunderstanding, there's this feeling they have to kind of push their religion at you. Of course, we don't push ours at them; but, nonetheless, it can make relationships a little bit strained at times.

Many churches see missionary work as absolutely essential because, after all, the scripture tells us in Acts 4 and verse 12 that you can't be saved in any name other than the name of Jesus Christ, so they look around this world at the millions, literally billions of people who do not know or embrace the concept or the teaching of Jesus Christ; and they say, "We've got to reach those people. We've got to send our missionaries out to those people and reach them somehow with the truth; because if we don't, they're doomed. They're lost forever." It must be a very frustrating thing to see.

I have to say that when my wife and I used to live in California, we were a little surprised to find that, at least at that time, the Church of Christ considered California a missionary field, people desperately in need in California. But there are many churches who spend enormous amounts of money trying to send missionaries here or there, and the missionaries come back and tell these little heartwrenching stories...again, you have to admire the dedication of those. I'm not putting them down in any way. There's great sacrifice and real dedication, but it's dedication to a wrong concept. It's not right. So this enormous amount of effort and energy is being placed under the concept that we have to reach them now or they're lost. Since scripture is clear that this has to take place—salvation can only come through Jesus Christ—they believe that they have to get the name of Jesus Christ to everybody right now.

The belief that this is the only day of salvation actually was used during the Middle Ages as a justification for the tortures of the Inquisition. It was believed that those who refused to accept the teachings of the official church were headed for hell. If they were tortured, one of three things could happen. First of all, they would recant their wrong beliefs and accept the church teaching, in which case, they would be saved from hell. We won't go into what they thought would happen to them, but let's make it as nice as possible. They would be saved from hell anyway. Hell is a really bad place, and you can't get out of it. OK. There's another place that in Roman Catholic teaching, limbo, that you can go and it's almost as bad, but you do get out. So there's a time limit on that one. But if you could get them to recant those beliefs, then, OK, you've saved them from hell.

The second possibility is they would refuse to recant. They would hang onto their wrong beliefs, and they would literally be tortured to death. In that case, they would end up in hell. But they were headed there anyway, so all you did was just kind of speed up the process.

The third possibility was that they would recant and still, because of what they went through, they would die. Well, OK, you saved them from hell anyway, so it was still a good thing to do. So the idea was that since they have to embrace a certain set of beliefs right now or they are bound for hell, then the fact that they're not believing that way allows us to do these terrible things to them. And, again, that's based on that concept of everybody has to be saved right now. That was also the basis for many of the forced conversions that took place as the early explorers went out. There were almost always missionaries who went with those early explorers to try to convert the native tribes, and those conversions were very often forced conversions. Forced conversions don't work real well; but, nonetheless, that was the justification.

Most people completely misunderstand the significance of a passage from the book of Isaiah which Paul quotes in II Corinthians, chapter 6. The first two verses are significant here. II Cor. 6, starting in verse 1, Paul says:

II Corinthians 6:1-2 — We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. "Vain" in the scriptural sense means "to no lasting value." Don't receive God's grace in a way that doesn't have any lasting impact or value in your life. For He says: And here we find the quote from Isaiah, "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Now, in the context here we go back and look at what Isaiah said; and we find that, well, this translation isn't exactly the way Isaiah put it. In fact, in Isaiah 49, verse 8, if you want the cross reference there, you can see that it's saying there is "a" day of salvation. This is not the only one. There is "a" day, there is "a" time when salvation is available to people. But it's not saying this is the only one. And in the context of what Paul is saying here, he's saying, "You know, you individuals who are called now, who have received the grace of God. It is your day of salvation, and you don't dare take that lightly." And that message certainly applies to all of us. We do not dare take lightly the idea that this is our opportunity. There is one opportunity, and if you've received the grace of God, this one's it for you and for me. We do have to make sure that we use this in the way that God intends, that it is that for us. But it's certainly not intended to say there is only one opportunity for all of mankind.

When you misunderstand this concept, there are a number of other passages of scripture that can seem very difficult to understand. Now, I want to look at a few of those really quickly, but then we're going to go back to the book of Romans and look at a very specific section that I think is especially helpful for us in this context. Let's go back to John, chapter 6. This is probably a memory verse for many of us. We remember it very well. John, chapter 6, and verse 44. Jesus Christ is speaking, and He says:

John 6:44 — No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Now, we certainly would also focus on the aspect of being raised up at the last day, but that's another subject.

"No one can come," Jesus Christ says, "No one can come to me unless God, the Father, draws him," or her, as the case may be. No one is capable of doing that. You can't simply choose on your own that I'm going to go at this point. God has to be involved in that process. Now, if salvation is available to everyone at this time, if it's available to everyone in this life, yet, Jesus Christ says nobody can come unless God calls them, then we're left with a problem. If God doesn't call someone in this life, then God's being unfair. God is not fair if He refuses to call someone at this point and, yet, you've got to be called in this life or you don't make it. There's a serious problem. Now, of course, if you do understand, then you realize God calls each individual in their own time. He chooses when the best time is for each individual, and He calls them as it's appropriate for Him.

Now, just stop and consider that for a moment. When you look at the way that we see our responsibility in doing God's work, we certainly want to reach as many people as we can in the most effective way, but we always remember that we cannot call people. We do not have that power. Nothing we can do, no matter how effectively we may present the material, can open a human mind. Only God can do that. Now, that doesn't mean we don't try to do our best. It doesn't mean, let's not try to do it the most effective way we can. By all means, we should do that {the most effective way we can}. But there is the recognition that if God doesn't open the mind, that mind won't be opened by anything you or I will do. So as you and I deal with our relatives and loved ones and friends, we don't feel a responsibility to get them to accept what we believe. Oh, early on, we tried to do that; but we learned that lesson pretty quickly. It doesn't work well. But we do recognize that God calls at the right time, when He chooses. It certainly isn't telling us God won't call them or give them an opportunity, but He does it in His own time.

A little further on here in the book of John, John, chapter 15, he says in verse 16, Jesus Christ again speaking:

John 15:16 — You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

Again, the point I want to emphasize in the context of today is, "You didn't choose Me; I chose you." Now, we obviously had to respond; but He's talking about what initiated this process. What initiated the relationship between us and Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ did. And as He said there in chapter 6, God the Father ultimately does. He's the one who initiates that. He's the one who gives us the desire for that relationship in the first place, who shows us that something is missing and we need it. If you understand this concept of the day of salvation, you realize it's not a matter of going out and getting people to choose to accept Jesus. He has to deal with them first. Then they're capable of responding.

Now, there are many other passages; but let's just go quickly up to Revelation, chapter 3, again, in the context of how we see our responsibility in doing the work of God. I think there was a time when, at least for a few people, we saw the commission that was given or the prophecy that was given about the word going out, the gospel message going out as a witness to all the world, Matthew 24:14, and so on, and some people saw that as basically, "Well, OK, our job is to go out there and put it in front of people." It's kind of like, "Here it is. I don't care whether you like it or not. Here it is. I've done my part. I'm done." And that's not really what our approach is supposed to be. That's not the proper approach, but we notice it's a description here. We'll pick it up in verse 8. I'm not particularly focusing on church eras or any of those things. No, I want to pick it up in verse 7, excuse me.

Rev. 3:7-8 — And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, "These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens:..." Now, He puts this in the context, "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have..." merely "...a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."

Now, however we want to apply this as far as prophecy or whatever is concerned, we do recognize that it is God who makes it clear that He's the one who opens doors. And when He opens it, nobody's going to stop Him from doing it. And when a door is shut, because God shut it, all the pounding on that door that you want to do will do no good at all. God opens; God shuts. He says to this group of believers, "I have set before you an open door." Now, we can apply that a lot of different ways; but I think we would all agree that we, in this age, wherever you want to start numbering this age, we have the ability to communicate in ways that have never existed throughout history. The door of communication, in a sense, is open in ways it was never available throughout the vast history of mankind. This is a unique and special time, and God has opened some special doors in that way. Obviously, again, the rest of the message is, we need to go through the door and so on, but we understand that only God can do that. It is not the same open door down through all of history; it is a unique and special thing, where God opens this door of getting that message out.

Now, let's just quickly go back to chapter 20, Revelation, chapter 20, and, again, this is one that we cover on the Last Great Day of the Feast; but the principle that is given here, Revelation 20, and verse 5, it tells us...verse 4 talks about those who live and reign with Christ a thousand years, and then it says:

Revelation 20:5 — But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Then the phrase, This is the first resurrection, goes back to what was at the end of verse 4.

Verse 6 — Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

So, again, it very obviously ties back to verse 4, living and reigning with Christ a thousand years. But it makes the point that there are those who are living and reigning with Christ for a thousand years; and AFTER THAT, the rest of the dead are going to live. Now, again, that's a unique concept. That's one that most people don't understand. I have often, when giving a funeral, stood in a cemetery, and with people gathered around as we're ready to inter whoever this individual is for the funeral, you go back to that passage where Jesus Christ says that...well, let's just turn back there. John, chapter 5, and verse 28. It's a powerful image when you're standing in a cemetery surrounded by graves stretching off in all directions as far as you can see.

John 5:28-29 — Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation," it says here. Probably "judgment" is more the sense of it.

It talks about people coming forth from the grave to a period of judgment. To stand in the midst of a graveyard when you're interring some loved one and look around you and remind people, "These are the words of Jesus Christ. These are not the words of some human being who has a philosophy about whatever he thinks is going to happen after this life. These are the words of Jesus Christ, the firstborn from among the dead. All of these graves are going to open up, and these people are coming out. You stand there and you look around you, and it's an incredible concept to realize what that promise is.

We could go to many other passages. We read the Ezekiel 37 passage, with the valley of dry bones. We read further in Revelation 20, the great white throne, and so on. Those passages are clear to you and to me because God has helped us to see that He has a plan of salvation, and this isn't the only day when people will be saved. We could not understand those passages without that.

There are many other examples, but I want to focus on one particular section. Turn back to Romans, chapter 9. This particular section has puzzled many theologians; and, frankly, as I was reading through it, getting ready for class a while back, it impressed it so much upon me that I thought, this would make a good Bible study. This would be an interesting Bible study for services, so that's what I want to do today, is look at this passage; and we won't have the time to go through all of it, but let's just pick it up in Romans, chapter 9, and verse 1. He says:

Romans 9:1-5 — I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. Now, here's the apostle. Why is he so sad? He says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites... They're not embracing the truth. They're not buying into this. Here, Paul is Jewish and he's looking at his countrymen, those who come from that same basic stock; and there is a very strong emotional connection, just as there is for you and me with the country that we're a part of. There's a very strong emotional connection, and Paul looks at this and says, "It's so sad. It hurts to see so many who either don't understand or who consciously reject the teaching that comes to them. It's a painful thing." He says, "I look at them and I consider what God's done with them...to whom," he says in verse 4, "pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers...," you know, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs that we look to, "...and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it's not that the word of God has taken no effect."

Paul says, "I look at this and I wonder what's going on. People wonder why is this?" Now, again, I'm jumping into it, in one sense. Realize that in the book of Romans, as Paul is addressing the congregation there at Rome, there are Gentiles and there are Jews who are part of this congregation. And there tends to be a certain amount of looking down on each other. The Gentiles often looked down upon the Jews as being kind of superstitious and stuck in their old ways. The Jews, on the other hand, looked at the Gentiles as a group of people who worshiped idols and had all kinds of wrong ideas and concepts. They had this vaunted educational system that left God out of the picture, so they had all kinds of wrong ideas, so they tended to look down on each other. But now God has called them to be a part of the church, and Paul is looking at this and saying, "Wait a minute. We shouldn't have this kind of division here with the church. We can't carry over those attitudes we had in the world and bring them in here. But how do we explain these things?"

He says in chapter 3, verses 1-2, What advantage has the Jew? And he says, Much in every way. They were given the oracles of God. They were given the truth of God. There are many advantages, but at the same time, for so many, they really haven't embraced it. They really haven't tried to live that way. And he covers several other points up through this till we get to chapter 9. But now he is beginning to address this subject a little bit more directly. He says:

Verses 6-7 — But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel...God is dealing with a different group of people, not just physical Israel...nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, he says, in Isaac your seed shall be called.

He's making a point, and I don't want to get too bogged down here. It's easy to get bogged down in Romans; but in this case, he's making the point, "Look, throughout history God has dealt with certain ones. Isaac was not Abraham's only son." There was Ishmael and later, after Sarah's death, Abraham married Keturah and there were sons there. So it's not just the sons of Abraham. God chose out of those sons one that He was going to work with right then. Does that mean He hates the others? He goes on to say:

Rom. 9:8-12 — That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Isaac came about as a result of a miraculous event. The others did not. For this is the word of promise: At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger." 

Now, his point in all of this is, God made a choice, and it wasn't based upon somebody who did righteous things. They were living so righteously that God said, "Oh, I'm going to call them because they're already so wonderful." He makes the point that the children were still in the womb when God made the choice. God simply chose He was going to deal with one in one way and the other in another way. He made that choice. As we go on here, he says:

Romans 9:13 — As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."

Now, we understand that it's not a matter of God hating Esau. God gave great blessings to Esau in many ways, but He chose to deal with Esau differently. He chose to work out His plan through Jacob. Verse 14, Paul says to those whom he is trying to talk with about this:

Verses 14-15 — What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Is somehow God not righteous because, after all, He chooses to deal with some at this time and not all in the same way? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion."

Do you remember the context of that? The children of Israel had built an idol, a golden calf; and Moses was, of course, irate, angry about it, and so on; but he realized that it was a point where God could destroy all of Israel, and Moses went to God, and he said, "Please be merciful to them. Take me instead if you want, but don't destroy them." And God's response to Moses was, "You know what, Moses, it's My job to decide who I'm going to work with, when and how. I appreciate the fact that you want Me to be merciful, but, frankly, this is My choice. And it's My right to make that choice."

He goes on and he uses the example of Pharaoh in verse 17.

Romans 9:17 — For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."

God simply chose to use Pharaoh in a special way. God didn't hate Pharaoh. He didn't hate the Egyptians who were there. If God had chosen to bring Israel out of slavery during the reign of a very humble and weak-willed Pharaoh, it wouldn't have shown God's glory and power in the same way. It wouldn't have encouraged and strengthened His people, so God chose what looked like the most difficult path to show them, "I can handle this. You can trust Me." It was a part of God's purpose in working it out.

Verses 18-21 — Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. He allows them to choose a different way. It doesn't mean that they're lost forever. You will say to me then...This is where we get into the section I think is especially interesting...You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" How can God complain about the way that we live because, after all, He's the one who chooses who's going to be called and who's not. And Paul's response is, "Well, now, wait a minute. Stop and consider this." He says in verse 20, But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?"

Now, when I read through this, I was fascinated. I look at various resources. I've mentioned to you that I very often enjoy William Barclay's Daily Study Bible, and one of the reasons I enjoy this is because when Barclay gets it right, he is eloquent; and when he gets it wrong, he's blazingly wrong. And it's pretty easy to see. As I read through what Barclay said about this particular section, especially verses 20-21, I was fascinated. Here's the way he begins it. These are some of the comments he says:

There are two things to be said about this passage. No. 1, it is a bad analogy. One great New Testament commentator has said that this is one of the very few passages which we wish Paul had not written. There's a difference between a human being and a lump of clay. A human being is a person; a lump of clay is a thing. Maybe you can do what you like with a thing, but you can't do what you like with a person.

No. 2, when we've said that, we must remember one thing: It was out of anguish of heart that Paul wrote this passage. He was faced with the bewildering fact that God's own people, his own kinsmen, had rejected and crucified God's own Son. It was not that Paul wished to say this. He was driven to say it. The only possible explanation he could see was that, for His own purposes, God had somehow blinded His people. His argument is not good. Paul is saying that God deliberately darkened the minds and blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts of the mass of the Jewish people in order that the way might be opened for the Gentiles to come in. We must remember that this is not the argument of the theologian sitting quietly in a study, thinking things out. It is the argument of a man whose heart was in despair to find some reason for a completely incomprehensible situation. In the end, the only answer Paul could find is that God did it.

Now, you know, I read through that and I think, that's amazing! This man is looking at this, and it reveals his view of scripture as a whole, because basically what he's saying is, "Well, all scripture is not really inspired by God. Some of it is actually just the things that people wrote themselves. God was working with them; but, you know, you don't have to take all of it." Yes, we do! We believe it's all inspired by God. Now, if you believe this is the only day of salvation, then you come to a conclusion like this. Now, I thought, "Oh, maybe that's just Barclay," so I started looking through other sources, and I found this same thing echoed over and over again. "This is a bad analogy. Boy, I sure wish Paul hadn't written that one. That doesn't make any sense."

When you understand that this is not the only day of salvation, it makes perfect sense. He simply says, God is the one who determines what's best for each individual. He uses the analogy of a potter, and he says:

Verse 21 — Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

There are various uses that these things will be put to. It doesn't mean one is worthless and the other is useful. It simply means that the potter determines how these things will be used; and, likewise, God determines how He's going to use each individual in the working out of His plan. It's a very simple thing. It's not a matter that...it doesn't say the potter makes some vessels that are good and the others are all destroyed. They're worthless. No, it doesn't say that. God has a different purpose. He works these things through. Now, go on a little further. He says here in verse 22:

Verse 22 — What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction...

God wants all people to understand the terribleness of sin. He wants people to realize that, to recognize that He will never condone evil. Even so, He hasn't chosen to strike down the sinful as soon as they sin. He would certainly be justified in doing it. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, when you read through the Psalms, you'll find that many times David asked God, "Why don't you strike them down? Why don't you go ahead and take an action against these people? Look, the way they're living is making other people think it's OK. The prosperity of the wicked confuses people." But God was working out a purpose. He knew what He was doing. He was going to carry this out in a proper way. He made it clear that the wages of sin is death, but instead of immediately striking them dead, He has chosen to withhold the demonstration of His wrath until the time when it is going to accomplish His purpose. He goes on to say:

Verse 23 — ...that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory...

So, in other words, God's patience in dealing with the sinful is accented even more by the fact that upon some of those sinful people who deserve God's wrath, He has chosen to express and to extend mercy and forgiveness right now. He has chosen to give them that opportunity now. That mercy is not extended because they're less sinful than anybody else, but simply because God established a plan which provides mercy on some in this age as a promise of mercy to all in the future. He goes on to say,

Verse 24 — ...even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.

I would love to read through the end of the chapter; but I think for sake of time, we're not going to be able to do that. But he brings out this point as you look through this passage...we go from here through the end of Romans, chapter 10 and chapter 11; and as you come to the end of chapter 11, he uses another interesting analogy—an analogy, again, that you will remember, but let's turn back there. Chapter 11 of Romans. He talks about grafting in. He says in verse 22:

Romans 11:22 — Therefore consider...No, I need to go earlier than that. Let me go back to verse 16.

Romans 11:16-18 — For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you...he's referring to the Gentiles here...being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches.

Now, we don't do a whole lot of grafting in this area, at least not that I've seen; but I remember seeing it very clearly when we lived in California. There were a number of walnut orchards; and when you drive by the walnut orchards, you look at the trees, about four feet up, they're very dark. And then they turn a light gray the rest of the tree. And you think, this is a strange way for a tree to grow. But what you find is that the English walnut—all of us enjoy the thin shell that's easy to get into—is rather fragile as far as weather is concerned. However, in this country, we do have another kind of walnut, the black walnut. And, again, many of you are quite familiar with black walnuts. You used to throw them at your sister or whatever. But you know that those things are hard to get into. They have a very hard shell, and it's really hard to dig those things out of there. So what they've done is they go through and they plant an orchard full of black walnuts; and as they grow up to a certain point, they cut off the top. Then they graft in an English walnut so that on this solid American black walnut root stock, you have this nice English walnut that grows; and it produces this very nice, pleasant crop that we all enjoy.

Now, he's using the analogy here with an olive tree; but it's the same basic thing. A wild olive tree is uncared for; it doesn't produce well. The fruit is not good quality, probably large pits

and very little fruit to it, and so on; but it says, now, in using this analogy, the Jewish people—the people of Israel, we could even extend further—are like an olive tree. You'll find that in the Old Testament as well, the analogy is used, like an olive tree; and you Gentiles are kind of like this wild olive that grows out here without anybody taking care of it. Now, as time has gone by, because God chose to do this in His plan, these are removed, those branches that were a part of the tree that was the good stock, because they weren't doing what they should do. So God removed those branches and, instead, He grafted in branches from this wild olive tree; and because there is this wonderful core to draw from, this wonderful root to draw from, you begin to grow and develop and produce in ways that you never could imagine. But as he goes on to tell them, "Don't get proud of yourself. God has a plan, and in that plan there is coming a day when those branches that were cut off are going to be put back in; and when they are, what they produce will be amazing. It will be wonderful.

He points us to that time in God's plan when He will open the minds of all people to understand His truth, and the wealth and the abundance that will be produced at that time is amazing. I would pose it to you that if you go through Romans 9, 10, and 11, if you do not understand God's plan that this is not the only day of salvation, you will come to the same conclusion Barclay did. "Well, I guess God just did it, and there's no sense to it. It's just a matter that God is God and He can do what He wants." But if you understand the plan of salvation, you'll see that throughout this whole section, there is a wonderful, wonderful promise; and that's why as you get to the end of chapter 11, you notice how Paul concludes in verse 33.

Romans 11:33-36 — Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.

Paul was so inspired. Barclay said, "Paul was distraught. He can't figure any reason for this, and he doesn't know what else to say." Does that sound like a distraught man who can't figure out what's going on? The apostle Paul is so inspired by the plan that God has that it encourages and strengthens him, and it gives him a full perspective on what he's supposed to be doing and on what we're supposed to be doing, too.

So I hope you find this helpful and, as we consider this, that we recognize what a distinctive and important truth it is to know that this is not the only day of salvation.