Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter
11 as we continue our study through Paul’s letter to the
church in
Last week we went over Romans 11:1 and spoke about the
issue of Replacement Theology or how many believe that the Church
has replaced
Now before we begin reading here in Romans chapter 11, let me share these words from John MacArthur in regards to this whole issue. And again, this is important for us to understand because if we don’t, we are going to be messed up in our thinking regarding the Jewish people. John wrote:
God
has promised to bless all the peoples of the world through Abraham
and his descendants, and the fulfillment of that promise culminated
in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
world. He arose from
But
because the Jews as a nation rejected their Messiah, God temporarily
set that nation aside “until the fullness of the Gentiles
has come in” (Rom 11:25). At that time, with unfailing certainty,
“all
Above
all, God promised “a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made
with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although
I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this
is the covenant which I will make with the house of
The
Jews of Old Testament times understood that those divine promises
would be fulfilled literally. But when their Messiah came, spiritual
blindness prevented them from recognizing Him. “He came to
His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him”
(John 1:11). When Pilate mockingly asked the Jewish crowd, “Shall
I crucify your King?” the chief priests, speaking for all
of apostate
Because Israel “stumbled over the stumbling stone,” Jesus Christ, and would not believe in Him (Rom 9:32-33), because Israel did not know “about God’s righteousness, and [sought] to establish their own” (10:3), and because God had continually, “all the day long, . . . stretched out [His] hands to a disobedient and obstinate people” (10:21) who rejected Him, would not God be fully justified in forever rejecting them?
In
itself, that wickedness would more than deserve God’s complete
and permanent condemnation. Paul makes clear, however, that
Once
again we see the remarkable and seemingly irreconcilable association
of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. It is
perfectly evident from history as well as from Scripture that
But
Paul knew that neither Jew nor Gentile would place his trust in
a God who did not keep His promises. And God’s unqualified
promises to
- John MacArthur, Romans
With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us as we continue our study through this rich letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome.
In these first 10 verses of Romans chapter 11 we see Paul
speak of
Again, Paul is anticipating some of the questions his readers
might have and this one has to do with God casting the Jewish
people away. You see, God knew that
Then Paul answers his own question by saying, “Certainly not!” or “God forbid!” In other words Paul is telling us that there is no possible way, none at all, not even a hint that God is done with the Jewish people. It is an absolute denial, period! But what is the proof of this? How can Paul say something like that with such certainty? The proof is before them as Paul speaks of himself as being proof that God is not done with the Jewish people!
Paul is a Jew, he was a Pharisee, he was a keeper of the Law and yet he came to the saving faith in the Messiah, in Jesus and thus, this proves that God is not done with the Jewish people and God will once again work in the nation as a whole but at this point, we see individual Jews coming to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And we will deal with this issue of God working with the Jews again as we move on in this chapter and you will see that the Church and Israel are not the same and God deals with them differently. That is not to say that our salvation is different. I am not saying that the Jewish people are saved by the Law through works, for everyone who is saved must come by grace through faith. Thus, the nation of Israel is no different and Paul’s point is very simple. One day the nation of Israel will be saved just as he was saved!
But God is dealing with His Bride, the Church right now but I believe very soon the Church will be caught up, Raptured to be with the Lord and the seven year Tribulation Period will start. And I believe that is when God will once again deal with the nation of Israel, completing the seventieth week of Daniel spoken of in Daniel chapter 9, that last 7 year period of time before the Lord comes back to set up His kingdom on this earth!
Remember what we are told in Jeremiah 31:35-37, “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): ‘If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.” In other words, the Lord is in control and He will not fail in His promises to the Jewish people, they will come to saving faith for they will receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior just as Paul did, he is the living proof of this truth!
Paul is showing us that God’s rejection of Israel is not total. You see, he says that God “foreknew” (in the Greek it is proegnoo from proginosko) and it is more than just knowing what is going to happen before it happens. It also speaks that He has determined that it will come to pass and it also speaks of intimacy. I know, that seems a little strange but remember what Paul said in Ephesians 1:4-6, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
In other words, God has not only known that we will receive Him into our lives, but before the foundations of the world were ever created, He chose us and that speaks of not only determining that this will come to pass, but also it shows His great love for us, the intimacy that I was speaking of!
And to prove His point that Israel’s rejection is not total he points them back to the Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament books and specifically the Prophet Elijah. It is a great story that is found in I Kings chapter 18. It is the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, this memorable confrontation between this man of God and these pagan worshipers of idols. This took place, as I have said, on Mount Carmel, which at its highest elevation is 1,742 feet and is just south of modern day Haifa.
Here, on this mountain are three groups of people. The first group is not really a group, but just one man, Elijah, the prophet of God! We next see the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, 850 false prophets gathered against one man. But remember what Martin Luther said, “One plus God is a majority!” Also, Asherah was a fertility god who was supposedly married to Baal, a male god. But the largest group that gathered on Mount Carmel was the children of Israel. We don’t know how large, but I’m sure no one wanted to miss this event for a moment. And this group wavered in their faith, they knew of the Lord but did not really have a relationship with Him.
And Elijah asks them, basically, “How long are you going to be crippled in your walk with the LORD?” And the people were silent. They did not say one thing to this question, which was very simple. Maybe they wanted to wait to see the outcome of this confrontation, but they still wavered back and forth in whom they should serve. You see, the pagan god’s fed their flesh, they had a sexual worship, and so it was a tough decision in who they wanted to serve. The spirit may have been willing, but the flesh was truly weak!
And Elijah’s challenge to these false prophets is this. They can offer a sacrifice to their god, and Elijah will offer one to the true God, and whoever’s sacrifice is consumed by fire, not by human efforts, will show who the true and living God is. And the people could not wait to see this event take place. “Let the show begin!”
Also understand that this was a chance for these false prophets to have their god vindicate himself. You see, it hadn’t rained for 3½ years, and Baal, who brought rain was silenced, leaving these prophets embarrassed. But Baal also was the god of fire or lightening, and thus, by consuming the sacrifice with fire, he could re-establish himself before the people. At least that is what these false prophets might have been thinking!
And so it begins. These false prophets are dancing and screaming to their god, trying to get his attention, and consume this sacrifice. Can you imagine the noise that was coming forth from these prophets, trying to reach the ears of their god? But no one answered their cries. I wonder why? And this goes on for about three hours, and finally Elijah has to say something, and he begins to mock them. “Maybe your god is in a deep thought and didn’t hear you?” Or “Maybe he is just too busy to come right now?” “Maybe he is on a journey, or vacation, traveling somewhere?” “Maybe he was answering the call of nature? We all have to do that from time to time.” Or, “Maybe he was tired and needed to sleep?” How sad to worship a god that can’t hear or respond to your cry!
And in this story we are told that these false prophets “prophesied.” All that means is that they were saying that their god was about to answer any minute. And, as was their practice, they were working themselves into a frenzy, or an altered state of consciousness. They began to cut themselves and for 6 hours now they have been jumping and screaming to their god. If you have ever seen footage of the now deceased cult leader Rajanessh from Oregon, that is what his followers were doing, working themselves into an altered state of consciousness. But nothing was happening!
Finally, Elijah had enough of this foolishness, he had his people repair the altar, get the wood in order, place the sacrifice on the altar and then covered the sacrifice and wood with four water pots full of water and they did this four times until the trench around the altar was filled with water. Now you might be wondering how in the world were they able to get all this water in a drought? Simple, Mount Carmel was located next to the Mediterranean Sea, and so they had an abundant supply of salt water.
Then Elijah prayed and we are told in I Kings 18:38-40, “Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!’ And Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!’ So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.”
What a powerful experience the people had witnessed, and yet it did not change their heart. It was just an emotional response to a miracle, and nothing more. There is no repentance of sin. And for Elijah, on the heels of this great victory, well, that did not last long. You see, Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab heard about what happened to her prophets, they were killed, and she made a threat against the life of Elijah, that he was going to be killed just as her prophets were! Now, this great man of faith, this great prophet of God who withstood the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel, what did he do when this woman threatened him? He ran for his life!
Elijah ends up in a cave, hiding out and having himself a little pity-party. He complains to God that He alone is working for God, everyone else is against him and thus, against God, there is none serving the Lord except him. Finally the Lord replies back to Elijah and tells him, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” I Kings 19:18.
Paul is saying that just as the Lord had a faithful remnant back then, just 7,000 out of maybe some 1 million men or so, but He still had a remnant and the same is true today. The majority of Israel are unbelievers but there is a faithful remnant who do believe that Jesus is the Messiah, they are saved by grace through faith and not by the Law through works!
As Christians we too can go into the cave of self-pity and have ourselves a big old pity-party as Elijah did. We can think that we alone are serving God, no one else is, or this church alone is serving God, there are no others who are faithful like we are, in fact they are against us! But that is not true, God has His faithful remnant wherever we go and thus, it is not the numbers that matter, but putting our trust in the grace of God and allowing Him to work through His people!
Here Paul tells us that there is a remnant of believing Jews and this remnant is not saved by the Law through works but by Grace through faith! It is not because they deserve it, it is just God’s unmerited favor that has been extended to them and to us! Think about it, when the Jews were taken into captivity to Babylon for their idolatry, most of them refused to turn back to God. But, in saying that, God always had His faithful remnant who did believe like Daniel, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, like Ezekiel and-so-on. And they came to God by faith and what God required back then He still requires today, salvation is never by works but by Grace! If you are still not sure, listen to what Paul tells us in verse 6.
Paul speaks of the remnant being saved by God’s election of grace in the previous verse and now he tells us that grace is a free gift of God, it is not of works because then it would not be free, it would not be grace! Grace is getting what we don’t deserve, eternal life, and folks, that is free, you can’t earn it you can only receive it by faith!
Now please understand this, it is important. These two principles, grace and works are mutually exclusive. I have showed you that already but I want to drive this point home. It is either grace or it is works, but it can’t be both because what is free can’t be bought and what is unmerited cannot be deserved! Let me share with you a few verses to show you that Paul has already spoken of this in his letter to the Romans in great detail. In fact, he has repeated himself so you will not miss the point.
In Romans 3:21-31 Paul tells us, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
Also, in Romans 5 Paul tells us, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. . . . Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:1-2, 20-21.
And in Romans 6:23 Paul tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the [free] gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You see, the wages for our work is death because our righteousness is like filthy rags before God. But, if we are willing to come to God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, if we are willing to receive that free gift, then we will enter into that eternal life with Him! Seems like a no brainer and yet, how many people today continue to try and work their way into Heaven and Paul tells us that is the way of death and not of life!
Not only that, but if you remember at the first church council meeting in Jerusalem, which came together because there was a dispute regarding the salvation of the Gentiles. Some said they needed to keep the Law and get circumcised and others said that it was not in keeping the Law but receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior, it was Grace! And Peter makes a powerful point regarding this as he stood up and said,
“ . . . ‘Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.’” Acts 15:7-11.
First of all Peter tells them that it is foolish to make the Gentiles keep the Law when the Jews themselves couldn’t keep it. Why put a yoke on their neck! And he concludes by making a very interesting point. He does not say that the Gentiles are saved like the Jews are saved but that the Jews are saved like the Gentiles are saved. What is the big deal about that? Because Peter is saying that Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone saves the Gentiles and thus, the Jews are saved the same way, not by the Law through works! Case closed!
It is as Paul said in Romans 9:30-32, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.” Israel tried to obtain righteousness by the Law, and they could not for the wages of sin is death. On the other hand, the Gentiles, not seeking self-righteousness, they knew they were sinners when they saw God, obtained the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus. Israel tried to seek a relationship with God by their own efforts and they did not obtain it. Only those who receive the free gift of God found in Jesus will be saved, the elect Jews, the rest have been blinded, their hearts were hardened by their rejection of Jesus and His free gift to them!
But again, there is always a faithful remnant of believing Jews, may we not forget that fact. There is the story of the noted Christian scholar, Charles Feinberg. He was a believing Jew and he tells this story that God will never be without a faithful remnant of His people, the Jews. He wrote:
Over a quarter of a century ago a Russian Jew of great learning named Joseph Rabbinowitz was sent to Palestine by the Jews to buy land for them. He went to Jerusalem. One day he went up on the Mount of Olives to rest. Someone had told him to take a New Testament as the best guidebook about Jerusalem. The Christ he had known was the Christ of the Greek and Roman churches, who were his persecutors and the persecutors of his people. But as he read the New Testament he became acquainted with the real Christ of whom the Old Testament Scriptures had foretold, and his heart grew warm. He looked off toward Calvary and thought: Why is it that my people are persecuted and cast out? And his conviction gave the answer: It must be because we have put to death our Messiah. He lifted his eyes to that Messiah and said: “My Lord and my God.” He came down from the mount a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. He went home to Russia and erected a synagogue for the Jews, over the door of which was written: “Let all the house of Israel know that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” [Acts 2:36]. He was one of the many present remnant of Israel, which proves conclusively and better than words that God has not cast away His people.
- Charles Feinberg, Israel: At the Center of History and Revelation, p. 108
In regards to this blindness that has happened to Israel, to the Jewish people, Paul quotes out of Isaiah chapter 29, verses 10 and 13 to make his point. He tells us that God has given to the Jewish people this “spirit of stupor” and thus, they will not be able to see or hear the Words of God, the truths of God. In regards to this stupor, Morris tells us that it is, “an attitude of deadness towards spiritual things.” I think that sums it up very well.
Now, in saying that, it does not seem fair. If God has given this to them, then He is the one who is causing them not to believe! That is not true. J. Vernon McGee clears this up for us as he wrote, “It is important to notice that they were hardened because they failed; they did not fail because they were hardened. A lot of folk get the cart before the horse – in fact, they get the horse in the cart, and it doesn’t belong there!”
In Matthew 23:37-39 listen to the heart of God for His people and notice how they responded to His love. We are told, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” You see, Jesus said, “you were not willing” and that is always the problem. If you refuse, God will harden your heart, He will give you what you want and one day your heart will become so hard that you will not be able to be saved!
And remember what Paul said in Romans 10:21, “But to Israel he says: ‘All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.’” That is the heart of God, reaching out to people but it is their choice and for the Jewish people, as a nation, they rejected Him. Yes, as we have seen God has His faithful remnant of believing Jews, but the nation as a whole has rejected Him!
Paul is going to once again go back to the Old Testament to prove his point that even back then God spoke of Israel hardening themselves to the Lord. So let’s look at verses 9 and 10 and see what Paul has to say.
Here Paul quotes out of Psalm 69:22-23 and it is an important Messianic Psalm and it is the second most quoted Psalm in the New Testament, besides Psalm 22. In Psalm 22 we see the crucifixion of Christ, and here in Psalm 69, it deals with His life. And what Paul is saying here, what the Psalm is speaking of when it says that their “table become a snare and a trap” is that their blessings have turned into burdens and judgments! In other words, their spiritual blessings, those that were given to Israel should have led them to their Messiah, to Jesus, but instead they ended up becoming a snare that kept them from Christ!
The Jews had become so comfortable in their traditions, so secure in their rituals that it became a snare to them, a trap for them and they then saw no need for Jesus, no need for a savior. We need to be careful, for the same can happen to us as we become comfortable with traditions and rituals instead of a relationship! And because of this Isaiah also tells us that God has darkened their eyes so that they cannot see the things of God!
Now that does not seem fair! Let me say this, God is fair and He gave to them what they wanted. They did not want to see that Jesus was the Messiah so God blinded their eyes to that truth. They did not want to hear the Words of the Messiah so God caused them to be deaf to the things of God. He only gave to them what they wanted and that judgment continues to this very day! Now for those who wanted to see and hear, their eyes and ears were open and they were saved! If you are open to the light, then God will give you more light, and if you reject the light of God, then He will give you want you want, more darkness! God will give to us that which we want, and that is not always good!
In regards to this idea of the Jews being comfortable where they were at Barclay comments on this as he wrote, “The idea is that men are sitting feasting comfortably at their banquet; and their very sense of safety has become their ruin. They are so secure in the fancied safety that the enemy can come upon them unaware.” The Jews were so secure in their idea of being the chosen people that the very idea had become the thing that ruined them. What about you, are you secure in your religion or in Christ? That is an important question that only you can answer!
In summing this up portion of Scripture that we have read this morning, listen to what John MacArthur wrote:
So the point is very clear . . . and we’ll just draw it together. Has God set aside Israel totally? No. Paul is proof of that. The remnant is proof of that. And the very fact that God in the midst of a blind nation which biblically was predicted to occur has chosen out a remnant and judicially punished that blind nation with confirmed blindness was always part of the prophetic plan from way back in Moses’ time, Isaiah’s time, David’s time. So we’re not surprised. No. The unbelief of the gospel by the Jews doesn’t obviate [prevent] the gospel and it doesn’t in any way thwart the plan of God. Not in the least . . . not in the least. God has His promise and He will fulfill it. . . .
Remember that the only way of salvation is by grace, not by establishing your own righteousness, not by seeking through your own works to be right with God, you can’t do it. You can’t do it. And remember this, the longer you reject the gospel and the longer you harden your heart, the more likely it is that God will judicially confirm that hard heart and you will pass beyond the possibility of salvation.
And another lesson. Is it not amazing how many people are destroyed and damned by the very thing they put their hope in? How many people are trapped at their own table? Are feeding on a religion they believe is right and it traps them? Let’s commit ourselves to evangelize the Jewish people, to affirm to them and to all the rest of the world that salvation is a matter of grace and nothing more, to warn men that if they reject continually their own hard hearted rejection will become a judicial act of God by which they are confirmed in eternal unbelief. And to warn them that they may well be destroyed by the very thing they think is feeding their souls. God’s plan is on schedule. The promises will be fulfilled just as all His promises must be fulfilled.
- John MacArthur, Has God Cancelled His Promises to Israel? Part 3, Romans 11:7-10
Folk’s, as we have seen, Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, of Jesus is not total and Paul has shown us that his own salvation is proof of that fact! Not only that, but like in Elijah’s day, God always has a faithful remnant of believers, and specifically, Jews! This is the evidence that God still has a plan for His people, the Jews and we will see next time that Israel’s rejection is not final! Or as Paul reminds us and we will see as we continue on in this chapter, “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.’” Romans 11:25-27. May we not forget that, all Israel will be saved because they have come to Jesus and what is true of the Jews in regards to their sins being taken away, is also true of us. It is only through Jesus Christ that are sins are taken away, they are taken away completely! They are cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more! Thus, bring to people the Gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, both Jews and Gentiles! May we not loose sight of that!