Untitled Sermon

The New King James Version Chapter 11

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.”

Chapter Twenty [no spoken sermon available]

Started on August 6, 2021 (continued on July 18, 2023)

Romans 11:25–27 (NKJV) — 25 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 (until the complete number of the Gentiles comes to God’ Ro 11:25) Louw, J. P., & Nida) , has come in. 26 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; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

This is one of the most remarkable prophecies of the Bible. It is certainly one of the great prophecies of the Apostle Paul.

Now let us again remind ourselves of the context and how the Apostle ever came to say this. He is working out an argument in this chapter which is part of the great argument he has been presenting from the beginning of the ninth chapter.

It is this whole question of the Jews and their relationship to the kingdom of God and to that particular form of it called the Christian church. The position he has to deal with is this — that the Gentiles were being tempted to say that God has entirely finished with His ancient people and that they — the Gentiles — were being called in because there was some inherent superiority in them.

In answer to the view that the Jews are excluded Paul presents five arguments.

Are the Jews excluded?

First, he says that the fact he is a Christian and an apostle proves that it is incorrect (verse 1). Secondly, he says that there is a remnant of Jews in the church (verse 5). Thirdly, the Jews are the descendants of the patriarchs who had certain promises made to them by God and, in the fourth place, there is no difficulty about their being brought back into God's favour and that is because God has the power to do so (verses 23-24).

The fifth argument reinforces the fourth and is that God has already done something much more difficult than that, and that is, He has brought in the Gentiles (verse 24).

What he said in the first section of the chapter is, that the rejection of Israel is not total; and in this second section he has been pointing out that it is not final, it is only temporary. And that is the way in which he has been working out that great argument.

Now then having done that he leaves argumentation and moves to the realm of direct assertion. All he has shown so far is, that the restoration of the Jews is possible, he has even shown that it is probable; but now he is going on to say that it is an absolute certainty — and that is what we are dealing with in these verses 25, 26, and 27.

Now it is again most important that we should bear in mind that what the Apostle is dealing with in all these statements is the Jews considered nationally. He is not dealing with the case of individuals, he is dealing with this whole position of the Jewish nation.

 Note: “All Israel” in verse 26, would thus represent the totality of those saved, Jews and Gentiles, who together constitute “all” of true Israel (Rom. 2:28, 29; Gal. 6:15, 16).1

1 Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 6, p. 611). Review and Herald Publishing Association.

Now a perfectly reasonable question may occur to someone at this point. 'If the Apostle all along was aware of what he is now going to declare in verse 25, why then did he bother with his five arguments ?'

Now I wonder whether that has occurred to any of you. If the Apostle has known all along, as he did, that it was in the plan and the purpose of God to bring the Jews, nationally considered, into the church and back again into His favour, why has he bothered to take all this time, in the first twenty-four verses of this chapter, in arguing about it in the way that we have been considering?

Now I think this is a very important point. Are we to say that the five arguments are superfluous (beyond requirement)? And the answer is of course a decided 'No'. But why?

The first answer is, that it is always right to use one's reason in these matters. You see, the Apostle is confronted by the suggestion that the Jews are finished with; they have crucified their Messiah, they are therefore rejected of God, and God has no further interest in them.

Comment: One thing to keep in mind is that God chose Israel so that through them other nations will see and be saved. (1 Pet 2:9; Is 42:12; 43:21).

The Jewish people were set apart to honor the name of the Lord and to bear witness to other nations that Jehovah is the one true God. Why did God choose Israel? Because “the Lord is good” (v. 3). The church today is an elect people, saved by the grace of God (Rom. 1:6; 8:30; Eph. 1:4) and called to glorify God (1 Peter 2:9–12).11 Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be exultant (1st ed., p. 185). Cook Communications Ministries.

July 18, 2023

His way of dealing with that is not to say, Listen to me, I am an apostle and I tell you it has been revealed to me, I make a prophecy, they are going to be brought back — and leave it at that. He does not do that. Why not? Well, because you meet a statement like that, first of all on its own grounds, by way of reasoning.

That is where you start, as the Apostle starts here, and it is always right to do that.

But not only that, secondly, the Apostle is anxious to instruct these Gentiles and to show them that what has happened is not in any way inconsistent with the Old Testament teaching.

They seemed to be dismissing the whole of the Old Testament and there are still uninstructed Christian people who tend to say that. But the Apostle will not have that, he wants to instruct people, so he does not just leave it at his prophetic utterance.

He says, let us work this out together and so he demonstrates that this very thing that has happened has been prophesied by the Old Testament prophets. Consequently, they should neither be surprised nor misunderstand it, because the Old Testament prophets have already dealt with this matter.

Then thirdly, he is most anxious that the Gentiles should be clear in the principles of the teaching. Now this is a point that is of great importance. There are people who always want some direct and immediate statement. There are some people who claim to be unusually spiritual who are only interested in some direct prophetic utterance, as it were, and they tend to exclude everything else.

Such thinking is refuted completely by the Apostle's method in this very chapter. He not only gives them a prophetic utterance, but he reasons on the basis of the Scriptures and with his own understanding, almost his own common sense, pointing out facts to them and showing how the position they have taken up is quite incongruous with the whole of the teaching of the Old Testament and also with the Christian teaching.

In other words, he really does want these Gentiles to understand this matter thoroughly so that they will know exactly how wrong they have been in what they have been tending to say, and in order that they may be prepared for what he is now going to tell them. Very well.

The final reason which I would adduce for the Apostle's method is this: that it is never enough for us only to know the truth positively, we must also have a negative understanding of it.

We must not only be in a position of saying, This is what has been revealed; we must be able to expose error also; otherwise we really will not be able to help people who are in difficulties. If you have somebody who is in difficulty about a matter and you just make some highly spiritual statement to them without meeting their position, you are not likely to help them.

But if you can reason it through with them, and point out the error and where they have gone astray, they will see it and they will be saved from not only that error but from similar errors. You will have introduced them to a method which they can apply in various other cases.

Having done this he puts before them this great prophecy with regard to the future of the Jews considered in a national sense. Again, let us ask him a question — Why does he do this? Why does he tell them this prophecy? He answers such a question explicitly and says: `I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery', adding a second reason — 'lest ye should be wise in your own conceits'.

Now there he gives us two reasons. The first is, that he does not want them to be ignorant. Paul is employing a figure of speech here which is called 'litotes' which means that you make a strong assertion in a negative manner. (Romans 1:16 is a good example of this.)

In saying, 'I do not want you to be ignorant', what he really means is, 'I really want you to know all about this, in order that you will never go wrong in this matter again'. That is undoubtedly what this expression means.

But then his second reason is, and this is perhaps still more significant — 'lest ye should be wise in your own conceits'. This is what he has been saying to them from verse 18 to verse 21: 'Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith' and 'Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee'. Here he is repeating all that but in a blunt and more direct manner. 'I am telling you this', he says, 'lest ye be wise in your own conceits'.

Now the terms that he uses here are interesting. The word that he uses for 'wise' is the word that is generally used for 'false wisdom' which is often accompanied by pride. He is concerned lest they should deceive themselves.

wise in your own opinion vs. Having a great pastoral care

priding yourself on your rights

Now in what respects is he trying to save them from being 'wise in their own conceits'? First of all, he obviously wants to disabuse their minds. They thought that they understood this whole question of the position of the Jews and their own position in the Christian church.

Paul had learned what they had been saying and so he takes up the whole subject. He was aware that they thought they understood the whole question of the present position of the Jews, but they were wrong and he wants to show them that.

But I think it has a second meaning also. They thought that it was because they had a superior understanding that they were in the church and the Jews were outside. After all, they had been able to see the truth of the gospel, whereas the Jews had not.

Comment: Be watchful lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that in you knowledge you become proud and despise others who disagree with your view or outlook, even if your view is ‘biblically correct’ and theirs is wrong, rather than having an attitude of compassion to help them and guide them in the truth.

July 19, 2023

The Apostle wants to show them how terribly wrong that is. He has already done so in detail in verses 16 and onwards. They were boasting as over against the Jews but they had nothing to boast about at all — and anyone who thinks that he is a Christian because of any superiority in himself comes under this castigation of the Apostle here.

Romans 11:16–25 (NKJV) — 16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 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, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 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. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 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? 25 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.

The Apostle is going to drive this home in a powerful statement in

Romans11:32: 'For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all'.

Romans 3:9 (NKJV) — 9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

Galatians 3:22 (NKJV) — 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

And thirdly, therefore, he wants to deliver them from being 'wise in their own conceits' because he does not want them to be put to shame when the great reality actually takes place.

He knows what is going to happen, so he says, I am going to tell you now, because if I do not, you and your descendants will go on saying that you are in the church because you have such great understanding and high morals.

178/171 August 8, 2021

Having a great pastoral care

You will then be made to look ridiculous because it will be, when you see the Jews being brought in as a nation, evident to all that you have been wrong throughout the centuries. He wants to save them from all that. So you see it is not merely a question of delivering them from their ignorance, he has this great pastoral care for them.

We can put it like this, he wants to bring an end to their making fools of them-selves by saying something that is completely wrong and priding themselves on their rights. Very well, that is why he is going to give them this information.

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TEACH IN TERMS THAT PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND

The next point which we come to is this, that he tells them that this information that he is going to give them is a mystery. Here again is a most important term and it is interesting for many reasons. You will find in the Epistles of this great Apostle that he uses this word 'mystery' very frequently.

Why did he do so? Well, I accept the verdict of the authorities on this matter — that he did so because it was a term that was very much in current use at that time. It is a well-known fact that in that ancient world, and especially amongst the Gentiles, there were what were called 'mystery religions'.

They are referred to in the Epistle to the Colossians. They were a strange concoction of philosophy, ritual and asceticism. They were very common and current in the Roman Empire and had come from the East. The Apostle very often takes up the terms that were in current use in those circles and uses them in order to show through them the Christian teaching.

Here, again, is something that we can learn from the great Apostle. It is essential always that our teaching and preaching should be in terms that people can understand. It is difficult but it has got to be done, we should always make that effort.

If there is therefore something that is in current usage which we can use in order to bring out an aspect of the truth, it is right to do so. But you will notice at once that the Apostle gives the term that he uses an entirely different connotation.

When he says that he is going to put before them a mystery, he does not mean some wonderful secret that was only known to the initiated. Such thinking was a way of building up pride because the secret was known only to the select few. That was the great characteristic of these mystery religions.

Now the Apostle uses their term but shows them what a different thing the Christian faith really is. By 'mystery' the Apostle means something which is concealed from the natural understanding of man but which God in His infinite grace has been pleased to reveal.

Now this is a most important matter. In the New Testament, a 'mystery' is something which man's understanding cannot reach, even at the best, but which God has been pleased to make known, clearly and evidently.

Now in the mystery religions, you see, everything depended upon one's understanding and intellectual acumen. One progressed through rites and stages and one could proceed beyond others.

Let me put it again in terms of that great statement in the eleventh chapter of Matthew's Gospel where Jesus says, 'I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent' — these people who always pride themselves on their wisdom and understanding, and they arrive at knowledge. Not here! `Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight'.

Now let me give you some other examples from the New Testament of the use of this very term. You find it in the last chapter of this very Epistle [Romans 16:25-26]. In verses 25 and 26, the Apostle says, 'Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith'. There is a perfect illustration of this very thing.

We have it in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8; Ephesians 1:9-10, 3:4-6. There the gospel of salvation and the inclusion of the Gentiles in its benefits together with the consummation of all things are referred to as something which is beyond man's ability to know, had not God revealed it.

1 Corinthians 2:6–8 (NKJV) — 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Ephesians 1:9–10 (NKJV) — 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

Ephesians 3:4–6 (NKJV) — 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

The same applies to the resurrection of the body in 1 Corinthians 15:51.

1 Corinthians 15:51 (NKJV) — 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—

A fine example from the Epistle to the Romans is in Romans 16:25-26.

Romans 16:25–26 (NKJV) — 25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—

Comment: Jesus Christ is the mystery to be fully revealed now at the last days.

You see, my friends, this is the glory of the Christian position, that this grand mystery of God and His eternal purpose and will is revealed to us.

This is Christianity and we have got to exercise ourselves with respect to these things. There are prophecies in the Old Testament about the Gentiles, that the gospel is to be preached to them. Yes, but it is merely hinted at in the Old Testament, now it has been fully revealed.

So you must not say that any one of these mysteries is something that was totally unknown before; but what it does mean is, that it was only hinted at, now there is to be a plain and a full and a clear revelation of it.

You see, I say that for this reason —that the moment the Apostle reveals this mystery he goes on to say 'as it is written'. It had been prophesied but not very clearly. You could read your Old Testament and not see it, not get it; the Jews had entirely missed it. It is there. It is there in embryo but it is not there in its fullness.

But now he says I am going to show it you, I am going to put it before you so that you cannot be ignorant and you will no longer be wise in your own conceits. What a wonderful difference there is between Christianity and all the mystery religions — past and present for there are still some `mystery religions' that appeal to people.

180/173 August 9, 2021

You know, they have got some great secret, it is not told to everybody, only to those who are initiated. That is the characteristic of false religions always. It is kept to themselves, and there they are, a group on their own. They have got a wonderful secret and they are some special people. They help one another but they do not help other people — all for themselves, the initiated.

Now that is the absolute opposite of Christianity which noises abroad, makes known, reveals, proclaims. What a contrast between Christianity and all these false religions! Indeed we can sum them up like this.

The difference between Christianity and every false religion is the difference between mystery 'revealed' and mystery 'concealed'.

We should always mistrust any religion that claims to be true or spiritual if it conceals and only gives this information to certain initiated people. Christianity is mystery 'revealed'. It is something which can be shown, says the Apostle.

What a contrast there is between concealing and revealing! And this is something, I say, which is of value to us at the present time even as it was in the times of the great Apostle. Let us ever remember this therefore when people tell us that they have got something that is superior to the teaching of the church, something that does more good.

The reply to make to such people is this: If it is so wonderful, why do you make a secret of it? Christianity wants everybody to know the truth. It is a gospel which proclaims from the house-tops, it is open, it is free, it is not something to be done behind closed doors and in great secrecy.

What then does this statement tell us about the Apostle Paul? He says,

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. 26 And so all Israel will be saved… Romans 11:25-26

This tells us a great deal about the man who wrote this Epistle to the Romans, and what it tells us about him, of course, is that he is an apostle; and that means that a revelation of the truth had been made to him in order that he could go out and teach others.

In other words, the Apostle is not giving a forecast here, he is not sitting down and trying to work out what is going to happen and saying, It is my opinion that this or that is going to take place. No, no, this is a dogmatic pronouncement, it is the utterance of a prophecy. He did not arrive at this either intuitively or even as the result of studying the Old Testament. It was 'revealed' to him.

Now that is one of the things that made a man an apostle. He is called and a revelation is given to him in order that he may teach others. Revelations like that are not given to everybody. 'The church is built', says Paul in Ephesians 2:20, 'upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.'

That means that the revelation of truth was made to them. And it has been made only to them. So there is no fresh revelation to expect. That is one of our reasons for rejecting the church of Rome. She claims that revelation has continued through her. That is why, you see, the Pope is said to be the successor of Peter and so on.

They talk about 'a succession of the apostolate' and high church Anglicans do the same. But it is this kind of claim which ultimately carries with it the notion that these men are the successors of the apostles. The answer is, you cannot have successors to the apostles.

They were once and for all.

The revelation was made to them in order that they might pass it on and send it forward. 'This dispensation of the gospel has been given to me', says Paul, 'in order that I may make known among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ'. And here the Apostle is, in other words, just telling these Romans that he is an apostle.

So we accept this prophecy of the Apostle Paul in exactly the same way as we accept the prophecy of Isaiah, of Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or of Daniel or any one of the Minor Prophets. Indeed Peter exhorts his readers to regard the Apostle Paul in this very way when he places the writings of Paul on the same plane as the Old Testament Scriptures,

having said that they came 'not by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved, carried along, by the Holy Spirit'. So the Apostle here is telling these Romans that he is going to make an utterance that is exactly the same as the utterances of the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation.

The Christians at Rome are to remember that. They are to believe this as the revealed truth of God. And you and I in our day and generation are to do the same thing. This is not the opinion of Paul, the man; this is the prophetic utterance of Paul the called Apostle of Jesus Christ, unto whom the revelation has been given.

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