Sunday Morning Service

Romans 11:1-15 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

"The Proof Is In The Pudding!"  •  6.10.12  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- As we come to Romans 11, we are entering the final part of this section on the vindication of God's election. I'd like to offer a quick summary before we proceed.

- In Romans 9, Paul laid out God's purpose in election, mainly that those who would respond by faith in Christ, would be vessels of mercy, while those who refused would be vessels of wrath.

- In Romans 10, Paul wrote that Israel had hardened her own heart by attempting to establish their own righteousness, but that God remained faithful, holding out His hand to a contrary people.

- If Romans 9 detailed Israel's past, and Romans 10 dealt with Israel's present, then Romans 11 helps us to demonstrate their future!

- In the section directly before us, Paul exposes 3 proofs that speaks to the future of Israel.

I. Biographical (v.1)

II. Historical (v.2-6)

III. Theological (v.7-15)

Text

I. Biographical (v.1)

• Romans 11:1 : "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." : The way that Paul presents this question assumes a negative response.

- Paul's last line regarding Israel in chapter 10 was that they were a stubborn and contrary people. When you and I are confronted with a group of people like that, we would respond negatively.

- The word "cast away" means to shove to the side. To discard. To regard as worthless. That is how we would respond, but that is not the way that God responds!

- They are not cast away permanently simply because Gentiles have been added in.

 - His arms remain open wide to a disobedient and contrary people, not extended out against them! The first proof is found in the Apostle Paul himself.

- Of all the people on Earth who had been contrary to God, Paul had been the chief among them having been a persecutor!

- Imagine the grace of God to include a man like Paul. Some of us do not need the illustration. We are amazed that He has graciously included us!

- Beyond that, Paul was an Israelite by nationality and culture. He grew up in a Hellenistic culture, but was trained and groomed to be a Rabbi in Jerusalem.

- He was ethnically and spiritually of Israel! He was governed by God and of the faith of Abraham. He was a Jewish Christian, having believed in her Messiah.

- In Paul's wake and certainly through his ministry, there are hundreds of thousands of Jews that have acknowledged Jesus as Lord.

- These men and women are ethnic and spiritual Israel as well and they live all around us!

- Finally, Paul mentions the very tribe that He belonged to. At the time that Paul was writing this, any Jewish man could visit the temple and confirm their tribal ancestry.

- Paul's tribe was the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the tribe of Israel's first King and Paul's namesake, Saul.

- This information may have simply provided a thorough statement regarding Paul's ancestry, but there may be more to it than that.

- At the end of the book of Judges, the author writes of a gory incident that ostracized Benjamin from the rest of the tribes of Israel and led to a bitter civil war.

- Benjamin was soundly defeated and left without wives, as the rest of the tribes of Israel had made a covenant together to withhold brides from the men of Benjamin.

- Judges 21 tells the story of how Benjamin remained a tribe, by taking the virgins of Jabesh Gilead and the dancing daughters of Shiloh.

- The point is that there was once a time when Benjamin was nearly cut off. There was a time when it was so wicked, the other tribes determined to fight against it.

- But in God's faithfulness, Paul's tribe was preserved and here Paul stood as a visible figure of that remnant of people, a vivid and telling illustration moving forward.

II. Historical (v.2-6)

• Romans 11:2-5 : "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life'? But what does the divine response say to him? 'I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.' Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." : Paul tells His readers that God has not cast away His people that He foreknew.

- We discussed that word when we looked at it at the end of Romans 8. Foreknowledge refers to intimate knowledge and an foreordination of events.

- God had chosen Israel and determined to set His love upon them. Paul has already asserted that the ones that God foreknows will also be justified and glorified.

- God will not change His mind in spite of the obstinance of His people Israel. To illustrate this principle, Paul reminds his readers of another time and place, back in the days of Elijah.

- Elijah was a powerful prophet, who was also given to bouts of what might be called clinical depression today. The man worked tirelessly, but perceived that his ministry was a failure.

- At one point, Elijah is so depressed, he asks God to kill him! It's too much to watch Israel slide down into the moral sewer that it had found itself in.

- The story that Paul references here comes from a conversation which takes place in a dark cave, where Elijah is hiding from Queen Jezebel who has vowed to kill him!

- I Kings 19:10,14 record Elijah's case against Israel and the perception that he is the last follower of God in Israel. Have you ever felt that way?

"I'm the only one who is following God! I'm the only one that is fighting this fight!" Let this be an encouragement to you, for what was true in history is true in principle today.

- Verse 18 records the divine response to Elijah, which was quite a revelation to him: "I have 7,000 who have not bowed the knee."

- God had reserved a faithful group of people in Israel for Himself. Elijah, you are not alone! Believer, you are not alone!

- There are 7,000 people that you do not know about Elijah! You think that hope is lost, but it's just that you can't see the ones I've reserved for me!

- Paul says, "If it was true then, it is just as true today!" There is a remnant, a group within the nation of Israel, who have not bowed their knees to Baal! Even then this was true!

- That remnant exists according to the election power of God's grace! Get that phrase in your mind: "The election of grace."

- When you hear the word "election," remember that the word "grace" belongs right beside it! It is the divine and ultimate expression of favor to His people!

- How have they remained? How is it that they still survive? Simply by His grace!

• Romans 11:6 : "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." : Salvation is a work of God's grace toward you, period!

- He wants to be the giver who gives freely from His own initiative. That is the way that it is!

- Never forget that! It began in grace through election and justification. It continues in grace as you are sanctified and it will be completed in grace when you are brought to the gates of heaven!

- Salvation cannot begin in grace and continue in works!  Grace and works cannot co-exist.

- Paul is not saying that salvation was ever attainable by works. He is saying that you can no longer perceive it as such.

- If you perceive your salvation as being from works, you will never see it as an act of grace!

- Listen to the NLT's translation of this verse: "And since it is through God's kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God's grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved."

III. Theological (v.7-15)

• Romans 11:7-10 : "What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: 'God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.' And David says: 'Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.'" : Israel as a nation had not received the end of their promises, but the elect had struck gold!

- Literally, God's elect have hit upon it! The light shone on Christ as they were walking around and they responded. Remember that that elect group also includes some prominent Jews.

- Paul, Peter, John, James. Of the authors in the New Testament, 99% were Jewish! The church at Pentecost numbered 3,000 Jewish men, not including women and children.

- A few chapters later, an additional 5,000 were saved after the healing of the lame man at the gate beautiful. The church that was later scattered could have easily numbered over 10,000 people.

- The rest of the nation of Israel were blinded or were made dull in their hearts. The word means to grow a thick skin over. They had a callous over the eyes of their hearts!

- This is a blindness that is a judgment from God and is the result of what happens to a person or a people who refuse to believe in Christ.

- When a person hears the gospel of Christ, they either build their lives upon Jesus Christ or they stumble over Him in disbelief!

- Those individuals are hardened, blinded. That is the result of that type of response to God.

- This is not Paul's opinion, nor is it mine. It has happened just as it is written! He is speaking forth the Word, in the immediate case, quoting from Deuteronomy 29:4.

- In this final sermon of Moses to the nation of Israel, Moses lets them know that for all their privilege, they had still did not apprehend! They were given a spirit of stupor.

- The word refers to an insensible way, akin to when a person is overtaken with emotion over a trauma. There is just no reasoning with them!

- They have eyes, but for all their vision, they cannot see, not could they comprehend.

- Then Paul quotes from Psalm 69:22,23. David was speaking of his enemies who sought his life and in this writing, was calling for them to be thwarted in their plans.

- Paul is applying that to God who thought the same about His own enemies. Let their table, the place where they plan a trap, become a trap that trips them up!

- Let them be stumbled. Let them receive the full payment for their hatred of God and His Christ! Let their eyes be darkened, unable to see and bow down their backs.

- This last phrase is really interesting to me. When is a person bowed down or over? When they are consumed with grief!

• Romans 11:11,12 : "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!" : The NLT translates verse 11: "Did God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery?" Paul says, "God forbid!"

- In fact, here is a wonderful insight about the nature of God. God was going to use their fall, their failure to believe, to do something great!

- Through their fall, God brought salvation to the nations! We did not have to become Jews. God opened a door that we were invited to go through!

- But God did this not only for the Gentiles, but to provoke the Jews to jealousy as well! God wants them to envy what the Gentiles, what you have, so that they might go after it themselves!

- God would use the Gentiles, a group of inifinitely ill-deserving people to be a living illustration to the Jews, to show them what He wants to be to them!

- Think about it: God wants you to have such a wonderful relationship with Him, not simply for your own benefit, but in order that non-believers would be inspired to follow along!

- Consider that as you walk through your life. The goodness of God toward you, that you are enjoying, the peace that you are exhibiting, are all points of jealous provocation to those around you!

- If the fall of the nation of Israel brought such wonderful results, how much more their fullness!

- You know what Paul is saying? The Jewish remnant would grow to a full number! What glory!

- Paul is telling us clearly that there is a future in God's plan for the nation of Israel. God is not done dealing with the people of Israel yet!

- It's so sad to see groups of Christians act in a callous way toward the Jews, even regarding themselves as having "replaced" Israel! The irony is that they supposedly love the book of Romans!

- Everyone remember these words: "How much more their fullness!"

• Romans 11:13-15 : "For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" : Paul's audience was Gentiles. God called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles. He is celebrating that! He is making a big deal about that and here's why: He's promoting God's program!

- God wants the people of Israel to see the fullness of life that He has given the Gentiles. Paul reports this often so that they might see the results among the Gentiles and be saved!

- What if they see these dogs getting all the food? Won't they want the same thing? What will happen if they receive the Lord? It'll be a resurrection!

- It will be a miracle of divine proportions, dry bones walking. Someday, the Bible tells us that a group of Jewish Greg Lauries will arise and testify of the living Christ!

- God will once again speak through His people Israel, raising them from a seeming death.

Conclusion

- Paul was a living proof that God was not done with Israel. Today there remains a remnant as in the days of Elijah. There always will be!

- God purposes to save you and I, Gentiles, people who had not been a people, to provoke the Jews to come and receive their Messiah.

- Are we inspiring belief? Are we allowing people the chance to see and hear that it is Jesus Christ in our life who makes the difference?

- May it be so, not for our own glory, but for the benefit of Jews and Gentiles, who would receive the good grace of the Lord.