Love for the Lost and misguided Ignorantance
Notes
Transcript
Pauls Prayer for Israel (v 1)
Pauls Prayer for Israel (v 1)
Once again Paul starts out this chapter by reinforcing the fact that he loves his fellow Jews and wants them to come to Christ.
Paul did not have a cold and indifferent acquiescence to God’s sovereign election.
He had a compelling, heartfelt longing to bring his physical kinsmen to Christ.
His deepest hearts desire was that every Jew be saved, and his earnest prayer to God on their behalf was for their salvation.
Here in verse one Deesis is used to mean prayer and in the greek it conveys the idea of pleading and entreaty or of persistent petition to God.
Paul was not making a hopeless plea that he did not expect God to answer.
He prayed because he fully believed God could save all Israel, that no matter how seemingly unlikely, the people of Israel could be saved if they would place their trust in their Messiah.
Paul had always believed that God could save His people.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Paul early on in his ministry preached the Gospel first in the synagogue or other place of Jewish worship if he could find one. Acts 9:20
20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
1 Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.
13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
No apostle better understood or more fully declared Gods sovereignty than did Paul.
Yet he knew with certainty that perfectly consistent with Gods sovereign power and grace, Israels salvation was not impossible.
All he wanted was a chance
Our responsibility is to diligently:
Preach
Teach
Testify
Intercede
For those around us that need salvation
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Our mindset should be the same as Pauls in 2 Tim 2:10
10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
A theology that does not reflect genuine, heartfelt compassion for the lost and a deep desire for their salvation is a theology that is unbiblical.
The Ignorant Zeal of Israel (v 2)
The Ignorant Zeal of Israel (v 2)
Paul knew from his own experience as a radically zealous Pharisee that most Jews of that day were very religious but yet far from God.
We see this in Gal 1:13-14
13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
He also talks about it in Phil 3:5-6
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
As far as legalistically fulfilling the outward demands of the law, Paul was blameless.
Yet with the other Jews of his day, he had no understanding of spiritual truth and genuine godliness.
He not only did not know and follow Gods way but vehemently opposed it, persecuting the church of God.
By his own words Paul had been a zealous member of the most zealous Jewish sect.
No one understood better than he what it was to have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
There are 2 kinds of knowledge here:
Gnosis: an intellectual awareness of the outward demands of Gods law.
Epignosis: a discerning spiritual knowledge that comes only from a saving relationship with God.
We see Paul pray for this type of spirit for the Ephesian church in Eph 1:17-18
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
Zeal and faith in the wrong thing can be worse than no faith at all.
The Ignorant Unrighteousness of Israel (v 3)
The Ignorant Unrighteousness of Israel (v 3)
Lack of knowledge is often tied to a lack of faith.
Paul has already made clear that Israels failure in righteousness was due to failure in faith.
He tells them this in Rom 9:31-32
31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Gods rejection of Israel was not due to arbitrary divine election but their lack of faith and their failure to trust in God.
Israel is no different from any other country or person.
They rejected God before God rejected them. Just like everyone else on the planet.
Out of all the ones through history that have rejected God Israel is the most tragic.
Because they had been given the very word of God and had been sheltered by God for the last several thousand years.
They were given the son of God and they rejected Him and His teachings.
They thought they were doing the right things and following Gods will, when in fact they were following their own Laws and their own Rules and had took the place of God.
They could not follow Gods correction or discern His will because they did not know Him.
You cannot follow that which you do not know is there.
They blindly followed the Laws of their parents and grand parents thinking it was right when all they were doing was getting farther and farther away from God.
Without a relationship with Christ we cannot know what we are or are not to do.
We must be in a constant state of communion with God to know what His will is for our lives.