God's Plan for the Jew and you
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Romans 11:1-36
Romans 11:1-36
Romans 11:1-36
Intro: In this chapter, Paul concludes his parenthesis to the Jew. He has been trying to show them that God has not forsaken them, but that God has simply postponed His work on their behalf unto a future time. It is God's plan to finish what He has started in regard to the Jew and in the area of His promises to them.
These verses are an explanation of what God is doing in the arena of salvation in this present time. Here, we learn that God has a plan for the Jew and that He has a plan for you.
Some may have read the book of Romans up to this point and concluded that there is no salvation for the Jew. Paul shows the foolishness of that viewpoint. He teaches us that God has a plan and that God's plan will be fulfilled completely.
Notice with me four key components to the plan of God…
I. It involves the Grace of God - (Vs. 1-10)
I. It involves the Grace of God - (Vs. 1-10)
A. God's Saving Grace - (Vs. 1)
1. The Issue - The question might be asked, "Has God completely written off the Jew? Has He condemned them all to Hell? Is it impossible for them to be saved " Paul says that such a thing is not even a possibility!
2. The Illustration - To prove it, Paul calls attention to himself. “I Also...” “Whenever we want evidence of God’s work, we could and should look to our own life first.”
He is a Jew and he is saved! Paul is living proof that Jews can be born again! The bottom line is that salvation is available to any individual who will call upon the name of the Lord,
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
B. God's Selecting Grace - (Vs. 2-10)
Paul draws the attention of his readers to an event in the past and to God's present work around them to show them God's grace in action.
1. God's Past Selection - (Vs. 2-4)
Paul draws from the life of Elijah to demonstrate the fact that God always has a remnant. “It is just possible that Paul, likewise persecuted by his own countrymen, felt a special kinship with Elijah.” (Harrison)
Elijah thought he was all alone in his devotion to the Lord, but God reminded Elijah that there were more than 7,000 who had not bowed to Baal… There was a remnant.
2. God's Present Selection - (Vs. 5-10)
We often think that God needs a lot of people to do a great work, but he often works through a small group, or through a group that starts out small… While many Jews in Paul’s day did not embrace Jesus as the Messiah.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Paul shows that now, just as in the past, God has His remnant. Those who are saved are not saved because of their birth, or their nationality, but they are saved because of pure grace. They are redeemed because they have been chosen by God in Christ Jesus.
(Ill. Paul's point in these verses is that those who want to be saved can be saved, while those who do not are abandoned to their choice by God…
For us, the message in this section of this passage is that if we are saved, it is because of the grace of God! It is not our deeds, our birth or our works. We are not saved because of who we are or what we have or can produce. Salvation is by grace alone, Eph. 2:8-9
II. It Involves the Grafting of God - (Vs. 11-24)
II. It Involves the Grafting of God - (Vs. 11-24)
A. The Reason - (Vs. 11-15)
Because the people of Israel refused to come to Christ for salvation, the Lord turned to another people. He turned to the Gentiles and opened the door of salvation wide for them. The Bible indicates that Jesus came to the nation of Israel and presented Himself to them as their Messiah, they refused to receive Him and the way was opened for the Gentile nations to come to Jesus, John 1:11-12
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
The Lord set them aside that He might reach out to us!
Paul says that God has used the salvation of the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Paul hopes that they will see what God is doing for the Gentiles and that they will want the same for themselves. (Ill. Our lives ought to create a genuine thirst and longing for the things of God in the world around us, Matt. 5:13-16
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.u
Paul knows that since salvation is being preached to the Gentiles, many Gentiles are coming to know God through the Gospel of grace. His thinking is that if the Jew being rejected can bring men to Christ, what would happen if the Jew was saved! (Ill. A completed Jew is a powerful force for the glory of God!)
B. The Results - (vs. 16-17)
Romans—Righteousness From Heaven Answer Two: the Temporary Rejection of Jews (vv. 11-24)
While we may wonder at what is meant here, the Jews had no problem understanding it. Paul is referring to Old Testament offerings and sacrifices, and specifically the offering of the firstfruits. In that offering the priest took some of the dough from the larger lump and offered it to God. Paul reasoned that if the lump offered to God was acceptable, the rest would naturally be as well.
Romans—Righteousness From Heaven Answer Two: the Temporary Rejection of Jews (vv. 11-24)
The firstfruit was Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, and he was accepted before God. Thus it is natural for his descendants to be also accepted. Paul is making the point, how natural the Jews’ return and acceptance by God will be. Put another way, “if the root is holy, so are the branches.” Israel’s origins make her restoration the most natural thing!
As a result of the natural branch (Israel) being broken off, the wild branch (The Gentile nations) have been grafted in. We are allowed the privilege of being placed in a personal relationship with the God of Heaven!
(Ill. In the Tabernacle and Temple period, only the Jew had access to the things of God. They could go to the temple and sacrifice. They could approach the high priest and have their sins atoned for. They could enter into the things of the Lord.
The Gentiles, on the other hand, were all left outside of these things. They had no access to God.
With the picture of the tree and the branches, Paul reminds the gentile Christians that it is only by God’s grace that they can be grafted into the “tree” of God - the “root” of which is Israel.
“When an old olive tree had lost it’s vigor, it seems that one remedy in antiquity was to cut away the failing branches and graft in some wild shoots. The result was said to be invigoration of the failing tree.” Henry Morris
C. The Reminder - (Vs. 18-24)
The redeemed Gentiles are reminded in these verses that they should not boast about their new position in Jesus. The same God Who grafted them in, is the same God Who can break them off if they become lifted up in their pride. Not broken off in the sense of their salvation, but in the sense of their effectiveness and usefulness to the Lord.
The image of grafting in branches alludes to the practice of ancient farmers who would graft branches from young olive trees into older, less productive trees to make them productive again. Israel had become unfruitful, others were grafted in their place. However, if those who ware grafted in (the Gentiles) become arrogant and prideful, they too will become unfruitful and will be broken off. If Israel returns to the Lord (which she will) she will be grafted back in again!
What Paul is trying to get his readers to understand is that it is God, not the individual who is in control of these matters. As he said in verse 18, "The branches do not support the root, it is the root that supports the branches!"
(Ill. What's the point of all this for us? We simply need to remember that we are saved today because of the pure grace of God! We have nothing to brag about. We have no reason to pat ourselves on the back and talk of all we have done for God. The fact is, we have done nothing as we all deserve to go to Hell! If you don't believe me look at Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
These verses are clear in their teaching that we are guilty and wayward and deserving of the harshest of punishments. Why then are we saved? Paul answers that question in Ephesians 2:4, when he says "But God..." That is the reason we aren't in Hell! That is why we are saved this afternoon.
It is all the work of God and His grace! Therefore, if we will glory, let us glory in the cross and the empty tomb. Let us glory in the promises and power of our great God, Who loved us and gave Himself for us at Calvary!)
III. IT INVOLVES THE GUARANTEE OF GOD - (Vs. 25-32)
III. IT INVOLVES THE GUARANTEE OF GOD - (Vs. 25-32)
A. His Promises - (Vs. 25-27)
Israel's blindness at the present is a temporary condition…
One day her eyes will be open to the Person of Jesus and she will be saved! God hasn't forgotten her, but He is filling His house with those who will come to Him during this the age of grace. We are reminded again of the parable of Jesus in Luke 14:16-24. We can see that the Father desires His house to be filled. If those who are invited will not come, then He will invite others until His house is filled! In the end, God will keep every promise He has made to Israel! Not one of them shall fail.
B. His Purposes - (Vs. 28-32)
In this present age the Jew is the enemy of the Christian faith. They deny that our Jesus is their Messiah. Yet, God has not forgotten about them, or about His plans for them. For as they were called by the Lord, that calling will be fulfilled and Israel will come to salvation through Jesus Christ.
It is to be noted that Israel has paid a high price for their rejection of Jesus as Messiah. They have suffered as no other group of people has suffered in this world. They have been hated and some, like Hitler, have even tried to exterminate them. Yet, through it all, God has kept them and brought them through every trial. For over 1,900 years there was not a nation called Israel.
Then in 1948, the United Nations created a country called Israel. Since that time there have been many attempts by their enemies to destroy them and take their country from them. But, God has continued to preserve them. Their darkest day has not yet dawned. During the Tribulation period, verse 26-27 will be literally fulfilled.
God will purify His people so that when Jesus returns in glory and power, the Jews will fall before Him and receive Him as their King, their Messiah and their Savior. This is one of the great prophecies of the Bible, Zech. 13:6. Of course, their pain is prophesied in the Old Testament: Zech. 10-12.
When Jesus comes, He will redeem them and receive them unto Himself, Isa. 25:8-9; 43:25; 51:3; 55:12. It will be a great day for the Jew when the Lord Jesus fulfills His plans on their behalf. Are they forgotten? No! They are merely on hold for the time being. Their day will come!
(Ill. While these verses speak primarily to the nation of Israel, there is comfort in knowing that God will always keep His promises. He can be trusted! We can take Him at His Word and know that He will do just what He promises to do, Rom. 4:21; 2 Cor. 1:20
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
IV. It Involves the Glory of God - (Vs. 33-36)
IV. It Involves the Glory of God - (Vs. 33-36)
(Il. Paul closes this chapter with a threefold doxology. He praises the Lord for three great characteristics. Since God doesn't change, you and I should be willing to praise Him for these same attributes...
A. His Greatness - (Vs. 33-34)
Paul's first statement concerning the Lord has to do with God's wisdom and omniscience. The question is asked, "Who knows the mind of God and who is the person that gives God advise?" The answer is no one! God's mind can be pondered by men through the reading of the Scriptures, but no man can know the mind of God. His mind transcends our ability. He is God and we can never fully understand Him or His ways, Isa. 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.
All one has to do is read Job 39-40:1 to see that no man understands the depth of wisdom and knowledge possessed by God. We are not His counselor! He does as He pleases and we are left to praise Him for what He does!
(Ill. That would be a good lesson for us all to learn as we go through life. We need to stop trying to figure out the why of everything and start simply learning to trust God by faith! He knows what He is doing, we do not! He sees the future and knows what is best for now and then, we do not! Therefore, let us bow before Him and His glory and exalt His worthy Name!)
B. His Grace - (Vs. 35)
The question here is this: "To whom is God a debtor?" Does He owe man anything at all? Some people seem to think so. They expect God to jump through their hoops at their command. But, that is not the God of the Bible! The God of the Bible is a God Who moves first. He reaches out to men through His grace and man are debtors to Him!
(Ill. Let us never forget that truth! God owes us nothing, we owe Him everything! Every dollar in our pockets is His gift. Every lung full of air is His blessing. Every heartbeat is His grace manifested.
Your home, your car, you family, your job, your health, your intellect, you talents, your possessions are all His gifts to you. He doesn't owe you, but you owe Him! And what does God want in return? Nothing more than your love, which manifests itself in obedience to Him, John 14:15. He gives us everything and all He asks is that we honor Him by receiving His Son Jesus as our Savior. When we do that, then His real giving begins. No, God isn't in debt to us; it is we who are in debt to Him!)
C. His Glory - (Vs. 36)
Everything in this world exists because there is a God in Heaven Who willed it to be here! That is Who He is and that is the power He possesses. In Col. 1:16, Paul said it this way, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:"
God is the center of His universe. Is He the center of yours? If you are giving Him the glory due His name He is worthy! Let us remember, the world does not revolve around you or me. I know that comes as a shock to you, but it doesn't! It revolves around God! Therefore, let every believer in this room come to the place where we are more than willing to seek His glory first in everything we are and do, 1 Cor. 10:31
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Conc: Yes, this is a Jewish passage and we may wonder why we would even bother with it. The reason is, is that it teaches us about God's grace in calling us to faith in Jesus. It reminds us that our God is a promising keeping God. It teaches us that we should always seek to honor the Lord in all we do and in all we are.
