I would like to call your attention this evening to the words found in Paul's epistle to the Romans

in chapter 11 from verse 7 to verse 10. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh

for, but 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

said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them.

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back all way.

Now, we spent last Friday evening in giving an exposition of those words, of those four verses.

And we found that here the apostle is really summing up the position, as he has described it, in the first section of this 11th chapter of the epistle to the Romans.

Here he is concerned to show that the defection,

or if you like the casting away of Israel, was not total. And having argued it out, he

now makes his statement in verse 7 and then supports it as is his custom with quotations

from the scriptures. Well now, we've gone through the exposition of the actual statements.

We've seen how in verse 8 he quotes several passages from the book of the prophet Isaiah,

and as it were conflates them into one statement, one kind of quotation.

And then in verses 9 and 10, he quotes from Psalm 69, verses 22 to 28, at least the essence

of that portion of scripture.

Then, having done that, I suggested at the end that there were certain points of doctrine here, or if

you like, certain great lessons for us, which we are bound to face. It's important that we

should do so, of course, because it is in the scripture. And it is important for us also

in order that we may understand God's dealing with mankind throughout the long

course of history. Indeed, God's dealings with mankind today, and as we shall see, eventually,

God's dealing with mankind in the future. Now, so many people have regarded this 11th chapter

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