Romans 11:16-33 (Click scripture reference for audio access)
"Two Warnings And Two Reminders" •
6.17.12 • Sunday Morning Service, Calvary
Christian Fellowship
Intro.
- We began
chapter 11 last week, looking at the prospect of Israel's future in God's plan.
There is a remnant according to grace that God has preserved for Himself.
- That remnant
will mature and be brought back to life, similar to that of a resurrection from
death, and bring life to the world.
- When you and
I, Gentiles, members of Christ's body, the Church, consider Israel, we struggle
at some points as to how we should respond toward them.
- In this last
section of Romans 11, Paul presents
us with 4 points, two negative and two positive, regarding the people of
Israel. Israel provokes two warnings and two reminders:
I. Prevalence Of Pride (v.16-20)
II. Problem Of Presumption (v.21-24)
III. Power Of Promise (v.25-32)
IV. Priority Of Praise (v.33-36)
Text
I. Prevalence Of Pride (v.16-20)
•
Romans 11:16 : "For if the firstfruit is holy, the
lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches." : Paul seeks to explain the remnant of Israel by alluding to two
analogies taken from scripture.
-
The first is found In Numbers 15:18-21,
where God's people are commanded to heave the first of their bread to the Lord
when they came into the Promised land.
-
The word translated "firstfruit" here speaks to a portion of what has
raised and offered. Since that is
considered holy, the lump, the dough that brought it into existence is holy.
-
Both parts are set apart to God and whatever is offered is no different from
what is left. In fact, the part offered is an emblem or a token symbolizing
that the whole belonged to the Lord!
-
The person offering the portion of their bread was in essence saying, "I
took this part of all that belongs to you and have given it to you." This
attitude was ingrained in their offering system.
-
Paul uses a second analogy comes from horticulture and the scriptural
identification of Israel as the cultivated Olive tree in Jeremiah 11:16.
-
If the root of a tree is holy, the branches that come from the tree are also
holy.
-
The Jewish remnant that had risen from the Jewish nation to believe in Christ
were holy. They had risen up and were being offered to the Lord. They were
rooted in Abraham's faith.
-
The remnant that believed in Christ were both ethnically and spiritually
Israel. Their existence points to the reality that more would come, ultimately
that all would be given to the Lord.
• Romans 11:17,18 : "And if some of the branches were
broken off, and you, 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.
But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root
supports you. : Some of the olive branches were
removed. They were removed by God when their heart grew hard having opposed
Christ.
-
Notice that only "some" of the branches were broken off. This was not
a total loss. Some branches remain right on the tree!
-
As a result of their disobedience on the whole, National Israel was broken off
and that left room for the branches of a wild olive tree to be grafted in.
-
This was exactly what people would do in the times of the New Testament, when an
olive tree had stopped or nearly stopped producing fruit. Today, farmers call
it "topworking."
-
A new branch or scion is cut and placed into an established tree trunk. The
established root system feeds the new scion, which accelerates new growth.
-
Paul is now referring to Gentile believers. We are the wild olive branches, the
scions that have been brought in for the purpose of bearing fruit in the world.
-
We get the great benefit from all that the Jews represent! Their experience,
their law and their Messiah! This is the health, the fatness of the root!
-
We learn so much about the Lord and His dealings with people. What they learned
in life, we get to learn by example, both positive and negative.
-
Ultimately, it's Israel's example negatively that furnishes us with out greatest
warning! What happened to them could also happen to us!
-
Herein is the warning: Don't boast against the branches that have been taken
off! Don't consider yourself better than the people of Israel!
-
Historically, this has been easy to do. We often rebuke them in our hearts for
trying to establish their own brand of righteousness.
-
We look down on them because they have rejected the Messiah that we love and
trust.
-
We consider them ignorant for refusing to correct their own behavior. But who
are we to boast against the branches, when their experiences are exactly our
experiences as well!
-
"No" Paul says! Their experience supports your growth. The little
scions are cut from other trees and have no root system. Without that root
system, there will be no fruit!
-
Christians are never justified in feeling superior to anyone. Throughout
redemptive history, Christians have felt justified in maintaining a low view of
the Jews, but they are wrong!
-
We could not adopt a more foolish position than to take an anti semitic
position!
•
Romans 11:19,20 : "You will say then, 'Branches were
broken off that I might be grafted in.' Well said. Because of unbelief they
were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear." : Listen to
Paul's assertion that bemoans Gentile pride. "Branches were broken off for
me to be grafted in!"
-
The thought is one of arrogance in what was done on the behalf of the Gentile.
It reeks of pride and condescension.
-
"I might not be a natural branch, but I'm a new and improved branch!"
"I'm a better branch!"
-
But why were the natural branches broken off? It was not for ethnic reasons or
a lack intelligence. They were not broken off because they were hated by God.
-
The natural branches, national Israel was broken off because of their unbelief.
That's it!
-
Consequently, God made room for the Gentiles who stand by faith, the opposite
of the Jewish response. How should that make us feel? How are we to respond?
-
Be grateful, but don't be haughty. The word "haughty" can also be
translated "highmindedness." This is a warning for us not to think
too highly of ourselves!
-
Instead, fear! Respect your position. Respect what it took to get you here.
Respect how you are to respond to God, knowing that God cut off those who did
not believe!
II. Problem Of Presumption (v.21-24)
• Romans 11:21,22 : "For
if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and
severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you
continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off." : Paul is not speaking out of both sides of his mouth. Christians
are secure in Christ. He has gone to great length to convince us of that.
-
If you have believed in Christ and you prove that belief by continuing to
believe, believe me, yes, believe God, you are secure for eternity!
-
The problem is presumption. The natural branches, Israel presumed that their
position made them permanent fixtures in God's program regardless of present
belief!
-
As many Christians do, they stood on historical action without present
obedience as proof!
-
But God did not spare the natural branches! He doesn't need to spare you
either! So there is a double edged sword. The same God is both good and severe.
-
On those who fell, those who refused to believe in Christ, to take God at His
Word, to leave behind any vestige of allegiance to another form of
righteousness, God acted severely.
-
The word refers to sudden or abrupt, sharp and decisive action. It is related
to the idea of one who suddenly falls off of a cliff.
-
Towards you though, the one who has believed upon Christ, taken Him at His Word
and received Christ's righteousness, God has shown goodness!
-
Is it that you earned that? Never let it enter your mind! It was God being good
toward you!
-
But here is the warning: Remain in a place of belief! He is good to those who
continue in His goodness, but severe toward those who did not believe.
- For those who would not believe, the
promise is that you will be cut off as well. That word refers to a quick
halting cut, as something is cut down in mid stride.
-
How is this possible? Frankly, the church at large today barely believes in
Christ, largely ignores His Word and utterly abuses any real notion of the
Spirit's activity!
-
Often times, churches are nothing more than social clubs, with a little Bible
thrown into the mix to justify calling it a "church!"
-
As a result, there are people who call themselves believers who are really
unregenerate goats, tares sown by the enemy, who hold their church affiliation
as proof of their salvation!
-
This is largely a reality due to Pastors who no longer believe in inerrancy,
the efficacy of the Cross, the doctrine of sin or the present work of the Holy
Spirit.
-
Their unbelief has created a large chasm of unbelief that many woeful souls
have climbed into unknowingly, which is making them twice the son or daughter
of hell than they were before!
-
Be more than a confessing Christian. Be sure that you are a possessing
Christian and that is proved by continuance in His goodness alone! Continue to
believe by shunning sin and trusting Him!
•
Romans 11:23,24 : "And they also, if they do not
continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in
again. For if
you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted
contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who
are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?" : What a beautiful promise. If Israel turned from their unbelief,
God would graft them right back into their own tree!
-
They are not resigned to a state of perpetual unbelief! God can work in individuals
and bring salvation to the Jews, if they would trust in Jesus! That would be a
natural transition!
-
The Jewish person who believes in Christ is well acquainted with the culture of
God's word. Christianity, belief in the goal or end of the law, Christ, completes
their journey!
-
Now, for a Jewish person who is a Christian, there is the potential for
fruitfulness because that person is approaching God's law by faith, ie. they
are understanding it's true role in their life.
-
If God would graft in wild olive shoots into a cultivated tree, how much easier
is it for God graft them back into the cultivated tree?
III. Power Of Promise (v.25-32)
• Romans 11:25-27 : "For I do not desire, brethren, that you
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own
opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of
the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He
will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, when
I take away their sins.'" : Don't be ignorant about the
hidden truth of Israel. Don't miss out on the truth regarding their present
state.
-
Don't be ignorant, lest you become wise in their own opinion! Ignorance leads
to arrogance!
-
Wise in their own opinion about what? Themselves! How easily pride can come up
on any of us, even when we are talking about being elected recipients of mercy!
-
Beyond thinking this way toward the Jews which is the immediate context, I'd
suggest that a similar principle exists in our thinking with regard to any
unbeliever!
-
What is the difference between an unbeliever and yourself? One step. They are
one step removed from being your brother or sister! They are one step removed
from being God's child!
-
They are one step from being full fledged heirs of the Kingdom of God! Don't be
wise in your own opinion regarding their current state. Now, this next section
is critical to understand.
-
Regarding Israel, a judicial blindness has occured over them. They have refused
to believe in Jesus as their Messiah, their Christ.
-
Refusal to see the truth in us, results in a reciprocal response from God! He
takes your conviction and has created us in such a way, that a natural
hardening takes place.
-
Now, understand that this has happend to them in PART! Not all of national or
ethnic Israel is in this condition. There are many Jewish people that have
received God's Christ.
-
This condition is partial but not permanent! Notice the next word of
consequence: UNTIL!
-
They are set aside until the fulness of the Gentiles have come in. The word
"fullness" refers to a full complement, a full number of Gentiles.
-
There is a number, and God only knows it, that represents every Gentile
believer that there will ever be. Aren't you glad that you are in that number?
-
After that full number has been reached, Paul asserts that all Israel will be
saved! The word "all" refers not to an exhaustive number, but a
representative whole that receives Christ.
-
Far from opinion, Paul quotes here from Isaiah
59:20,21 and gives the reminder that God has made this a promise. It is
connected to His covenant to take away their sins.
-
This is the New Covenant and will fully commence for them at the end of the
Tribulation when Jesus, the Deliverer comes again! That is a promise of God
that is bigger than Israel's failure!
•
Romans 11:28-32 : "Concerning the gospel they are
enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the
sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to
God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been
disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to
disobedience, that He might have mercy on all." : The gospel message which the Jews rejected caused them to be
enemies of the gospel. Ironically, they are enemies so that we Gentiles could
be included!
-
Really, it YOUR fault that the nation of Israel is the way that it is! But that
won't be the case forever because their election stands! They are beloved
because of God's promise to the Patriarchs.
-
God made promises to Abraham that must be fulfilled. He repeated them to Isaac
and Jacob!
-
What a concept: The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable! They cannot be
reversed!
-
Paul is telling them to consider their own pre-conversion state. They were
disobedient and they received mercy. The table is now turned. Israel is
currently disobedient and in need of mercy!
-
What mercy? The same mercy that was shown to you!
-
Listen to what Paul says: God has literally imprisoned all unto disobedience.
All have sinned and fallen short. All are guilty before God. All deserve
eternal wrath forever!
-
Paul is saying that sin is the occasion that opens the door for His mercy to
operate! If all deserved it, then God would not be able to give mercy!
-
So, all were disobedient, Gentiles first, then Jews, so that salvation, mercy
can come to all, for the Jew first and then for the Gentile!
IV. Priority Of Praise (v.33-36)
•
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. Amen." Paul ends the doctrinal section of Romans with a doxology, a hymn
of praise to God.
-
That last line alone does it for me, but consider the complexity of all that we
have studied in Romans. God hardens, but also shows mercy! God cuts off, but
grafts in!
-
God cuts of the whole but preserves a remnant! He predestines, but man
responds!
-
What depth of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge! The word
"depth" refers to the depth of the ocean. The Mariana Trench in the
nortern pacific, is the deepest part of the ocean.
-
At it's deepest, it measures 35,840 feet! If you were able to pick up Mt.
Everest and turn it upside down, place it in the Mariana, it would be covered
with a mile of water to the surface!
-
In essence, you will spend a life trying to figure out God. If you spend every
moment of every day thinking about God, you will only begin to scratch the surface
of what can be known of Him!
-
Here, Paul is speaking not of the totality of what can be known of God, but
only that which has been revealed! Just what is revealed about God is greater
knowledge than we can explore!
-
He is inexhaustibly rich in wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is the verb to
knowledge, the noun! Knowledge is knowing and wisdom is knowing how to accomplish
it!
-
God sees all who will be saved and He gets them there! What riches!
-
His judgments, His decisions or decrees are unsearchable, untraceable. One
commentator mentioned that this word is borrowed from hunting and is used when
one loses the scent!
-
You might be able to track with things for a while, but you will lose the
scent! Why? Because His ways are way beyond our comprehension!
-
His determination to do something and then the way that He does that thing is
beyond our ability to conceive!
-
They cannot be found out. God cannot be figured out fully. He wants us to
understand what is important to understand here on Earth and then, in heaven,
we'll have eternity to learn a little more!
-
Paul draws this to a close by quoting Isaiah
40:13 and Job 41:11. These
verses further delineate the ground that we have walked.
-
Isaiah says "Nobody is an equal with God. He does not go to anyone for
counseling. He has no peer!" God doesn't sit with anyone and ask
"What do you think?
-
People offer opinions, but they are wholly unsolicited! Yes, that includes
yours!
-
It is written in Job that God responded to Job's call by saying that He does
not owe anyone of us, not any other being in the universe, any kind of debt!
-
He did not create salvation because we demanded or deserved it. He did it for
Himself!
-
No, this whole thing is "of Him." He is the source. It started in His
mind before we ever were!
-
It is "through Him." He is the strength. He maintains the plan by
strengthening His people, filling them with His Holy Spirit.
-
And it is "to Him." He is the sole recipient of all the glory in the
Universe! Everything in this universe, things in heaven, things on earth, and
things under the earth, will all bring glory to Him!
-
There is not a moment in history future, where anyone will point to themselves
and say, "Hey, but what do you think of me?" It's so tragic that we
act that way! It's all about God!
-
Amen? Do you agree? Is it so for you? If so, AMEN and AMEN!!
Conclusion
- Let's pray!
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