we come this evening in a consideration of the epistle to the Romans to the 10th chapter,

which begins, as you noticed in the reading with the words,

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved,

for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Now, here we come to a new subsection in this big section, which includes chapters 9, 10, and 11 of this great epistle.

No epistle perhaps demands our more careful and close attention from the standpoint of arrangement and order than this epistle to the Romans. And we saw back

at the beginning of last October that in these three chapters 9, 10, and 11, the great apostle, having as it were

really completed his exposition of the Christian faith takes up this whole matter of the

position of the Jew.

Now, there were two main reasons for that we saw.

One was, of course, the actual fact, the very position that the Jews as a nation were outside the Christian church.

A small remnant had come in, but in the main they were outside, whereas the Gentiles

of all people were the ones who seemed

to be crowding into the Christian church, into the kingdom of God. And the second reason

was, of course, that the fact that the Jews were outside in that way seemed to be to some

people to raise a query as to whether the promises

of God which the Apostle had been elaborating at the end of Chapter 8 were, after all,

as certain and as sure, as the Apostle had been making up.

Very well.

Well, now, then the Apostle has taken up this matter, and he deals with it

in chapters 9, 10, and 11. We've already done chapter 9. Now, there in chapter 9, we saw that

his main purpose and his main teaching and principle was this. That salvation is something that

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