God's Unbreakable Promises

Bible Passage: Romans 11:26–29

Application: This passage reassures believers of God's faithfulness and encourages them to trust in His promises, even when circumstances seem dire. In times of disappointment or uncertainty, remembering that God does not change can help Christians remain hopeful and steadfast in their faith.

Teaching: The sermon can teach that God's promises are not based on human actions or understanding but on His faithfulness and sovereignty. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the fullness of God's plan for both Israel and the Church, highlighting inclusivity in salvation.

How this passage could point to Christ: This passage points to Christ as the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel. It reveals that through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles have access to God's grace, underscoring the importance of faith in Him as the unifying factor in God's redemptive work.

Big Idea: God's unwavering faithfulness guarantees His promises, offering hope in uncertainty and uniting all believers in Christ's salvation.

Intro:

Have you had a time of uncertainty? Has there been a time in your life in the past, current that it seems like the future is uncertain…. I find that one of the destructions to our eagerness for the Gospel is confident complacency… let me explain. When the work of the Gospel is solely put on our efforts and what we can do… certain music, certain style of teaching certain outreach plan.. then when we find ourselves there will will be confident in our complacency that we did it. Rather the good news for us today is that God has promised that there will be times of salvation, times of discipleship, times of drought… in all times we may place our full confidence in His promises.

It is our reliance upon God.. that we must be in prayer and His word… it is ok that we don’t understand how its all going to work out… even here can we receive from the Lord what He wants for us.

Suffering times are a Christian’s harvest times.

Thomas Brooks

How do we find our confidence in Christ… well it is becuase God is unwavering in His promises

Summary: In Romans 11:26–29, Paul emphasizes the enduring promise of salvation for Israel and highlights God’s faithfulness to His covenant. Despite Israel's current unbelief, Paul reassures that all Israel shall be saved, pointing to the irrevocable nature of God's gifts and calling.

How this passage could point to Christ: This passage points to Christ as the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel. It reveals that through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles have access to God's grace, underscoring the importance of faith in Him as the unifying factor in God's redemptive work.

1. Promise of Salvation

Romans 11:26

God's promises of salvation for 'all Israel' reflect His unwavering commitment to fulfill His covenant despite human failure.

The focus on this passage main them is not human failure it’s God’s promises in reflection of this I do believe it would encourage to spend some time here on Human failure- Man will fail, but God is unwavering

How do we handle failure?

Leadership will fail

Its tough making decisions, some we get right some we get wrong

How easy is it to decide dinner with a family of four?

First the leadership may not know how to fail?

They are striving for perfection… God is perfecting us

They are afraid when they make a mistake

Do we trust the Lord in His graciousness

Often we assume that God is unable to work in spite of our weakness, mistakes, and sins. We forget that God is a specialist; he is well able to work our failures into his plans.

Erwin W. Lutzer

Leader if you have failed trust God in His graciousness… He has made promises and His rebuke is one we need.

Joel 2:12–17

“12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God? 15 Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. 17 Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’ ””

Salvation- God ridding us of our where we are unclean

How can we receive someones failure?

The Bible teaches us that it is to be with grace and love

Grace- they are receiving something they don’t deserve- the world isn't very gracious- don’t let the world be your standard-

Love- a rebuke- (The world would point to everyone else as the problem)

Failure- there are different degrees but I am certain it doesn’t start catastrophically

The most important thing about our failure it doesn’t change anything concerning God!

Why should it change us? Forgive!

Colossians 3:13

“13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

Even in the most unfortunate of circumstances

Israel- God’s promises

Israel failed- bad decisions, sin, idol worship, list goes on and on… God promises are true

Romans teaching us we have been grafted into this Salvation- removing the ungodliness

We don’t know how it will work out but we do know the outcome.

I think we should live knowing the promise is true…

Trust and affirm

Jeremiah 17:5–7

“5 Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 “For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord.”

The Remedy to time of our uncertainty is the promise that salvation has come Jesus. In the most dire of times revival comes in our lives- not becuase we do it becuase of Christ-

Salvation is an unwavering promise of God- Jesus! The cost!

2. Perpetual Forgiveness

Romans 11:27

We mentioned forgiveness earlier here we have the truth that God is unwavering in His forgiveness

All the compassions of all the tender fathers in the world compared with the tender mercies of our God would be but as a candle to the sun or a drop to the ocean.

Matthew Henry (Nonconformist Biblical Exegete)

In times of uncertainty God forgives

God’s covenant of forgiveness with Israel is rooted in His mercy and grace, showing that His promises are irreversible and reliable.

Rooted in Mercy

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Mercy

The biblical meaning of mercy is exceedingly rich and complicated

Ephesians 2:4–5 “

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

Through Christ's sacrificial death, believers can access this forgiveness and experience renewal. Highlight that God's consistent nature in offering redemption invites us to embrace His grace confidently, even amid our own struggles.

God persistently puts up with his disobedient and wayward people and continuously seeks them out to draw them back to himself

This really paints a great picture!

What we do with this mercy matters!

We are to show compassion and practical concern for each other. We are to give aid and relief, love and comfort to one another as Christ freely gave to them in their need.

We may have this backwards in what we see online…

The greatest teaching cant make you a better..… it is when you know you are a sinner and you respond in humility to God and you therefore are Christ like when you serve… i don’t think we need more of a reason.. tell me why i should serve tell me why i should attend tell me why i should be a better … It is becuase of Christ, what He has done! God’s love for Israel was rooted in this Mercy that He pursued them, promsing them the messiah, He pursues us today with the promise of Jesus

Matthew 9:13

“13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””

It is clear that we can truly do nothing with this mercy God has given us… thats cheap mercy, or we can rejoice and say thank you Lord and I will give the same mercy to others and if you are still having a hard time with this i want to spend some time looking at the mercy seat.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Mercy Seat

Mercy Seat. Gold slab placed on top of the ark of the covenant with cherubim attached to it on either end, termed the mercy seat in many English versions of the Bible (cf.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Mercy Seat

The propitiatory or mercy seat points forward to Jesus who is termed by Paul (

Christ- the gift that paid for our sins- when people ask if they believe in Jesus we need to be clear. He is the gift given to cover our sins against God.. God perusing us!

Rooted in Grace

As a general definition, the doctrine of grace pertains to God’s activity rather than to his nature. Although God is gracious, this trait of his nature is revealed only in relation to his created works and to his redemptive enterprise. In other words, grace is to be understood in terms of a dynamic expression of the divine personality rather than as a static attribute of God’s nature. Grace is the dimension of divine activity that enables God to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless. God is gracious in action.

God’s grace manifested in Jesus Christ makes it possible for God to cause believers to reflect his grace in their character and relationships.

How do we receive God’s grace—- only in humility

James 4:6

“6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.””

Where do we get to practice humility- with others!

Oh how good it is to be in fellowship with one another!

In the world.

What does that look like?

Serve others by setting aside your selfishness and conceit

Ephesians 5:21

“21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”

Through Mutual forgiveness (Mt 18:23–35)

In our speech

Colossians 4:6

“6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

God gives us this in order that we would not

pervert the grace of God into ungodly practice

Jude 4 “4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

But that we would

Grow in the grace of the Lord

2 Peter 3:18 “18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

God’s unwavering promise to rid us of our sins is rooted in His pursuit of us in Christ!

But how life seems so uncertain!

3. Persistent Sovereignty

Romans 11:28-29

To affirm that God is sovereign is to affirm that God reigns, universally and invincibly.

God’s sovereignty implies his absolute ownership- It is all about Him!

1 Timothy 6:15

“15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,”

Remember we are not the main character!

God's sovereignty that transcends human disobedience, as His gifts and call to Israel exemplify.

God will bring all things together for His good!

To know that nothing happens in God’s world apart from God’s will may frighten the godless, but it stabilizes the saints.

J. I. Packer

These include the irrevocable nature of His promises and the inclusion of Gentiles through Christ. This encourages believers to trust in God’s persistent call and His unalterable gifts, fostering a deeper sense of unity within the Church and assurance of His unchanging nature.

Divine sovereignty and causality

—God rules over all things and either ordains or permits all things, but he does not cause or originate sin

James 1:13

“13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”

Divine sovereignty and human freedom

—God sovereignly directs or rules over free human decisions

Psalm 33:14–15

“14 From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works.”

Divine sovereignty and salvation

—The initiative for conceiving, providing, and applying salvation rests exclusively with God and specifically with God the Father

John 6:44

“44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

yet humans are responsible for believing

Ephesians 1:13 “13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,”

God rules over this and in His wisdom allows us free will- so many questions can pop up- it may not be for you to know!

Application:

The promise comes that Israel will be saved it seems uncertain we are to remeber the promises of God

Salvation

God has made the way (we are to receive the way)

Forgivness

God forgives (we are to receive and give)

Sovereignty

God knows (We are to trust and be still)

Questions for Small Groups

What assurance does Romans 11:26-29 provide about God's promises to Israel?

How can believers apply the principle of God's unchanging nature to their own experiences of disappointment?

In what ways can you practice humility and grace towards others as you receive mercy from God?

How does the sermon describe the relationship between Israel's unbelief and God's unwavering promises?

What does it mean for God's gifts and calling to be irrevocable according to Romans 11:29?

How is Christ portrayed as the fulfillment of God's promises to both Jews and Gentiles in this sermon?