God's Grace to Those Who Believe

As we have talked about over the last few weeks chapters 9-11 of Romans deals with Israels rejection of God and how Gods sovereignty works even when we reject it.

So far Paul has treated the problem of Israel from 2 viewpoints:

1.) He emphasized the sovereignty of God in choosing Israel as His chosen people. (Chapter 9)

2.) He dealt with Israels failure to respond to Gods righteousness. (chapter 10)

These 2 chapters involve a serious tension.

Here in chapter 11 Paul addresses The question about the faithfulness of God to His promise.

As we will see his answer dips into Israels past, encompass her present and reveals her future.

Proof In The Person (v1)

Who better to be the spokesperson for the Grace of God than Paul.

This is not the first time he has shared His background with the readers but this time He does so to show them just where Gods grace can take you if you let.

He was a Pharisee

He was the one who gave permission to stone Steven

He was the one the Sanhedrin sent out with papers to arrest and bring back to Jerusalem anyone who professed a belief in Christ.

He was no his way to arrest these people when Jesus appeared in front of Him.

Although Paul does not mention it here, the vast majority of early Christians were Jews.

It was for that reason that so many of his fellow Jews had turned to Jesus as their Messiah that Paul then Saul had once fiercely persecuted the church.

Acts 8:1–3 ESV

1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Acts 9:1–2 ESV

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Before his conversion he had been the most fanatical Christ-hating and Christian-hating Jew in Israel.

If such a Christ rejecting Jew himself could be brought to saving faith, the gospel had the power to save any Jew.

Paul was in most cases the perfect Jew:

Philippians 3:4–6 ESV

4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 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.

But yet these thing did not matter when came to his calling by Christ.

Philippians 3:8 ESV

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Gods grace can change the life of anyone no matter how bad they are.

Proof In The Remnant (vv 2-7a)

The Lord has always preserved a remnant for Himself from the Jews.

Here in verse 2 the word used for Reject or Apatheo in Greek does not mean to not receive something but to not cast away from oneself.

It is not that God has never received His people but that He will never completely and permanently cast away those whom He foreknew from eternity past and whom He long ago received to Himself through His covenant with Abraham.

Paul is not referring to individual regenerate Jews or Gentiles, but to Israel as a whole nation.

No matter how bad it looked for Israel God never completely turned His back on His people.

There was always a group of believers that were set aside and preserved so that His word would carry on.

Proof in The Revelation (vv 7b-10)

Here Paul shows that God only hardens the hearts of those that refuse to believe.

Some may thing that God harding the hearts of those who reject Him is not right or unjust but its not.

God is not doing the rejecting the people are.

God gave them many chances to accept Christ but the people didn’t.

Their hearts only become hardened when they reject God not because God rejects them.

The blind cannot see the way to salvation.

No matter how much they want it

No matter how much they think they have it

No matter how much they need it

No one comes to the Father except through Christ.