God Is Not Finished With Israel Pt. 4

Romans 11:28 “Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.”

Paul wanted to make it clear to the gentiles that the Jews were enemies (echthros: hostile, hated) of the gospel. The Jews hated the gospel and rejected it,

1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary (enantios: hostile) to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.” It is important to note that since the Jews were enemies of the gospel they also were enemies of God,

Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”

Now be reminded that the Jews for a temporary time are being blinded/harden,

Romans 9:18 “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”

2 Corinthians 3:14 “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.”

Because of the Jews unbelief they were enemies of the gospel (v. 24), God has blinded them and given them a spirit of stupor (Rom 11:7-10).

28 (a) God did this to them according to Paul for your (the gentiles) sake. So that salvation by faith would be extended to the Gentiles.

Romans 11:25 “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.”

Israel will not be permanent enemies of God (vv. 28(b)-29)

Romans 11:28 (b) “but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.”

But God isn’t finished with Israel. They are God’s elect, His sovereign choice, they are beloved by God for the sake of covenant he made with the fathers - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Genesis 17:1–7 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.”

Isaac - Genesis 26:23–24 “Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.””

Jacob - Genesis 28:12–15 “Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.””

Israel are God’s elect on the basis of His love (Deut 7:6-9). Israel didn’t doing thing to earn God’s love. In fact they were his enemies, but he calls them his beloved. God hasn’t abandon his love for his people. Isn’t it a blessing that God’s loved us while we were his enemies?

Romans 5:10 “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

God isn’t finished with Israel because he will never go back on his promises. He will never revoke his gifts that he has given to Israel. What are those gifts?

Romans 9:4–5 “who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

And God will not revoke his effectual calling of Israel to salvation. This is should be a blessing to us as well. For God will not revoke his gift of salvation to us who he has elected.

Romans 5:15–16 “But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:30 “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Romans 9:11 “(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),” , Romans 9:24 “even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”

God wasn’t finished with us is proof that God is not finished with Israel (vv. 30 - 32)

Romans 11:30–31 “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.”

The Gentiles who were once disobedient have received mercy (salvation) through the gospel, because of Israel’s disobedience to the gospel. But the disobedience of Israel will not be permanent. The will be provoked to to jealousy, desiring to have the mercy (salvation) that God gave to gentiles, and they will turn from their sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ, and place their faith in Jesus, just as the Gentiles did.

Romans 11:11–12 “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!” , Romans 11:15 “For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

Romans 11:32 “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”

Both Jews and Gentiles were in the same boat, because of our sinful nature he has consigned us to disobedience (given us over to disobedience), so that He provide mercy to us all.

Scripture declares this truth:

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—”

Romans 5:17–21 “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 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.”

Ephesians 2:1–2 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,”

Ephesians 2:3–5 “among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

Ephesians 2:6–10 “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

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! Paul is in awe about richness of God’s wisdom and knowledge of His salvation plan for both Jews and Gentiles and burst into a doxology (doxa, praise, legō, “to speak”). Nobody is able to understand God’s decisions and fully articulate what and why He does.

Isaiah 55:8–9 ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Romans 11:34 (a) Paul quotes Isa 40:13 LXX “For who has known the mind of the Lord? No one is capable of knowing the mind of God.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 2:11 “no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

Then in v. 34 (b) Paul quotes Job 36:22 “Or who has become His counselor?” The answer to that question is nobody is able give God advice, He is omniscient, for if there were some deities that could advise God, He would cease being God.

Romans 11:35 quoting Job 41:11 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” No one has ever given God anything. What could anyone give God who is the creator and sustainer of heaven and earth? God is not indebted to no one.

Psalm 50:10–12 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.”

Romans 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

Colossians 1:16 “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

Psalm 86:8–10 “Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; Nor are there any works like Your works. All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name. For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.