Lawson Romans 11

To God Be the Glory – Romans 11:36

OnePassion Ministries April 9, 2020

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So, Father, we ask now that this study be Your study because this text is Your Word. And I pray that Your Spirit would guide and direct us into the true understanding and application of this passage. So, God, we ask now for Your assistance in Christ’s name. Amen. Alright, if you take your Bible, turn with me to Romans 11:36. And last time together, we began looking at the first half of this verse. Today, we are going to look at the second half of this verse, and we had a lot of questions last time, Kent, that were unanswered and we couldn’t get to. If you want to resend any questions, we will do our best as time allows. I have got a full plate here on what to teach so I just want to dive right into this so we will have time at the end. Also, following this, we will be doing Steadfast Hope, and there will be about a five-minute intermission and you will need to go to onepassion.org to pick up on Steadfast Hope. But here we go: Romans 11 verse 36. Buckle your pew belt. This is going to be a great study. So, beginning at the start of verse 36, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Everything in the book of Romans has been building and building and building to this mountain peak, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” I mentioned last time we noted the first half of the verse which we called a “God-centered theology.” The second half of the verse is a God-centered doxology, and it is the theology of the first half of this verse that produces the doxology in the second half of this verse, and so it is the truth that is creating this response. “From Him,” God is the source of all things, “through Him,” He is the means of all things, “to Him,” He is the aim and the purpose of all things in creation, in history, and in salvation. So, having said that now, let us begin to look at the second half of this verse, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Only if you have the theology in the first half of this verse can you give the doxology in the second half of this verse. And please note how Paul responds, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” I mean, Paul is red hot with blazing, passionate love for God because of what he has just taught in the first half of this verse, which is just a brief summary of Romans 1 through 11. There is no apathy in Paul. He is not one of the frozen chosen. There is only enthusiasm and zeal and excitement in Paul’s heart as a result of the totality of Romans 1 through 11. He can only respond, “To God be the glory forever. Amen.” Now, if all things are not from God and through God and to God, then you cannot give all glory to God. If it is only partly from God and partly from man, if it is only partly through God and partly through man, then it will be only partly to God but partly to man, and there will be a diminished glory given to God. So, that is why our doctrine is so fundamentally important, because the higher our theology the higher our praise and our worship will be. So, as we look at the second half of verse 36, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen,” I want us to break this out by asking five questions: Who? What? Why? When? How? Those great adverbial questions: Who? What? Why? When? How? I think this will be very easy for you to follow. So, let us dig into this. First is “Who?” Who is to be glorified? “To Him be the glory.” It is to God and God alone, and specifically here it is to God the Father. That distinction was made early on in the book of Romans. And if you turn back to Romans 1 verse 1, Paul introduces, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” God there is distinguished from Christ Jesus within the same verse. God is the same God as in verse 2 who, “promised beforehand through His prophets,” distinguished in verse 3 from “His Son, who was born of a descendent of David according to the flesh.” “God” at the end of verse 1 is God the Father. Just to further drive home this point, if you would look in verse 7, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father,” and distinguished, “and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The same distinction is in the next verse, verse 8, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ.” God is distinguished from Jesus Christ. In verse 8, God is God the Father; Jesus Christ is God the Son. Look at verse 9, the next verse, “For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son.” So, in verse 9, “God” is God the Father, “Son” is God the Son. What I am wanting you to see is that as Paul uses “God,” it is specifically for God the Father. We see it, for example, again in verses 16 and 17, “I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation,” that is God the Father. Verse 17, “For in it the righteousness of God,” that is God the Father, “is revealed from heaven.” Verse 18, “the wrath of God.” So, I think the point is made that in Romans 11:36 when he says, “To Him be the glory,” the reference is really to God the Father who is the Author and the Architect of the gospel, who is the One who sent God the Son and who has sent God the Spirit. But let me just drive this nail down a little bit deeper into the board. In Romans 5, beginning in verse 1, I want you to see again the distinction between God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, they are not the same person. God is God the Father. Jesus Christ is God the Son. So, in verse 1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God,” that is God the Father, “through our Lord Jesus Christ,” that is God the Son. Look in verse 8, if you will, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God is God the Father. Christ Jesus or Christ is God the Son. It is really an echo of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God the Father “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” Look at Romans 5 verse 9, “Much more then, having been justified by His blood,” that is the blood of God the Son, “we shall be saved from the wrath of God,” that is the wrath of God the Father. Look at verse 10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” We are reconciled to God the Father by the death of God the Son. So, that is why in verse 11 we exult or give praise to God the Father, and not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, we are giving glory to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to take us to one more text in Romans. Come to the end of the book of Romans. And this is just a point that needs to be made. Who is to be glorified? God the Father. Look at Romans 16 beginning in verse 25. This is how the book of Romans concludes. “Now to Him.” Who is the “Him?” Well, let us keep reading, “who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.” So, “Him” is distinguished from Jesus Christ, “according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God.” That is God the Father, “has been made known to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith.” Now verse 27, “to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ.” “God” is God the Father, “through Jesus Christ,” that is God the Son.” Please note, “be the glory forever. Amen.” Sounds like Romans 11:36, does it not? So, Romans 16:25 to 27 becomes an interpreter of Romans 11:36. “To Him be the glory.” Who is the “Him”? I think it is pretty obvious. It is God the Father. Now, we give glory to God the Son and we give glory to God the Holy Spirit. So, this is not precluding worship being given to the Son and to the Spirit, but in this text in Romans 11:36, I just want us to be crystal clear in our understanding that it is God the Father who is sending the Son, and He and the Son sending the Spirit. It is the Father who is the Author of the gospel and the eternal decree. So, let us not lose sight of giving praise to God the Father as we are also giving praise to God the Son and God the Spirit. I have said before and I want to say it again that I believe the forgotten Person of the Trinity is, strangely enough, God the Father. In these days in which everything is Christocentric and we are all for being Christ-centered, but I want to be like Jonathan Edwards, I want to be Trinitarian. I don’t want to lose sight of God the Father and God the Spirit while I am focused on God the Son. So, who is to be glorified in this text? It is God the Father. In your worship and praise, may you give worship and praise to God the Father as you also praise the Son and the Spirit. Now, second: “What?” What is the glory due God? Come back to our text in Romans 11:36, “To Him be the glory.” Do you see that word, “glory”? It is the Greek word doxa from which we derive the English word “doxology.” It is a twofold. I can hear R.C. Sproul in my ear right now, not literally, but by memory telling me, “Steve, theologians have to make careful distinctions.” So, here I want to make a distinction between the two ways “glory” is used in the Bible. One is God’s intrinsic glory; the second is His ascribed glory. So first, His intrinsic glory. That is, “glory” is used as the sum and the substance of all that God is. It is the composite of all of the attributes of God: His holiness, His sovereignty, His righteousness, His love, His grace, His mercy, His truth, etc. All of that is the intrinsic glory of God. You cannot give intrinsic glory to God. God is who God is. He is the God who was, who is, who shall be forever. “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” God is never increasing in His intrinsic glory, He is never decreasing in His intrinsic glory. He is immutable throughout all the ages in His intrinsic glory. So, we cannot give intrinsic glory to God. God is who God is. So, this leads us to the second use of “glory” in the Bible, and that is “ascribed glory,” and that is how it is used here. Ascribed glory is the glory that we give to God, and in that sense ascribed glory is the praise and the worship that we give to God. That’s how it is used here, “To Him be the glory.” Ascribed glory belongs to God the Father. He is a jealous God and will not share His glory with another. Ascribed glory is how it is used. Let me give you three quick cross-references: Ephesians 3:21, “To Him be the glory. 1 Timothy 1:17, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Sounds much like Romans 11:36. That glory in 1 Timothy 1:17, Kent, is the glory that we are to ascribe to God the Father. And let me tell you how this works. The more you perceive and understand God’s intrinsic glory, the more you will ascribe glory to God. In other words, the more you grow in the knowledge of God’s intrinsic glory, who He is, the more ascribed glory you will give to Him. That is why the preacher who exposits the Word of God is in reality the primary worship leader in any church. The music leader is just that. He is the music leader and hopefully what is being sung will be sound doctrine and theology, but he is only a secondary worship leader. The primary worship leader is the man who opens this book and gives a fuller knowledge of who God is. So, that is why understanding the intrinsic glory of God is so important. Let me give you one more cross-reference though, just to round this out, in Revelation 4 and verse 11. This is crystal clear. I hope it is becoming clearer to you. Revelation 4:11. The scene around the throne and the redeemed saints and the angelic hosts are saying this to the Lord, God the Father, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.” This glory is the ascribed glory that we are to give to God. Here it is synonymous with giving honor to God. The word “power” here is a part of His intrinsic glory. They are not giving power to God; they are recognizing the power that He has, and in so doing that causes their heart to be ignited with greater worship to give glory and honor to God. Well, I hope you are able to track with all of that. The difference between intrinsic glory and ascribed glory, let me just very quickly give you just a couple more cross-references on intrinsic glory. I think this will be very clear in Ephesians 1 and verse 6, it says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace.” There, glory is His intrinsic glory. Praise is ascribed glory. Very clear. The same in Ephesians 1 verse 12, “To the praise of His glory.” There, praise represents ascribed glory, and in that text “glory” represents intrinsic glory. The same is in Ephesians 1 verse 14, “To the praise of His glory.” We give praise as we behold His intrinsic glory. Okay, enough of that. Let me ask you, do you give ascribed glory to God? It is one thing for you to have this down in your head. Is it in your heart? And do you rise up and bless the name of the Lord? This leads us to “Why?” Why should we give glory to God? And that is found in the first half of this verse which we looked at last time, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” When you understand that truth, you then give glory to God. It is not created by mood music or elevator music at church. That can add some octane to the tank, and it does, but it is not what ignites it and is driving it. It is the truth, “You shall worship God in Spirit and in truth.” It is the truth of sound doctrine that ignites our heart in worship for God. Another way also to look while we are on this, “From Him, through Him, and to Him,” another way to look at those three prepositional phrases, “From Him” is from eternity past, “Through Him” is within time, and “To Him” is into eternity future. And that is really another way of looking at, “Those whom He foreknew, He predestined; whom He predestined, He called; whom He called, He justified; whom He justified, He glorified.” That is from Him, through Him and to Him. Romans 8:29 and 30, which is another way of saying, “Salvation is of the Lord.” But let us keep walking through this because, Kent, we are going to have time to do questions. The next adverb is “When?” When should we give glory to God? That is number four. When should we give glory to God? Number four, it will appear. There it is on the screen. The word “forever.” “To Him be the glory forever.” That is when you should be giving praise to God, forever. Don’t ever stop giving praise to God. Forever, in good times and in bad times, in days of prosperity but also in days of adversity, when you are on the mountaintop but also when you are in the valley. Forever. The word “forever” is actually three words in the original Greek language, which is literally translated “to the ages” or “into the ages,” and the idea is throughout all eternity future, that there will never come an end to the praise that we will give to God. It will take all eternity future for us to be able to give adequate praise to God. We will never come to the end of our understanding of the greatness of God. Therefore, there will never come an end to our giving praise and worship to God. So, right now is just a warm up for forever. Let us praise God now knowing that we will be praising Him throughout all eternity. Let me give you some cross-references, and I am just going to run through these rather quickly. Romans 16:27, “To the only wise God be the glory forever.” Galatians 1:3, “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forevermore.” Ephesians 3:21, “To Him be the glory to all generations forever and ever.” Philippians 4:20, “Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever.” 2 Timothy 4:18, “To Him be the glory forever and ever.” Hebrews 13:21, “Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.” 1 Peter 5:11, “To Him be dominion forever and ever.” 2 Peter 3:18, “To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.” And Jude 25, “To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever.” This is a repeating theme throughout the New Testament that we are to give glory to God forever. That is why John Newton, when he wrote Amazing Grace, he wrote, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we have no less days to give God praise than when we’d first begun.” Forever and ever and ever, we will give praise to our God. Well, the final adverb is “How?” How should we respond? It is the last word of verse 36, “Amen.” Or if you are a Presbyterian, “Ah-men.” “Amen,” which means, “Surely, it is true,” which means “Yes, it is so,” which means “Let it be so.” It is our affirmation of sound doctrine and all that has been said. It means, “Yes, yes, one thousand times, yes,” to put it in the vernacular, loosely translated. Paul is saying “Amen” to everything that he has written in Romans 1:1 to Romans 11:36a. Everything in the book of Romans that has led up to this, Paul is now punctuating this with a strong, fervent, passionate, “Amen.” And I hope in your heart right now there is vibrating and revibrating a strong “Amen” in your soul. I hope in your church people say, “Amen.” I hope you don’t worship in a mausoleum. I hope you worship in a place where the people of God say, “Amen.” The Bible says, “Amen.” The Apostle Paul says, “Amen.” And it is another way of saying, “Truly, truly, I say unto you.” So, I want to ask you, can you say “Amen” to everything that has led up? Can you say “Amen” to that the whole human race is under the wrath of God? Can you say “Amen” that there is justification by faith alone, in Christ alone? Can you say “Amen” that we have died with Christ, we have been buried with Christ, we have been raised with Christ, and the Spirit of God now indwells all who have been justified, and everyone who has been justified is now being sanctified? Can you say “Amen” to that? There are no justified saints who are not being sanctified. Can you say “Amen” to glorification and the eternal security of the believer? Can you say “Amen” to God’s sovereign election, that “Jacob I loved and Esau I have hated”? Can you say “Amen” that “it does not depend upon the man who wills or upon the man who runs, but upon God who has mercy”? Can you say “Amen” that God is the potter and has made from one lump of clay some vessels for destruction and other vessels for glory? Can you say “Amen” to that? If you cannot say “Amen” to condemnation, justification, sanctification, glorification, election, and predestination, then you need to hold your tongue because you cannot say “Amen” at the end of Romans 11:36. This “Amen” is predicated upon every single doctrine that the Apostle Paul has taught in the first eleven chapters of the book of Romans. Can you say “Amen” that all Israel will yet be saved at the end of this age, that God will not forsake His ancient people? Amen. Amen. Amen. So, Kent, this brings us to the end of Romans 11:36, and the next time we meet, which will be next week, we will cross the river into Romans 12 and begin the practical section of the book of Romans. But I just want everyone who is listening to this to know the Apostle Paul is excited for this truth he has just taught. I am excited. I want you to be excited. The Holy Spirit wants to ignite your heart and your soul. The Lord Jesus Christ is surely giving His “Amen” and God the Father. Let us join in with the Apostle Paul in giving our “Amen.”

The Sovereignty of God – Romans 11:36

OnePassion Ministries April 2, 2020

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Father, as we look now into Your Word, I pray that its truth would come penetrating into our minds and into our hearts, that You would use this to greatly conform us into the image of Christ to make us more and more like our Savior. I pray that You will meet with everyone who is watching this broadcast. I pray that You will meet with them in a very personal and individual way and that You will attend to all of their needs. Use this study to strengthen them. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, we are in Romans 11 verse 36, and if you would take your Bible, I am going to begin reading in verse 33, but it is verse 36 that our focus will be on today. The title of this message, this study, is “The Sovereignty of God.” So I want to begin reading in verse 33, this climactic doxology that has led up to this mountain peak: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?” Now here is where we will be looking this morning, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Here in condensed form is the truth of the sovereignty of God. This is the most foundational truth of all Christian theology. It is the bedrock of all doctrines. This is the Mount Everest of all truths. The truth of the sovereignty of God must be the first article of our Christian faith, and it is to say this, that God is, and the God who is is the God who reigns. That is what we mean by the sovereignty of God. Every other doctrinal teaching must be brought into alignment with this towering truth. It means that God is God and not merely a name only, but in the full reality of what it means for God to be God. It means that God does as He pleases, how He pleases, when He pleases, where He pleases, with whom He pleases. God is and God reigns. Everything in the book of Romans has been ascending upward to this one verse as we now reach Romans 11 verse 36. This is the highest summit. This is the loftiest pinnacle. This is the highest mountain peak of the book of Romans. Paul’s entire building argument for the first eleven chapters has been going up this steep slope. We began in the valley with condemnation and the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, and we began the steep incline upward to justification in chapters 3 through 5, that the just shall live by faith, and then sanctification in chapters 3 through 8, and then glorification at the end of chapter 8, and then election and predestination in chapters 9 through 11. And so, we have been building and ascending upward to this very loftiest mountain peak as we come now to the capstone in this verse, Romans 11 verse 36 that “From Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” This verse is found in what we call a doxology, which is a short hymn of praise, and this is a resounding anthem of praise to God. That is why verse 36 concludes, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” And so, Paul is not a stoic saint. He doesn’t have a stiff upper lip. He has a heart that is about to leap out of his chest because of the excitement that fills him on these truths about God and His sovereign grace. And I trust this morning that there is a spiritual heartbeat within you of excitement for God and what He has done by His sovereign grace. So, what I want to do in verse 36 is just divide this into two halves. This will be very easy for you to see. The first half of verse 36 is a God-centered theology. The second half of verse 36 is a God-centered doxology, and it is our theology that produces our doxology. It is the truth of the first half of the verse that ignites our heart with worship for God in the second half of this verse, and without the first half of this verse you will not experience the second half of this verse. This morning as we look at this, I am quite certain that we only have time to look at the first half of this verse, and I am praying, Kent, that we can even get in the first half of this verse. So, hey, this is my Bible study, okay? So, I am going at my own pace, and I want to do this under the sovereignty of God, but of course, so we are going to dig down into this, and let me read the first half of this verse one more time, and you probably know this is my favorite verse in the Bible. So, it begins, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” I want you to know there is more in those three prepositional phrases than what may immediately meet the eye. Nothing lies outside of this statement, “all things.” From Him, through Him, to Him are all things. This is as high and as deep and as wide and as long as the entire universe. The entire universe and everything that takes place inside the entire universe fits inside of these three prepositional phrases, and there is nothing outside of these three prepositional phrases, except God Himself. So, in these three prepositional phrases is Romans 1 through 11 in summary form. It is the entire Bible in miniature. It is a complete systematic theology in itself. Here is a comprehensive world view in these three prepositional phrases. Here is the Reformation in a nutshell. Here is the entire universe and all of human history and providence and salvation. We could even add, “and judgment and damnation.” Everything is found within these three prepositional phrases. Let me give you just a quick overview of this. “From Him” means God is the source of all things. “Through Him” means that God is the means of all things. And “To Him,” God is the goal of all things. Did you get that? He is the source, from Him; the means, through Him; and the goal, to Him, of all things. To put it another way, that all things are from Him means He is the architect of all things. Through Him means He is the administrator of all things. And to Him means He is the aim of all things. Or to put it another way, that all things are from His sovereign will, all things are through His sovereign activity, and all things are to His sovereign glory. There is so much packed into these three prepositional phrases. All things are found within these three prepositional phrases; Selah, pause and meditate. Now, this is not unique to this verse. This is found in multiple passages of Scripture throughout the Bible, and I want to give you some cross-references as we are just getting some traction here to begin our study of this verse. But let me give you some of these cross-references: 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 6, “There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” 1 Corinthians 8 verse 6 has four prepositional phrases, that all things are from Him, for Him, by Him, and through Him. This is big boy theology, okay? I mean, we are not in the wading pool. We are in the depths of the reality of who God is. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 12 says, “All things originate from God,” Ephesians 4 and verse 6, “There is one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” Y’all! So, it is all, who is over all, through all, and in all. The profundity of what is packed into these little two-word prepositional phrases is mind-boggling. Colossians 1 verse 16, this one relates to the Lord Jesus Christ, “By Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.” It is wonderful. Praise the Lord for this, that nothing out there is random. Everything has divine purpose as it has come from the hand of God. Now, God is not the author of sin. Nevertheless, God is the author of a plan that includes sin for His greater glory. We would know nothing of God’s grace were it not for a plan that has sin and evil. We would know nothing of God’s longsuffering and patience. We would know nothing of His wrath and His righteousness if there was not this plan that God has designed from all eternity past that includes all things. Let me give you one more verse, cross reference, and we are still just building the front porch here to get into a massive house. Alright, Hebrews 2 verse 10, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things.” So, what I have wanted you to see is here in Romans 11:36, this isn’t the only place in the Bible where these comprehensive all-inclusive prepositional phrases are found. And this is really what we would call the macro perspective where we see the totality of what God is doing from all eternity past through time into eternity future, but what is astounding is it is not only the macro; it is also the micro. As R.C. Sproul would say, “There are no maverick molecules in the universe,” both the big picture and the small picture. You see, God is in even the details. We hear the little expression, “The devil is in the details.” Don’t believe it for a second. God is in the details as well as the wide-angle lens. So, I want us to think now about these three prepositional phrases on three different planes. I want us to think about it first as this relates to creation, then second as it relates to providence and history, and then third as it relates to salvation. Let me repeat that. We are going to look at these three prepositional phrases, first as it relates to creation, then second as it relates to providence and human history, then third as it relates to salvation. We want to see it on all three levels. Let us begin with creation. We certainly would agree that all things in the physical universe are from God. God is the Creator of all that there is. Genesis 1 verse 1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Everything that is in existence has come from God. He spoke everything into being out of nothing. Galaxies came dripping out of His fingertips as God spoke everything into being, and we saw that earlier in the book of Romans, in Romans 1 and verse 20, just to tack this or tie this into the book of Romans. Verse 20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so they are without excuse.” James Montgomery Boice, great Bible teacher from the last century said, “If anything exists, then God who is the uncaused first cause must exist and be the Creator of it all.” So, God is the uncreated Creator. He is the uncaused first cause. It has all come from God and by God’s perfect design. It was God who determined exactly where the earth would be and where the heights of the mountains would be and the depths of the ocean and just the right angle that He would set the earth on its axis and spin it perfectly at just the right speed and it would be situated just the right distance from the sun and the moon and the orbit and the changing of the seasons and the amount of water and the hydration, seasons, and periods. All of this has come from the infinite genius of God, and God has spoken it into being. So, it is all from God. There is no denial that God is the Creator of all that there is. “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,'” Psalm 14 verse 1. Now, not only is it all from Him, but it is all through Him, meaning He continues to hold the entire world in His hand and God is governing and upholding His entire physical universe. It is God who sustains and maintains all that He has made. If God would take His hands off of His physical creation, everything would just go spinning into chaos. So, it is all through Him in the sense of His continued activity to oversee and uphold all of the laws of physics and thermodynamics and gravity and all of the rest. Let me give you two verses. Colossians 1:17, “In Him all things hold together.” He is the glue that is holding all things together. That is why I said a couple of weeks ago in our Bible study, “This world is not going to blow up until God is ready for it to blow up at the end of time.” History is not coming to an end until God determines it will come to an end. The human race will not come to an end until God determines His physical creation will come to an end. We cannot circumvent the sovereign will of God. Hebrews 1:3, “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” Did you hear that? He upholds all things by the word of His power. This is our God, and any other view of God is sheer imagination of a fallen mind. Then, it is “all to Him,” meaning it is all for God’s glory. Everything that God has created is a reflection of His genius and His power and His mighty attributes, and it is all for His own pleasure, and it is to reveal the transcendence and the immensity of who God is. Psalm 19 verse 1, “The heavens are declaring the glory of God.” The heavens are just but almost like a mirror to reflect the glory of God. John Calvin writing in his Institutes of the Christian Religion has said that the entire created order is but a theater for the glory of God. You can imagine going to a theater and sitting there, and there is the screen in such large proportion, and you are observing with your eyes what is being shown on the screen. For us to look at the created order is like being in a theater and beholding the glory and the greatness of our God. So, we would say this is obviously true in creation, and this is why we so strongly oppose the lie of evolution. Evolution is a frontal assault, an attack on the glory of God. When you replace God as the source of all things, you replace God as the purpose of all things. We believe that all things are from God. Therefore, all things are to God. And if you say all things are not from Him and through Him, you have robbed God of the glory that is due His name. So, this is why we begin with creation. And I am certain as you are hearing this that there is an “amen” within your heart as you hear me speak these truths if you are a believer in the Bible and a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, this leads us now second to history and providence, history and providence, and I want us to look at these three prepositional phrases one more time, and I want us to see that not only has God created the entire physical order almost like a stage for this theater, but He has also written the script for everything that will take place on this stage, and He is the director of everything that will occur in human history. So, let us think this through. First of all, all things are from Him. God is the grand Architect of His master plan for human history. Let me just tell you this, God is not making this up as He goes, and God is not going from plan B to plan C to plan D, and by the time now we are in the year 2020 we are on plan twenty gazillion. No, there is only one plan A from all eternity past, and it is all inclusive of everything that comes to pass. We call this in theology, “God’s eternal decree” and it is referred to in different ways in the Bible. I am going to just give you some cross-references. I want you to know that there is one master plan from before time began in which God laid out His blueprint for all of human history, not only in the big picture, but to every little minute detail that would come to pass. In Acts 2:23, it is referred to as “the predetermined plan.” God has a predetermined plan. In Ephesians 1:11, it is referred to as “the counsel of His will.” In Ephesians 3:11, it is referred to as “the eternal purpose.” In Romans 8 verse 28, it is referred to as “His purpose,” and in Romans 9 verse 11 it is “God’s purpose,” and in Hebrews 6 verse 17 it is “the unchangeableness of His purpose.” So, God has a purpose from eternity past, His eternal purpose, for everything that will come to pass. And let me tell you, God pre-scripted the day of your birth, who your parents would be, when and where in history you would be born, what your gender would be, what your IQ would be, who would live next door to you, where you would go to school, all of the events of your life down to the day of your death. All of your days were numbered in His book “when as yet there was not one of them,” Psalm 139 verse 16. And so, God has this master plan. All things are from this genius mind and this master plan of God, and all things are through Him, meaning He is the one who is overseeing the execution of His plan. Some things are from Him, other things He allows, but He is controlling all things. So let me give you some verses on this. Isaiah 14 verses 26 and 27, “This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has planned it, and who can frustrate it?” It is a rhetorical question, the answer of which is “no one can resist the eternal plan and purpose of God.” Then he says, “And as for His stretched-out hand,” referring to God’s, “who can turn it back?” Question mark. Answer: No one. No one can slap God’s hand. No one can push it away from the table. All that God does with His outstretched hand will come to pass. To use a word, He is the Executor of His own eternal decree. He is a make-it-happen God. Let me give you one more verse, Isaiah 46:8 through 11. Kent, are you writing this down? Okay, I need you on this now. Isaiah 46:8 through 11: “Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors.” Why would he say that? Because we in the midst of the fray of life are so easily prone to forget this. That is why he says, “Remember this, recall it to mind.” Verse 9, “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me.” Now, here is the question: What distinguishes God as God? What is the godness of God? What sets God apart from all His creation, from you and from me? He gives us the answer in verse 10, “Declaring the end from the beginning.” That is to say, from before the beginning God declares the end of human history all the way back to the beginning. And what is implied? And everything between the end and the beginning God declares it. God decrees it. Notice, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done.” Even before history occurs, God has already declared what it will be. “Saying,” this is what God says, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.” This is irrevocable. This is immutable. This is unchangeable. History is “His story.” Now verse 11, “Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country.” Let me just give you a footnote. That is referring to Cyrus, who was the ruler of the Medes and the Persians. He was an unbeliever. He was what we would call a reprobate and he was like a pet bird in the sovereign will of God, and when God whistles Cyrus comes. God is working not just through believers; God is working through even unbelievers to accomplish His sovereign purpose. Proverbs 21 verse 1, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. Like rivers of water, He channels it whichever way He wills.” Even the king’s heart is in the hand of God and God is channeling the king’s heart whichever way God determines it will go. Now, the end of verse 11, Isaiah 46 verse 11, “Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.” Close quote. That is the sovereignty of God. And this is true for all of human history and all that will come to pass. And why does God do this? God does it for His own glory, for His own good pleasure. Isaiah 48 verse 3, “I declared the former things long ago and they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.” Now, verse 11, in Isaiah 48 verse 11, “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.” Why does God act in human history? Ultimately, for His own glory, for His own sake. This is the sovereignty of God for His own good pleasure. I remember the day in class when R.C. Sproul told us, “The sovereignty of God is God’s favorite doctrine, and it would be your favorite doctrine if you were God.” It means you are in control of the universe. You are the chairman of the board of everything. So, everything that comes to pass is according to God’s good pleasure. If you want to write down some cross-references, Proverbs 16:33, Proverbs 19:21, Proverbs 21 verse 1, Proverbs 21 verse 31, Psalm 33 verse 10, and it is just killing me to not be reading these cross-references right now. You have no idea how filled with the Spirit I am with self-control to not be, and you can throw in Romans 8:28, to not be reading all of these verses that testify that all things are through Him. He is guiding, directing, controlling the flow of human history to its appointed end. And even what they mean for evil, God means for good. God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. Now, therefore, before I move on to the third level, there is no such thing as good luck, bad luck, blind faith, random chance, accidental occurrences, good karma, bad karma. Those are all a fictitious imagination of a fallen mind. It is a religious superstition. It is paganism on steroids. It is hedonism taken to its fullest extent. No, God has the whole world in the palm of His hand, even Pharaoh’s heart, and He is controlling, directing, guiding everything to its appointed end. And you may say, “Well, what about human responsibility?” Well, just see every other previous message I have given from the book of Romans, and you are going to see human responsibility coming out of my mouth in every single lesson, but you need to see in the ultimate sense there is only one free will and that belongs to God. Now this leads us, third, to salvation. We have seen these three prepositional phrases; from Him, through Him, to Him. We have seen it as it relates to creation, history, and providence. But now, third, to salvation. Nowhere is this verse more true than in the matter of salvation, and as Paul writes this in verse 36 of Romans 11, that is what is most dominant on his mind. Everything from Romans 1 verse 1 to Romans 11 verse 36 has had as its main focus that salvation is from God and through God and to God. So, let us give thought to this and I don’t know that I can pack all this in in the time that remains, but I just have to tell you I am enjoying this. And you know who’s enjoying this the most? God, because this is bringing pleasure to God. It is magnifying and elevating the name of God. It is giving greatest glory to God. God is most delighting in hearing His own truths about Himself being made known. So, as this relates to salvation, all things are from Him. Every aspect of salvation is from God. This speaks to the doctrine of sovereign election. This speaks to the doctrine of sovereign foreknowledge and foreordination. It speaks to the doctrine of predestination from before time began. Ephesians 1:4, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” God chose His elect: “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated.” God made a distinguishing choice even within the womb to love the one, to pass over the other. This is all from the sovereign will of God, but more than that, the gospel of how these chosen ones would be saved is from God. In Romans 1 verse 1, it ends with “the gospel of God,” that is to say, it is the gospel that has come from God, from the infinite genius of God. He is the master architect of the plan of salvation of how His elect would be saved. It is God who designed the virgin birth, the sinless life, the substitutionary death, the bodily resurrection, the present enthronement. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. All of this has come from the stunning brilliance of God to design this. And not only that, but in eternity past God gave His elect to His Son to be His love gift, if you will. And we were all given to Christ from before time began. All of this is from God. It is also through God, meaning God is the One who has brought it to pass. God is the One who has appointed the placement of each one of us on the globe as we have already talked about, but more than that where you would be when He would call you to Himself. Who would bring the gospel message to you? None of these were random events. This was all brought about by the sovereign will of God, and God was the one who convicted you of sin. God is the one who called you to Himself. God is the one who regenerated you and birthed you into His kingdom. God is the one who opened your spiritually blind eyes, who opened your spiritually deaf ears. God is the one who opened your hardened heart. God is the one who gave you repentance and faith. God is the one who acted upon you and brought you into His kingdom. You were running away from God. God was the one who ran after you and drew you to Himself and brought you into His kingdom. This has all come through God. It is all God’s doing, not you and God, not you, but God and God alone, and all of this is to God’s glory. That is why Ephesians 1 verse 6, verse 12, and verse 14 all end in the same way, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” This is all for God’s glory, all for God’s grace. That is why when we get to heaven and God puts a crown on us we are going to immediately cast it back at His feet. “You were the one you chose me. You were the one who predestined my salvation. You were the one who drew me out of the pit of sin. You were the one who birthed me into the kingdom. I didn’t birth myself. You were the one who gave me the gifts of repentance and faith. This crown can’t remain on my head.” My only contribution was my sin that was laid upon Jesus Christ at the cross. All of this is for the glory of God and to give Him the honor that belongs to Him alone. Any other understanding, any lesser understanding of salvation robs God of His glory. If your salvation is part God and part you, then part of the glory will only go to God and part of the glory will go to you. That makes perfect sense. Even if it was ninety percent God and just ten percent you, then still ten percent of the credit would be yours. But when it is hundred percent God then one hundred percent of the glory goes to God. Surely, this must be true so that all glory will go to God. So, any lesser understanding, any other understanding of salvation robs God of His glory. Any understanding of baptismal regeneration, universalism, annihilationism, legalism, Catholicism, pluralism, any view of salvation that is not by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the predetermined eternal purpose and plan of God, whether you realize it or not is in one degree or another an attempt to cling to some of the glory for yourself, and that is a great evil. So, as we bring this to conclusion, let me just give you three points of application and then, Kent, I can hear your phone. We have got some questions coming in, and I’m just going to say, “Awesome! Bring them on!” Let me tell you three things. Number one, open your eyes. Open your eyes and behold the sovereignty of God. See how much bigger and greater and grander God is than you ever dreamed. Open your eyes. Second, open your heart. Love this God, adore this God. In your heart of heart, your soul should be filled with greater love for this God for what He has done for you from all eternity past. You can’t just sit there and be a sphinx with a straight face. There has to be in your heart and soul an excitement and an enthusiasm for the Lord. And then third and finally, open your mouth. Give Him the glory, worship Him. Let there be praise and honor come from your mouth to this God. Do not be silent as you know these truths, and open your mouth and teach your children these truths. Open your mouth and testify of this to others. Give all the glory to God. Well, I am going to stop here at this point.

The Autonomy of God – Romans 11:35

OnePassion Ministries March 26, 2020

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Father, as we look now into Your Word, I ask for Your grace and for Your guidance, that You would teach us the truth, that your Holy Spirit would be the indwelling truth teacher within each one of us and that He would make the things of Christ abundantly clear to us. As we approach this text, I pray that there would be a note of genuine humility within our hearts as we would bow before Your Word. So, Lord, meet with us now, in Christ’s name. Amen. Okay. Well, I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11, and I want to begin by reading this closing doxology, verses 33 to 36. This morning, we are going to be looking at just verse 35. The title of this message is “The Autonomy of God,” the autonomy of God, and I will define that word here for us just very shortly, but I want to begin by reading and this is really my favorite benediction that is in the entire Bible. Beginning in verse 33, “Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” We are looking at this mountaintop benediction that completes the most comprehensive and profound section in the entire Bible on the subject of salvation. Beginning in Romans 1 and extending all the way through Romans 11, Paul has laid out the greatest case in the entire Bible for the height and the depth and the breadth and the length of the salvation that He has provided for us in the gospel of God. And as we come to the end of Romans 11, Paul now concludes with this punctuation, with this benediction in which he can hardly hold his own heart back as he now exults in the grace of God that has been demonstrated in the gospel. And as we look at verses 33 to 36, let me just give us an overview of this benediction. It breaks up very easily. In verse 33, there are two exclamations. You will note in verse 33 there are two sentences that end with an exclamation point, so two exclamations. And then in verses 34 and 35, there are two questions, two sentences that conclude with a question mark. One is at the end of verse 34, the second is at the end of verse 35. And then in verse 36, there are two indicatives, two sentences that end with simply a period. So, Paul, who is so systematic in the way that he writes and in the way that he communicates, what we have here is perfect symmetry in this doxology; two exclamations in verse 33, two questions in verse 34 and 35, and then two indicatives in verse 36. I think that you can see for yourself how this lays out. And now as we look at verse 35, we are looking at the second of the two questions. And it deals with the autonomy of God. Let me read it again. “Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?” What does the word “autonomy” mean? Well, it means that a person is a law unto himself. It means that he is self-governing, that there is no one over him, that he has complete freedom from any external control. He has complete freedom of his actions. That is what the word “autonomy” means. Next week, we will look at the word “sovereignty” in verse 36. “Sovereignty” means that God has complete control over everyone else. Autonomy means He has complete control over Himself. No one is governing God. And so, as this applies to God, the word “autonomy” means that God is independent. He acts independently from any external constraints that would be imposed upon Him, that God is self-governing, God is self-ruling, God is self-determining over Himself. So, therefore, He is not under obligation to anyone outside of Himself to do what others would impose upon Him to do. That is to say that God is a law unto Himself. So, that is very profound, but that is why I want us to take our entire study on just verse 35 for us to grasp something of the hem of His garment. So, I have three headings for us as we look at verse 35. And the first is “The Question Raised,” the question raised. Verse 35 comes in the form of a question, what we would call a rhetorical question. So, verse 35, I just want to look at it very carefully here, “For who,” that refers to “what person.” What person in the entire human race? “For who has first given to Him,” “Him” refers to God. Who has first given really anything to God that would obligate God? Who has initiated giving anything to God that God would therefore be responsible or accountable to respond with any gift in return? “Who has first given to Him that it,” the “it” refers to these good works or good character, “that it might be paid back?” The idea is an obligation, something that is owed by God to the person that it might be paid back to Him again in return is the idea. This question deals with salvation. Who has given to God anything by which God would be now a debtor or a creditor to this person to give back to him? Who has earned any gift from God? To whom does God owe salvation? Now, there is a sense in which God owes justice, but He does not owe grace. That is a very important question and it is an important question at every level of salvation. To whom does God owe His sovereign election? What has anyone ever done that would cause God to choose them in eternity past? What has anyone ever done that would cause God to foreknow them, to choose to love them? What merit was there or is there in any person that would elicit the foreknowledge of God? What has anyone ever done that would cause God to call them to Himself? What has anyone ever done that would cause God to grant to them saving faith? What has anyone done that would cause God to justify them freely? What has anyone done that would cause God to glorify them one day in heaven? That is the question that is raised. This leads second now to the question replied. This is a rhetorical question. You will note in verse 35 there is no answer that is given, and the reason is the answer is so obvious that no answer even needs to be given. To raise the question is to answer the question. The answer to verse 35 to this question is a resounding, “No one!” “Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?” The answer is “no one has ever first given anything to God of any merit, of any value that would induce God to respond and to give salvation.” In other words, God does not owe grace to anyone. If God gives salvation to anyone, it will simply be because God has chosen to have mercy on whom He will have mercy. We saw that back in Romans chapter 9 and in verse 15. He says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,” that there was nothing in any person that would cause God to have mercy or compassion upon them other than their desperate need to have mercy and compassion, but it all originates within God. We have not put anything on the table that would draw God to give mercy or compassion to us, nothing of any value that would elicit the mercy and grace of God. God does nothing in salvation out of obligation. So, this now leads us to the third heading, which is “The Question Referenced,” the question referenced. And this question in verse 35 is drawn from a particular Old Testament text. It is drawn from Job 41 verse 11. If you have a cross-reference Bible like I do, out in the margin it will give you the cross-reference, and I see it here clear as day, it is Job 41 verse 11. And in just a second, we are going to turn back to Job 41 verse 11 to really understand what this verse actually means. But just to set it up, in verse 35 as we look at this, God is the speaker. Job is the one being addressed. And as you are familiar with the story of Job, Job has undergone great suffering at the initiative of the sovereign activity of God. It is God who said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth.” And unknown to Job, God is the one who threw his name into the circle and said to the devil, “Then bring your affliction onto Job because he will worship Me no matter what comes his way.” And so, this led to, as you are well familiar, the rest of the book of Job. And over a period of time, Job’s three friends, Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, begin to wear him down until Job comes to the point he wants to argue his case with God, that “God You must have the wrong person. You are picking on the wrong person. I haven’t done anything that would deserve or merit this kind of consequence of suffering in my life.” And the basic argument that is swelling in the mind of Job is that the punishment far exceeds the crime. “Whatever crime it is I’ve done, and I don’t know what it is, but the punishment that You’ve inflicted upon me, taking all the lives of all ten of my children, as well as all of my business and my possessions, it far exceeds whatever it is I’ve done that would cause this,” and there began to be bitterness welling up in Job toward God. Well, when we come to Job 38, it begins the longest section in the entire Bible in which God speaks. Think about that. It is the longest place in the entire Bible where God speaks. And God shows up in a whirlwind to Job, and God is very sarcastic with Job. And He begins His questioning in Job 38 beginning in verse 4, “Job, where were you when We created the world together? I just have simply forgotten where you were when We created everything out of nothing.” And here is the driving argument that God will make with Job because Job is essentially accusing God of mismanagement of his own life. And God’s argument with Job is, “I have put every animal perfectly in its place. I have put the oceans, the mountains, the coastlines. I have put everything in the universe in exactly its perfect place. Don’t you think I can manage your tiny little life on this planet? I created this planet out of nothing. I have put everything on this planet in its perfect place. I am controlling everything that takes place on the planet. Your little life is like a grain of sand on all of the beaches of the world. In an argument from the greater to the lesser, I have even hung the planets in place in outer space. I am putting the entire universe, rotating it perfectly. I am the One who is feeding all of the animals day after day after day. Don’t you think I can take care of your life? I know exactly what is going on with your life.” And so, as we come now to Job 41, God continues to speak, and God will use an object lesson with Job. He will use what is called a “Leviathan.” And if you will turn with me now back to Job chapter 41, the verse that the Apostle Paul will quote is Job 41 verse 11, and let me just read it. “Who has given to Me,” God is the speaker. “Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.” And what God is saying, “I have got the whole world in the palm of My hand and I am totally controlling everything that takes place in this world.” Now, that would include Job, that would include you, and that would include me. Now, to get a running start, we really need to start at verse 1 in Job 41, and we are going to do a study here of Job 41:1 through 11, and the reason we are doing this is because verse 11 is what Paul quotes in Romans 11:35. So, we need to really understand Job 41:11 in its context, the building argument that God Himself is making and it will crescendo in verse 11, the verse that Paul quotes. So, I want to begin now in verse 1, and let us just walk through this, and I think you will see why I am taking this time to walk us through this passage. And this all deals with the autonomy of God, that no one controls God and no one puts God in a posture of obligation to them, that God is free to do as God chooses to do with each one of us. This is what one theologian would call “the Godness of God.” So beginning in verse 1, God the speaker begins with a series of questions, and you will note that these questions go all the way to verse 11. Every one of these is a question, and raising a question is a powerful pedagogical tool, a teaching tool, because it forces the listener to think. Because God will not be giving the answers, Job will have to supply the answers in his own mind. So beginning in verse 1, “Can you,” “You” is Job. “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?” “Can you lure out Leviathan with a fishhook?” Now, “Leviathan,” we are not exactly certain exactly what Leviathan is? It could be a sea monster. It could be a crocodile. It could be a whale. It could be a great white shark. It could be a mythological marine dinosaur. The point is not exactly, “What is Leviathan?” The point is “Who is God?” But can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Can you go fishing for this enormous monster? Now Kent, you drove in this morning from a lake in east Texas, and let us just say in that lake is a monster that is larger than the lake itself. Could you hop in a little rowboat and row out into the middle of the lake and cast out a little line with a hook on it and reel in a monster that is bigger than the lake itself? I can assure you that monster would control you. You would not be controlling the monster, and that is where God is headed with this analogy, this parallelism. “Can you draw out a Leviathan with a fishhook?” Could you put in a tiny little fishhook into the mouth of this massive Leviathan and have any influence, any control over the Leviathan? The answer is a resounding, “No.” It is absolutely absurd for you to even have that thought in your head. The second half of verse 1, “Or press down his tongue with a cord?” Could you like pry open his mouth and put a fishhook under his tongue and just strategically put it there so that you could reel him in? Of course, the answer is “no.” To raise the question is to answer the question. It is that obvious. And verse 2, “Can you put a rope in his nose?” Kent, we are in Texas and there are rodeos here. I went to Texas Tech, the largest rodeo on a college campus, at least used to take place at Texas Tech, and I have seen a lot of cowboys with ropes on campus and practicing and all the rest. “Could you, with a rope, toss it around the neck of this massive sea monster and again hope to reel him in, to corral him, to put him under your dominion, to put him under your control?” The answer is “No, you couldn’t Job, could you?” And this is going to be a building argument that will lead up to verse 11. The second half of verse 2, “Or pierce his jaw with a hook?” “Could you throw that hook so forcefully that it would penetrate, pierce the outer jaw of Leviathan and set a hook in his jaw so that you could catch him and control him? You couldn’t, could you Job?” And with each one of these questions, Job is just shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. If this were jeopardy, he can’t answer. He can answer the question, just not in the way he would want to. Now, verse 3, and God will not pull His foot off the gas pedal here. God keeps His foot on the gas pedal and is accelerating with these questions. Verse 3, “Will he,” the Leviathan, “make any supplications to you?” “Could you get the Leviathan to beg you to release your grip on it? Could this Leviathan begin to pray to you and plead with you to release your cord or to release your hook from it, where the Leviathan is at your mercy? Could you do that, Job? Do you have that kind of dominance over the Leviathan?” Of course, the answer is a resounding, “No.” Second half of verse 3, “Or will he speak to you with soft words?” “Will he come to you and go, ‘Pretty please, pretty please, would you just let me do what I want to do?” No, the answer is no. Verse 4: “Will he make a covenant with you?” Will he come to the table and negotiate with you? Will he meet you in the middle? Will there be a give and take in this relationship? Does he have bargaining chips that he can use with you? The answer is no. Second half of verse 4, “Will you take him for a servant forever?” You know what the question is here? “Can you tame him? Can you domesticate Leviathan? Can you take him home with you and housebreak Leviathan? Will he sit at your feet? Will he wag his tail like a pet, make him your servant? Will he fetch things for you? When you say, ‘Go, get the newspaper,’ will he go get the newspaper? He won’t, will he, Job? Job, I have a few more questions to ask you.” In verse 5, “Will you play with him as with a bird?” In other words, “Can you make him your pet so that he will play with you in the backyard? Can you do that Job?” And, would you please note how sarcastic God is with Job. There is a proper use of sarcasm. The end of verse 5, “Or will you bind him for your maidens?” This is even more sarcastic. “Now, Job, you’ve got some servants. Can you make the Leviathan the servant of your servants? Can you so humble Leviathan that this monster will not only come under you, but will come under your servants who are under you? Can you bring him down that low? Can you humble Leviathan to do your bidding and do what you want him to do?” Of course not! It is insane. No! Look at verse 6, “Will the traders bargain over him?” In other words, “Do you have Leviathan in the palm of your hand and can you take him to market and can you sell him off? Can you name the price for Leviathan? Can you bargain with traders over selling him off and you have the final say over Leviathan’s destiny and over Leviathan’s future?” “Will you,” the end of verse 6, “Will you divide him among the merchants?” “Can you cut a deal with the merchants where you name the price for Leviathan and you can sell him off? He is totally under your control, he will remain under your control as long as you want him to and you can sell him off whenever you want him to, and he has no say in this, can you do that, Job? No, you can’t, can you?” You see, Job has gotten too big for his britches. Job has God small and Job big. And God is reducing Job to where he belongs, that God is big and Job is little. In verse 7, “Can you fill his skin with harpoons?” “Can you just like send many arrows into his skin, harpoons, and catch him? No, you can’t, can you, Job?” “Or his head with fishing hooks?” He is going back over some of the same questions because Job hasn’t been humbled enough yet. Job has not yet been reduced to his proper place to realize that Job is not in control really of anything in his life. So, he comes to verse 8, “Lay your hand on him; remember the battle; you will not do it again!” What he is saying is, “Job, you would actually remember if you’ve ever controlled Leviathan. You’re not going to have a brain freeze on that. You would remember the moment, the day, when you gained the upper hand with Leviathan, but that moment has never ever occurred.” Now verse 9, “Behold.” “Job, pay attention to this. Job, I need you to concentrate here.” “Behold, your expectation is false.” “Job, you are daydreaming. Job, you are living in an alternate universe. Job, it will never happen. Read My lips. It will never happen, Job. You will never control Leviathan. There is zero possibility of it.” The second half of verse 9, “Will you be laid low even at the sight of him?” “Will you be scared to death if he were to show up?” And, the answer is yes, you would be frightened out of your mind if Leviathan hopped out of the ocean and stood in front of you as you would be overwhelmed with the enormity of his power and his control over you. So, this is all building now to verse 10, “No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him.” “Job, you just need to leave Leviathan alone. You just need to let him sleep. The foolishness of awakening Leviathan and you have to deal with Leviathan would be a nightmare for you. No one is a match for Leviathan. No one wants to take on Leviathan.” Now, here’s the transition leading to the second half of verse 10. God now shifts from Leviathan to God Himself. And the argument that God will be making, “Job, if you cannot even control the creature, what makes you think you can control the Creator of this creature, because the Creator is infinitely larger than the creature. And if you can’t even control the creature, you need to back off with Me.” So here it is, second half in verse 10, “Who then is he who can stand before Me?” The answer is no one. Not even you, Job, who is the most righteous man on the face of the earth, blameless in all of your ways, upright and fearing God. If anyone on planet earth could stand up against God, it would have been Job, and Job has zero chance to control what God is doing in the universe and what God is doing in Job’s individual life because God is autonomous. God is self-governing, and Job has zero influence on what God will do. The point is God will do what God will do. God will do as He pleases, when He pleases, where He pleases, with whom He pleases. And so, the end of verse 10 is actually an argument from the lesser to the greater. In other words, “Job, if you cannot control the lesser, you certainly cannot control the greater. Job, if you can’t play in the little league, what makes you think you can play in the big leagues?” So, this now leads us to verse 11, which is the very verse that Paul quotes in Romans 11 and verse 35. And the reason I have taken virtually this entire lesson to work to this point is for us to see why Paul quotes this text in his doxology in Romans 11. So, please note verse 11 now of Job 41. God is the speaker. “Who has given to Me that I should repay him?” The answer is no one. You cannot buy God’s favor. You can’t induce God really to do anything. Even when you pray, God is autonomous and God will answer according to how God in His perfect wisdom and sovereign will will answer. You can appeal to Him, but God will do what God will do. You are not praying to yourself; you are praying to God. You don’t have the upper hand with God. God has the upper hand. God is dealing the deck. God cannot be obligated. God cannot be put on the defensive. God is a law unto Himself. He is self-ruling. He is self-governing. He is self-determining. So, at the end of verse 11, God is still speaking. It is the first time there is not a question mark at the end of the sentence by the way. So, this is an indicative statement, and it is a summation of everything that has preceded. Double jeopardy is over. No more questions. There is now the final answer. Here is the bottom line. “Whatever is under the whole heaven,” stop right there. That basically includes everything, okay, whatever is under the whole heaven. That includes it all; Job, his three friends, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, everything in history. “Whatever is under the whole earth,” last two words, “is Mine,” capital M. It is in the palm of God’s hand. It is God’s to control. It is God’s to use as it pleases God, as God sees fit to use it. So, as it related to Job, God is totally sovereign over Job’s life, over Job’s suffering, over Satan, over the extent to which Satan can come against Job. God even defined the outer boundaries. God said to the devil, “You can do this, you can do this, you can do this, but you can go no further,” God totally in control of even the trials and tribulations and troubles of Job. And the same is true as Paul quotes this in Romans 11 verse 35 as it relates to salvation, as it relates to the doctrine of sovereign election that God is free to choose to save whoever God chooses to save. God does not owe sovereign election to anyone. If God let the entire human race go its own way into eternal destruction, God would remain perfectly, holy God. If God chooses to save just one person, God the potter and the human race, the clay, if God chose to save just one person, it would be amazing grace, undeserved merit, and it would be at the discretion of God. But God has chosen to save a vast number out of the human race, and it is an amazing testimony to the mercy and the grace of God. But verse 35 is a verse that we can’t just quickly pass over and move on to verse 36, which we will look at next time. Before we see God’s sovereignty over everyone, we need to see God’s sovereignty over Himself, that God is in total control of His own actions and He is a law unto Himself. So, as we bring this to conclusion, let me just give you three words by way of application. The first is “honor.” What honor and worship and praise we should give to this God who is so transcendent and so majestic and so beyond any one of us, beyond what we can even comprehend? We know but the outer fringes of who He is. Let us bow down before this God and give Him the honor that belongs to Him alone, which leads second to “humility.” As we would rise up to bless Him, we do so best when we bow down before Him. Let us lower ourselves before this God who is self-ruling and self-governing and recognize our proper place. It is a place that Job had to be brought to. And I pray that God would not have to humble me or humble you as He did with Job, that we would of our own recognition realize who He is and who we are and humble ourselves. He holds our entire life in His hands. And the last word is “hunger.” Let us hunger to know more of this God. Let us delve into His Word more and more. Even as we are doing in this study, verse by verse through the book of Romans, we are plunging into the oceans of the truth and the knowledge of who God is. Let there be an appetite in our soul to know more and more of this

To God Be All Glory – Romans 11:33-36

OnePassion Ministries March 19, 2020

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Father, I pray that as we look into Your Word that You would strengthen our hearts, renew really a steadfast spirit within us, and give me the ability to teach this passage. And I pray for all who are watching and listening that You will use these verses as a means of edification in their soul. So we pray now the Holy Spirit will minister in me and through me and to all who are listening to this study. In Christ’s name, amen. Well, if you have your Bible turn with me to Romans chapter 11, and we’re going to be in verses 33 to 36. Now, I have to say at the outset I know we’re not going to be able to get to all these verses simply because of the profundity of these verses. So I want to begin by reading this passage, which I must tell you has become really my favorite part of Scripture, especially verse 36, which we will save probably for next time. But let me begin by reading the passage. I have entitled this “The Inscrutability of God,” the inscrutability of God. The Apostle Paul writes, “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” In these verses, we come to the closing doxology of Romans chapters 1 through 11. And the Apostle Paul has just given us the most comprehensive instruction on the gospel of Jesus Christ to be found anywhere in the Bible. I mean, the Apostle Paul has taken us from the depths of total depravity and begun the climb up the gospel of grace through justification by faith alone, and through sanctification, and glorification, and election, and predestination. And till now, as we come to the end of Romans 11:33 to 36, we have climbed the Mount Everest of truth. We have climbed the Mount Everest and scaled the heights of the gospel of God as the Apostle Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, has unleashed his theological genius and has recorded for us the most systematic presentation of the gospel. So we now stand at the very pinnacle as we come to this doxology, and here we have the highest and the loftiest vantage point of the entire, really, book of Romans and the entire gospel of God’s grace. And so from this highest apex, we have the greatest perspective. Now, verses 33 to 36 is what we call a doxology. A doxology is a short, condensed anthem of praise. It is theologically rich, it is emotionally charged, and it is filled with wonder and amazement that just comes pouring out of the heart of the Apostle Paul as he is astonished at this truth that he has just presented to us, and he wants you and me to be astonished as well. And so Paul really just opens up his heart and lets this praise for God come gushing out, really, like a mighty current of wonder and worship for God. And it is intended to cause our hearts to be ignited with worship for God. And I trust that as you’ve been a part of these studies with us that there has been this building momentum of excitement within your own soul for God and for what God has done in His gospel. So as we look at this doxology which, I feel like I’m just putting my pinky into or a toe into the ocean of God’s amazing grace. Let me just give you the outline for verses 33 to 36, and we probably will only be able to look at the first heading today. But in verses 33 and 34, I see “The Inscrutability of God.” In verse 35, “The Autonomy of God.” In verse 36a, “The Sovereignty of God,” and then finally in 36b, “The Glory to God.” I think that is a helpful outline for us and as we look at this, I feel somewhat overwhelmed with what we have to deal with here, Kent. So, I want you to note first, “The Inscrutability of God” in verses 33 and 34. And as we look first at verse 33, it’s really two exclamatory statements. It’s two sentences that end with an exclamation point, I think you can see that in your Bible. And as Paul writes this, his own heart is just leaping out of his chest. Paul is not stoic here, he is not mundane here. Paul is filled with enthusiasm for God. And by the way, the word “enthusiasm” is two Greek words en theos, “in God,” in all true excitement, at the highest level is “in God” and that’s exactly where Paul is here. He can scarcely contain himself as he bursts forth with praise for God. So look at verse 33. He begins, “Oh,” and that just is a word of deep emotion. “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” An exclamation point has been supplied by the translator into the English language. As Paul’s soul wells up with deep emotion, there is a depth to the grace of the gospel that Paul has just recorded in Romans 1 through 11 that he is just overwhelmed. It is a depth, he can’t even see the bottom of it. It is a bottomless depth without end, without bottom, to the grace of God in the gospel. And when he says “riches,” “Oh, the depth of the riches,” the vast, immeasurable wealth contained in the riches of God, it staggers Paul’s mind. We would say it blows his mind, he is awestruck. And I trust that you and I are awestruck with the grace of God. And if we’re not, we just don’t get it. We have missed the message if we’re not overwhelmed in our mind and in our heart and soul. “Oh, the depths of the riches,” the vast riches, “both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” When Paul says “the wisdom of God” here, he’s talking about the infinite genius of God that is contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The brilliance of God to design the gospel in order to rescue unworthy, perishing sinners from eternal punishment. This wisdom of God is contained in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And just think of this vast wisdom of God just in the virgin birth, in the hypostatic union of Christ, that He was truly God and truly man. Who but God could have thought of this? In the active obedience of Christ to keep the law of God on our behalf, we who were lawbreakers, who but God in His wisdom could have designed this? Think of the cross, think of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. There you see the wisdom of God. None of us would have ever dreamed up the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of our sins would be transferred to the innocent Lamb of God. We would have never thought of this, but God did in His wisdom that He reconciled holy God to sinful man through the blood of the cross, there’s the wisdom of God. And that He would be taken down from the cross, buried, raised on the third day, ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Only the wisdom of God could have designed this. It would have never entered our minds, not in a million years. I want to take us to 1 Corinthians 2 just for a moment, because this will shed even greater light and insight. Because the epitome of this wisdom is found in Christ and in Him crucified. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning in verse 7, he says, “We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery,” and this wisdom he laid out at the end of chapter 1, which is very simply “Christ and Him crucified.” In fact, he said in chapter 2 verse 2, “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” There is the wisdom of God. If you would turn back to chapter 1 and verse 18, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” What is the wisdom of God in Christ and Him crucified is utter foolishness to the carnal mind. And to the unconverted, darkened mind, when they hear the message of the cross it is foolishness. But for us who have now the mind of Christ, it is the jaw-dropping brilliance of God that we can be reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. If you will, look at verse 21 of 1 Corinthians 1, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached,” and Paul uses foolishness there in a sarcastic way. It’s foolishness to the world but in reality, it’s the sheer genius and wisdom of God in the cross to save those who believe. He says in verse 23, “We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness.” Verse 24, “But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This is the wisdom of God in the power of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, come back now to chapter 2, 1 Corinthians 2, and verse 7, “We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory,” really meaning “to our good.” Verse 8, “The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood. For if it had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Let’s just pause there for a moment. Even in the wisdom of God, He kept the rulers of the Roman Empire and the nation Israel in darkness so that Christ would be crucified, even that was the wisdom of God. Now, verse 9 is what I really want us to see. “But just as it is written,” and verse 9 is quoting Isaiah 66 verse 4, and Isaiah 65 verse 17, it’s a verse you’re very familiar with but you’ve probably not seen it in context. “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which has not entered the heart of man. All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” We normally hear this read at a funeral, and normally hear it referred to as what is awaiting us in heaven. That’s not in the context, that’s not in the passage. What this is talking about is the wisdom of God in the gospel of Christ crucified. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and it has never entered into the heart of man this wisdom of God to save sinners by the blood of the cross. So what verse 9 is telling us is the inscrutable wisdom of God has designed the cross, and it would have never dawned on us that this would be the plan of salvation. So as Paul is in Romans 11:33 and he says, “Oh, the depth of the wisdom,” this is what he’s talking about, the wisdom of Christ and Him crucified, the wisdom that God can be both just and the justifier, that God can save sinners yet in no way forfeit His righteousness by failing to punish sin. He has punished our sin in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let’s come back now to Romans 11, but we had to go to 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2 to really grasp the magnitude of this, the riches of the depth of the wisdom of God. Paul also adds “and knowledge,” and this is really overlapping with wisdom. And when he says “knowledge” here, the idea is that as God in His wisdom designed the plan of salvation in the gospel, God was all-knowing, and He took into account every conceivable possibility and every detail and every person who would ever be conceived in the womb and every circumstance of human history, and nothing escaped His knowledge as God took into account every conceivable possibility that lay before Him as He laid out the various options for all of human history and for saving human history, nothing was outside of His knowledge. And in His wisdom, He designed the perfect, not only plan of salvation in the gospel, but the perfect plan for human history. And all of the circumstances and all of the events in all of the centuries by which He would bring salvation to those whom He will save, God chose the one best plan at the right time, at the right place, with the right Savior, and only God could have designed this. So no wonder Paul says, “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” And as He looks into this mystery that has been now made known to us, he is overwhelmed. And I trust that as you consider the height and the depth and the breath and the length of the love of God towards us in Christ Jesus that has been manifested in the gospel in all of these extraordinary doctrines – propitiation, justification, reconciliation, expiation, and regeneration, adoption, all of that – that there would be…we would be overwhelmed in adoration for our great God. Paul now follows up with the second half of verse 33, and there’s another sentence that ends in an exclamation point. And the exclamation point is added by the translator into our English language that reflects the intensity of feeling that is welling up in the heart of the Apostle Paul and I trust is contagious and spreads to us this morning. He goes, “How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” The second half of verse 33 actually is a restatement of the first half of verse 33, as he’s just drilling down deeper, it’s like Paul just can’t let it go. He has to underscore the emotions that are welling up in him as he is writing this verse. The second half begins with “how,” and that really parallels the “Oh!” “How” indicates the strong emotion that grips his soul. And let me just say this, true Christianity has this dimension of emotion. I think too many times we are so scared of emotions in our Christian life because we’ve seen the abuse of hyper-emotionalism that we have swung the pendulum so far in this other direction that we’ve ended up becoming a bunch of library nerds, that we’ve just become stoic followers of Christ, and we think our emotions should be neutered. No, that is absolutely wrong. Here we see Paul fired up by the gospel of God’s grace, and I need to be fired up, you need to be fired up. If not, something is wrong with our soul. If this doesn’t light you up, then you need to reexamine really where you are in your walk with the Lord, because as Paul writes this, he literally can hardly contain himself. “How unsearchable are His judgments,” let’s just look at these words. “Unsearchable” means that they are utterly incapable of being investigated to the full. We can only scratch the surface of this. And please look at the word “unfathomable,” “how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” This word “fathomable” means that cannot be traced out by man, and it comes from a Greek word that I think is worth bringing to our attention that is a Greek word for “footprint,” like you see someone walking on the beach and leaving footprints. And putting the prefix “un” in front of it means we can’t follow these footprints. They go over the horizon and out of view, and they’re beyond our comprehension. That’s the idea here. It’s like a hunter. Kent, you’re a hunter. It’s like a hunter losing the track of a hunted animal. You just can’t keep up with the animal in its cunning, in its instincts to escape. And as Paul is looking at the footprints here in Romans 1 through 11, tracing God’s grace again from the valley of depravity to the heights of sovereign election, Paul can’t keep up with the mind of God, the genius of God that’s being unfurled before him, and he can only see just a little ways in front of him. I think of Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to God, but the things revealed belong to us,” and what’s been revealed to us is less than even the tip of the iceberg. The vastness of what is below the surface that we cannot even see of how God has all of this wired beneath the surface, it’s just unsearchable, it is unfathomable. And those two words really parallel “the depth of the riches” in the first part of verse 33. So Paul is just stacking up, one on top of the next, superlatives to attempt to express the infinite riches that are found in the gospel of grace. So, let’s look at these two words, “judgments” and “ways.” We’re still in verse 33, “How unsearchable are His judgments.” The word “judgments” here really has a broader meaning, it’s not referring simply to the final judgment. It’s really referring to all of God’s sovereign, executive decisions. It’s really referring to the eternal purpose of God that takes into account everything that God chooses to do. It’s really synonymous with what we saw in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” That word “purpose,” prothesis, just means “the eternal decree of God,” the eternal purpose and plan of God that is all inclusive of everything that comes to pass from eternity past to eternity future. As Paul has just walked us through sovereign election and predestination and effectual calling and justification, all the way into glorification, it’s as if Paul, obviously he can’t wrap his mind around the totality of all of this, and he’s just reduced to a statement like this, “How unsearchable…unsearchable are His judgments.” And then he says, “unfathomable His ways.” “Ways” here referring to the path that God has chosen to take. And remember “unfathomable,” meaning those footsteps that just are lost on the horizon, Paul says the way that God has chosen to save a people out of the fallen human race who were in Adam but who are now saved in Christ, Paul says that road that God has chosen to travel throughout the centuries, it just cannot be traced out, you cannot get to the bottom of it. And so, I trust that as we have just gone through verse 33 that there would be a sense in which your mind would feel like a little thimble, and the infinite genius and wisdom and knowledge of God would be oceans of brilliance, and there’s no way it can fit into this little thimble. I mean, I’ve got the coffee cup here and to try to put the Pacific Ocean, to try to put ten thousand myriads of myriads of oceans of God’s knowledge and genius into this tiny little cup, it would just be laughable to think that you could. And what little God has revealed to us is overwhelming. But there’s, on the other side of the veil known only to God, yet more of how He in His brilliance is working this all out. So, let us be in awe of God. Let us be awestruck by God. Let us feel small, let God be big. Now this leads us to verse 34, and Paul follows up but by quoting Isaiah 40 verse 13. It says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord,” let me just tell you that’s a rhetorical question. The answer for which is “no one.” No one has known the mind of the Lord, not all of the mind of the Lord. We know a little bit of what He has revealed in Scripture, but really the comprehensive mind of God, no one has known the mind of God. And then he follows up with a second question, “or who became His counselor?” Who is giving God input to help Him in the decisions that He’s making in running the universe? And the answer again is “no one.” God doesn’t go to counseling. God doesn’t have a therapist. God doesn’t need any input. He doesn’t need any input from us even in our prayers. We’re not telling Him anything He doesn’t already know or hasn’t already worked out the solution to what it is. We’re not informing God on anything. He’s not getting updates. He’s not watching the press conferences down here to see what’s the next step. No. “Who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been His counselor?” Now to really understand this, we’re having to go back to Isaiah 40. So Kent, let’s go back to Isaiah 40, back to this passage because this is where it is quoted from, and we’re barely going to have time to squeeze this in, but we’ve got to see this in Isaiah 40. Paul is quoting from verse 13, just so that you can see verse 13, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him?” Isaiah 40 verse 13. Let me just give us the larger context here, Isaiah 40 is a monumental chapter that marks a dramatic change in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 1 through 39, chapters 1 through 39, have been filled with judgment upon Israel, Damascus, Samaria, Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tyre, Judah and all the nations. And all of a sudden, as we come to Isaiah 40 verse 1, the tone and the trajectory of Isaiah suddenly shifts. In fact, liberal theologians actually think that there was a second Isaiah, a Deutero-Isaiah, who wrote Isaiah 40 to the following, because it couldn’t have come from the same man, it’s so dramatically different. Well, we know that it is the same Isaiah because he comes now to the message of the gospel of grace. And so I want us to work our way up to verse 13. In verse 1 he says, “‘Comfort, O comfort My people,’ says your God, ‘Speak kindly to Jerusalem.'” It’s a double comfort that He offers, and it comes in what he says in verse 2, “Her iniquity has been removed, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all of her sins.” That means double forgiveness for all of her sins. Where sin does abound, grace does much more abound. And Isaiah now begins to record the message of God’s grace in the gospel. And so he says in verse 3, “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness.'” We know this would be ultimately fulfilled in John the Baptist who would preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and he’s preparing a way for the coming of Christ who would say, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” And so we come to verse 6, this gospel is not drawn from the wisdom of the world, or look at verse 7, “The grass withers.” Well, let me do verse 6, “‘Call out.’ Then he answered, ‘What shall I call out?’ All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.” This is a reference to both human life and human wisdom. It’s here today gone tomorrow. It springs up in the morning and by the time the noonday sun comes, whatever little tiny shoot of green springs up, it just wilts under the hot arid sun in the Middle East. And it speaks of the shortness of life, and the suddenness of death and the length of eternity. But it also speaks the same of man’s little puny wisdom that he would have to solve his own problems. And verse 7, “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it.” Surely the people are grass, they’re just nothing, and their own solutions to life’s problems are nothing. Who I am, where I came from, where I’m going, what is life about, what is death, what lies on the other side of death? Man doesn’t have a clue to any of the real issues of life. Only God can answer and address those issues. So he says in verse 8, “The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” And contained in the Word of God is the gospel of God that Paul laid out in Romans 1through 11. So what are we supposed to do with this “word of our God that stands forever?” He says in verse 9, “Well, get yourself on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news,” that means “gospel.” “Lift up your voice mightily, bearer of good news. Lift it up and say, ‘Here is your God!'” The inscrutability of God, the autonomy of God, the sovereignty of God, everything, the grace of God that’s packed into Romans 1 through 11, he is saying, “Shout it from the housetops, take it to the streets, tell everyone of this gospel of grace that there is double forgiveness for all of our sins.” So, he says in verse 10, “Behold, the Lord God will come with might,” He will come with might to save and to redeem and to reconcile. And all of that was accomplished in the Person and work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. All of this is pointing ahead to the coming of Christ. Now, look in verse 11, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,” this is speaking of the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, “In His arms He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom. He will gently lead the nursing ewes, the little baby lambs.” It speaks of the Good Shepherd who would come by the eternal will of God and be born of a virgin, live a sinless life, die upon a cross, be buried, be raised from the dead, ascend to the right hand of the Father, and whoever calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ, He is mighty to save His sheep, He laid down His life for His sheep. So we come to verse 12, “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,” the answer to that is “no one.” “And marked off the heavens by the span?” The answer to that is no man can even begin to measure the outer reaches of outer space. “And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?” The answer to that is no one has done it because only the inscrutable, incalculable wisdom and knowledge of God could have designed the entire universe and is now micromanaging the entire universe. There’s not a sparrow that falls apart from the Lord. Every hair of our head is numbered by the Lord. He’s causing all things to work together for good. He knows where every germ is right now on this entire planet, on this coronavirus. He has everything masterminded according to His eternal purpose and plan. And all of this is building up to verse 13, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,” and here the argument goes beyond physical creation and physical providence to the affairs of the spiritual kingdom of God to save lost sinners out of this fallen world. “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,” we could add, “in the gospel of grace.” The answer is “no one.” “Or as His counselor has informed Him.” It’s laughable to think that any of us have had any input into what God’s doing in the world right now. Verse 14, “With whom did He consult, and who gave Him understanding?” Again, the answer is “no one.” “And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge?” The answer is “no one.” “And informed Him on the way of understanding?” Again, the answer is “no one.” And specifically here, it is dealing with the gospel of grace. God has consulted no one on how to save you, God is taught by no one in how even to order the affairs of your life by which the gospel was brought to you where you were. Kent, you were in Greenville, Texas, you were in a PCA church. There was a revival meeting and a guest speaker came and preached the gospel, and your father and your mother brought you to church, and that’s when God opened your heart and you were gloriously converted. And God not only designed that gospel that saved you, but God designed all of the steps of providence that surrounded the events whereby you heard the gospel of grace. God could’ve had you born on the other side of the earth with unbelieving parents, and you would have never heard the gospel. So, all of this has been designed by God, and that is what this is teaching us in Isaiah 40. So, come back to Romans 11 and we’ll wrap this up. And Kent, we’ll talk about some application and if anyone has emailed us. So just let your eyes look at verses 33 and 34 again. I didn’t want to rush through this and just throw in verse 35 and verse 36. We’re going to be here next Thursday morning, and I want to savor verses 35 and 36. But look at these first two verses again, the inscrutability of God, the unfathomable, unsearchable ways of God in salvation. “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” Let me just end with some points of application here and then we’ll talk, Kent. Here’s the first thing, “look back.” Look back over the first 11 chapters. Don’t forget Romans 1 through 11. Don’t forget each of these sections, each of these verses within each section as Paul has laid out the gospel of grace. Let us continue. Martin Luther said, “Romans ought to be read every day.” We ought to know every word of Romans 1 through 11. Let’s look back and have sealed in our minds these great truths. Then second, “look up.” Look up and give praise and worship to God. Let this not just be an intellectual cognitive exercise in theology, but let this theology ignite doxology. Let this truth be like gas poured on the fire of our heart that causes us to be fervent and passionate in our love for God. And then third, “look ahead” at how you’re going to live this out. And we will be coming to Romans 12 and 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 in these future weeks, and we’re going to be here for a while, and we’re just going to march through this. And this is how we are to live out the gospel, on a daily, moment by moment basis. So let us be looking ahead as to how I’m going to live the gospel today. And then “look within, look inward.” Do I know Christ? Have I committed my life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Have I truly repented of my sin and turned my back to the evil world system and turned my gaze to Christ? Have I truly thrown myself upon His mercy and said, “Lord, save me. I am the chief of sinners.” And if you’ve never committed your life to Christ, now is the accepted time. Behold today is the day of salvation. Where will you spend eternity? Where will you be five seconds after you die? You need to think that through very carefully. And there is only one way for you to go into the presence of God and to find His smile and His acceptance and His warm reception, and that is by believing in His Son, Jesus Christ. So, may you look inward and if the Lord Jesus Christ is not living inside of you, may you turn to Him and receive Him by faith. And He says, “Him who comes unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” He’s the friend of sinners. He’s come to seek and save that which is lost. Just tell Him you’re lost and you’re sinful and you need to be forgiven, and commit your life to Him. And if you come on His terms, He will save you.

Unexpected Mercy – Romans 11:28-32

OnePassion Ministries March 12, 2020

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Father, I pray that as we look into Your Word that these verses, one, that we will understand them what they have to say, and second, You will show them how they relate to our lives here today. We pray for grace that You will enable us to be sanctified by these words. So, conform us into the image of Christ we pray, in His name. Amen. Okay, this morning, we are in Romans 11:28 to 32, Lord willing, and the title of this study is “Unexpected Mercy,” unexpected mercy. And so I want to begin just by reading the passage beginning in verse 28, “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.” These verses bring us virtually to the end of this major section in Romans 9 through 11, which is all about the salvation of Israel. The salvation of Gentiles is also addressed in this section. So, it is not exclusively for the salvation of Israel, but it is the major question that is on the table. If God is sovereign in salvation, if God has sovereignly elected from before the foundation of the world, then why are His own chosen people not saved? It is a legitimate question and Paul addresses it. It may not be a question that is uppermost on our mind, but it is the more you study the Bible it should be on our mind. Any, just even casual reading of the Bible you would have to ask the question, “So what about Israel?” As you begin in Genesis and read all the way through the Old Testament, it is all about Israel, with just a couple of exceptions of Jonah going to Nineveh and Nahum addressed to Nineveh. But the whole rest of it is addressed to Israel, and the four Gospels basically are addressed specifically to Israel. So, as you are reading the storyline, the metanarrative of the Bible, you would have to ask the question, “So, is there a future for Israel? What happened to Israel?” And so, Paul addresses that in these chapters. And as we come towards the end of Romans 11, we are addressing it if for no other reason it is in the Bible and the Bible matters to us. So, God has put into the Bible everything we need to know, and there are some things He did not include in the Bible we just don’t need then to know. If God wanted us to know, He would have put it in the Bible. And there are other things we may think we don’t need to know, but God is smarter than all of us put together and He has put it in the Bible because we need to know it. So, we need to know about Israel, and so that is why we have this. Now, what about Israel? It is heightened even more because earlier in the chapter, in verse 7, it says that He has hardened at this present time the hearts of most Jews. There could be no harder evangelistic effort than to try to reach Jews for Christ because God has hardened their hearts. Their hearts were already hardened, and so it is a double hardening. And when God hardens a heart, it is hardened. Further, it says in verse 8 that God gave them a spirit of stupor, meaning God just put them to sleep. So, you can preach all day long to someone who is asleep but they are not going to hear nor respond to the gospel. And God has, it says in verse 8, blinded their eyes so they cannot see and God has deafened their ears so they cannot hear. So, that is the present state of the nation of Israel. They are an apostate people. So, Paul now addresses the future of Israel, which we looked at last time in these verses. And the overarching truth of these verses is God is totally, completely, absolutely sovereign in anyone’s salvation, and He is sovereign in Israel’s salvation and He is sovereign in our salvation. It is the same operating principle. So, let us work through these verses, and in verse 28, I want you to see the distinction. Paul now contrasts two ways for us to see the nation of Israel. In the first half of verse 28, it is looking at it from the perspective of the gospel, and the second half of verse 28, it is looking at it from the perspective of God’s eternal choice. So, first from a gospel perspective, he says from the standpoint of the gospel, we want to see everyone from the standpoint of the gospel. And from the standpoint of the gospel, everyone in the entire world is either saved or lost. There is not a third category. Everyone is either perishing or has been saved, and so that is the template through which we see everyone, everyone in your family, everyone in your neighborhood, everyone in your office, everyone with whom you come in contact. They are either your mission field or they are a brother or sister in Christ. There is no other way to see a person according to the flesh. So, he says, “From the standpoint of the gospel they,” and that refers to unbelieving Jews, “are,” present tense verb, meaning right now during this church age from the first to the second coming of Christ, “they are enemies.” That is a strong statement. They are enemies of the gospel. They are hostile towards the gospel. And, I want you to note that no one is in a neutral zone concerning the gospel. No one is just sitting on the fence, not even an unconverted church member. It doesn’t matter how many times you have been baptized. You are either an enemy of the gospel or you are a friend of the gospel, and there is no other category. And the word “enemies” here, I looked it up. It is a very interesting word and it means, actually it comes from a root word that means “to hate,” and it means “those who hate.” And they hate the gospel. They reject the gospel. Some do it with just a passive indifference, others with active rebellion, but nevertheless they are on that side of the rope, pulling on that side of the rope. They are enemies of the gospel. And I don’t want to just drill down on this, but there it is in our Bible. Romans 5 verse 11, this truth has already been introduced. It says even we were enemies of the gospel and have now been reconciled to God through the death of Christ. So, it is not just an unbelieving Jew; it is an unbelieving Gentile. If you are not in Christ, you are in opposition to the gospel and you are a hater of the gospel, whether or not the person recognizes it or not. Let me give you just two cross-references to nail this down. Colossians 1:21 says, “You,” addressing believers in the church, “You were formally alienated,” meaning separated and living in a foreign kingdom. “You were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” Again, no one is just in a state of neutrality towards God. James 4 verse 4 is a strong verse. It says, “Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So, it is either/or. It is never both/and. You cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God. If you are a friend of the world, you have declared yourself an enemy of God. And when he says “the world,” he is referring to the evil world system that is overseen by the prince of this world, the god of this age, Satan, with the anti-truth agenda, the anti-family agenda, the anti-God agenda, and we can just open our eyes and see it all around as the restraints are being removed and the world is becoming increasingly hostile towards God. So, I guess one other comment just to make: Jesus only died for one kind of person, and that is an enemy of the gospel. So, Jesus did not die for good people, because there are no good people outside of Christ. He came into this world and laid down His life for His enemies, which was the extraordinary demonstration of His love. So, that is looking at Israel from the gospel’s perspective. They are enemies. They have declared themselves enemies of the grace of God by their unbelief, just like anyone else in your family has who is not a believer. Now, the second half of verse 28, he turns the prism and looks at it from another perspective, and he looks at it from God’s sovereignty perspective, God’s sovereign will perspective. He says, “but,” which means sharp contrast, “from the standpoint of God’s choice.” In other words, alright, we can look at it from another perspective, not just from a temporal, but from an eternal perspective. “But from the standpoint of God’s choice,” and “God’s choice” here referring not to just God’s choice of ethnic Israel to be His chosen nation, but from the standpoint of God’s sovereign election in salvation. From that standpoint, “they are beloved,” they are deeply loved, and we knew that earlier in the same chapter verse 2. He says that “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” And the word “foreknowledge” there means those whom He previously loved or those whom He previously chose to love. And God in His sovereign election has chosen to love a remnant within ethnic Israel to be a part of the bride of Christ. And he says He has done so “for the sake of the fathers.” “The fathers” here refer to the patriarchs. It refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and promises that were made to them long ago that they will be blessed by God and their seed will be blessed by God so that through them blessing will come to all the nations. It is the Abrahamic covenant. And so, God will make good on His promises given in the book of Genesis to the nation Israel. God promised to bless Israel so that they would be a blessing to the nations. And so, as Paul is wrapping up Romans 9 through 11, he is saying, just remember, there are two ways of looking at ethnic Israel right now. One is from the perspective of the gospel. Okay, they are enemies of the gospel. We see that. But the other is from an eternal perspective, from God’s sovereign will, that at the end of this age there will be a great evangelistic harvest of Jews who will come to faith in Christ. And we talked about that in our last study. I don’t need to go back through that. I would refer you to listen to the study from last time that is posted on the website. “But all Israel will be saved,” it says in verse 26. “A Deliverer,” that is Christ in verse 26, “will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob,” “Jacob” referring to the whole nation of Israel. Verse 27, “This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” That is still out on the horizon, and if Christ were to return soon, this conversion of Israel, we are standing on the very precipice of that national conversion of the vast majority of Jews. So, verse 28 now. That is “the distinction.” We have to make this distinction between the two ways to look at ethnic national Israel. Right now, they are apostate. Right now, they are in unbelief. Right now, they are in cosmic treason against the gospel, just like New York City and Los Angeles and Chicago and Dallas, unbelievers. It is not like they are unique. However, from the perspective of God’s sovereign will, God still has a future to save Israel, and by His sovereign omnipotence He will bring it to pass. So, that leads us now to verse 29 which is “the explanation.” And verse 29 begins with the word “for,” which I have told you an untold number of times that introduces an explanation. It is probably Paul’s most used word to begin a verse with the word “For,” F-O-R. It introduces an explanation of what he just said. Paul not only says it, but he will explain it. So, here is the explanation why Israel remains beloved of God with a future salvation. Verse 29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Let us start with the word “irrevocable,” It means unalterable. It means unbreakable. Literally, out of the original language, it means not repented of, meaning unchangeable, immutable. God’s sovereign will from before the foundation of the world to save His elect cannot be broken. It cannot be altered. So, God’s sovereign will to save Jews will come to pass. Now, let us start at the beginning of the verse. He says, “For the gifts.” The gifts here, I think, refer back to Romans 9 verses 4 and 5, where he talks about the blessings that have been poured out on the nation of Israel. He talks about the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, the promises, the fathers, and then most of all in the middle of verse 5, the Christ, the Messiah. All of this has been given to Israel, not to the Egyptians, not to the Assyrians, not to the Babylonians, not to the Romans. It is given to the nation Israel. God has chosen to bless Israel with an exposure to truth. No nation in the history of the world has ever been given a greater exposure to the truth of the Word of God for such an extended period of time as the nation Israel. That is the reference here, I believe, with the word “gifts.” But then, following up with the gifts is the calling. The calling is the application of the truth represented in the gifts. It is one thing to have exposure to the truth. That is not going to save you. You can go to hell from a church pew in a Bible-preaching church. There must be the effectual calling of God that takes the truth from the mind and the ear to the heart and brings it home to the heart so that there is regeneration and so that there is conversion. And so, it is very important that Paul mentions “the calling of God,” which is irrevocable. And the word “irrevocable” here principally describes the calling of God. You will note the definite article “the,” which specifies it as the call of God to save, the call of God into fellowship with Christ. It is a divine summons that apprehends and arrests the one that is called and draws them, even drags them, overcoming their resistance of unbelief into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. In the process, God changes their heart and gives them a new heart of flesh such that they willingly believe in Christ, but God changes their heart as they are being drawn to faith in Jesus Christ. So, why will Israel, as verse 26 says, why will all Israel be saved? And in verse 28, why is Israel beloved of God from the standpoint of God’s sovereign choice? It is because God will have His way, that there can be no opposition to the sovereign will of God. God will have His way with His elect within the chosen nation of Israel. I would remind you in chapter 9 he said not all Israel is Israel. There is ethnic Israel which is the larger circle. Inside of ethnic Israel is a smaller concentric circle of those who are chosen for salvation. So, those who are chosen for salvation will be called because it is irrevocable. It will not be changed in the sovereign will of God. Now, this leads us to verses 30 and 31, “the comparison.” And Paul now uses the Gentiles as an example of the way by which God works. This could be called “the illustration.” I have gone with “the comparison.” It is either way. But in Paul’s brilliant mind directed by the Holy Spirit as he writes this, he uses Gentiles as the example for how God’s going to deal with Israel. So, he says in verse 30, notice how he begins verse 30, “For.” So, this is an explanation of the explanation. This is like a double explanation. So, verse 30, “For just as you,” and the “you” here refers to believing Gentiles, “For just as you once were,” so that is referring to their past before their conversion when they were lost and when they were perishing. “For just as you once were disobedient to God.” Every believer once was an unbeliever. I mean, how simple of a statement is that. And every believer once was disobedient to God. Even if you grew up in the nursery at the church, even if you were in a baby dedication service, even if you were sprinkled as an infant, you were still disobedient to God regardless of the outward symbol or the outward rite, religious rite, you nevertheless were a rebel in your own heart and you nevertheless were separated from God, and you were hostile toward God because you were born with a totally depraved heart with radical corruption. Sprinkling a little water on you didn’t change anything. I was sprinkled when I was a little baby, and Kent was as well, and that didn’t change anything until the call of God comes after the gospel has been taught to the mind and God sovereignly calls you to faith in Christ. So, Paul here in verse 30: “For just as you once were disobedient to God.” And just a footnote here, the word “disobedient” means unpersuadable. You were totally resistant and unpersuadable to the gospel. I mean, you may have been in Awana, you may have done the memory verses, you may have gone to vacation Bible school. That is all good and fine. The seeds of the gospel were being sown into your heart. It is just at that time your heart was shallow soil. It was hardened soil until God broke up the hardened soil and caused the gospel to germinate. But he says at the end of verse 30, “For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “Praise God for the ‘buts’ in the Bible,” right? “But now have been shown mercy.” That is their great conversion of Gentiles to faith in Christ. And the word “mercy” here is synonymous with all that God has done in saving and converting Gentiles. That would be all of us in this room except for one, Dan. So, “mercy” means pity. It means compassion towards those who are perishing and in great need. And God had mercy, God had compassion on those who were suffering. And it is a word that he used earlier in Romans 9 multiple times. He says in Romans 9:15, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” In verse 16 he says, “So it does not depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” And then again in verse 18, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” So, that tells us no one deserves mercy. Everyone deserves to be hardened. Our surprise is not that He hardens some; our surprise is that He has mercy on some, because we all deserve to be hardened. And so, God has chosen to have mercy upon whom He will have mercy according to His sovereign will. And even mercy here becomes a dominant theme. Not only is it mentioned in verse 30, but also in verse 31 he says, “Because of the mercy shown to you,” and again in verse 32, “So that He may show mercy to all.” “Mercy” here is synonymous with God’s saving grace and all of the acts of God in saving those who are perishing. It is synonymous with the new birth. It is synonymous with the granting of repentance and faith. It is synonymous with reconciliation and redemption and adoption and all that accompanies salvation. The emphasis, though, is on the tenderness of God’s heart towards those whom He will save. So, we should not think of God in heaven as a stoic sovereign who is just making mechanical moves, as if this world is a chessboard and God is just moving the pieces around to bring history to His appointed end. No, God is a God of infinite love, a God of tender mercy, a God of sweet compassion that He has funneled toward those whom He has chosen and has lavished His grace out of the abundance of His heart towards those who are being saved. And if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God has demonstrated His love toward you in that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. God gave His only begotten Son to be your Savior, to give up His only Son to die the horrific death upon the cross. So, as we see this word “mercy,” we should be somewhat in awe of the fact that God has had mercy. And, just to give you two more cross-references that I think would be important. In Ephesians 2 and verses 4 and 5, we read that God is “rich in mercy.” What must it mean for God to be rich in anything? But it says in verse 4 of Ephesians 2, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” God is fabulously wealthy in mercy and in grace, and God delights in saving those whom He has chosen to save and His grace has triumphed over His judgment. There is another verse. 1 Peter 1 verse 3 begs to be read at this moment as well. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That means praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who according to His great mercy,” His mega mercy, His limitless mercy, “has caused us to be born again.” He has induced labor and has caused us. He is the active Agent, capital A, in causing us to be regenerated by His Spirit when we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, when we could not even cooperate with God in our own new birth. It was exclusively a work of His great mercy to cause us “to be born again to a living hope.” And that hope” refers to our glorification in heaven one day, “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Just as He raised Christ from the dead, so He has spiritually raised us from the grave of unbelief and has raised us from the grave of our resistance to the gospel. God’s mercy was so great that He intervened in our affairs. There was actually an intervention from heaven in our lives to not allow us to continue to go our own way. So, back to Romans 11, “For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,” the “their disobedience,” and it is hard to follow the ball through all this. That is why I am pausing periodically. “Their disobedience” refers to Jewish disobedience. It was their disobedience that caused God to turn His attention to the Gentiles. Israel crucified their Messiah. Israel had killed the prophets. Israel martyred many of the apostles. And so, God hardened the hearts of Israel, blinded their eyes, deafened their ears, and God turns His attention to the Gentiles. And so, God is saying it is because of their hardness of heart that God has now diverted the demonstration of His mercy to Gentiles. That is why we are sitting here this morning. So, now to complete this comparison, he goes, “so these,” and the “these” refers to unbelieving Jews. “So these also,” meaning just like unbelieving Gentiles how they once were disobedient, “so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you,” and the “you” refers to believing Gentiles, “they,” referring to unbelieving Jews.” Sorry for all this, I didn’t write this. “They also may now be shown mercy.” Mercy. So, what does all this mean? This means, very simply put, that just as God showed mercy to Gentiles because of the unbelief of Jews, God will reverse it in the end, and because of the unbelief of Gentiles, God will show mercy to the Jews at the end. And so, as this world becomes darker and darker as the end of the age approaches and just as the restraints to sin will be removed and this world will become plunged deeper and deeper into wickedness and licentiousness and depravity, it will be out of this cesspool of iniquity at the end of the age that God will show mercy to Israel and bring it full circle. Only God could be orchestrating the affairs of human history and moving on such a macro as well as micro level. Now, this brings us to verse 32, and “the summation.” And Paul now sums up the entirety of Romans 9 through 11 and everything that he has said here in Romans 11. There will be verses 33 through 36 that we will look at the next time that we meet on April the 2nd. That is really my favorite section of Scripture. So, he will still have a closing doxology, but as we come to verse 32, it really brings to summation his whole argument in Romans 9 through 11. So, that is why I call this “the summation.” So, please note how verse 32 begins with the word “For.” I mean, Paul just continues to explain what he has taught and what he has said as a master teacher. So, the word “For” now explains God’s working through Gentile salvation to bring about Jewish salvation. “For God has shut up all in disobedience.” The “all” here refers to both Jews and Gentiles, and “all” here does not refer to all without exception; it refers to all without distinction. God has not shut up believers in disobedience. So, “all” cannot mean “all without exception.” It doesn’t mean every single person on the planet, because there are untold vast numbers of people on the planet who are obedient to the gospel and who are believers in the gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, this is a wonderful example that whenever you see the word “all” in the Bible, please do not be a naive Bible reader and automatically assume that “all” refers to every single person without exception. It does not. In this case it refers to all without distinction. It means all categories of people, both Jews and Gentile who are unbelievers are shut up in disobedience. They are sealed in their disobedience. They are entrapped in disobedience. Here is the bondage of the will. They are imprisoned in disobedience. I mean, we sing that hymn, “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?” That great stanza, “Long my spirit was bound, imprisoned in darkness until the flash of light came shining into the prison room where we were.” So, this is another statement of the bondage of the human will that God has sealed unbelief in the heart of the one who is an unbeliever. And let me just tell you if God has sealed it, it is sealed. The seal will not be broken. But, notice how the verse ends: “So that He may show mercy to all.” Only God can break this seal. Only God can save those whom He has shut up in disobedience. Only God can intervene and God does intervene. And it says here that He will “show mercy to all.” Now, the “all” obviously does not refer to every single person. Hell would be emptied. “All” here refers to all kinds of people, to men and women, to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish, to the Jews and to the Gentiles, etc., that there will be a vast number in heaven from every tribe, from every nation, from every tongue and language group of people. So, God will show mercy despite the fact that He has shut up all in their disobedience. So, here we see Paul ends this section with really a strong dose of medicine in sovereign grace. God alone has shut them up, and God alone will show mercy according to His sovereign election. So, let us talk about some application as we bring this to conclusion and we will have time for Q&A. Let me tell you three things by way of application. How should this impact our lives, what we have just looked at here? How should we respond? Number one, have faith in God. Those who are hardened of heart can be softened by God, and God is the only one who can open that heart that has been shut. Here is the encouragement. No heart is so hardened but that God is able to pry it open and to provide entrance for the gospel. You may right now think of the person and people in your life that you think would never be saved. I want you to know God can save them, and God often does save those who you think it is impossible for them to be saved. And it begins with the person who wrote this book. It begins with Paul, who was the chief of sinners, who was a blasphemer, who was a violent aggressor by his own testimony. God brought him down in a second. And when he was knocked off his horse, by the time he got to the ground, Paul was acknowledging the lordship of Jesus Christ. God can do the same, and God does the same according to His own purpose, but we need to have faith in God that God continues to intervene in the affairs of human history. And if God can save Israel in the last days after He has blinded their eyes and deafened their ears and hardened their hearts, your next-door neighbor is nothing for God. Your lost father-in-law is nothing for God. Your business associate is finger play for God. Have faith in God. Do not write anyone off your list for salvation. We don’t know who the elect are. God does, and God will save them because it is irrevocable. So, have enormous faith in God to save. It is the very heart and nature of God to save. He is a saving God. Second, offer prayer to God. You and I should pray to God to save these lost people. We should take it up with Him who alone is able to cause their eyes to see, to cause their ears to hear, to open their hearts. If God is not sovereign, we are wasting our time to pray. We ought to go talk to the lost sinner then exclusively and never talk to God if God is not sovereign. Our prayers are prevailing with God. God is hearing and God is answering prayers for the salvation of people in our lives. So, this says to me it is worth the time we invest to pray for the salvation of lost people because God can overcome their resistance. Not only has God appointed the end of all things, which is the salvation of the elect, but He has appointed the means to the accomplishment of that end, which includes our prayers for them. Admittedly, these lines intersect far above our heads, but we are not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater either. We are going to labor in prayer for the salvation of lost people and leave it at the foot of the throne of grace. Third and finally, give glory to God. Give praise to God that He is the author and the architect of all salvation. Let us give praise to God for every conversion. Every conversion is a miracle of divine intervention into the affairs of a person’s life. God is worthy of our worship when He saves a lost soul. Let us give praise to God that He is full of mercy to save. He is a God of compassion. He is a God of grace. He is a God who not only has love and is love but He has demonstrated this love in your own conversion and in the sending of His Son into this world. We have every reason to rise up and bless the name of the Lord that salvation is of the Lord. So, that is the application. As I look at these verses that I would say admittedly are at times hard to understand, I have had the advantage of being able to study it for several days and walk in here with notes. So, that is an advantage to me, but I trust that as we have looked at this, God will give you understanding as I have tried my best to explain these verses and that you will see the relevance in your own life, because however God saves a Jew is exactly how He has saved you. There aren’t two different runways here that God is taxiing down to save someone. There is only one runway, and the way He will save Israel is the way He has already saved you. These verses bring us virtually to the end of this major section in Romans 9 through 11, which is all about the salvation of Israel. The salvation of Gentiles is also addressed in this section. So, it is not exclusively for the salvation of Israel, but it is the major question that is on the table. If God is sovereign in salvation, if God has sovereignly elected from before the foundation of the world, then why are His own chosen people not saved? It is a legitimate question and Paul addresses it. It may not be a question that is uppermost on our mind, but it is the more you study the Bible it should be on our mind. Any, just even casual reading of the Bible you would have to ask the question, “So what about Israel?” As you begin in Genesis and read all the way through the Old Testament, it is all about Israel, with just a couple of exceptions of Jonah going to Nineveh and Nahum addressed to Nineveh. But the whole rest of it is addressed to Israel, and the four Gospels basically are addressed specifically to Israel. So, as you are reading the storyline, the metanarrative of the Bible, you would have to ask the question, “So, is there a future for Israel? What happened to Israel?” And so, Paul addresses that in these chapters. And as we come towards the end of Romans 11, we are addressing it if for no other reason it is in the Bible and the Bible matters to us. So, God has put into the Bible everything we need to know, and there are some things He did not include in the Bible we just don’t need then to know. If God wanted us to know, He would have put it in the Bible. And there are other things we may think we don’t need to know, but God is smarter than all of us put together and He has put it in the Bible because we need to know it. So, we need to know about Israel, and so that is why we have this. Now, what about Israel? It is heightened even more because earlier in the chapter, in verse 7, it says that He has hardened at this present time the hearts of most Jews. There could be no harder evangelistic effort than to try to reach Jews for Christ because God has hardened their hearts. Their hearts were already hardened, and so it is a double hardening. And when God hardens a heart, it is hardened. Further, it says in verse 8 that God gave them a spirit of stupor, meaning God just put them to sleep. So, you can preach all day long to someone who is asleep but they are not going to hear nor respond to the gospel. And God has, it says in verse 8, blinded their eyes so they cannot see and God has deafened their ears so they cannot hear. So, that is the present state of the nation of Israel. They are an apostate people. So, Paul now addresses the future of Israel, which we looked at last time in these verses. And the overarching truth of these verses is God is totally, completely, absolutely sovereign in anyone’s salvation, and He is sovereign in Israel’s salvation and He is sovereign in our salvation. It is the same operating principle. So, let us work through these verses, and in verse 28, I want you to see the distinction. Paul now contrasts two ways for us to see the nation of Israel. In the first half of verse 28, it is looking at it from the perspective of the gospel, and the second half of verse 28, it is looking at it from the perspective of God’s eternal choice. So, first from a gospel perspective, he says from the standpoint of the gospel, we want to see everyone from the standpoint of the gospel. And from the standpoint of the gospel, everyone in the entire world is either saved or lost. There is not a third category. Everyone is either perishing or has been saved, and so that is the template through which we see everyone, everyone in your family, everyone in your neighborhood, everyone in your office, everyone with whom you come in contact. They are either your mission field or they are a brother or sister in Christ. There is no other way to see a person according to the flesh. So, he says, “From the standpoint of the gospel they,” and that refers to unbelieving Jews, “are,” present tense verb, meaning right now during this church age from the first to the second coming of Christ, “they are enemies.” That is a strong statement. They are enemies of the gospel. They are hostile towards the gospel. And, I want you to note that no one is in a neutral zone concerning the gospel. No one is just sitting on the fence, not even an unconverted church member. It doesn’t matter how many times you have been baptized. You are either an enemy of the gospel or you are a friend of the gospel, and there is no other category. And the word “enemies” here, I looked it up. It is a very interesting word and it means, actually it comes from a root word that means “to hate,” and it means “those who hate.” And they hate the gospel. They reject the gospel. Some do it with just a passive indifference, others with active rebellion, but nevertheless they are on that side of the rope, pulling on that side of the rope. They are enemies of the gospel. And I don’t want to just drill down on this, but there it is in our Bible. Romans 5 verse 11, this truth has already been introduced. It says even we were enemies of the gospel and have now been reconciled to God through the death of Christ. So, it is not just an unbelieving Jew; it is an unbelieving Gentile. If you are not in Christ, you are in opposition to the gospel and you are a hater of the gospel, whether or not the person recognizes it or not. Let me give you just two cross-references to nail this down. Colossians 1:21 says, “You,” addressing believers in the church, “You were formally alienated,” meaning separated and living in a foreign kingdom. “You were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” Again, no one is just in a state of neutrality towards God. James 4 verse 4 is a strong verse. It says, “Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So, it is either/or. It is never both/and. You cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God. If you are a friend of the world, you have declared yourself an enemy of God. And when he says “the world,” he is referring to the evil world system that is overseen by the prince of this world, the god of this age, Satan, with the anti-truth agenda, the anti-family agenda, the anti-God agenda, and we can just open our eyes and see it all around as the restraints are being removed and the world is becoming increasingly hostile towards God. So, I guess one other comment just to make: Jesus only died for one kind of person, and that is an enemy of the gospel. So, Jesus did not die for good people, because there are no good people outside of Christ. He came into this world and laid down His life for His enemies, which was the extraordinary demonstration of His love. So, that is looking at Israel from the gospel’s perspective. They are enemies. They have declared themselves enemies of the grace of God by their unbelief, just like anyone else in your family has who is not a believer. Now, the second half of verse 28, he turns the prism and looks at it from another perspective, and he looks at it from God’s sovereignty perspective, God’s sovereign will perspective. He says, “but,” which means sharp contrast, “from the standpoint of God’s choice.” In other words, alright, we can look at it from another perspective, not just from a temporal, but from an eternal perspective. “But from the standpoint of God’s choice,” and “God’s choice” here referring not to just God’s choice of ethnic Israel to be His chosen nation, but from the standpoint of God’s sovereign election in salvation. From that standpoint, “they are beloved,” they are deeply loved, and we knew that earlier in the same chapter verse 2. He says that “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” And the word “foreknowledge” there means those whom He previously loved or those whom He previously chose to love. And God in His sovereign election has chosen to love a remnant within ethnic Israel to be a part of the bride of Christ. And he says He has done so “for the sake of the fathers.” “The fathers” here refer to the patriarchs. It refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and promises that were made to them long ago that they will be blessed by God and their seed will be blessed by God so that through them blessing will come to all the nations. It is the Abrahamic covenant. And so, God will make good on His promises given in the book of Genesis to the nation Israel. God promised to bless Israel so that they would be a blessing to the nations. And so, as Paul is wrapping up Romans 9 through 11, he is saying, just remember, there are two ways of looking at ethnic Israel right now. One is from the perspective of the gospel. Okay, they are enemies of the gospel. We see that. But the other is from an eternal perspective, from God’s sovereign will, that at the end of this age there will be a great evangelistic harvest of Jews who will come to faith in Christ. And we talked about that in our last study. I don’t need to go back through that. I would refer you to listen to the study from last time that is posted on the website. “But all Israel will be saved,” it says in verse 26. “A Deliverer,” that is Christ in verse 26, “will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob,” “Jacob” referring to the whole nation of Israel. Verse 27, “This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” That is still out on the horizon, and if Christ were to return soon, this conversion of Israel, we are standing on the very precipice of that national conversion of the vast majority of Jews. So, verse 28 now. That is “the distinction.” We have to make this distinction between the two ways to look at ethnic national Israel. Right now, they are apostate. Right now, they are in unbelief. Right now, they are in cosmic treason against the gospel, just like New York City and Los Angeles and Chicago and Dallas, unbelievers. It is not like they are unique. However, from the perspective of God’s sovereign will, God still has a future to save Israel, and by His sovereign omnipotence He will bring it to pass. So, that leads us now to verse 29 which is “the explanation.” And verse 29 begins with the word “for,” which I have told you an untold number of times that introduces an explanation. It is probably Paul’s most used word to begin a verse with the word “For,” F-O-R. It introduces an explanation of what he just said. Paul not only says it, but he will explain it. So, here is the explanation why Israel remains beloved of God with a future salvation. Verse 29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Let us start with the word “irrevocable,” It means unalterable. It means unbreakable. Literally, out of the original language, it means not repented of, meaning unchangeable, immutable. God’s sovereign will from before the foundation of the world to save His elect cannot be broken. It cannot be altered. So, God’s sovereign will to save Jews will come to pass. Now, let us start at the beginning of the verse. He says, “For the gifts.” The gifts here, I think, refer back to Romans 9 verses 4 and 5, where he talks about the blessings that have been poured out on the nation of Israel. He talks about the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, the promises, the fathers, and then most of all in the middle of verse 5, the Christ, the Messiah. All of this has been given to Israel, not to the Egyptians, not to the Assyrians, not to the Babylonians, not to the Romans. It is given to the nation Israel. God has chosen to bless Israel with an exposure to truth. No nation in the history of the world has ever been given a greater exposure to the truth of the Word of God for such an extended period of time as the nation Israel. That is the reference here, I believe, with the word “gifts.” But then, following up with the gifts is the calling. The calling is the application of the truth represented in the gifts. It is one thing to have exposure to the truth. That is not going to save you. You can go to hell from a church pew in a Bible-preaching church. There must be the effectual calling of God that takes the truth from the mind and the ear to the heart and brings it home to the heart so that there is regeneration and so that there is conversion. And so, it is very important that Paul mentions “the calling of God,” which is irrevocable. And the word “irrevocable” here principally describes the calling of God. You will note the definite article “the,” which specifies it as the call of God to save, the call of God into fellowship with Christ. It is a divine summons that apprehends and arrests the one that is called and draws them, even drags them, overcoming their resistance of unbelief into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. In the process, God changes their heart and gives them a new heart of flesh such that they willingly believe in Christ, but God changes their heart as they are being drawn to faith in Jesus Christ. So, why will Israel, as verse 26 says, why will all Israel be saved? And in verse 28, why is Israel beloved of God from the standpoint of God’s sovereign choice? It is because God will have His way, that there can be no opposition to the sovereign will of God. God will have His way with His elect within the chosen nation of Israel. I would remind you in chapter 9 he said not all Israel is Israel. There is ethnic Israel which is the larger circle. Inside of ethnic Israel is a smaller concentric circle of those who are chosen for salvation. So, those who are chosen for salvation will be called because it is irrevocable. It will not be changed in the sovereign will of God. Now, this leads us to verses 30 and 31, “the comparison.” And Paul now uses the Gentiles as an example of the way by which God works. This could be called “the illustration.” I have gone with “the comparison.” It is either way. But in Paul’s brilliant mind directed by the Holy Spirit as he writes this, he uses Gentiles as the example for how God’s going to deal with Israel. So, he says in verse 30, notice how he begins verse 30, “For.” So, this is an explanation of the explanation. This is like a double explanation. So, verse 30, “For just as you,” and the “you” here refers to believing Gentiles, “For just as you once were,” so that is referring to their past before their conversion when they were lost and when they were perishing. “For just as you once were disobedient to God.” Every believer once was an unbeliever. I mean, how simple of a statement is that. And every believer once was disobedient to God. Even if you grew up in the nursery at the church, even if you were in a baby dedication service, even if you were sprinkled as an infant, you were still disobedient to God regardless of the outward symbol or the outward rite, religious rite, you nevertheless were a rebel in your own heart and you nevertheless were separated from God, and you were hostile toward God because you were born with a totally depraved heart with radical corruption. Sprinkling a little water on you didn’t change anything. I was sprinkled when I was a little baby, and Kent was as well, and that didn’t change anything until the call of God comes after the gospel has been taught to the mind and God sovereignly calls you to faith in Christ. So, Paul here in verse 30: “For just as you once were disobedient to God.” And just a footnote here, the word “disobedient” means unpersuadable. You were totally resistant and unpersuadable to the gospel. I mean, you may have been in Awana, you may have done the memory verses, you may have gone to vacation Bible school. That is all good and fine. The seeds of the gospel were being sown into your heart. It is just at that time your heart was shallow soil. It was hardened soil until God broke up the hardened soil and caused the gospel to germinate. But he says at the end of verse 30, “For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “Praise God for the ‘buts’ in the Bible,” right? “But now have been shown mercy.” That is their great conversion of Gentiles to faith in Christ. And the word “mercy” here is synonymous with all that God has done in saving and converting Gentiles. That would be all of us in this room except for one, Dan. So, “mercy” means pity. It means compassion towards those who are perishing and in great need. And God had mercy, God had compassion on those who were suffering. And it is a word that he used earlier in Romans 9 multiple times. He says in Romans 9:15, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” In verse 16 he says, “So it does not depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” And then again in verse 18, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” So, that tells us no one deserves mercy. Everyone deserves to be hardened. Our surprise is not that He hardens some; our surprise is that He has mercy on some, because we all deserve to be hardened. And so, God has chosen to have mercy upon whom He will have mercy according to His sovereign will. And even mercy here becomes a dominant theme. Not only is it mentioned in verse 30, but also in verse 31 he says, “Because of the mercy shown to you,” and again in verse 32, “So that He may show mercy to all.” “Mercy” here is synonymous with God’s saving grace and all of the acts of God in saving those who are perishing. It is synonymous with the new birth. It is synonymous with the granting of repentance and faith. It is synonymous with reconciliation and redemption and adoption and all that accompanies salvation. The emphasis, though, is on the tenderness of God’s heart towards those whom He will save. So, we should not think of God in heaven as a stoic sovereign who is just making mechanical moves, as if this world is a chessboard and God is just moving the pieces around to bring history to His appointed end. No, God is a God of infinite love, a God of tender mercy, a God of sweet compassion that He has funneled toward those whom He has chosen and has lavished His grace out of the abundance of His heart towards those who are being saved. And if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God has demonstrated His love toward you in that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. God gave His only begotten Son to be your Savior, to give up His only Son to die the horrific death upon the cross. So, as we see this word “mercy,” we should be somewhat in awe of the fact that God has had mercy. And, just to give you two more cross-references that I think would be important. In Ephesians 2 and verses 4 and 5, we read that God is “rich in mercy.” What must it mean for God to be rich in anything? But it says in verse 4 of Ephesians 2, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” God is fabulously wealthy in mercy and in grace, and God delights in saving those whom He has chosen to save and His grace has triumphed over His judgment. There is another verse. 1 Peter 1 verse 3 begs to be read at this moment as well. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That means praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who according to His great mercy,” His mega mercy, His limitless mercy, “has caused us to be born again.” He has induced labor and has caused us. He is the active Agent, capital A, in causing us to be regenerated by His Spirit when we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, when we could not even cooperate with God in our own new birth. It was exclusively a work of His great mercy to cause us “to be born again to a living hope.” And that hope” refers to our glorification in heaven one day, “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Just as He raised Christ from the dead, so He has spiritually raised us from the grave of unbelief and has raised us from the grave of our resistance to the gospel. God’s mercy was so great that He intervened in our affairs. There was actually an intervention from heaven in our lives to not allow us to continue to go our own way. So, back to Romans 11, “For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,” the “their disobedience,” and it is hard to follow the ball through all this. That is why I am pausing periodically. “Their disobedience” refers to Jewish disobedience. It was their disobedience that caused God to turn His attention to the Gentiles. Israel crucified their Messiah. Israel had killed the prophets. Israel martyred many of the apostles. And so, God hardened the hearts of Israel, blinded their eyes, deafened their ears, and God turns His attention to the Gentiles. And so, God is saying it is because of their hardness of heart that God has now diverted the demonstration of His mercy to Gentiles. That is why we are sitting here this morning. So, now to complete this comparison, he goes, “so these,” and the “these” refers to unbelieving Jews. “So these also,” meaning just like unbelieving Gentiles how they once were disobedient, “so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you,” and the “you” refers to believing Gentiles, “they,” referring to unbelieving Jews.” Sorry for all this, I didn’t write this. “They also may now be shown mercy.” Mercy. So, what does all this mean? This means, very simply put, that just as God showed mercy to Gentiles because of the unbelief of Jews, God will reverse it in the end, and because of the unbelief of Gentiles, God will show mercy to the Jews at the end. And so, as this world becomes darker and darker as the end of the age approaches and just as the restraints to sin will be removed and this world will become plunged deeper and deeper into wickedness and licentiousness and depravity, it will be out of this cesspool of iniquity at the end of the age that God will show mercy to Israel and bring it full circle. Only God could be orchestrating the affairs of human history and moving on such a macro as well as micro level. Now, this brings us to verse 32, and “the summation.” And Paul now sums up the entirety of Romans 9 through 11 and everything that he has said here in Romans 11. There will be verses 33 through 36 that we will look at the next time that we meet on April the 2nd. That is really my favorite section of Scripture. So, he will still have a closing doxology, but as we come to verse 32, it really brings to summation his whole argument in Romans 9 through 11. So, that is why I call this “the summation.” So, please note how verse 32 begins with the word “For.” I mean, Paul just continues to explain what he has taught and what he has said as a master teacher. So, the word “For” now explains God’s working through Gentile salvation to bring about Jewish salvation. “For God has shut up all in disobedience.” The “all” here refers to both Jews and Gentiles, and “all” here does not refer to all without exception; it refers to all without distinction. God has not shut up believers in disobedience. So, “all” cannot mean “all without exception.” It doesn’t mean every single person on the planet, because there are untold vast numbers of people on the planet who are obedient to the gospel and who are believers in the gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, this is a wonderful example that whenever you see the word “all” in the Bible, please do not be a naive Bible reader and automatically assume that “all” refers to every single person without exception. It does not. In this case it refers to all without distinction. It means all categories of people, both Jews and Gentile who are unbelievers are shut up in disobedience. They are sealed in their disobedience. They are entrapped in disobedience. Here is the bondage of the will. They are imprisoned in disobedience. I mean, we sing that hymn, “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?” That great stanza, “Long my spirit was bound, imprisoned in darkness until the flash of light came shining into the prison room where we were.” So, this is another statement of the bondage of the human will that God has sealed unbelief in the heart of the one who is an unbeliever. And let me just tell you if God has sealed it, it is sealed. The seal will not be broken. But, notice how the verse ends: “So that He may show mercy to all.” Only God can break this seal. Only God can save those whom He has shut up in disobedience. Only God can intervene and God does intervene. And it says here that He will “show mercy to all.” Now, the “all” obviously does not refer to every single person. Hell would be emptied. “All” here refers to all kinds of people, to men and women, to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and to the foolish, to the Jews and to the Gentiles, etc., that there will be a vast number in heaven from every tribe, from every nation, from every tongue and language group of people. So, God will show mercy despite the fact that He has shut up all in their disobedience. So, here we see Paul ends this section with really a strong dose of medicine in sovereign grace. God alone has shut them up, and God alone will show mercy according to His sovereign election. So, let us talk about some application as we bring this to conclusion and we will have time for Q&A. Let me tell you three things by way of application. How should this impact our lives, what we have just looked at here? How should we respond? Number one, have faith in God. Those who are hardened of heart can be softened by God, and God is the only one who can open that heart that has been shut. Here is the encouragement. No heart is so hardened but that God is able to pry it open and to provide entrance for the gospel. You may right now think of the person and people in your life that you think would never be saved. I want you to know God can save them, and God often does save those who you think it is impossible for them to be saved. And it begins with the person who wrote this book. It begins with Paul, who was the chief of sinners, who was a blasphemer, who was a violent aggressor by his own testimony. God brought him down in a second. And when he was knocked off his horse, by the time he got to the ground, Paul was acknowledging the lordship of Jesus Christ. God can do the same, and God does the same according to His own purpose, but we need to have faith in God that God continues to intervene in the affairs of human history. And if God can save Israel in the last days after He has blinded their eyes and deafened their ears and hardened their hearts, your next-door neighbor is nothing for God. Your lost father-in-law is nothing for God. Your business associate is finger play for God. Have faith in God. Do not write anyone off your list for salvation. We don’t know who the elect are. God does, and God will save them because it is irrevocable. So, have enormous faith in God to save. It is the very heart and nature of God to save. He is a saving God. Second, offer prayer to God. You and I should pray to God to save these lost people. We should take it up with Him who alone is able to cause their eyes to see, to cause their ears to hear, to open their hearts. If God is not sovereign, we are wasting our time to pray. We ought to go talk to the lost sinner then exclusively and never talk to God if God is not sovereign. Our prayers are prevailing with God. God is hearing and God is answering prayers for the salvation of people in our lives. So, this says to me it is worth the time we invest to pray for the salvation of lost people because God can overcome their resistance. Not only has God appointed the end of all things, which is the salvation of the elect, but He has appointed the means to the accomplishment of that end, which includes our prayers for them. Admittedly, these lines intersect far above our heads, but we are not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater either. We are going to labor in prayer for the salvation of lost people and leave it at the foot of the throne of grace. Third and finally, give glory to God. Give praise to God that He is the author and the architect of all salvation. Let us give praise to God for every conversion. Every conversion is a miracle of divine intervention into the affairs of a person’s life. God is worthy of our worship when He saves a lost soul. Let us give praise to God that He is full of mercy to save. He is a God of compassion. He is a God of grace. He is a God who not only has love and is love but He has demonstrated this love in your own conversion and in the sending of His Son into this world. We have every reason to rise up and bless the name of the Lord that salvation is of the Lord. So, that is the application. As I look at these verses that I would say admittedly are at times hard to understand, I have had the advantage of being able to study it for several days and walk in here with notes. So, that is an advantage to me, but I trust that as we have looked at this, God will give you understanding as I have tried my best to explain these verses and that you will see the relevance in your own life, because however God saves a Jew is exactly how He has saved you. There aren’t two different runways here that God is taxiing down to save someone. There is only one runway, and the way He will save Israel is the way He has already saved you.

The Future Salvation of Israel – Romans 11:23-27

OnePassion Ministries February 27, 2020

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Father, as we now come to the time to look into Your Word, we know that Your Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is able to pierce as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And so, we ask now that as we look into Your Word that it be powerfully at work in our own minds and in our own hearts. I pray for these men that You would continue to sanctify them and strengthen them, and do the same in my own life, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Alright. Well, men, we are stepping back into Romans 11. So, we have spent the last month going back to the beginning of Romans 1 just to complete our study, and we have done that now. And so, I want to step back into Romans 11. And this morning we are going to be looking at verses 23 to 27, and if you’re taking notes the title of this is “The Future Salvation of Israel.” Romans 11:23 to 27; so, I want to begin by reading these verses. And the Apostle Paul writes, “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” Question mark. “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’ ‘This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'” So, these verses are all about Israel, and it is all about the future of Israel. And if you picked up your Bible and began reading in Genesis and you read through the whole Old Testament, you would be impressed with several things. Obviously, God and grace and promises of a Messiah, but one dominant observation that would surely capture your attention is Israel. I mean, beginning in Genesis 12 and going all the way through to the end of Malachi, it is just non-stop God’s dealing with the nation Israel. I mean, that is obvious. It is the birth of Israel. It is their bondage in Egypt. It is their wilderness wandering. It is their going into the Promised Land. It is their being taken out of the Promised Land. It is their being brought back into the Promised Land. I mean, that is the story line of the Old Testament. It all revolves around Israel. It’s prophets, it’s kings, it’s judges. It’s the law, it’s the sacrificial system, it’s the tabernacle, it’s the temple, etc., etc. And when you come to the New Testament, it just picks up with more Israel. In fact, when you start with Matthew 1 verse 1, it is the genealogy of the Messiah and it is just a walk through the generations of Israel. The four Gospels revolve around Jerusalem, the Pharisees. The Jewishness of it is just dominant. And then you read the book of Acts and the church is birthed in the capital city of Israel, in Jerusalem, and they finally are scattered. But Paul is going into synagogues, Jewish synagogues in the book of Acts. And we come to Romans and he says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” And so, just a casual reading of the Bible, you obviously are captivated with God’s myoptic focus on the nation Israel. So, we come to Romans 11, in the beginning of Romans 11, and God says, “I have given them a spirit of stupor. I have hardened their hearts. I have blinded their eyes. I have deafened their ears.” And so, we ask ourselves, “So, is there any future for Israel? Is it all over for Israel? Is it now only a Gentile bride for the church?” And the importance of these verses is to give us the macro picture. It is to open up the lens and to allow us to see God’s plan for history on a large-scale basis. And what we read here is that God is not finished with Israel and that there is a future yet for Israel. And this is somewhat relevant for us as we pick up the newspaper, and Israel just won’t go away. You cannot buy a plane ticket to Sodom and Gomorrah. I mean, you can’t buy a plane ticket to the Canaanite cities, but there is Israel. And that is by no coincidence. God continues to hold His chosen people in His hand. Now, right now they are apostate. They have repudiated their Messiah and that is the reason why God has hardened their hearts and deafened their ears and blinded their eyes. And let me tell you when God does that, turn out the lights. The party is over. However, it is not completely over. And at the end of the age, before the second coming of Jesus Christ, there will be an extraordinary conversion of the nation Israel under the power of the gospel so much so that verse 26 says, “All Israel will be saved.” So, the best is yet to come for Israel, and God is the God of history, and what we see in this is that God is sovereign in salvation and God will determine when individuals within a nation will be saved. It is all in God’s eternal purpose and plan. So that is what we are looking at here today. When we get to Romans 12 for like the next year, it is just all going to be practical daily Christian life living. We are here at the end of the highly doctrinal section. And so, Paul is about to wrap up the doctrinal section, and so we want to finish strong as we come to the end of Romans 11. God has put this in our Bible for us to understand and for us to act upon. So, let us look at this now beginning in verse 23. And as we have a little outline to walk us through this, I want you to note in verse 23, the conversions, the conversions, because Paul states that the unbelieving Jews will be converted in the last days. So, in verse 23, “And they also.” We want to ask the question, “Who is the ‘they’?” And the “they” refers to unbelieving Jews. “They also.” The “also” means they are much like unbelieving Gentiles. “They also, if they do not continue in their unbelief.” Now that’s a double negative, “not” and “unbelief,” which means if they do not continue in their unbelief, means if they do believe in Jesus Christ. This is hinting that there is still in the future a coming to faith on a large grand scale of Jewish people, ethnic Jews, and it will happen at the time, verse 26 tells us, when “the Deliverer will come from Zion.” That is the heavenly Zion and the Deliverer is the Lord Jesus Christ. And there will be a door opened, and a great white horse, and Him who sat upon it is faithful and true, and many diadems upon His head and the blood of His enemies on His robe, and a sharp two-edged sword will come from His mouth. And He will descend out of Zion, and He will come back at the battle of Armageddon, and He will land at the Mount of Olives. And the Mount of Olives will split in two. It is going to be a dramatic second coming of Jesus Christ. And when this Deliverer comes from Zion, at that time period there is going to be an extraordinary turning away from unbelief in the nation Israel to their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The veil will fall from their eyes and they will recognize the nail-pierced hands of the Messiah as, “That’s our Messiah that we crucified.” And they will mourn for Him and cry out for Him in true repentance and faith. That is what this is talking about. And it says they will be grafted in. Do you see that in verse 23? They will not continue in unbelief as they have for the last two thousand years. They will be grafted in, and it is a passive verb meaning they will not graft themselves back in. Someone will act upon them, and that someone will graft them back in to the place of blessing. And that someone is sovereign God who has infinite mercy and who has limitless grace and will graft back in to the very same olive tree from which they were cut off two thousand years ago. And he says, “For God is able to graft them in again.” And again, this hints at the future conversion of the nation Israel on a grand scale. So, this tells us that no group of people is beyond the saving power of God. And if God can do this among people that He has hardened their hearts and that He has blinded their eyes and deafened their ears, if God can do it to the nation Israel, listen! God can do it in America. God can do it in China. God can do it in Russia. God’s arm is not so short but that He cannot save. He is a God of infinite mercy and grace. And when God steps in and intervenes in the affairs of human history, it pivots in a heartbeat. And when He opens a heart, His grace comes triumphantly into that heart. So, that is the conversions and that is what is ahead. Now second, “the comparison.” In verse 24, he draws a comparison and it is an argument from the lesser to the greater. And his argument, Paul’s argument will be, listen! If God can graft in unbelieving Gentiles, cut them off of a wild olive tree and graft them into the natural olive tree, then God can easily do it with Jews who started out in the natural olive tree and were cut off and removed. If God can graft in unbelieving Jews from another tree, God can easily do it with Jews putting them back in their place near to God and grafted into the blessings of God. So, that is the argument of verse 24. So, let us look at it carefully. Verse 24 begins with the word “for.” I just want to make a comment there. That begins an explanation of the previous verse. I have told you before the word “for” may be Paul’s most used word in his thirteen epistles. He is always following up a verse with an explanation of what he just said and taught. So, verse 24 is inseparably connected to verse 23 just by the mere fact it begins with the word “for,” f-o-r. “For if you.” Now, the “you” is different from the “they” in verse 23. The “you” refers to believing Gentiles. Paul is writing to the church in Rome, and the church in Rome which is far away from Jerusalem and far away from the Middle East. Rome, obviously, is in Europe, and it is a predominantly Gentile church. And so, when he says “you” in verse 24, he is addressing this to the believers in the church at Rome who are heavily Gentile-oriented. So, “For if you were cut off,” and they were cut off by God, by the way, “from what is by nature a wild olive tree.” Now, Paul does not give us the explanation for who or what this wild olive tree is, and so we are left to work with the analogy. And if the natural olive tree is the place of blessing and the place where you hear the Word of God and the place where God is near and God is making Himself known and there is the gospel being offered to you, then this wild olive tree is an olive tree that is growing out in the wilderness, out in the desert, far removed from the hearing of the Word of God, far removed from true religion. This wild olive tree is a place of paganism. It is a place of hedonism. It is a place of false religion. It is a place of idolatrous religion. And that is where the Gentiles were, whether it was in Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Roman Empire, and just all of the Greek and Roman mythological gods and all of that. That is where these Gentiles were. And God by His mercy and grace pursued certain Gentiles who were those whom He chose before the foundation of the world, and God just intervened in the affairs of their life and God cut them off, and that was a blessing because they were cut off from false religion. They were cut off from pagan ideology and secular philosophies of Athens and the Greek philosophers, etc., that were devoid of God, the one true living God. God intervened and cut them off. It says here, “and were grafted.” Again, I don’t want to be too given to the details here, but it is another passive verb meaning they didn’t graft themselves in. No one saves themselves, and no one seeks after God on their own. “There is none who seeks after God, no not one,” Romans 3:10 and 11. No, God is the seeker and God is the intervener and God is the convicter and the drawer and the regenerator and the granter of repentance and faith. Salvation is of the Lord. It is all of God. And so, it is implied even in the way this is stated. “They were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree.” And this cultivated olive tree is true religion. It is biblical Christianity. It is the place of God’s full blessing. It is the place of God’s grace and God’s mercy. So, to this point in verse 24 Paul has argued, if God has done this with Gentiles who were living out in in the middle of nowhere, out in a wilderness, out in a desert, and God came to them way far away from God and cut them off from their false beliefs and brought them to the true olive tree and God grafted them in and brought them into union and communion with the one true living God, he now says, “How much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” And so, again it is an argument from the lesser to the greater and it is saying, “How much more then will God do this with these unbelieving Jews who have been cut off from the true olive tree and have been cast aside and set aside at the proper time in history when the Deliverer will come from Zion?” God will pick up these discarded branches that had been cut off and God will graft them back into their original place, back to where they started in this olive tree, which again represents the place of blessing with God. And again, the verb tenses indicate they will be grafted. They won’t graft themselves back in. This will be all the work of God. From Him and through Him and to Him are all things,” verse 36 will tell us. I can’t wait to get to that verse. And it just says God is the initiator of all salvation. God is the accomplisher of all salvation. God is the aim and the goal of all salvation. And we see it loud and clear here in verse 24. So, verse 24 ends with a question mark. You will note it is in the form of a rhetorical question and the implied answer to this is, “Yes, God can do this. God is able to do this.” And let me just say, on a personal level, God is able to do this in your family and He is able to do it with your friends, and no one is so far removed from God, but that God is not yet greater to intervene and to bring them to saving faith in Jesus Christ. It does not mean that God will. God will do what is right according to His eternal purpose and plan. But we don’t write off anyone until we show up at their funeral and there is no more opportunity for them to believe. So that is “the comparison.” So, we come now to verse 25, “the clarification,” and it extends to the beginning of verse 26; 26 A. So, Paul now clarifies the present unbelief of Jews and their future salvation. So, verse 25 begins with our familiar word “for,” and Paul is just such a master teacher, these explanations are just coming in rapid-fire succession. So, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery.” Now, this tells us if Paul did not turn the cards over and let us see the other side of the tapestry, we would never know this. Now, in the Old Testament there are promises of this future salvation of Israel in the last days. That is not the mystery. We are going to see what the actual mystery is here in just a second. But he is addressing this to the believers in Rome. He says, “I do not want you, brethren,” predominantly Gentile believers, “to be uninformed,” so it is important that they know this, “of this mystery.” Now, let us just talk for a second about a mystery. When I think of a mystery, I normally think of a conundrum, of a riddle that can’t be solved, of a puzzle that can’t be put together. It is just a mystery. There are all the pieces; I just can’t put it together. That is not how the Bible uses the word “mystery.” A mystery is not something that is difficult to grasp. A mystery is something that was previously concealed but is now made known, and when you see it is easy to understand. It is like there is a canvas over a statue and you just can’t see what is under the canvas, but as soon as the canvas is removed, “Oh, wow! I see it. Spectacular! That is not a mystery. I know exactly who that is. That is a statue of George Washington,” or whatever. So, something has been concealed from New Testament believers that Paul is now removing the canvas to give you another insight into what God is doing in history. And so, the secret is now out. The secret is now revealed. He says, “So that you will not be wise in your own estimation.” This is to say, “So you won’t try to figure this out on your own because you would never figure it out on your own anyway.” This comes from the genius of God, the infinite genius of God, His master plan for human history. So, humble yourself and have a teachable spirit and let God now instruct you in the mystery which you would have never in a thousand million years come to this conclusion. “So that you will not be wise in your own estimation,” now, here is the mystery, “that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved.” Now, there is a lot in that. He says a partial hardening has happened to Israel. What that means is, first of all, not every Jew has been hardened. The one who is writing this book is a Jew, the Apostle Paul. There are other Jews who were with him, Timothy or others in his team, I don’t want to get into Timothy, but there were Jews that were converted in the first century. I mean, look at the day of Pentecost and the vast number of Jews that were converted. In fact, the church in Jerusalem was essentially a Jewish church. So, it wasn’t a full and complete hardening of everyone in that generation, and this also indicates that this hardening is not final. It is only partial chronologically, that there will be an undoing of this hardening, and here’s the time, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” And what that means is until the vast number of Gentiles whom God is going to save according to His predetermined plan and foreknowledge. Once God has brought in the full number of Gentiles who are going to be saved, then God will turn His attention back to the Jew. Then God will bring to the fulfillment, “All Israel will be saved.” So, right now Israel is still sitting on a shelf, having been set aside by God. And God has hardened them, God has blinded them, God has deafened them. They have eyes; they cannot see. They have ears; they cannot hear. They have a heart; they cannot believe. And there, God is working right now predominantly with Gentiles. And when God has brought in the “fullness of the Gentiles,” and I take this to be somewhat of a figure of speech that the vast number of the Gentiles, once they have been brought to faith in Jesus Christ, God will then in the last days turn His attention back to His chosen people whom He set apart beginning with Abraham. And God will bring in a glorious evangelistic harvest of Jews. And the only one who can do this is God, because God is the one who has hardened them and only God and God alone can undo that hardening. God has blinded them. Only God can give them eyes to see. God has deafened them. Only God can give them ears to hear. And so, he says at the beginning of verse 26, “and so,” which has kind of a conclusion feel, “and so,” or so then, “all Israel will be saved.” Well, it is obvious Israel here does not refer to the church. It is referring to ethnic Israel. It is referring to those who are of the lineage coming out of the loins of Abraham. And when it says, “All Israel will be saved,” I think that is to be taken as a figure of speech, as hyperbole, that a vast number, huge number of Jews will be saved in the last days. “Saved,” here means they will be regenerated by the Spirit of God. They will be converted, and they will be brought into saving relationship with Jesus Christ. And so, this large number of Jews will be saved. So, there is a glorious ingathering of souls that is awaiting the last day, especially among the Jewish people around the world. Now, this leads to number four, “the confirmation.” And beginning in the middle of verse 26 and including verse 27, Paul now confirms this truth by citing the Old Testament. And the impact of this is to say to the church in Rome, “This has been in the Bible for centuries.” I am just unveiling the mystery part of this, but in seed form this was made known in the Old Testament. So, he says in verse 26, “Just as it is written,” and he will now first quote Isaiah 59 verse 20, “The Deliverer will come.” In Isaiah, He is referred to as “The Redeemer will come,” and the Deliverer is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, which simply means the Savior will come. Salvation means deliverance from ruin, rescue from impending peril. And so, the word “Deliverer” just simply means Savior. It is nothing complicated. And to be delivered means there is something very threatening that is about to happen to you. And that which is threatening is the wrath of God, Romans 1:18. And at the end of the age, it will be the hatred of the world unleashed upon the nation Israel as it will gather together in the Middle East in an unprecedented military buildup to attempt to annihilate the Jewish people. And there is an anti-Semitism that just will not go away, that tragically is a part of the total depravity and the radical corruption of the human heart, a satanically-inspired hatred of the Jewish people. And this Deliverer will descend from heaven at just the right moment before Israel will be wiped off the map and bring the Jewish people to faith in Christ, and Christ Himself will bodily and physically intervene. So, that is what is being said here, “The Deliverer will come from Zion.” Interestingly, in the Isaiah 59:20 reference, it says that the Deliverer will come to Zion. Here in Romans, this Zion is the heavenly Zion. In Isaiah, it is the earthly Zion, which is Jerusalem. And what this is saying, at the second coming Jesus will come from Zion to Zion. He will come from the heavenly Zion to the earthly Zion. He will come from the throne of God in heaven to the literal city Jerusalem, and there His feet will step onto the Mount of Olives and it will split in two. And when He comes, it says, “He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” Jacob is a reference to the whole nation of Israel. It is one name in place of the whole. It would almost be like Washington D.C. representing the entire United States. And “He will remove ungodliness.” This affirms their conversion to faith in Jesus Christ, and there will be the forgiveness of sins and “this ungodliness will be removed from them” speaks of the dramatic transformation of their life. And then in verse 27, he is merging together two Old Testament quotations into one. It is Isaiah 59:21, which is the next verse in Isaiah 59, and then there is really the bleeding in and the undertone of Jeremiah 31, 33, and 34. “This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” And so, obviously this deliverance is a deliverance from the penalty of sin. It is a deliverance from the pollution and the practice of sin and it speaks to the future conversion of the Jews on the last day. And even Reformed theologians have understood this. Even John Murray, who was the brilliant commentator of Romans who taught at Westminster Theological Seminary, clearly understood that this is ethnic Israel. The only time I flew to Tenth Presbyterian to hear James Montgomery Boice preach, that Sunday night he actually preached Romans 11:26, “And all Israel will be saved.” And James Montgomery Boice, the greatest of all Presbyterian preachers from the last hundred years, clearly understood in the text this is a reference to the Jewish people who will be converted in the last days. And I want to show you in the book of Revelation, maybe now to get into something mildly controversial. Yeah, wait till I get to the questions. Well, I am sorry I talked so long that there will not be… In Revelation 7, just so you will know where I am coming from and you know that I am like an eight-point Calvinist, okay? I am highly Reformed, five are not enough for me, but I am also premillennial and I just have to be. And I take the book of Revelation in a futuristic way. I don’t think Revelation 6 through 18 has ever occurred in human history. The scale of what I read in Revelation 6 through 18 is so beyond any allegorical interpretation. And so, I believe that this is pointing to the last days. But in Revelation chapter 7, there are some interesting things that take place. He says in verse 3, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.” And so, we would ask the question, “So, who are these who will be sealed on their forehead?” And so, he tells us in verse 4, “And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.” You know, simple me, I just take that in its most plain interpretation, whatever it is at face value. Even John Calvin said the interpretation of any passage of Scripture is what is the plainest, most obvious interpretation. So I just take Israel to be Israel. So verse 5, “From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand.” And what is interesting is today no one knows what their tribe is. Only God knows. And what is also interesting, if you take this as a precise number and not just as a representative number, only God could do this because only God knows who is of the tribe of Gad. I mean, no one could try to stage this in other words. No one knows who is the tribe of Reuben. No one knows who is the tribe of Judah, except sovereign God in heaven. And when God saves Israel in the last days, He knows exactly their DNA lineage. He knows exactly. He can go back two thousand years when they were scattered in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem. God knows everything instantly, immediately, perfectly, eternally, and only God will be able to save twelve thousand here, twelve thousand here, twelve thousand here of people who don’t even know what their lineage is, interesting. Verse 6: “From the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from Manasseh twelve thousand, Simeon twelve thousand.” Verse 7, “Levi twelve thousand, Issachar twelve thousand, Zebulun twelve thousand, Joseph twelve thousand, Benjamin twelve thousand.” I think whether you take the number figurative or literal, don’t get hung up with that. Whether it is a 144,000 or whether it just represents a large number, the point is Israel will be saved in the last days, and the point is God knows their tribes. And I am not an amillennialist. I am not a postmillennialist. I don’t think that, you know, Judah represents the Baptist and Reuben represents the Presbyterians and Asher represents the Methodists, and you know, this is a picture of the church. I just take it at face value for what it says, the plainest, clearest, simplest, interpretation. That is what it is. And so, there is going to be this extraordinary conversion in the last day, and these 144,000 will be like evangelists turned loose on the globe, and they will reach other Jews with the gospel, and they will be severely persecuted. And when you come to Revelation 14, these 144,000, “I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” That is what is branded into their forehead. It is the saving knowledge of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. That is what is being pictured here. “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,” which is a celebration instrument, “And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures.” So, I think the Lamb standing on Mount Zion is the heavenly Zion and these 144,000 are no longer on the earth. They actually are before the throne of God in heaven. And it is because they have been martyred and because they have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ at a time at the end of the age when unprecedented and unparalleled persecution will come upon those who name the name of Christ. So, verse 3, “They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures.” Literally translated out of the Greek is “the four living ones” meaning four guardian angels, four living angels who guard the throne of God on the four corners of the throne. “And the elders,” representing all the redeemed of all the ages, “and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth.” In other words, they were converted in such a dramatic fashion and they paid such an extraordinary price for their faith that there is a depth of their knowledge of God and love for Christ that even those already in heaven cannot fully understand as they have gone through the deep waters of the great tribulation and unleashed persecution upon them. They sing a song that even the elders are not quite as familiar with that song. Verse 4, “These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.” Verse 5, “And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.” And it speaks of the dramatic conversion that they will undergo. And as you recall when I read Romans 11:26, it says, “He will remove ungodliness from Jacob and take away their sins.” This is just an echo of the ungodliness that will be removed, the blatant womanizing and immorality and adultery, even pornography, etc., etc., etc., that when they are converted it says they will not defile themselves with women anymore. They will be chaste. They will be preserved in purity and cleanliness, which will cause them to stand out like bright shining stars on a dark night as they live in the last chapter of human history. So, I know I’ve opened Pandora’s Box, and I know that some are in shock to hear these words come from my mouth. And so, whatever questions you have, whatever comment you want to make, I am more than happy to let Kent answer those for you. So, if there is anyone here in the room…I will tell you what. I didn’t even end with some application. Let me just end with some application. Let me do that. Let me give you three words. I see my son James over there with a “So what?” So we got to have a “So what?” Number one, rest. You need to rest in the fact that God is sovereignly in control of human history. He is directing all events to their appointed end. And even as you know, rumblings, the coronavirus, and interestingly enough, well, I won’t get into anymore…no, no, no, I won’t get into anymore Revelation. Interestingly enough, one of the judgments is “pestilence.” So, we just need to rest that God has it all under control, and we need to act wisely and take precautions and act responsibly. But God has already appointed the end and He has already appointed all the means to that end. So, you can just rest in God’s sovereignty over human history. Second, realize. Having looked at this, we need to realize afresh that salvation is of the Lord, that every new birth is a divine miracle, that God is active and man is passive, that God is the seeker, not man. The Bible says, “There is none who seeks after God, no not one.” If you had a seeker-sensitive church service, the only person to show up would be God. God is the seeker and God is the one who draws people to Himself so that we will seek the Lord. “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.” But the initiator of all seeking is God. God is the one who cuts off the branch. God is the one who grafts in the branch. Salvation is of the Lord. So, we need to realize afresh from this passage that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ today, it is because God pursued you, because God sought you, and God grafted you in to the place of blessing and you are now in union and communion with God through His Son Jesus Christ. So, all praise goes to God for your salvation. So, afresh again this morning, give glory to God for your place in this olive tree. And then third, rejoice. Rejoice that God has taken away your sins. Rejoice that God has removed your ungodliness. Rejoice that He has grafted you into the place of blessing, a place that you would have never known on your own, and even your worst days are good days because God has opened the windows of heaven and has poured out His blessing upon your life. Even your worst days are good days because of what God has done in your life. So, there is the closing, and I will tell you what. I will give you a fourth R, “repent.” And if you have never repented of your sins and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ…I don’t know where we are on God’s calendar, but I will tell you this: we are closer to the time of the return of Christ than we have ever been before. I will tell you that. And if you have never believed in Christ, you need to stop procrastinating because there is going to be the time when there will be no more time and there will be no second chance. You either believe in Christ in this lifetime or you will never believe in Him. And so, repent, turn away from your sin, turn away from your false religion, and turn to the one true living God through His Son Jesus Christ and He will save you, and He will graft you in to the fullness of His blessing. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” His supply far exceeds your needs. His supply far exceeds whatever demand you would have. So, turn to Him and He is your all-sufficient Savior.

Tree-mendous Theology – Romans 11:22-24

OnePassion Ministries December 12, 2019

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Father, as we come now to look into Your Word, we ask that You would give us eyes to see the truth that is taught in Your Word. And I pray for these men that You will use Your Word to conform them yet further into the image of Christ. Fill me with Your Spirit. Put Your hand upon me for good that I could be an instrument used this morning. In Christ’s name. Amen. Okay, take your Bibles, Romans chapter 11, and we are going to look at just verse 22 because this is a very important verse for us to understand. So, Romans 11 verse 22, as we continue our walk through the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul writes, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.” So, what does this mean? And what does it mean for us? Occasionally, as I go through teaching a book in the Bible, I come to a verse that unexpectedly just grabs me by the lapels and pulls me forward. And that is what happened with me in this verse. When we sent out the memo, I would be covering verses 22 through 24, and I thought that would be too few verses. And so, as I began writing out some notes for this, verse 22 just really dominated my thoughts. So, that is what we are going to look at today. In order to understand this verse, just to remind you a principle of interpretation, a law of interpretation. You never take one verse and read through the one verse the entire rest of the Bible. You do the very opposite. You bring the entire rest of the Bible to bear upon one verse. The tail is not wagging the dog; the dog is wagging the tail. And in order to understand this verse, we need to understand the full counsel of God and the full breadth of what the entire rest of the Bible teaches. And there are two truths, two doctrines that are necessary for us to understand in order to rightly interpret this verse, and those two doctrines are the doctrine of election, sovereign election, and the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. And those two truths are inseparably bound together. The doctrine of sovereign election has been taught in Romans 8, especially in Romans 9, the entire chapter is about sovereign election, and again now in Romans chapter 11. The doctrine of election states that before time began, before the foundation of the world, God chose those whom He would save, and He passed over the rest and left them in their sin; and so, God set His heart upon those whom He chose to give to His Son to be His chosen bride. Inseparably connected with that is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, that all of the elect will persevere in their pursuit of personal holiness and godliness. There are many truths that would be placed in between those two doctrines in what we call the ordo salutis, the order of salvation. Other subsequent doctrines of the death of Christ, the conviction and calling and regeneration of the Holy Spirit, justification, sanctification, the beginning of sanctification, all that leads up to the perseverance of the saints, which goes beyond the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer. That is only one part of the perseverance of the saints. The eternal security of the believer is what has been reduced down to a pithy little saying, “Once saved always saved.” “Once a believer always a believer,” and that is true, but there is more to the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints than simply the eternal security of the believer. The perseverance of the saints says that those who are secure in their salvation, not only will they never fall away from grace, but they will also continue to live a godly life, and their election will be made sure by the necessary fruit of Christ-likeness that will be produced in their lives. Therefore, you can identify who the elect are after they have come to faith in Christ because there will be a radically changed life that they will continue in until the day they die. So, it is a very important doctrine for us to understand. So, let us just hop into this because I really want to cover the whole New Testament if I could possibly have the time to do this. So, just taking verse 22, with careful Bible study methods, I have divided it into five sections, okay? And we will take them in the order in which they appear in our Bible. The first thing I want you to note is “The Consideration,” “The Careful Consideration,” because verse 22 Paul begins by calling us to give careful attention to something. He says, “Behold then the kindness and severity of the Lord.” This is so important that Paul begins this verse with the word “Behold,” and you need to behold the word “behold.” The word “behold” means to look at something very carefully. It means to inspect something with scrutiny. It means to give attention to, to examine something, to consider with the mind. So, I don’t want us to just blow past this when Paul is waving a red flag and drawing our attention to what follows. So, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God.” Those two divine attributes are the heads and tails of the same coin. In the center is the holiness of God, and there is holy kindness and there is holy severity with God. I also want to draw to your attention to the word “and.” Many times the word “and” can be of utmost importance. The word “and” welds these two together and we cannot consider one without considering the other. This is not either/or; it is both/and. And in order for us to have a right understanding of who God is, we cannot sacrifice one at the expense of the other. And the tendency today is to be so locked in on the kindness of God that the severity of God is just not politically correct. It is inappropriate discussion on Sunday morning from the pulpit, and nothing can be further from the truth because if we only lock in on the kindness of God and not the severity of God we have really created a caricature of God that is demeaning to Him. And so, I want to take both of these one at a time and I want to do it as quickly as I can. The kindness of God is really synonymous with His saving grace. It is synonymous with His saving mercy and His redeeming love. Specifically, a word study of the word “kindness,” which was used earlier in Romans 2 verse 4 is the goodness of the heart of God towards those who are helpless and in great need of His help. The word “kindness” means His benevolence in action, and it encompasses really Romans 1 through 8. That one word “kindness” is an umbrella over Romans 1 through 8; electing grace, predestinating grace, calling grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace, glorifying grace. All of that is represented in the word “kindness,” which is a very endearing word for His saving grace. And we need to behold the saving grace of God. But he then adds “and.” So, don’t lose sight of this either, “the severity of God.” And Paul makes no apologies for adult conversation here. He has no apology for the severity of God. And the meaning literally of the word “severity” means to be cut off, to be cut off abruptly and sharply and decisively, not a slowness about it, and another synonym would be “sternness,” “roughness.” So, on one side is the gentle, gracious kindness of God, but on the other side is the sharp, stern severity of God to drop the hammer, and both of these are necessary in order for us to have a right understanding of who God is. And these have been joined together in Romans 9, for example. They are joined together throughout the entire Bible and throughout the entire book of Romans, but just to isolate one little place, just turn back to Romans 9 for a second just so you can see the kindness and the severity of God just back to back in one verse. In Romans 9 verse 14, we read “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.” There God’s redeeming love is His kindness and His reprobation in the doctrine of divine hatred, and I take this in a literal way, is the severity of God. If you would look at verse 18 in the same chapter of Romans 9, you read, “God has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires.” There again is the kindness and severity of God in just one verse. And if you look at verses 22 and 23 in Romans 9, I just want you to see this that Paul who is a master teacher, he is a black and white teacher. There is very little gray with Paul. He draws a sharp line in the sand and distinguishes the kindness and the severity of God. In Romans 9:22, he talks about “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” That is the severity of God, and then in verse 23, “vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.” There is the kindness of God. So, we all deserve God’s severity. There is not a person who has ever been born into this world who does not deserve the severity of God. Just one sin against a holy God merits the death penalty of eternal death. So, we understand the severity of God. Quite frankly, what is hard to get our arms around is the kindness of God, but God has demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so, there is this undeserved kindness of God. And so, Paul begins this verse by saying, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God.” And we cannot sacrifice one at the expense of the other. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. They are of equal importance, and they are both equally true, and they are both equally necessary to understand the holiness of God. So, this leads now secondly to “the condemnation.” So, come back to Romans 11 and verse 22, and Paul now addresses those who receive God’s severity. He says, “To those who fell, severity.” “Those” refer to unbelieving Jews in this larger context of Romans 9, 10, and 11. It is very obvious. And in fact, in verse 11 earlier, he talked about those who stumble to as “fall,” and this is a reference to unbelieving Jews and it says, “who fell.” This Greek word for “fell” means to descend from a higher place to a lower place. It means to descend from an erect position to a very prostrate position. And so, unbelieving Jews fell into the severity of God. This does not mean that they fell away from salvation because no one can lose their salvation, Romans 8:29 and 30. That was abundantly clear. There is no need for us to retrace our steps on what is so obviously taught in the Bible. No one can fall away from grace, fall away from salvation. That is impossible. So, what is this “falling away” here? Well, that’s what the word “apostasy” means. It means a falling away. And they have fallen away from the place of privilege with God, privileged to hear the Word of God, privileged to make some sense of the Word of God in a general way. They have fallen away from the place of opportunity with God. They have fallen away from being relatively near to God and close to God. In fact, in Ephesians 2, which I read to you last week, Paul wrote that “Jesus came,” in Ephesians 2:17, “and preached peace to you who were far away,” that is the Gentiles, “and to those of you who are near,” that is the Jew. It doesn’t mean that they were saved. It just means they were near. They were close to, but had not yet come all the way to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And because of their blatant rejection of the gospel in the first century and their crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, they have fallen away from the privileged place of blessing to be near to the promises of God. And God has severely now cut them off, so much so, as we saw earlier in Romans 11 verse 8, God gave them a spirit of stupor. Please note the devil didn’t do this and they didn’t give it to themselves. It was God, the holiness of God, that gave them a spirit of stupor, means it rendered them intellectually incapable of responding to the gospel. And God gave them eyes to see not. God blinded any spiritual sight that they would have had. And ears to hear not; God deafened their ears. This is God who was doing this, because they have committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for which there is no forgiveness. And that is taught in Matthew chapter 12. So, this is a very severe condemnation in which they find themselves. You just can’t get there from here. You have hit the point of no return with God. And so, the word “severity” here, the second time it is used in verse 22 means they fell under a fuller measure of condemnation and justly so. God would cease to be holy if this was not so. They justly deserved to receive the severity of God. And I will give you four reasons why they justly deserved to receive the severity of God. Number one, because of Adam’s sin that has been imputed to them in Romans chapter 5. And when Adam sinned, they sinned, and his sin was charged to their account. Second, because of their sin nature, because of what they are. Third, because of acts of sin, because of what they do. And fourth, because of the sin of unbelief and rejecting the free offer of the gospel in Jesus Christ. And for those four reasons, they deserve the severity of God just like any Gentile deserves the severity of God. And this severity of God is found in Hebrews 10 verses 30 and 31, in which God says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” “The Lord will judge His people,” “His people” referring to the Jews. “It is a terrifying thing,” verse 31 says, “to fall into the hands of the living God.” That is not in the Old Testament, by the way. That is in the New Testament. And so, this is the condemnation that we see in verse 22. And it should sober each and every one of us. God is not a celestial grandfather just patting sinners on their head and asking them, “Could you try a little harder and do a little better?” No, God is actually cutting off, blinding, and deafening eyes and ears with those who play fast and loose with the truth when it is presented to them. It is a very rare thing for someone to be converted on their deathbed. It is a very rare thing for someone to be converted in their seventies or in their sixties or in their fifties if they are not already converted. It is a very rare thing because they have hit the point of no return with God. Now, third, I want you to see “the compassion.” We are back in Romans 11:22 and I just want to give careful attention to this verse and not to hydroplane over this verse and just skim the surface. This is a Bible study and I want us to get down into the roots of this verse. Now, “The Compassion” is in the middle of verse 22. We continue. Paul writes, “But to you, God’s kindness.” So, God is not a socialist who gives everybody the same amount and gives them the same thing. It is not a one size fits all treatment with God. God gives severity to some and God gives kindness to others. So, when he says, “but to you,” the “you” refers to believing Gentiles in this passage. They receive God’s kindness. So rather than them falling away and falling down, God does the very opposite with these Gentiles. They are lifted up by His gracious hand to the place of salvation. And for God to give them kindness–they actually deserve severity just like unbelieving Jews deserve severity, but because of God’s electing grace, because of His redeeming grace, and because of His regenerating grace, God gives them not what they deserve. God withholds what they deserve, and instead, God gives them what they do not deserve but what they so greatly need, which is salvation. This is nothing more, nothing less than the saving grace of God. And we read earlier in Romans 9:15, God said, “I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion.” He does not have mercy upon all, and He does not have compassion upon all. He gives mercy and compassion only to those whom He has chosen to give mercy and compassion. So, this should be cause for us who have received God’s compassion to be greatly humbled and to be overwhelmed with the kindness of God toward us. There is nothing better about us than an unbelieving Jew or an unbelieving Gentile. It is simply that God by His sovereign will chose to bestow upon us kindness rather than what He has given to others, severity. Now, this gets to the heart of why I want to dig down into this verse. All of that is simply to lead us now to number four, “The Continuation.” And what we see here is all who receive God’s kindness will continue to live in His kindness, and the major emphasis here is upon the word “continue.” I hope that is in your translation. Paul continues that you can identify those who receive God’s kindness. He says, “If you continue in His kindness.” In other words, you have received God’s kindness if you continue in God’s kindness. I am sure that you can see that here. The “you” refers to Gentiles, refers to believing Gentiles. The word “kindness” is a compound word in the original language. When you take Greek in seminary, the very first word they teach you is this word. You learn how to conjugate a verb, and it is the Greek word meno, m-e-n-o, which means “to abide.” It is translated in John 15, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” There is a prefix put in front of meno, epi, e-p-i, which intensifies the abiding, and the idea is that you will continue to abide, you will continue to remain. And the word “abide,” synonyms would be “to continue in,” “to remain in,” “as you rely upon.” So, he says here you have received God’s kindness in justification, in the beginning of sanctification, and you can have the assurance of your glorification if you continue in His kindness. Now, let me tell you what this is not teaching and then I am going to tell you what it is teaching. This is not teaching that you have to continue in His kindness in order to be saved. No, what it is teaching is that if you are saved you will continue in His kindness. God is giving more than just forgiveness. God is giving far more than just the cancellation of the penalty of sin. God is actually radically changing your life from the inside out, and it will be a lifelong on-site project that God will carry out in your life. There will be times of disobedience, yes. There may be seasons of apathy, yes. But on the big picture, God will be so at work in the life of the one who is truly converted to Christ that even if there is one step back, there will be five steps forward that God will continue to advance your sanctification because Philippians 2 verse 13, “It is God who is at work within you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” And that is what this is teaching. So, in the life of everyone who is elected by God from before the foundation of the world and called out of the world within time into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, they will, they will, they will continue in His kindness. This is the biblical doctrine of what we call “the perseverance of the saints,” that they will persevere in the pursuit of holiness. They will persevere, some slower than others, some faster than others. There are many different circumstances that are brought to bear upon the acceleration of some people’s Christian growth and maturity and the stagnation or slower development of other people’s spiritual growth. And we could talk about that at some point; but nevertheless, the ball is being moved down the field towards the end zone. And even if there is a 5-yard penalty, there is going to be a 15-yard gain, and there is going to be this continual advancement as it would be put on a chart of growing towards Christ-likeness. So, that is what this is clearly teaching. Now, I want to give you the fifth and final heading which is “The Counterfeits,” and that is at the end of verse 22. And Paul recognizes that there are people who profess to know Christ and who have supposedly prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, raised a hand, joined a church, been baptized, but they do not continue in the Lord’s kindness. They fall away. So what are we to make of them? Well, Paul addresses that at the end of verse 22: “Otherwise,” meaning on the other hand, by stark contrast, “you,” and here the “you” refers to professing Gentiles, who say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but who continue to live in choosing sin over obedience to Christ, who profess Christ but do not possess Christ. “Otherwise, you will be cut off.” And to “be cut off” here is to be cut off by God from the place of blessing, not to lose your salvation but you have crossed the line with God and God will give you a shove in the direction that you are wanting to go and you will not return back to this place of blessing. And I will give you a cross-reference here, and it is Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6, which is one of the most controversial passages in the Bible. I never do a conference anywhere around the world and there is a Q&A but that somebody does not raise the hand. I need to have the answer just queued up on a microphone or on a playlist where I could just speed dial the answer. In fact, I was just asked this in Cebu City in the Philippines and I gave like a twenty-five-minute answer. I am going to give you a very shortened version of this. Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6. This is referring to someone who has never been saved, who was a Jewish person. That is why the book of Hebrews is called, hello? Hebrews. That is why Philippians is called “Philippians.” Hebrews is called this because it is addressed to Jews who have not yet come all the way to faith in Jesus Christ, who are in the church but as they count the cost of what this is going to cost them to commit their life to Christ they have not yet come all the way to faith in Christ. They know that they will be de-synagogued. They know that there will be a funeral service held by their family, they will bury their clothes, and it will be as if you are dead to your family. They will be cut off from all business relationships. You will be ostracized. And so, they are holding back from coming all the way to faith in Christ. And there are five warning passages in the book of Hebrews, and you take them all together as a unit. Hebrews 2:1 through 4, Hebrews 3:7 through 4:13. Right here, Hebrews 6, then Hebrews 10:26 to 31, and then Hebrews 12 in the latter middle part of the chapter. I preached this one time at John MacArthur’s church, all five of these in one sermon. There were so many people in the elders’ prayer room that they couldn’t contain people who were concerned for their souls, and it spilled out into the sanctuary, and they are having to recruit more elders to come and talk to people. These are potent verses, not to be trifled with. So, this is the middle of the five. And in Hebrews 6 verse 4, this is addressed to unbelieving Jews who have not yet come all the way to faith in Christ. If you don’t understand that, the book of Hebrews is not going to make any sense to you. “For in the case of those,” verse 4, “who have been enlightened,” because they’ve heard the truth of the gospel, “and have tasted of the heavenly gift,” they have tasted but they haven’t swallowed. They have tasted but they have not digested. I was at the grocery store the other day and a person had a little piece of cheese on a toothpick. And they said, “Here, you want to taste this?” They were trying to get me to buy in for the whole amount, and I passed on it because there were things in that piece of cheese that were touching the cheese. So, I couldn’t go there. So, these have merely tasted, but they hadn’t swallowed. “And have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.” That is the only troublesome part of these verses. They have only been made partakers of the influence of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And if this was the only verse in the entire Bible, I would go, “Okay, yeah, this is a believer.” But as I read the entire rest of the Bible, it is impossible to come to that position. Verse 5, “And have tasted the good Word of God.” Again, they haven’t swallowed it. They have only tasted it. And at the end of verse 5: “And the powers of the age to come.” They have heard some sermons on prophecy and heaven and the end of the age and the second coming of Christ and the world to come, and that has been intellectually stimulating for them and that has been rather enlarging of their interest in spiritual things. Verse six, “And then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance,” meaning to the point of repentance though they had not come all the way to repentance. “Since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” And so, their life is described in verses 7 and 8. “The ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles and is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned,” in hell forever. Verse 9, “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things of you.” So, verse 9 begins addressing true believers. Previous verses 4 through 8 are unbelievers. That is just very obvious. So, what Paul is addressing in Romans 11 verse 22 when he says here, “Otherwise, you will be cut off,” he is recognizing that in the church at Rome, as this letter will be read, there will be some tares among the wheat. There will be some Judases among the twelve. There will be some bad fish caught in the same net with the good fish. There will be some foolish virgins who fail to trim their lamps sitting next to wise virgins who did trim their lamps with oil. And so, he is saying, “Listen, if you’re one of these who is not continuing in the faith and continuing in the kindness of the Lord, and one of these like in the parable of the sower and the four soils, and one of these that just kind of pop up overnight, and then you fall away very quickly and you do not continue and you are someone who only had temporary faith, which is not true saving faith, it is only a pseudo false faith, you are going to be cut off and you are going to be cast down into hell. And it will be shown that you were never ever born again to begin with, because the faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first. It was not true saving faith.” And I have seen them my entire life. I graduated from seminary in 1980, and so that is however many years that is that is approaching forty years. I have inherited churches with church members like this who are members of the church, they are just not members of the kingdom of heaven, and they know how to play the game very, very well. They know the vocabulary. They know how to find things in the Bible. They have a personal relationship with the pastor. They just don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And maybe momma and daddy were members of the church, and they may have their last name on a little plaque on something down at Fellowship Hall, but they do not know the Lord. It is Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” So, what is the distinguishing mark of the true believer that separates him from the professing Christian but who is in reality an unbeliever? It is perseverance in the faith. Anybody can be excited, go to summer camp, and be excited about spiritual things. Anybody can just have an initial burst of energy. It is not how you start the race; it is “Do you finish the race?” Because the elect of God will finish the race. And I am speaking very dogmatically here, and I need to, because the Scripture is very clear. And we live in a part of the country where, I mean there is a church on every corner. There are a lot of churches that are filled with unregenerate, unconverted church members. But it is not unique to Dallas, Texas. It is around the world. Now, with the time that I have that remains, lick your fingers and get ready. I want to just fly through the New Testament as quickly as I can and load your boats. So Matthew chapter 10 and verse 22, Matthew 10:22. I am just going to have to hit these on the run. Jesus is talking about discipleship here. “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.” This is not saying, hear me clearly on this, this is not saying that you won’t be saved until the end. This is not saying you have to endure to the end in order to reach a plateau of salvation. What this is saying is, is if you are truly saved, you will endure in your faith and in your obedience and in your pursuit of godliness all the way to the end. Come to John chapter 8 and verse 31. You are going to have to turn quicker than that now. I am not hearing enough pages turning. John chapter 8 and verse 31, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly disciples of Mine.” Hello? “If you continue, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” Now, this is in contrast, go back to John 6 and verse 66, with false believers, false disciples. “As a result of this,” and the “this” refers back to the previous verse, sovereign grace and sovereign election. “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” They didn’t continue, and it shows that they were just like a weed that popped up overnight and then fell away once the hot noonday sun arose. And verse 67, “Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ And Peter said, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have words of eternal life.'” The elect continue; the non-elect fall away and will not walk with the Lord any longer. John 15 verse 6. I have got these in consecutive order to make it easy. John 15 verse 6, “If anyone does not abide in Me,” and here’s our Greek word meno, which means “continue” or “remain,” “as you rely upon.” “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” Those who do not continue in their abiding give evidence that they were never converted to begin with. Come to Romans chapter 2 and verse 7, Romans chapter 2 and verse 7. “To those who by perseverance.” There is the word for endurance, the marathon, all the way to the finish. They are not running little fifty-yard dashes. They are persevering in the marathon of the race of faith, “To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” It is those who persevere in doing good are those who will step into the fullest and final measure of eternal life which is life with God in heaven. Come to Romans 5. What I want you to see is in verse 3, but I want to start in verse 1, “Having been justified by faith.” So, please note the verb tense there, “having been.” It has already happened, “having been justified by faith.” He is addressing this to people who are already in right standing with God. “We have peace with God,” in other words, the warfare with God is over, “through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith into His grace. It is only an introduction with justification. There will then be sanctification in which it will be more than just an introduction. It will be a continuation in grace. “In which we stand, and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” Now, verse 3: “And not only this, but we also.” So, all this is a package deal. It is not a multiple-choice where you get to pick and choose a few of these. These are all links in the same chain that are welded together. They are inseparably bound together. If you get the first link, you get the whole chain. “And not only this, we also exult,” meaning rejoice, “in our tribulations,” referring to the difficulty that comes to us because of our walk with Christ, “knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance.” Verse 4, “and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.” And hope here refers to a certain assurance of salvation. You see perseverance there in your Bible. It is a necessary component part of all true salvation. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 2. Paul is talking about the gospel in verse 1, “The gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you stand.” So, he is addressing this to believers who have heard the gospel. They have received the gospel by faith, and they now stand in the gospel. They are anchored immovably, eternally in the gospel. Now verse 2, “by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.” You will have believed in vain if you do not hold fast to the Word of God for the duration of your life here upon the earth. Saving faith did not originate with you. Saving faith is the gift of God that He gives to the elect when they are regenerated, and He gives a faith that will never stop believing. He gives a faith, it may weaken at times, it may stumble, but it will never stop believing and it will never stop moving forward by faith in obedience to the Word of God. So, he says here in verse 2 as clear as a bell. You may know that you are saved and you may know that you have received the gospel and are standing in the gospel, not because you walked an aisle and raised a hand and signed a card, hell is full of people like that, but because you hold fast to the Word of God and you will not let go. And in reality, God has a hold of you and He will not let go. Now, come to Colossians 1. This is even clearer if that is even possible. In Colossians chapter 1, let me start in verse 21. What I want you to see is in verse 23. In verse 21, he talks about their state before conversion. He says, “You were formerly alienated,” meaning you were a foreigner to the kingdom of God, “and hostile in mind,” you were in opposition to God, “and engaged in evil deeds.” That is across the board for every unbeliever. “Yet,” verse 22, “He has now reconciled you in His flesh.” You are reconciled to God. You are no longer alienated from God. You are now reconciled to God. And He will, verse 22, “present you before Him holy and blameless.” Now, verse 23 starts with that big word “if.” You can know this is true, if indeed, which just further emphasizes this, “if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away,” that is another way of saying not falling away, “from the hope of the gospel which you have heard.” Conclusion: Everyone who has been reconciled to God continues in the faith. How long do they continue? As long as they are on this earth, until their dying breath they will continue all the way. Now, let us keep it going here. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 4, “We ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.” This is just the mark of every believer. This isn’t restricted to the believers in Thessalonica as if they have some grace that the rest of the churches do not receive. No, the mark of the elect is that they persevere in the faith even in the midst of persecutions and tribulations. Come to Hebrews chapter 3. You’ve got to see this in Hebrews. I mean this is so clear. And men, this is an important doctrine that we are nailing down right here. Hebrews chapter 3 and in verse 6, “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are,” referring to believers. We are the house of God. We are the temple of God. “If,” here is this word ‘if’ again, “we hold fast our confidence and boast of our hope firm,” how long? Until the end. The mark of the true believer is they hold fast to their confession and to their pursuit of godliness firm until the end. I am going to tell you again, the faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first. It was a bogus faith. Now, look at verse 14, and the writer of Hebrews here is trying to shake loose these unconverted Jews who have only come halfway to Christ but they haven’t come through the narrow gate. He is saying, “Listen, it is all or nothing. You just can’t sit here in church and listen to the Word of God and say, ‘Amen’ and shake your head. You’re going to have to lay hold of this, and if you truly lay hold of it there is no going back. You have burned your bridges behind you. You are not going to become a Christian and stop being a Christian if you’ve truly believed.” So, verse 14, “We have become partakers of Christ if,” here is the word ‘if’, “we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm,” how long? “Until the end.” This is the perseverance of the saints. Come to Hebrews 12 verse 1. So, this is what Paul says in Hebrews 12:1, “Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Endurance, hupomone, to bear up under the pressure and the stress and the strain as we move forward by faith. It is not a hundred-yard dash. It is not a fifty-yard dash. It is a marathon all the way to the end. Alright, come to 2 Peter. We are going to get this in. I think there is a glare on the clock. I am having trouble reading it. Alright, 2 Peter 2 verse 20, “For if, after they,” and please note he is not saying “we.” There is a difference between when the apostles say “we” and “they.” “We” is us; “they” is them. “We” is us on the inside of the kingdom; “they” is those on the outside of the kingdom. “For if they have escaped the defilement of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them.” In other words, they morally cleaned up their life, but they were never regenerated on the inside. I have seen many people, they get married, they have kids. They go, “You know, I just need to get my life in order.” They come and join the church. They have just never been born again in their heart. And so, there is an initial moral step. You know, they will join a Sunday school class, get into a couples’ class, and they begin to walk in a moral direction, but then they go on the road as a salesman. They fall back into temptation. Next thing you know, you never see the guy. The wife is coming to church by herself. So, what do we say about this guy who gave his testimony to the elders and signed a card and checked a box, but now in fact, he may have joined a cult over here someplace? Was he saved and lost his salvation? No. Was he saved and can just now live like the devil the rest of his life? No. He was never saved to begin with. He just went back to the entanglements of the world, which is his first love. You say, “How do I know this?” Well, let me just make it quick. Verse 22, he describes this person, “It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to his vomit,’ and ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallow in the mire.'” Listen, the dog returns to his vomit because he loves vomit, and the pig returns to the mire because he loves mud. And the one who made a moral outward change in their life, but were never changed on the inside, it is just a matter of time. They are a ticking time bomb. It is just a matter of time until they go back to the mud and they go back to eat the vomit. Why? Because that is where their heart is, that is what they love. So, what we are seeing here is the perseverance of the true saint. They are not a dog going to their vomit. They are not a pig going to the mud. They are a sheep following the Shepherd into green pastures and beside still waters. That is what sheep do as they follow their shepherd. And their Good Shepherd doesn’t lead them to vomit; He leads them to green pastures. Now, I have got to give you this. Come to 1 John 2 verse 19. Give me just a little sudden death here, 1 John 2 verse 19. Everybody loves sudden death, right? I didn’t get an “Amen.” So, verse 19. Thank you, thank you! “They.” Now, please notice it is not “we,” it is “they.” That means they are on the outside. They are not one of us. Oh, they were in the building with us, but their heart was never lined up with us. Their soul was never knit to our soul. “They went out from us,” meaning they fell away from the church, “but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained,” you could say, ‘continued’ with us. “But they went out, so that it might be shown that they all are not of us.” This is the perspicuity of Scripture. This is the lucid clarity of Scripture. Now, I have one last verse. Alright, Revelation 14 verse 12, and I will wrap it up with this, though I have got more. Revelation 14 verse 12, “Here is the perseverance of the saints.” How do we know who the saints are? Well, number one, they persevere. Number two, “who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” All true saints will continue to keep the commandments. “Keep” is a present tense verb. It is a habitual lifestyle. Sure, there will be times, individual isolated times, when they don’t obey the Lord. That will be true of me today and you today at some point, but it is not talking about the perfection of your life; it is talking about the direction of your life. You are now headed in a new direction, and you will keep the commandments. You will. That is an indicative statement. And you will keep your faith in Jesus. You will not punt on first down. You will continue to have faith in Jesus to the end. And even if you are put in tribulation and persecution for your faith, God will give you dying grace and sustaining grace that you would persevere. So, we got all these verses in, and I had other verses as well, but I want you to see when you pull all these together, now Romans 11 verse 22 is abundantly clear. “Otherwise, you will be cut off.” He is not saying that a true born-again believer will be cut off. He is saying, “Otherwise, if you do not continue in His kindness, you will be cut off” because you were never in His kindness to begin with. You deserve the severity that will fall upon you. Well, I have got to end this, and I am sure there is a bunch of questions and feedback. We will just have to pick it up next year. This is the last study, but I could not go speeding past this verse without pulling over and parking and teaching theology. Every expositor must be a theological expositor and teach sound doctrine as he works through books in the Bible. And this is a critically important doctrine because you know people at work and you know people in your family who started well but they never finished well, and they have left the track, they have left the stadium. So, what are we going to do? Well, we need to have discernment spiritually to know we got to go to them with the gospel. And we have got to have even the boldness to say, “Have you examined yourself to see if you are in the faith?” Is there the fruit of a changed life that we see beginning with attitudes even before we get to actions? Because in everyone who is born again, there will be this kindness of the Lord seen in their life. There will be the overruling principle of love that will dominate their life as they will love God and they will love their neighbor as themselves, and the kindness of God shown to them will be a kindness that they will now in turn show to others. Otherwise, they have reason to give serious thought as to, “Are you truly one who has received the kindness of the Lord?” Well, I need to close in a word of prayer because I see the clock. Thank you for hanging in with me here for the coin toss and sudden death. Father, give us understanding of these verses. I know we have taken in a lot here, but this is incredibly important that we understand this. So, I pray for my brothers here that You will open the eyes of their understanding, and by the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit shine light to understand what the Scripture is teaching in this. Father, may we persevere, may we continue in the kindness of the Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Pride Crusher – Romans 11:17-21

OnePassion Ministries December 5, 2019

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So, Father, as we come now to look into Your Word, we ask for the ministry of Your Holy Spirit to be powerfully at work within our minds, within our hearts, that He would grant us understanding of the passage and that our hearts would be greatly affected by what we study and what we see. I pray for these men as we have gathered here that You would just continue to take them on their journey as they walk by faith with You and follow Christ. And for all who are watching by way of live stream, I pray that You would meet personally with each and every person and that Your Word would come strongly to their hearts. So, Father, we commit ourselves to You. Use me now as an instrument, stimulate my mind and my heart so that I can be a faithful teacher. In Christ’s name. Amen. Okay, we are in Romans 11, men. Romans 11, and our focus this morning is on verses 17 through 21. And you know, as you go verse by verse through a book in the Bible, there are certain verses that just stand out that you are familiar with, that you are drawn to, and then there are other verses that you are not as familiar with. And there is a sense which I am familiar with all of these verses, but this one is one that might be easily passed over and so many times they yield the greatest blessing. So, Romans 11, I am going to read the text, verses 17 through 21. Paul writes, “But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree.” I think you understand why these are more obscure, “do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.” So what do these verses teach? What are they about? Let us get the big picture first. We are in a large major section of the book of Romans, Romans 9 through 11. The big picture is on the sovereign election of God, the doctrine of predestination, and specifically of Jews and Gentiles. That is the big picture. And this is Romans 9 through 11. It is the strongest teaching in the entire Bible on the subject of sovereign election, that God has chosen before the foundation of the world those whom He will save and He has passed over others. Now, we might say to ourselves as I have read these verses, “So, what does this have to do with me? Why couldn’t I’ve been here on a Sunday or on a Thursday morning when the verses really connected with my heart? What is this about? And how does this affect me?” Well, nothing hardly could be more practical for your Christian life than the subject of the doctrine of sovereign election, and I could make a long list of twenty practical applications for our lives from this truth. This is a game changing truth that is taught in the Bible. But just to pull one of those threads, just to pull out one arrow out of the quiver, it would be humility, that the doctrine of election is the greatest pride-crusher. I think, along with the atonement of Christ and His substitutionary death, this truth should drop us to our knees, what we are looking at today. It should put the fear of God in every one of us. And if it doesn’t put fear into your heart, you are not quite there yet on really paying attention to what God is saying in this text. In fact, what we are looking at should cause us to tremble literally. In Philippians 2:13, it says, “God is at work within you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” The previous verse, it says, “Work out your salvation in fear and trembling.” There should literally be an aspect of this that causes us to tremble on the inside, and that is a missing note in Christianity today. We just want everyone to be comfortable. We want everyone to be at ease. We want everyone to be just filled and flooded with joy, and rightly so, but we don’t want a Christianity that produces trembling, that produces the fear of God within us. This text does and it is actually specifically stated that we are to fear, we are to fear God. So, every one of us needs the practical application of these verses, which is pointed at humility. Now, if anyone of us here today say, “You know, I don’t need any more humility,” then you need it more than anyone else in the room, okay? It is kind of like the church that ran a contest to see who is the most humble man in the church, and they gave him a button. He then wore it to church next Sunday, and they took it away from him. So, he lost it real quick. So, what is humility? Humility is lowliness of mind. It means literally to think or judge with lowliness. And it is to assume a lowly posture under God and under others. It involves self-denial and a lowly walk of serving the interests of God and others rather than yourself. So, that is going to be the bottom line of this study. And I need this in large measures. God knows I need this in large measures, and I believe every one of us does as well. So let us just begin to walk through this passage starting in verse 17. I want you to see the admonition. It is in verse 17 and the first part of verse 18. And an admonition is a warning, and the warning will come at the first part of verse 18, but verse 17 is the setup for the warning. So let us begin with verse 17. He says, “But if some of the branches.” The branches here refer to unbelieving Jews. We know that in the context from verses 7 through 10, and this really flows out of verse 16. Just to try to make this as simple as possible, verse 16 talks about the root and the branches. I think you see that. The root are the promises of salvation that God gave to Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12, Genesis 15, Genesis 17, and the branches are ethnic Israel that is growing out of the root. Now he says, “If some of the branches.” The word “if” really should be “since.” It is what we call a “first class condition” in grammar, and it really is, “since some of the branches,” and it is really “most of the branches.” The vast majority of Jews, he says, were broken off. And they were broken off by God because of their unbelief in the gospel. And this really points back to verse 7 and following when he says, “the rest were hardened.” Verse 8, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.” Verse 9, “Let their table become a snare and a trap.” Verse 10, “Let their eyes be darkened and their backs bent forever.” Here in verse 17, when he says, “These branches were broken off,” they have been aggressively snapped off by God Himself and discarded and removed from the place of blessing. This is a very severe statement that he makes at the beginning of verse 17. And then he adds, “and you,” referring to Gentile believers who were in the church at Rome as Paul is writing this to them, “being a wild olive, were grafted in.” Now, we are just going to have to stop here for a moment and plow through this. The Gentiles were like a wild olive tree. A wild olive tree is one that has never been pruned. It has never been cultivated. It has never been trimmed. It has just has been out by itself, out in a wilderness area. No attention has been given to it. And what this is saying is God has gone to this wild olive tree that lacks shape. It lacks really fruitfulness. And God has cut off some branches from the wild olive tree, and God has walked it over to the root from which Israel is growing. And He has snapped off branches that are unfruitful and unproductive and were filled with unbelief towards Christ and the gospel. And God has taken these wild olive branches representing chosen Gentiles, and God has grafted it in to this one tree such that the life that is in the root is now flowing into the wild olive branches that are grafted in. So, the same spiritual life that is flowing into elect Jews is flowing into elect Gentiles, and they have now become one people of God. There is not two distinct people of God. There is only one people of God and they are all grafted together. And I think it would be important for us to turn to Ephesians 2 for a quick moment. In Ephesians 2, beginning in verse 11, this text says, “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,'” that is referring to Jews, “‘which is performed in the flesh by human hands,'” meaning they don’t have the true circumcision in the heart by the Spirit. They only have a circumcision by the hands in the flesh. So they are Jews outwardly, but they do not know the Lord inwardly. Now verse 12, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ.” He is talking to the Gentiles, “You were a long way away from God.” “Excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off,” that refers to Gentiles, “have been brought near by the blood of Christ,” near to God. Verse 14, “For He Himself,” referring to Christ, “is our peace, who made both groups,” a reference to Jews and Gentile, “into one.” That is the imagery in Romans 11 that we’re looking at, “and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.” In the temple there was a partition, a wall that separated the Jews from the Gentiles, and Christ at the cross tore down that wall and has merged the two people into one people, believing Gentiles and believing Jews. So, verse 14, “who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.” So, there is no Jewish church and then there is a Gentile church. There is not a Messianic Jewish church and then there is a Gentile church. No, Christ has torn down that wall and the two are merged together into one body of Christ. And the image here is that this one tree, that Gentile branches are grafted in. It is a horticultural process where you make a slit in the one tree and you put the other branch into that stem so that it is all growing together as one tree. So, he says this in verse 15, “by abolishing,” Ephesians 2 verse 15, “by abolishing in His flesh,” referring to Christ on the cross, “the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances.” And it was the ceremonial law of the Mosaic Law that made this separation from Jews and Gentiles. In the death of Christ, He fulfilled the ceremonial law. There is no more priesthood that is unique and set apart from the rest of the believers. Every believer is a priest now with direct access to God. Christ offered the perfect sacrifice of Himself. There is no more sacrifices to be made, and He has now merged the two groups into one body of Christ. The church has not replaced Israel. The church is merged in with Israel to be one church. So, in verse 15: “So that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.” The peace here is peace not just with God, but peace between Jew and Gentile. Verse 16, “and might reconcile them both in His body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” Now, verse 17, “He,” referring to Christ, “came and preached peace to you who were far away,” that is Gentiles, “and peace to those who were near,” that is Jews. Verse 18, “for through Him,” Christ, “we have our access in the Spirit to the Father.” All of that is just simply a restatement of what Paul is saying in Romans 11 verse 17, that the two have been merged together now in a very intimate and direct way. We have been grafted together. And he says in verse 17, “have become partakers with them of the rich root of the olive tree.” This “rich root” is literally the fatness of the root which speaks of how prolific and productive this root is. It is able to pump the sap of life into as many branches as God chooses to graft in to this tree that began to grow in the Old Testament uniquely with His chosen people Israel. It is a potent source of life into every life. In fact, Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” The word “abundantly” means His supply far exceeds your demand. So, as a result of that, he says in verse 18, now here is the application: “do not be arrogant toward the branches,” referring to the cut-off branches. And this word “arrogant,” “do not be arrogant” means “do not be boastful against them, do not elevate yourself above these Jews who have been cut off, do not look down your long nose at them, do not glory in yourself, this now favored position that you have while other branches have been cut off.” This is a very strong warning to every one of us that as we are now placed in Christ by the sovereign grace of God this should produce such humility in each and every one of us that it should drop us to our knees and look up to heaven and say, “Why me, Lord? Why am I not still out here in the wilderness, part of this wild olive tree that is far away from God?” Now that I am in Christ, I cannot look now at others who aren’t a part of the kingdom of God and have an arrogant, haughty spirit towards them, because there is no difference between them and us except the grace of God, the old saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.” So that is the point that Paul is making here, and it was obviously a problem with the church in Rome, as they had begun to somewhat within their own heart elevate themselves above those who were not in Christ. And so, Paul has to remind them, “Listen, you have forgotten how it is you got here, and there is no difference between you and the unbelieving Jew, except by the grace of God.” So that’s how he starts this. That is the admonition. Now, he comes to the latter half of verse 18, and it is the recollection, you need to remember. So, he says, “but if,” and that again should be translated “since,” “but since you are arrogant.” See, this is a rebuke to the self-inflated Gentile believers in Rome. “Since you are arrogant, remember, just keep this in mind, don’t let this go in one ear and out the other, that it is not you who supports the root.” The “you” refers to Gentile believers who have been chosen by God. Again, the “root” refers to the saving grace of God as given to Israel and the Abrahamic covenant, promises of God’s sovereign grace. “It is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.” You are not contributing to anything. You have brought nothing to the table. It is God by His grace who is supporting you. You are not propping up the church. You are not propping up the kingdom of God. It is the kingdom of God who is propping up you. Have you forgotten this? That is why he says, “Remember.” So, nothing in our salvation is dependent upon us, and everything in our salvation is dependent upon God. Just write that down. Nothing in your salvation is dependent upon you, and everything in your salvation is dependent upon God. It is all of grace, not ninety percent grace and ten percent you. Paul said, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” And so, you and I, this is the practical part of this, you and I have zero reason to be proud. We have every reason to be humble. Occasionally, after I preach, I will have someone come up to me and they will want to give me an encouraging complement. They will start off by saying, “Now pastor, I don’t want you to get the big head,” and they will start to give the encouragement. I am like, “Bring it on,” you know, “Bring it on,” but honest-to-goodness I think the last time someone said that to me, which was very recently, I just stopped them and I said, “I want you to know that I know I have zero reason to be proud.” Now, I do become prideful and I battle it like anyone else, but there is no intelligent reason, there is no theological reason, there is no biblical reason for there to be one half of a grain of pride in me, nor is there any reason for there to be any arrogance in you. We have every reason, those reasons are to be stacked up to the heights of the throne of grace, every reason to be humble. And the only reason we battle with pride is we have forgotten that, listen, we are not contributing anything; God is contributing everything in our salvation. So, that is the point that Paul is making. So, this leads us to verse 19 now, the temptation, because the Gentile believers in Rome were tempted to think God had disposed of the Jews in order to make room for them, like “We’re really something special.” So it is like God the tenant moved out the old renters in order to bring in some better people to live in His house. So, He got rid of the lowlife to bring in these who are a whole lot better and will build up His image. So, that is the temptation that Paul addresses in verse 19. You are not any better than the Jews that God cut off. So he says in verse 19, “You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.'” So, in essence God traded up to get us. I mean, God sold high and bought low to get us. I mean, we were the deal. That is the temptation. And the Gentile mindset is, “Oh, okay, God removed the Jews. They crucified Jesus. They were hardheaded, uncircumcised, stubborn of heart, stiff-necked. God had to remove them to make room for us.” That is the temptation that he addresses in verse 19. And that is a temptation that you and I are going to have to resist as we look out at the world and we see people lost in sin and living wicked, depraved lives and we are sitting in church, for us not to fall into that same temptation and go, “Wow, I mean isn’t God lucky to have us, you know, instead of those reprobates out there in the street?” So that is the temptation he is addressing, and I want you to see now in verse 20 the correction. Paul says, “Quite right.” In other words, “We agree to a point that the Jews were removed and you have been brought in, but let us remember why they were removed and why you were put in.” “Quite right, they,” referring to unbelieving Jews, “were broken off,” meaning removed by God in severe judgment, “for their unbelief.” Now, we just need to pause here for a moment. The stress that is being made here is on the human responsibility of non-elect Jews. Paul does not say they were cut off because they were not chosen. Paul lays the stress at the feet of the unbelieving Jew. No, they were cut off because of their unbelief. They go to hell, not because God didn’t choose them. They go to hell because of their unbelief, and they will stand in the judgment on the last day and the books will be opened and their entire life will be played out before them and every sin they have ever committed will be resurrected and brought to the surface and be shown that their name is not in the Lamb’s book of life. And they will be judged because of unbelief. So, this is actually a very important verse for us to maintain this balance in this section on sovereign election. In other words, everyone in hell is there by their own free will, and everyone in heaven is there by divine sovereign will. So don’t argue for free will. Free will will send you to hell every time were it not for God’s divine intervention. They are broken off because of their unbelief towards Jesus Christ their Messiah and because of their rejection of His saving work upon Calvary’s cross. And now, he flips this and addresses the believing Gentiles and addresses them on how they were grafted in and he said, “But you stand by your faith.” Now, the emphasis is not to be like, “Okay, like you had enough sense to believe in Jesus and you were smarter than someone else.” The emphasis really here is on the object of faith. Though not stated, the object of faith is what saves you. Your faith doesn’t save you. It is the object of your faith that saves you. Your faith wasn’t crucified on the cross to take away your sins. Jesus was crucified on the cross to take away your sins. He is the Savior, not you. It is the faith that you exercise, which is the faith that God gave to us. It is in Jesus Christ, and Christ is the Savior. And so, the correction that Paul is making here is that it is their unbelief, it is your faith, that is what has distinguished you. It is the object of your faith. But he builds to this in verse 20, “Do not be conceited.” Obviously, the believers in Rome were becoming entrapped in conceit for Paul to have to bring this. This is the third time he has brought this up, verse 17, verse 18, and verse 19. And this word for “conceited” is a different word than he used earlier in verse 18 about being arrogant. The word “conceited” means to be high-minded. It means to put yourself above others. It really means to have your nose in the air and to elevate yourself above others with your attitude. And so, Paul sharply rebukes them and says, “Do not be conceited.” And that is an imperative command. And it is an imperative command to each and every one of us here today that we must clothe ourselves with humility and not have our nose in the air. And it is the doctrine of sovereign election that drives that home to our hearts that God could have just as easily passed over you as chosen you. And the fact that He chose you, there is no difference between you and anyone else. You are not any better than those who are passed over. You need to get rid of this conceit. And then he adds, “But fear.” Do you see that at the end of verse 20, “but fear”? And unfortunately, there is a lot of Christians today who have no place for the fear of God in their Christian life, and they think that is an Old Testament concept and that we now have upgraded to just a softer, more effeminate Christianity, quite frankly. No, we are to still have fear in our heart, and this fear is to take God very seriously. This fear is a Greek word. I am going to pronounce it only because you are going to hear the English word in it and it is going to, I think, come home: phobeo, “phobia.” I mean, you need to have a phobia. You need to be alarmed is what this word literally means. You need to be afraid and it is the kind of fear that would put you to flight. You need to be struck with sobering terror in your heart. You need to be seized with alarm is literally what this word “fear” means. I just pulled those definitions literally out of a Greek dictionary what this word means. You need to fear because God could have just as easily broken you off and discarded you as grafted you in. So, don’t be just whistling your way to glory with a complacent spirit and a haughty attitude. No, there needs to be an earth-shaking fear inside of you that shakes you a bit and shakes you to your knees that you take this very seriously. God holds your life and your eternal destiny in His hands and He will do with you as it pleases Him. None of us are in charge of our own lives whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever. Every one of our lives is in His sovereign hand, and He has already appointed the day of our birth. He has already appointed the day of our death, and He has appointed every day in between. He is the potter and we are the clay, and He has chosen to make us vessels of mercy rather than vessels of wrath. There needs to be a healthy, holy fear of God within us, not fear that we are going to be rejected by Him, but a fear that He holds my eternal destiny in His hands and He has held my salvation in His hands. So, that is what Paul says. And this is why we need the doctrine of sovereign election preached in pulpits on Sunday morning to strike a necessary holy fear in the hearts of God’s people. This is not to be reserved for a Wednesday night prayer meeting with ten people who are over the age of eighty hearing this message. This needs to strike every teenager. This needs to strike every single in their twenties and thirties. This needs to strike every young married couple square in their heart. We need the doctrine of sovereign election preached, and the church has always been the strongest when this truth has been blown like a trumpet, and the church has always slithered down into effeminate weakness when this truth has been withheld. When this truth is preached, it produces a manly fear of God in the hearts of God’s people. And that is really at the heart of what Paul is driving at here as he is writing this to the church in Rome who have really become a little bit too big for their britches, quite frankly, and probably like their real estate location in Rome and probably like some of the fanfare that goes with being in the big city in Rome, and they are elevating themselves. And Paul addresses them right now and says, “You have zero reason to have this attitude in you. It is only because God chose to snap you off of a branch out in the middle of nowheresville and some unknown zip code and come and just graft you in to the place of blessing, and it is this root that is pumping spiritual life into you. And you’re not supporting this root, this root is supporting you, and you are now receiving all of the benefits that God originally bestowed upon His chosen people, Israel. So, that is really the tenor of what Paul is saying here. And I realize these verses are somewhat hard to interpret at certain points, but as we squeeze this lemon there is good juice coming out of these verses. So look at verse 21 and we will wrap this up and we will have some time for discussion. Verse 21 is the explanation. Verse 21 begins with the word, “For,” which I have told you several times, introduces an explanation why we should fear God as we do. So, he says, “For if,” and again in Greek this is called a first-class condition. It is assumed to be true. A better word is “since.” “For since God did not spare the natural branches.” That refers to God breaking off unbelieving Jews and casting them into the fire and just throwing them away. If God did that with the natural branches, those whom He first chose to be His people to reach the world with the gospel, he argues, “He will not spare you either.” So, this is not saying that they could lose their salvation. This is not saying we need to fear God so that you stay in His circle of grace. We can never lose our salvation. Romans 8:29 to 30 makes that abundantly clear, even all the way down to verse 39 in Romans 8. But what this is saying, He will not spare you the judgment on the last day, that every one of us as believers, let us not forget we will stand at the judgment of God and we will give an account of ourselves to God. This saving grace of God has not eliminated our last day of accountability to God for how we have conducted ourselves. And I want to take you to Romans 14, where we will be in about five years, Romans 14, and he says in verse 10. And I can’t wait to get to this section when we will be talking about this, and it is between the stronger brother and the weaker brother in Christ and Christian liberty, and the weaker brother will not participate in what he has liberty to, and the stronger brother knows he can go ahead and participate. So, verse 10, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” And the “we all” refers to all believers. So why are you judging your brother when God is going to judge you and judge your brother? I mean, who died and made you God? I mean, who are you to go around with a judgmental spirit towards your brother when God is going to settle all this on the last day. God will sort this out in His judgment. So, in verse 11, “For it is written,” and he quotes from the Old Testament, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to me,'” and that is including every knee of Christians and believers, “‘will bow to me and every tongue will give praise to God.'” Verse 12, “So then, each one of us,” that is referring to believers, “will give an account of himself to God.” So, verse 13, “Therefore let us not judge one another,” because we are all going to have our day in court. It will not be a judgment of our sin, that was all nailed to the cross, but it is going to be a judgment of how you have conducted yourself toward others and a judgment of how you served the Lord and a judgment of how you have invested your life in the cause of Christ, and it is all going to come out on the last day. And so, I will face the record, and you will face the record on the last day. And there are some theologians, not the least of which Dr. R.C. Sproul, maybe the preeminent popular theologian of our day, feels that we will give an account even for our idle words as Christians on the last day. So that is why Paul is saying in Romans 11 verse 21, “If He did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.” Our judgment will not be a judgment to determine our salvation. That has been settled. And it will not be a judgment of sin per se and the condemnation that comes with it, but it will be a review of our life. And I can’t draw a tight circle around exactly what all is in that circle and what all is on the outside of that circle. I just know that day is coming. And it should create fear in a healthy way. We are not just going to cruise into glory and it is going to be a parade down Central Avenue. There is going to be a standing at the judgment seat of Christ before we enter in, and we will give an account of ourselves. And so, apparently, for the believers in Rome, even their attitude is a part of, “You better get your act together because there is coming a final accounting to God.” So some of this is nebulous in the sense I can’t draw up a precise line as far as what is going to be exactly all brought up and what is not going to be brought up. I think part of the mystery keeps the line tight that I need to walk with humility and I need to fear God, and I cannot allow conceit and arrogance to establish a beach hold in my heart. And Paul includes this in this section on sovereign election, and by its context this says to me the truth that God chose you and predestined your salvation ought to keep a lowliness of mind and a lowliness of heart within your soul. So, just to end with maybe a word or two of application, and I have really already said it but let me just restate the positive three things, how you and I can cultivate proper humility in our hearts. Number one, consider your election. You are in Christ because God chose you to believe in Christ. You would have never believed in Christ if God had not chosen you to believe in Christ. So just consider your election. And then second, consider your place. You have been grafted into the place of blessing that was first offered to others. I mean, we are eating a meal that was first served to someone else. We as Gentiles are late to the party, and let us just remember our place. And then third, consider your accountability. Though chosen, you will not be spared the judgment seat of Christ. You will stand before Him on the last day and give an account of yourself to the Lord, which is what Romans 14:10 through 12 clearly says. And so, there is this responsibility, as we live our Christian life, that is pressed strongly upon us. I have no reason to be proud. I am and I fight it and you fight it, but let us remember we have no reason to be. We have every reason to be humble. “Every good thing and every perfect gift,” James 1:17, “has come down from God above,” the Father of unshifting shadows with whom there is no variation. Every good gift has come from God above. So, that is these verses and this is the best I can do to untie the knot on these verses and to extract what I think is the meaning and then to also make application and to show the relevance for our lives. And let me say this: No one needs this more than I do. And you might think, well, no, I don’t. Well, you don’t live with me, okay? I live with me. My wife lives with me. I need this more than anybody. The Mystery of History – Romans 11:11-17

OnePassion Ministries November 13, 2019

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Alright, take your Bible, turn with me to Romans 11:11, okay, 11:11. So, I’m going to begin in verse 11, reading this through verse 16, if we can get this far. The Apostle Paul writes, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. For if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be.” You see how much you need me this morning with this? “But if I am speaking to you who are Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am an apo…but I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.” It’s a little hard to even just read it. “If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. And if the root is holy, the branches are too.” What on earth does this mean? I mean, what is Paul saying? No wonder Peter said Paul can be hard to understand in 2 Peter 3. Well, this finds itself in a larger section of Romans 9 through 11, which deals with the salvation of Israel and specifically the sovereignty of God in election and reprobation concerning the nation Israel. So, that’s the big…that’s our praise band. We’ve gone contemporary. And we’ll have the drama skit here in just a moment. Kent will be dressing up like Amos and doing a dramatic role play of a famine in the land, otherwise known as Herb’s House. So in Romans chapter 9, which we looked at in detail, Paul addressed individuals concerning sovereign election and sovereign reprobation, which is double predestination. As we come to Romans 11, Paul goes from the micro to the macro, okay? He goes from the minute details of individuals being chosen by God for salvation, he’s now moving to the broad sweep of the flow of history. He’s now opening up the lens, if you will, and giving us the broad perspective, the big picture of really, as I just said, the flow of history, the hardening of Israel, the saving of Israel, and the big, broad brush stroke. So, in Romans 9, he’s painting with a tiny little paintbrush, thin lines. But now in Romans 11, he has a big, broad brush, and he’s painting with broad brush strokes, okay? So, his focus is still on the sovereignty of God in salvation as it relates to Israel, and what we see here is that God has a master plan for history. So by way of illustration, not only has God foreordained what individuals see on the plane certain people will sit in, but he’s also foreordained the destination of the airplane. He’s also foreordained the trajectory and the speed with which this airplane will be going, as well as the individual seat where everyone is going to sit. So, in this passage, it’s the big picture of the massive airplane and its destination and the timing of its arrival. So, I want us to walk through this passage knowing that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. So, as I set out some headings to help us break out this passage and take this piece of pie and cut it into smaller bits, I want you to note, first, “The Question,” just to make this very simple – “The Question.” Paul anticipates the question that is on everyone’s minds. So, he begins by raising the question, as if to say, “I know exactly what you’re thinking.” So, here’s the question in verse 11, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they?” The “they” refers to Israel. The antecedent is up in verse 7, “What then? What Israel is seeking, it is not obtained.” In verse 2, how he pleads with God against Israel. And I just took a ballpoint pen, men, and underlined every time I see “they” or “their,” and it just pulls down “them” in verse 8, “their” in verse 9, “their” in verse 10, and now, “they” in verse 11. It goes back to Israel in verse 11. So, “They,” Israel, “did not stumble so as to fall,” that’s two separate occurrences. One is “to stumble,” the other is “to fall.” Sometimes, you stumble, meaning you trip your toe but you do not fall to the ground. Other times you stumble and do fall to the ground. So this is an analogy, it’s a metaphor concerning the nation Israel, they have stumbled. The question is, what have they stumbled over? And so, that’s easy if you’ll go, if you’ll look at verse 9, just two verses previous, “A stumbling block,” he mentions. So, what is this stumbling block? Well, if you go back to chapter 9:33, God says, “I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” We know exactly who and what that is, that is Jesus Christ and the message of salvation exclusively through the cross, and the righteousness that God provides in the gospel. That’s a stumbling block to Israel because Israel is so spiritually blind at this time, they believe that they have to earn their way to God, and merit through self-righteousness their own standing of acceptance before God. They don’t have a category for grace. They do not have an understanding of a free gift that God offers through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, they have stumbled over the gospel. So, the question is – they have stumbled, but have they fallen? And when he says, “fall,” he’s referring to an irreversible fall. To so fall away from grace, the teaching of grace, as never to be recovered. In other words, to put it in simplest terms, is God through with the Jew? Is God through with Israel? They definitely stumbled in a monumental way in the first century to the point they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Pilate would have let Him off the hook in the trial. They brought the political pressure, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” “Well, what about Barabbas? Would you want?” “No, no, no, crucify Christ.” So the Jews in the first century, they truly stumbled in monumental fashion in the first century. So, the question on the table is, if stumbled, have they fallen never to be recovered back to a relationship with God? So, that is the question. Is it one and done for Israel? So, that’s the question. Second, “The Renunciation.” Notice at the end of verse 11 the renunciation that should be somewhat familiar to us now, “May it never be.” It’s just two words in the Greek, me genoito, and it is the strongest, most emphatic negative denial that there is in the English language. And to put it into vernacular it would be, “Absolutely not!” “No way!” “No, no, a thousand times, no!” God is not finished with Israel. God still has an inscrutable purpose for the nation, and there will still yet be a future salvation for the people of the nation Israel. So, that leads us now to “The Explanation,” beginning at the end of…the second half of verse 11. Paul now gives a careful explanation why this stumbling of Israel is not a permanent fall. That it actually is a part of a larger master plan that God has for history. That God is so wise and so incomprehensible that He uses even the unbelief of Israel to bring salvation on a grander scale to the world. So, he now begins to unpack this. He says, “But by their transgressions,” the “their” refers to Israel, the “transgression” refers to their rejection of Christ, their crucifixion of Christ, their utter denial of the gospel of grace. “By their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles,” and by this he means the message of salvation has now been preached to the Gentiles as a result of Israel’s utter slamming the door shut on the gospel. So, what a strange occurrence this is in the providence of God, and this really began in Acts chapter 13. You may want to turn back to it just for a second, we’ll just go there very quickly. But Acts 13 begins Paul’s first missionary journey. At the beginning of Acts 13, he is commissioned from the church at Antioch, Barnabas goes with him and they, in verse 14, they come to Pisidian Antioch, and beginning in verse 16, Paul preaches one of the greatest sermons that you would ever want to read in your life, and it extends all the way down to verse 41. This is a major discourse in the book of Acts. Just so you’ll know, there are some twenty-one sermons in the book of Acts. And the title of the book really should not be “The Acts of the Apostles,” more correctly it really should’ve been named, “The Sermons of the Apostles.” Another footnote, one out of every four verses in the book of Acts is a sermon, and it shows how the first-century church was such a preaching church. They filled up the first century with strong Bible preaching. That’s one reason why they were so dynamic. And I’ll say one reason why I think the church today is very anemic and weak, we have very little Bible preaching today. We’ve canceled Wednesday-night preaching, we’ve canceled Sunday-night preaching, we’ve shortened Sunday-morning preaching, we no longer have Bible conferences, etc., etc. So…but the first-century church, they filled up the air waves with their preaching. And so, this is one of the strongest sermons you would ever want to read in your life. I’ll let you read it on your own time. And it was addressed to the Jews, and they utterly rejected the message that Paul brought. And so, in verse 48, “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” Verse 50, “But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas.” So, as the door was closing for the gospel to Israel, another door was swinging wide open for Paul to take the gospel to the Gentiles. That’s so much like God. He closes one door, He opens another door, and that’s the way the gospel goes forward. He shuts down, really, maybe the preaching in one church, He opens up another church to get the gospel out. And so, that’s what Paul is explaining that as the Jews, by their unbelief, are just slamming shut the door in the face of Paul as he’s preaching to the Jews, God by His sovereign providence is opening another door for the gospel to go to the Gentiles. Well let me just tell you, there’s a whole lot more Gentiles then there are Jews. And this will be the means by which the gospel will begin to go to Europe, will begin to go to Africa, will begin to spread through Asia Minor, and that the gospel will go to the whole world. So, in God’s stunning brilliance, God uses the unbelief of Israel as a launching pad for the gospel to go to the four corners of the world. God’s never boxed into a corner. And what they mean for evil, God means for good. God causes all things to work together for good. And so, this is another example. I mean, we’ve got…I’m seeing Kevin Joseph right here. God just closed the door in China where you were, and now here you are in the United States. I don’t know how God’s going to work this and what He’s up to, but I guarantee you there are going to be doors opening in China, even if it’s secret underground, as that door was closed, and there’s going to be a door open for you here in the United States. So, God’s in the business of opening doors when men close other doors. So, that’s what Paul is saying here. He’s given this explanation, “By their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles.” I mean, I think of…what comes into my mind is even liberal denominations. They go off into unbelief and apostasy, that door is closed in those churches, they no longer preach the gospel. Well, God uses that rejection to birth new movements and new denominations and new churches for the gospel to flourish. So, that’s what we see taking place here. And so, he continues in verse 11, “To make them,” that’s referring to Israel, “To make them jealous.” So, this is almost like you’re back in college, you dated one girl, you broke up with her, she dates your best friend, that makes you jealous, you want to come back and date her again. That’s what’s going to happen with Israel. They had the gospel, they didn’t want it, God sent it to the Gentiles. This now makes Israel jealous, and they want to get back into the picture, and God will use this to save the nation Israel. This is unbelievable how God is at work in history. Israel’s unbelief leads to the salvation of Gentiles which, in turn, makes the Jews jealous to bring them back into receiving the gospel. So, that’s what’s going on here. And that’s not the first time he’s talked about jealous. Back in chapter 10 and verse 19, God has already said this as he is quoting Deuteronomy 32:21, “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation.” That’s referring to the Gentiles. And this was taught by Moses way back in the book of Deuteronomy. So, this is God’s original purpose and plan. This isn’t Plan B. This isn’t God having to make lemonade out of lemons. This isn’t God being caught off guard. No, this was in the Law back in the book of Deuteronomy from the very beginning. The fact is this was God’s predetermined plan from before the foundation of the world. How inscrutable are the ways of God. So, let’s pick it up in verse 12, “Now if their failure,” referring to Israel’s sin of rejecting Christ and rejecting the gospel. And this word “failure” is a word, it’s a Greek word that just means “utter defeat.” It means “an ignominious loss.” So, their rejection of Christ was a total failure, and they suffered enormous loss. “Their failure,” notice what it says, “is riches to the world.” Extreme spiritual wealth has come, quite frankly, to us in this Bible study. Dan here is a Jew, the rest of us are Gentiles. Who knows where in the world we would be this morning if it hadn’t been for the failure of the Jews to reject the gospel that has multiplied it and springboarded it and launched it to the world, and it’s come to you and me. God’s always at work. God is always advancing His gospel in ways that we’re not even aware. Now, when he says “riches to the world,” he’s referring to the Gentile world, all around the world. Now, he says, “How much more will their fulfillment be?” Do you see that? “Their” again refers to Israel, and again, I’ve taken a ballpoint pen and just underlined every time I see “their,” “them,” just to trigger my eye in my Bible here is referring to Israel. The “fulfillment” here is referring to the fulfillment of God’s promise to save Israel. So, there will still yet be a future salvation of Israel, we need to be aware of this. And just to point ahead, if you’ll look at verse 26 in Romans chapter 11, he says, “And so, all Israel will be saved.” Do you see that? There is still yet, in the future plan and purpose of God, a time of great evangelization and conversion of the Jews at the end of the age before Christ returns. So, God will yet fulfill His promises to save Israel. And so right now, they are, as the end of verse 7 says, “They are hardened by God,” verse 8, “God gave them a spirit of stupor,” meaning, it’s just like they’re asleep. They can’t hear or think spiritually. God gave them eyes to see not, ears to hear not, down to this very day, but God’s not finished. They’ve stumbled, they just haven’t fallen, and there will in the future still be a salvation for Israel. So, that is what he is saying to us at the end of verse 12. Now, I want you to note, fourth, “The Magnification” in verses 13 through 15. Paul now identifies his specific role that he plays in this unfolding drama of redemption. So, in verse 13, he says, “But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles.” The “you” refers to the church in Rome, hence the name of the book “Romans.” And the church in Rome is predominantly a Gentile church. That makes sense, they’re not in Jerusalem, they’re in Rome. And so, the church in Rome is predominantly Gentile. And so, Paul now says, “But I’m speaking to you who are Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle of Gentiles.” And what Paul is setting up to say here is really, he himself is an example of this, that God is using Paul as a Jew to reach Gentiles. God has made Paul to be the apostle of the Gentiles. So, God doesn’t even choose a Gentile to reach Gentiles, God chooses a Jew to reach Gentiles. And so, this is even just a picture of what he just said that God will use Israel to reach the world. Now, let me just back up for a moment and remind us of this. God’s original mission and purpose for Israel as His chosen nation was to be His witnessing nation to all the nations of the world. That God would use Israel to reach the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites, etc. But Israel abandoned this mission. Do you remember when Jonah was called to go to Nineveh? That was a Gentile nation of Assyria, and Jonah doesn’t even want to go to Nineveh because, “God, we don’t want anyone else to be saved. We want to hoard the gospel to ourselves in the nation Israel.” So, Israel just totally went spiritually AWOL in fulfilling their mission to reach the world with the saving message of the gospel. So God has decided, “I’m still going to use Israel to reach the world. I’m going to use their unbelief then. They won’t do it in faith, I’m going to use them in their unbelief to cause the gospel now to be turned to go to the Gentiles.” And it will be the Gentiles who will now be the mission’s arm to take the gospel to the nations. And when the Jews will see this in the last days that, they now, that Gentiles are in this place of blessing that was once assigned to them, it’s going to give them second thoughts, and it’s going to be used by God to make them jealous to want to come back to the gospel. Only God could have designed this. His ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are above our thoughts. And we should take great encouragement in this because sometimes when we see the door closed to the gospel, whether it’s in a church or in a denomination, or whether it’s in a country or nation, just know that God is like a hundred chess moves out ahead, and He is already setting in place how other doors are going to be swung open. And it’s going to have a multiplying effect and a far greater outreach. So, that’s what’s going on here. So Paul, as a Jew, is an apostle of the Gentiles, and he says, “I magnify my ministry.” He glories in this assignment that God has given to him because he knows it will bring glory to God and fulfill God’s purposes to reach the world with the gospel. So look at verse 14, “If somehow I,” Paul, “might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen.” So Paul, you remember he said at the beginning of chapter 10 verse 1, “My heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is their salvation.” Paul hasn’t given up on the salvation of his fellow countrymen. And in chapter 9 verse 3, he said, “I could wish I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” So, Paul is still wanting to reach his fellow countrymen, meaning Jews, with the gospel. “If somehow, I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.” That refers to in Paul’s own lifetime. So that’s why for the rest of Paul’s second missionary journey…excuse me, for the rest of his first missionary journey, so that’ll be the rest of Acts 13 and 14. And then for Paul’s second missionary journey, and then Paul’s third missionary journey, and even Paul’s going to Rome at the end of the book of Acts, all of that is Paul going into synagogues and preaching the gospel to Jews. He’s still trying to reach his fellow countrymen with the gospel, so that, as it says in verse 14, so that he may be able to save some of them. So, Paul is just so full of evangelistic zeal to reach his fellow Jews, just like you and I must be full of evangelistic passion to reach our own family, to reach our own neighbors and fellow work associates. So he says in verse 15, he reexplains this. In fact, verse 15 begins with the word “for,” which introduces an explanation, “For if their rejection,” “their” refers to the vast majority of Israel. The word for “rejection” here is another synonym for unbelief, and it’s a Greek word which means “a throwing away.” That’s what they have done with the gospel. God puts the gospel in front of them, they pick it up and just discard it and put it in the trashcan. They just throw away the gospel. That’s what that word “rejection” actually means. “For their rejection is the reconciliation of the world.” Only God can have this wired beneath the surface that even the failure of the nation Israel brings about the victory and the triumph of the gospel in greater ways with the world. You know what the word “reconciliation” means? A reconciliation is when two parties are alienated and have had a major, massive disagreement and a falling out and they’re enemies of each other, reconciliation brings the two together. And the Gentile nations are at enmity with God, and God is hostile toward sinners, but in His great love, the gospel is the means of reconciliation to bring the two back together so that the Gentiles may be at peace with God. So he says, “This is the reconciliation of the world,” he doesn’t mean the whole world is going to be saved, but he means the reconciliation of those in the Gentile world who will believe the gospel, and we know that to be the elect within the Gentile world. So, you’ve got to follow Paul’s logic here now as verse 15 continues to unfold, “What will their acceptance be?” “Their” still refers to Israel. “Acceptance” means their acceptance of the gospel that leads to their acceptance with God. So, it’s kind of a double acceptance, their acceptance of the gospel leads to their acceptance of God. It says, “What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” So, Israel rejects the gospel, which springboards it to the Gentiles, they receive the gospel. Israel will see this in the future and be jealous, and it will lead to their acceptance of the gospel to find their acceptance with God, which means they will find eternal life and they will be raised from the dead spiritually. That’s what’s going on here as we kind of have to follow the bouncing ball. Now, to give you a great cross-reference, Ezekiel 37, this is a passage that you’re familiar with. This is the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. Do you remember that one? “The hand of the Lord was upon me,” verse 1, “and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down the valley in the middle the valley, and it was full of bones,” just dead, sun-bleached bones, just corpses. “He caused me to pass among them round about and behold, there were many on the surface of the valley, and lo they were very dry,” they hadn’t even been buried yet. “Then He said to me, ‘Son of Man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, You know,'” that’s always a good answer. “Again He said to me, ‘Prophesy,'” meaning preach over these bones, “‘and say to them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”‘” Now, can you imagine anything more illogical than for you to go into a cemetery and begin to preach to dead bones? Though that’s what I do every time I stand up to preach, there are always unconverted people who are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sin, and yet we’re commanded to preach the gospel. You are commanded to preach the gospel to your lost friends, just like Ezekiel here prophesying to the dry bones. And it’s a picture of what God is going to do in the nation Israel. So verse 5, “Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you so that you may come alive, and you will know that I am the Lord.'” Verse 7, “So I prophesied,” that means, “I preached to these dead bones,” “as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling. And the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them and flesh grew and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, ‘Prophecy to the breath,'” breath and spirit are the same word in the Hebrew language, as well as in the Greek. So in other words, he is saying, in essence, “Pray to the Spirit, to the Holy Spirit to now come in power.” “‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.'” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.” Therefore, prophesy to them.'” Verse 12, “‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves.”‘” There was initial fulfillment of this when Israel returned from Babylon back to the Promised Land in the days after their Babylonian captivity. But there is an ultimate fulfillment of this yet in the future as verse 26 says, “When all Israel will be saved.” So, here in verse 15, Paul is underscoring how Israel…God is not finished with Israel. It looks like it right now, but yet, isn’t it strange how Israel continues to be in the middle of the headlines and the cause, even this morning. This won’t go away. You cannot buy a plane ticket to Sodom and Gomorrah, you cannot buy a plane ticket to the Canaanites or the Amorites, but you can buy a plane ticket to Jerusalem or to Tel Aviv, and it’s not going to go away. It will be until the end of the age. Israel has a strategic place in the unfolding sovereign purposes of God for history, and God will yet still save all of Israel. We’ll talk about what that means in December when we come to that. Now, I’m going to give you one more heading, and this will be easy, and I hope you’re able to hang with me, and you’re really not hanging with me, you’re hanging with Paul, okay. I’m just trying to be a mouthpiece for Paul. So number five, “The Illustrations.” Again, Paul the master teacher, he gives us two illustrations of what he’s talking about. Verse 16, he gives us two illustrations to make the point that he’s been making, that God is not finished with Israel, there is still yet a future salvation that will come to Israel. So verse 16, here’s the first illustration, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also.” So, what does this mean? Well, picture a lump of dough. In the first piece, so you just put your hand into the large lump of dough and you pull out the small portion, and it’s holy. “Holy” here meaning “set apart to God,” “chosen by God for salvation.” This first piece is the same Greek word that is used for “first fruits.” And so, when the harvest would come in, a farmer would go out into his field and he would grab a handful of the fruit, and it would be the first fruit, and he would offer it to God as a thank offering. And it was an indication that the whole of the rest of the field is going to be like this first fruit. That’s actually the same word that’s used here, Paul’s kind of mixing metaphors, but the first fruit, or the first piece, is an indication that just as God has already saved a small remnant of Jews, there will still be the rest of the lump of dough that God is going to save. So, he’s moving from the lesser to the greater and saying that the rest of the lump is going to be made holy one day. And let me just tell you this, this is the sovereignty of God that is causing all this…that will cause all this to happen. God has already foreordained this future history for Israel, and He has foreordained the salvation of individual Jews within the nation Israel on a vast scale. So, that’s the first illustration. Then the second illustration, he says, “And the root is holy, the branches are also.” So, you can picture how the branches grow out of the root. You tell me what the root is, I’ll you what the branches are because the branches will be of the exact same nature as the root. There’s an inseparable connection, but the branches will be far larger and will be fruit-bearing as they grow out of the root. So Paul, in his brilliant mind, is painting this picture to let us see that out of the root, and the commentators tell us that the root is actually Abraham and the Patriarchs. As I first read this and just made my own analysis of the passage, I assumed that the root was the remnant in the day of Paul. I guess I’ll have to yield to the commentators and not be the only person in the history of the world to ever think it’s the remnant in Paul’s day. But either way, it still points to the branches that are coming, that are going to grow out of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the remnant in Paul’s day. There will still, in the future, be a growth of salvation in the metaphor of the picture of the branches that is still yet to come. So, this is a somewhat complex passage that I’m sure has been a challenge to follow. It’s been a challenge for me to break it out and to lay it in front of you. And you may be thinking, “Of all the time to come to the men’s Bible study, I chose to come on this lesson.” But there is some application for us here. Number one, what gratitude should there be in our heart? You know, if we were a Gentile born in the Old Testament times, we probably would have never heard the gospel. The fact that God in His sovereignty had us born Gentiles in the twentieth century should so humble us that we live in a time of history in which the gospel has come to us. That this is not a strange thing that we’re having this Bible study this morning, but that God has purposed to bring the gospel to us at this time. So, there should be an enormous sense of gratitude in our heart that we know the Lord and it’s really the result of God’s purpose and plan working through the nation, the failure of the nation Israel. The second point of application is, do we not here see God’s heart for the world to reach the world with the gospel, and that God will work through any obstacle, any hindrance to Him reaching the world with His saving message? If the unbelief of Israel was not an obstacle to God in the first century, neither will be any obstacle that’s put in front of the church today. God can still get the gospel into China, God can still get the gospel into countries that right now, in the Middle East even, that seem to be in a lockdown mode. God still is the God who opens doors that no man can close. So, we should be triumphant and optimistic and have great trust and great hope that God will get the gospel to the world. And we need to be a part of this, whatever part, whether it’s, “God, I’m willing to go. Send me,” or, “I’m willing to support others whom You send,” “I’m willing to pray for others.” But we see here God’s heart to reach the world with the gospel. This should be a great motivation to us to, in essence, lock arms with what God is doing, to lock arms with God and to be a partner with God in reaching the world with the gospel. And not to even use me as an illustration on anything, but tomorrow, I’m getting on a plane and I’m flying to Tokyo, and then Tokyo to Manila, and I’m going to be preaching the gospel for a whole week there. Pray for me that God will use that time there to spread the gospel in ways that we are not even aware of right now. But God is doing this all around the globe. And then, I think there should be great humility in our hearts as we see the sovereignty of God at work. I mean God is hardening hearts, God is opening hearts, God is blinding eyes, God is opening eyes, God is deafening ears, God is opening ears. I mean, the wind blows wherever it wills. What humility this should produce in our hearts that God has chosen to give us eyes to see. He’s chosen to give us ears to hear. What others do not see and what others cannot hear, God by His grace, His amazing grace, has worked in our lives. And so this passage, yet again, just brings me to a standstill and creates in me a sense of awe that God is the God of history, that history is “His story,” that God is working not only with nations, but with individuals within nations. And that God is, He’s got the whole world in His hands, and He’s never boxed into a corner. He’s never checkmated. He never has His hands tied. He is forever and always working in history to bring history to its appointed end. And nothing will thwart the eternal purposes of God, not even unbelief, not even the rejection of the gospel. God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick, and God can even use sin and unbelief as a springboard to catapult the message of the gospel forward so that others will believe. And then even circle back with those who have rejected it. And He’s a God of a second chance and will give Israel yet a second chance at the end of this age. So, there are so many wires that are connected beneath the surface here in this passage. And I think we should rejoice that we serve this kind of a God who is so awesome that nothing can thwart Him, that nothing can stop the advance of His gospel. And when one door closes, a hundred other doors open. That’s just the way God works in history. So, I’m bringing this to an end. I’m somewhat exhausted, trying to go through these verses and get into the mind of Paul and what God has given to Paul to give to the church at Rome, now to be given to us. This is why we have to really, when we come to the Bible, we have to really study. That’s why we call this “the men’s Bible study.” I mean, we really have to study on this and pay attention and connect the dots.

Double Predestination – Romans 11:7-10

OnePassion Ministries October 31, 2019

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So, we have got a great study planned. So, I want to just step right into this because I have got more to cover than I think what I have got time to cover. So, let us start with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this time for us to come together to meet and study Your Word. Our hearts are always greatly built up as we study Your Word. And so, give us eyes to see, ears to hear. May we be teachable this day by Your Spirit, in Christ’s name. Amen. Alright, I may have a little competition there in the kitchen. Maybe if someone could let them know that we are actually having a Bible study in here and there is no need to call in those orders to the kitchen. The kitchen is two feet away. So, alright, we are in Romans chapter 11 and the title of this lesson is “Double Predestination.” So, this ought to be worth the study just for the title alone. And we are going to be looking at verses 7 through 10 if we have the time to get through all these verses. Romans 11, I want to begin in verse 7 by reading the passage. Paul writes, “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.’ And David says, ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever.'” Well, there are some verses to put on your refrigerator. In this passage, the focus is upon what theologians call “double predestination,” and this is the biblical truth that there are two sides to predestination; hence, the term “double predestination.” One side of predestination is sovereign election, that there are those whom God has chosen from before the foundation of the world to save from their sins, but there is also the flipside, the other side of the doctrine of predestination which is what we call the doctrine of reprobation, that there are those whom God chooses to leave in their sins. So, the word “double” indicates that predestination goes in both directions. One is positive; the other is negative. And so, there is the doctrine of election to save and there is the doctrine of reprobation not to save. Election and reprobation are the heads and tails of the same coin and yet there are distinct differences, and I want to just set up some parallel columns here by way of introduction. First column is election; second column is reprobation. With election, sinners receive what they do not deserve. With reprobation, they receive what they do deserve. There is no injustice with God in reprobation. With election, sinners receive mercy; with reprobation, sinners receive justice. With election, sinners will be in heaven by the will of God; with reprobation, sinners will be in hell by their own will. With election, sinners are not condemned for their sins; with reprobation, sinners are condemned for their sins. With election, sinners are chosen for salvation; with reprobation, they are passed over for salvation. So, these are some of the distinctions between election and reprobation. Now, in order to understand this passage, it is important that we distinguish three groups and all three groups are found in verse 7. And so, it is almost like a child eating out of a divider plate that divides the food into three parts. We need to divide verse 7 into its three parts. In verse 7, first there is Israel. You see, Israel, what Israel is seeking it has not obtained. Israel here refers to the whole nation as a corporate whole or corporate entity, the ethnic people of Israel. It is referring to Jews. The second group found in verse 7 is those who were chosen and that refers to the elect within the nation Israel. And then third, there are the two words “the rest.” And that refers to those not chosen within the nation of Israel, those in verse 8 who were given the spirit of stupor, those in verse 8 who have eyes but see not and ears but hear not. They are those who are mentioned in verse 9, whose table is turned into a snare and to a trap and a stumbling block and to retribution, whose backs are bent. That refers to the non-elect within the nation Israel. So, it is important that we keep this threefold distinction clear in our understanding as we go through this passage. So, I want to begin with the first part of verse 7, “The Empty Search,” the empty search. Paul begins verse 7. He says, “What then?” And here Paul sums up what he has taught beginning in Romans 9 verse 30 all the way to the previous verse, Romans 11 verse 6. So, when he says, “What then?” that is a summation type statement, and he pulls the preceding verses beginning in chapter 9 verse 30 down to a bottom-line conclusion, really summation, “What then?” And here is the bottom line: what Israel is seeking it has not obtained. Now, Israel, I want to underscore again, refers to the entire nation of Israel, the ethnic Jewish chosen race. He says what Israel is seeking and what it was seeking is a right standing before God. What it was seeking is the positive righteousness they need to find acceptance with God. The problem is they sought it with their own works, with their own efforts, with their own merit, with their own morality, with their own religiosity, to pull themselves up to heaven by their own bootstraps. And this word “seeking” is an interesting word. It is a compound word. And the main root word comes into the English language as “zeal,” which is a fiery, intense seeking after something, a burning on the inside literally for something, and it has a prefix in front of it which serves to really doubly intensify the word “zeal.” So, Israel was not half-hearted about their seeking acceptance with God. They sought it with all of their heart and with all of their being. They wanted acceptance with God, but it says they have not obtained it. They have not received what they were looking for. Now, I want to direct us back to the end of Romans 9 just to remind you of what Romans 9 verse 30 and following says. It says, beginning in verse 31 of Romans 9, “Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why?” Verse 32, “Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.'” So, it is very obvious Israel wanted a right standing with God on their own terms. They were an apostate nation. They had fallen away from the principle of grace, and they sought a right standing before God by their own efforts and by their own works. And even in the Old Testament it was all by grace. The Old Testament is filled with grace. So, Israel had come up with their own religion. They had conceived a religion of self- righteousness by self-works that was never ever taught in the Old Testament. If you would come to chapter 10 verse 2, “For I testify about them,” referring to Israel, “that they have a zeal for God.” There is the word from which we derive the word “seeking” in chapter 11 verse 7. “They have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge.” You can be sincere but be sincerely wrong and that was Israel. Verse 3, “For not knowing about God’s righteousness,” meaning that God would supply the righteousness as a gift that everyone needs in order to have a right standing with Him. “Not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” And that is the whole doctrine of justification by faith alone, that the righteousness that we need in order to find entrance into the kingdom of heaven is the righteousness that comes from God, is given as a free gift received by faith alone, but because of the pride of their heart and the arrogance within their soul they wanted to earn their right standing with God. Therefore, they did not obtain what they desperately needed, which was the free gift of God. So, all religion that seeks to find acceptance with God apart from grace is an empty seeking for what they can never obtain. It was true in Israel. It is true in countless churches today. It is true in every false religion. It is true in every cult today. It is all a religion of seeking righteousness by one’s own works. And the only religion in the entire world that offers righteousness as the free gift of God by grace is true biblical Christianity. Every religion in the world can be divided into one of two categories. One is a righteousness that must be worked for, and the other is a righteousness that is received as a free gift. And it is only Christianity that offers in the true gospel salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. So that is the “empty search.” And, of course, it was empty, because no one can work their way to God. Matthew 5:48 says, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That is the standard, absolute moral perfection, and no one can achieve that high standard. So, that leads us now to second, the “elect remnant.” And as we continue in verse 7 of Romans 11, after he says what Israel is seeking it has not obtained, now it says, “but,” and that means in sharp contrast with those who are seeking it by their own efforts. “But those who were chosen obtained it.” The word “those” refers to an inner concentric circle within the nation of Israel, the elect within the elect, if you will, meaning the elect within the elect nation. Not everyone in the elect nation was saved. That was the point at the beginning of verse 7. There are those within the nation Israel who were chosen by God. They are the only ones who will obtain this righteousness. Now, the word “chosen” is another compound word, and it means “to choose out from among.” It is the exercise of God’s free will by which He chose before the foundation of the world those whom He would save for Himself. It was used in verse 5 previously, where he talks about a remnant according to God’s gracious choice or a choice by God’s grace. It was used earlier in Romans 9 verse 11, the same word “chosen,” where it reads, “the twins were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand.” So, it is the truth of God’s sovereign election, which is the fountain from which every saving grace flows. It is the taproot from which all the fruits of salvation flow. It is to trace the stream back to the origin of the river, and it all is flowing out of God’s sovereign election from before the foundation of the world. It says, “Those who were chosen obtained it,” and the “it” refers to the right standing before God through justification by faith. Now, I want to make some comments here. I want you to note the inseparable connection between being chosen and obtaining it. It is an inseparable welding together of those two. God’s election always results in obtaining justification. All of those chosen before time will be justified within time. That is a very clear and obvious observation to draw from verse 7. None chosen will fail to be justified, and none who are not chosen will ever be justified. So, all who are chosen will be justified. And this sounds exactly like Romans 8:29 and 30 that we looked at some time back: “Those whom He foreknew, He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son; and those whom He predestined, He called; and those whom He called, He justified; and those whom He justified, He glorified.” So, all who are “foreknown” which is synonymous with “sovereign election” will be justified. Now, there is one more major truth that I want you to see before we pass on. And it is to come to this conclusion, that if it were not for the truth of sovereign election no one would ever obtain it. If it was not for the doctrine of sovereign election, no one would ever be saved. So, the doctrine of election is not our enemy or some foe. The doctrine of election is our best friend, because if it were not for sovereign election no one would ever obtain it. It is sovereign election that sets everything positive in order to come flowing into our lives. The only hope for salvation that any of us have is this truth of sovereign election, and this is true not only for the Jew but it is also true for the Gentile. So, we see in the middle of verse 7, “The Elect Remnant,” the elect remnant. And the reason that you have obtained this righteousness is because before the foundation of the world God chose you to have this righteousness. He chose you for salvation. And there is not a one of us in this room nor anyone who is watching by live stream or anyone anywhere in the history of the world who has ever been saved, but that they were chosen by God for this salvation from before the foundation of the world. So, all of us must recognize how God-centered, how God-initiating our salvation is. It is traced back to the free will of God. Now, third, and now we wade into more of the emphasis of the double election. I want you to know, third, “The Eternal Hardening,” the eternal hardening. And at the end of verse 7, he says, “And the rest were hardened.” “The rest” here refers to Jews who were not chosen for salvation. The whole context of Romans 9 through 11 in the spotlight is the nation Israel. Yes, Gentiles are mentioned in chapter 9 in just a couple of verses and in chapter 10 as well, but the dominant focus of these three chapters is, “So what about Israel?” And “the rest” here in verse 7, those two words “the rest” refers to the rest of the nation Israel that is not chosen for salvation. So clearly, not all Jews are chosen for salvation. He says, “and the rest were hardened.” “Were hardened” here means to be made obstinate and stubborn towards Jesus Christ and the gospel. It means to be solidified in the unbelief that was already present in the heart. It does not mean that God works evil into the heart of the non-elect. It means that this evil is already there and it is the result of Adam’s sin. It is the result of being born in sin. It is the result of individual choices and acts of sin. That sin and that unbelief is already in the heart, and for it to be hardened now solidifies that unbelief that it will never become anything else but unbelief. He says they “were hardened.” This is a passive verb, and a passive verb means that the object is acted upon by an outside agent, by a foreign agent, if you will. And this outside agent is the one who is hardening the non-elect Jew. And so, the question is, “Who is the active agent who is hardening hearts in unbelief? And the answer is very obvious in the context. You will see it at the beginning of verse 8. This agent is God, God the Father. It says in verse 8, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not.” It is God who gave them these blind eyes. “And ears to hear not,” it is God who gave them deaf ears. And this hardening is a hardening that God Himself does to set the concrete in the heart in the direction that that heart is already going. This heart is not neutral. This heart is not innocent. This heart is not straddling the fence. This heart is already running away from God. This heart has already rejected the gospel and has already rejected Christ, and as a result God hardens the heart that in reality was already hardened. If you look back at Romans 9 verses 17 and 18, Paul uses Pharaoh as this example. “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up,” verse 17, “to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed through the whole earth.'” So, God has a sovereign purpose to raise Pharaoh up in order to use Pharaoh for redemptive history. Now, verse 18 is where we see the word “hardened.” “So then He,” referring to God the Father, “has mercy on whom He desires,” that is the elect, “and He hardens whom He desires,” that is the non-elect. So, in this context it is clear that God is the active external agent who is hardening the hearts of those who were not chosen. Now, to back this up, Paul will now quote Scripture, which gives this a double authority in his teaching. So, he says in verse 8, “Just as it is written,” which has the looser meaning of, “This is exactly what’s in the Bible,” that this is not a new teaching. This has been in the Bible throughout the whole Old Testament. And so he says, “Just as it is written,” and he will now quote from the three major sections of the Old Testament. The Old Testament can be divided out into these three sections. Sometimes it was divided out into two sections; the Law and the Prophets. Other times, it was divided further into three sections; the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Paul will now quote from the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings to make this a slam-dunk argument, to make this a comprehensive argument that is drawn from the entirety of the Old Testament. He is not isolating just an obscure verse; he is drawing from all three major sections of the Old Testament. So in essence, he is putting his arms around the entire Bible. And from the Law, he will quote Deuteronomy 29 verse 4. From the Prophets, he will quote Isaiah 29 verse 10, and from the Writings he will quote Psalm 69 verses 22 and 23. So let us look at this. In verse 8, he quotes two of these passages and really just merges them together. He quotes Deuteronomy 29 verse 4 and he quotes Isaiah 29 verse 10, and they overlap in verse 8. He just kind of merges them together. “God gave them a spirit of stupor.” Please note who is doing this. This is not Satan, and this is not the sinner himself self-hardening his own heart. That self-hardening has already occurred. This is now God sealing it. “God gave them,” and please note, God is not merely observing this, God is not merely permitting this; God is actively giving them. The “them” refers to the non-elect within Israel. Those who were passed over and not chosen within the nation Israel, God gave them a spirit, meaning an inner heart, a spirit of stupor. The word “stupor” means slumber, to be unable to respond. Literally, out of the Greek it means a prickling sensation like a bunch of needles prickling in one of the limbs of your body. And that is what happens when your arm goes asleep or when your leg goes asleep. The blood flow is cut off and you feel the tingle of all those needles and you begin to shake your arm and pull it out of what we would call, “your arm going to sleep.” That is the very word that is used here for “stupor.” It is the tingling sensation when an arm or a leg goes asleep and it represents a total inability to see or to hear what is being said. It is because you are asleep. And when you are asleep, you cannot hear. You are unresponsive to what is being said around you. And so, a spirit of stupor is you are in a state of being incapable of responding to the gospel of salvation that is being offered to you. Now, quoting from the Deuteronomy and the Isaiah passages, both of which say this, God also further gives them “eyes to see not,” spiritual eyes of spiritual blindness so they cannot see the truth of the gospel. And God gives them “ears to hear not,” meaning spiritual ears. They have physical ears; they just do not have spiritual ears to discern and to understand and to comprehend what they are hearing. In other words, we would say today, “It is just going in one ear and out the other. Nothing is sticking to the back of the wall,” ears that are spiritually deaf that cannot hear what is being said. The mute button is pushed. You see the lips moving, but you cannot hear as far as it registering with you what is being said. It is like you are watching a silent movie and you cannot hear the words. Then it adds, “down to this very day,” referring down to New Testament times. This is a divine judgment that God has rendered upon the chosen nation of Israel, not to everyone within the nation because there is a chosen remnant, but for the vast majority of the nation they are given eyes to see not and ears to hear not by God Himself. It is a judicial verdict because they have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ who was born a Jew, came to the nation Israel, preached the gospel to them, and they completely rejected it. Now, this is nothing new. I want you to quickly turn back to Matthew chapter 13, and I need to take you to two passages that even during the earthly ministry of Jesus this hardening was already setting in. This hardening was already in effect. And in Matthew 13 beginning in verse 10, “And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?'” Verse 11: “Jesus answered them, “To you,” referring to the disciples, “it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” Let me just pause there. God must grant eyes to see and ears to hear in order to know the mysteries of the kingdom. You remember when Jesus said, “Who do You say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus said in response, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” All spiritual truth must be revealed to the heart by God Himself, and God reveals it to those who are chosen. But back to Matthew 13, at the end of verse 11, “but to them.” Who is the “them?” It is the nation of Israel. “It has not been granted.” Verse 12: “For whoever has,” referring has knowledge of the truth, “to him more will be given, and he will have an abundance,” meaning an abundance of yet more discernment and insight because it is being continually given by God in increasing measure. “But” in the middle of verse 12, “whoever does not have,” meaning does not have the insight needed into the gospel, “even what he has will be taken from him.” Even what little insight he has, though not enough to be saved, even that little, will be taken away from him and he will be left with nothing. Verse 14, “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You,'” referring to Israel “will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing but will not perceive; for the heart of this people,” not those people out in the world, this people, the nation Israel, “has become dull. With their ears they scarcely hear.” What they scarcely hear, even that scarcely will be taken away from them. “And they have closed their eyes,” even those eyes will be taken away from them, “otherwise they would see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and I would heal them. But,” verse 16, “blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” I can tell you today if you hear and see today the truth of the gospel and have responded to it, you are unusually blessed by God. And you see what others do not see, not because you are smarter, not because you have a higher IQ, not because you are a better reader, but because God has given you eyes to see and has given you ears to hear. And He has not given that to everyone, lest they see and lest they hear and lest they be healed. Now, let me just comment quickly on Matthew 13. Matthew 13 is given to the disciples after in Matthew 12 blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has been committed, the utter rejection of Christ by the nation Israel. And so, in order to prepare the disciples for what lies ahead as they will be sent out to preach the gospel to the Jew first and then also to the Greek, He gives in Matthew 13 the parable of the four soils, you remember? The four soils: one that is hardened, one that is shallow, one that has mixed with weeds, and only one of the four soils is receptive to the gospel. That was to prepare these disciples for what lies ahead, that you are going to have more noes than you are going to have yes. You are going to have more rejections to the gospel than you are going to have those who will receive the gospel. That was the purpose of here in Matthew 13 of all of these parables, of the good fish and the bad fish, of the wheat and the tares, etc. It was to prepare the disciples that there is not going to be a traffic jam on Sunday morning as you are going to church. It will be the few who are chosen and granted eyes to see and ears to hear. You just need to accept this on the front end and know it. Now, come to John chapter 12. John chapter 12 occurs at the end of the public ministry of Jesus shortly before His crucifixion. And just to remind you, John chapter 13 starts the upper room discourse, the night before our Lord was crucified. So, we are close to the crucifixion. And in John chapter 12 and in verse 37, “But though He had performed so many signs before them,” the ‘them’ referring to Israel, “they yet were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke,” and he now quotes Isaiah 53 verse 1: “‘Lord, who has believed our report?'” It is a rhetorical question, the implied answer is “hardly anybody,” like almost nobody. “And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Verse 39: “For this reason they could not believe.” That is moral inability. “They could not believe, for Isaiah said again,” and he now quotes Isaiah 6 verse 10, and this is what was quoted earlier in Matthew 13 that I forgot to cite. It is Isaiah 6 verse 10, “He,” referring to God the Father, “has blinded their eyes,” referring to Israel, “and He,” God the Father, “has hardened their heart,” referring to apostate unbelieving Israel, “so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” So that they wouldn’t be converted, so that it wouldn’t happen, God blinds their eyes and deafens their ears and hardens their heart. This judgment had already begun to fall upon the Christ rejecting nation of Israel while Jesus was still alive during His earthly ministry before His crucifixion, but there would be a remnant who would believe, as on the day of Pentecost three thousand souls were saved but it was because God gave eyes to see and God gave ears to hear and God gave a heart to believe. So, come back now to Romans 11. So, the reason I took us to those verses in Matthew and John is to show this is nothing new. Of course, he was quoting the Old Testament from Isaiah so it is even in Isaiah. This is how God operates. But it was already in effect while Jesus was still alive. And so, now as Paul writes Romans in about 57-58 AD, the hardening has taken place. The heavy hand of God has come down upon the Christ-rejecting nation. So, verse 9, “And David says.” Please note it is present tense, meaning it is still in effect and it is still addressing the hour in which Paul wrote this, and it is still in effect to this very day. David continues to say this, “Let their table become a snare and a trap.” Now, a table is a place of fellowship. A table was a place of abundant provision, a place of plenty, of satisfaction, of fellowship. You remember Psalm 23 verse 5, God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. God is spreading a banquet. “Their table,” referring to the nation Israel, they had heard what the Babylonians never heard. They knew what the Assyrians and the Egyptians had never been so privileged. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians had never sat down at a table like this to hear such gospel truth presented to them especially in the day of Christ. But they rejected, they turned their nose up at the banquet that was spread on the table for the nation Israel, untold blessing. It has all been prepared. So, “David says, ‘Let their table become a snare.'” A snare is a trap with a string or a noose. It is a trick to catch unexpected prey, and a trap is intended to trap an animal unto death in its own destruction. “And a stumbling block,” skandalon comes into the English language as “scandal.” It is a cause for offense. That is Christ Himself who is the stumbling block. That was mentioned at the end of Romans 9 in verse 33. God says, “I lay in Zion,” referring to Israel, “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,” and then he adds in verse 9, “and a retribution to them,” the “them” referring to Israel. A retribution means a payback for what they deserve, for what they have earned. It is a recompense. It is what the word “retribution” means. So, God is giving to guilty sinners within the nation of Israel what they justly and rightly deserve, which is eternal condemnation. God is not judging innocent parties, and God is not judging good people. God is hardening the hearts and blinding the eyes of those who have turned their nose up at the banquet feast of salvation and blessing that He has offered to them. And it underscores how critically important it is that when you hear the gospel you need to act on that, because it may not always be being offered to you in a way that you even have eyes to see it and ears to hear it. Because the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is you come to a point where you have rejected and rejected and rejected, God will just give you over to your own ways. And that is what Romans 1 is all about. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. God gave them over to the lusts of their flesh. You hit the point of no return with God. Your day of opportunity is over. And you may still be alive, but it is as though you are already in hell because God has hardened your heart and sealed it within. So, verse 10 to complete this, “Let their eyes be darkened to see not.” This was originally an imprecatory prayer that David offered against his enemies calling upon God to curse and judge his enemies. Paul now quotes this and puts this into his argument, even Paul appealing to God to bring this curse and this imprecation upon what God has determined to do. “Let their eyes be darkened to see not,” referring to spiritual blindness, “and bend their backs forever.” The picture there is of slavery, of a heavy yoke, of oppressive slavery, this yoke around your neck and you are having to pull a heavy load. And the imagery here is of apostate Israel trying to work their way to God under the heavy yoke of the law, the burden of keeping the commandments in order to achieve righteousness. Their backs are bent. They cannot come out from under this heavy yoke now of a works-based righteousness. So, let their eyes be darkened to see not, and God bend their backs forever, and this quotation has the meaning of God bringing final judgment and eternal cursing upon His chosen people. I’ll give R.C. Sproul the last word here in his commentary on Romans. “The people of Israel were blind because God made them blind. Their blindness was punishment for their sin. They did not want to see the things of God. So, as He has done throughout redemptive history, God abandoned them to their sinful desire. This is God’s poetic justice. If you do not want to hear the Word of God, be careful because God will make you deaf and then you will never hear. If you do not want to see the kingdom of God, whatever you see even vaguely will be taken away. Be careful that God does not visit you with a spirit of lethargy,” close quote. Whenever you hear the gospel, that is a day of opportunity, and it may be that you either use it or you lose it. You either act upon it or it may be taken away. Deathbed conversions are very, very, very rare. And for someone to be converted in their seventies or even in their sixties is very, very, very rare. Most people are converted as teenagers and then in their twenties, but it becomes increasingly rare as you advance beyond that. The day comes when God turns out the lights and you can no longer see what little you see. So how are we to respond to such strong teaching? Let me give you three words. Number one is the word “faith.” We must have faith and believe whatever the Bible says. These verses are just as divinely inspired as John 3:16. And we must receive this as the truth from God. We must humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God and receive this word in Romans 11 by faith. It may not make sense to you intellectually. It may trouble you emotionally. You are going to have to humble yourself like a little child and come to God and say, “I don’t have the answers. You are bigger than my mind. You are bigger than my emotions. God, you are bigger than whatever it is I feel. Lord, I extend an empty hand and I receive your Word exactly as it is written for what it says.” So, number one, faith. There is not a one of us in this room that is above this text. We are all under this text, “Let God be found true. Let every man be found a liar,” it says earlier in Romans. The first word is faith. The second word is fear. These verses are intended to create fear in your heart and in my heart. They are not intended to tickle the ears. They are intended to strike reverence and awe and even dread in our hearts towards holy God that He is the potter and we are the clay. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Proverbs 9 verse 10 and it is in Job 28. It is in Psalm, I shouldn’t start quoting off the top of my head, but I can see it. You just need to see what is inside my head. But when you come to the end of Ecclesiastes, it says, “The end of everything is ‘fear God.'” So, the beginning of wisdom, the end of wisdom, and everything in between is to fear God, and you never outgrow the fear of God. And I fear that there is a major part of the body of Christ that is doing everything it can to remove the fear of God. You need the fear of God, and these verses are intended to strike fear, a humble reverence and a sense of jaw-dropping, heart-pounding awe before God and to remind us who God is and who we are and how we got to where we are. Third is the word “feast.” Let us do more than merely receive and believe these verses and these truths. Let us feast upon them. Let us delight in these verses. Let us savor these verses. Let us devour these verses. Let us ravish our soul with these verses. Here is strong meat not only to satisfy us, but to build up strong spiritual muscles within us. Here is meat intended to cause us to grow up out of infancy into manhood. Here is strong drink to produce strong believers. Let us feast on these verses and truly savor them because they are the very words of the living God. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable.” It is profitable for our own soul. So, men, this is “double predestination.” I am sure I have raised fifty questions in your minds, and I have fifty-one great answers, okay? We will continue with this in two weeks.

The Chosen Remnant – Romans 11:1-6

OnePassion Ministries October 23, 2019

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Father in heaven, thank You for this time for us to come together to study Your Word. Thank You for these men who are so devoted to Christ, and I pray that You would bless them, sanctify them, strengthen them. And for everyone who is watching by livestream and through website post, I pray that You will attend to their needs and minister to them. So, give us now eyes to see, understand Your Word. Fill me with your Spirit that I can be a faithful teacher of Your Word. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Alright, Romans chapter 11, we are in verses 1 through 11 today, Lord willing, if we can cover this. And the title of this Bible study is “A Chosen Remnant,” a chosen remnant. Let me begin by reading the text. “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?” Question mark. “May it never be!” Exclamation point. “For I too am an Israelite, a descendent of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ But what is the divine response to him? ‘I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” In this study, we begin a brand-new chapter, Romans chapter 11, and we find here Paul’s most complete teaching on the future of the nation Israel. Now, we might wonder, “Why would this be important to us?” After all, all of us except for Dan here is a Gentile. And so, “Why would we be concerned with Israel? What does this have to do with me?” Well, the fact is it has a lot to do. In fact, we could almost say everything to do with us, because all of God’s purposes are intertwined into one purpose. But it was to Israel that God sent the prophets. From Israel came the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. God had His own Son born a Jew in Israel. The twelve disciples were Jews. The first church was a Jewish church. The gospel was to go to Israel first and only to the Greeks then thereafter. Jesus, when He comes back, will return to Israel and He will land at the Mount of Olives. And, Israel has always been really at the epicenter of God’s redeeming plan and program. So, for us to be unconcerned with Israel would almost be for us to be unconcerned about the Bible because the Bible is so predominantly Jewish in its flavor as it has now come though and expanded to us as Gentiles. So, because we study the Bible, read the Bible, and the Bible is important to us, therefore Israel is important to us. So, the question on the table, as Paul begins Romans 11, and the whole chapter is going to be devoted to this; the question is, “What will happen in the future to ethnic Israel? Is God through with Israel? Has the church replaced Israel in God’s plan or is there still yet a future plan for Israel? Is there a future salvation of Israel? Does God still have a purpose in His plan for the Jew?” That is the issue that is being addressed, and I think it is very important that we answer it correctly. And we are not just looking at a single verse. We are looking at an entire chapter that has to be addressed. So, the vast majority of us here are Gentiles. We only have one that I know of that is a Jew. And so, as we look at this, this though nevertheless is important to every one of us. So, as we walk through these verses, I have several headings as always. They are just footsteps to walk us through the text. And the first thing I want you to note is the pressing issue. That is at the beginning of verse 1, the pressing issue, because Paul’s manner of teaching is to raise an issue by asking a question that he knows must be on the mind of his readers. And so, what he anticipates on the mind of the readers is very simply this, “So, what about Israel?” If God has chosen Israel to be His people, and if so few Jews are actually being saved, and if the church is now becoming predominantly Gentile, what does this say about Israel? So, he says in verse 1, “For I say then.” And when he says, “For I say then,” you feel this summation tone to his words here. And it really looks back at chapter 9 and chapter 10 that Israel has sought a righteousness with God by their own works, and they have rejected God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, they crucified Him. So, what does this say about God’s relationship to Israel? So, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?” And “His people” refers to His chosen people, referring to the nation of Israel, the ethnic Jews. The word “rejected” here is a Greek word apotheo that means to cast aside, to throw away, to thrust away. And so, he puts it in the form of a question that implies a negative answer, “God has not rejected His people, has He?” Now, God, if He were like us, would have every reason to reject Israel. I mean, Israel had killed the prophets. Israel had spurned the message of the Old Testament. Israel put to death the forerunner, John the Baptist. Israel crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel blatantly trampled underfoot the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, from a human perspective, we understand the question. It is a natural question that would be raised, “Has God rejected His people?” And right now, as Paul writes this on his third missionary journey, there is every reason that God would have rejected Israel if it was only looked at from a human perspective. And I think it extends even to this present hour in the twenty-first century, not just the first century, but the twenty-first century. Is God done with Israel? Is there no longer God’s working in and through the Jew? So that is the pressing issue. Note second the emphatic denial, and I will have to apologize I haven’t been able to alliterate this outline, so the emphatic denial. Notice what he says in verse 1, “May it never be!” That is two words in the Greek language, and it is the strongest negative response in the Greek language, me genoito. It has been loosely transliterated, “No, no. A thousand times no.” “Absolutely not.” “No way!” “That’s impossible.” “That is inconceivable.” The King James chose to translate it very loosely, “God forbid!” “By no means!” This is the ninth time in the book of Romans Paul has said, “May it never be!” When Paul wants to slam the door shut, he says, me genoito. “May it never be!” And if God was to forsake Israel, God would be forsaking virtually Himself, certainly denying His own Word that He had spoken to Israel. So, that is the emphatic denial. Now, Paul is a master teacher. And he doesn’t just slam the door shut. He now follows up, number three, with the convincing proof. And he gives us three convincing reasons why God will never forsake Israel and why God has not forsaken Israel in the first century and why He is not going to forsake Israel at the end of the age. So, here are the three reasons. The first Paul puts on the table is a personal proof, a personal proof, and Paul uses his own testimony and his own life as proof positive. God has not forsaken Israel. Paul is like waving his hands and saying, “What do you think I am? I am a Jew.” So, he begins with himself. So, that is why he says in the middle of verse 1, “For I too am an Israelite,” obviously the “I” referring to Paul as the author of these words, and he presents himself as exhibit A that God has not utterly rejected the Jews. And Paul is not just a Jew. He is a Jew of Jews. No one was more Jewish than the Apostle Paul. He will tell us in Philippians 3 verses 4 and 5 that he was circumcised on the eighth day; that he was, to use in his own terms, “a Hebrew of Hebrews.” You can’t be anymore Hebrew than being a Hebrew of Hebrews, and then he says, “As to the law, a Pharisee.” That is a smaller circle within Israel, extreme to the right, separated even from the rest of Israel. They are not Jewish enough, the Pharisees. The word “Pharisee” means “separatist.” They have set themselves apart from not just sin in the world, but just even cultural Jewish-ness, we would say cultural Christianity today, people just going through the empty motions of Jewishness. No, the Pharisees were hardball. They were hardball to the right. And so, Paul in Philippians 3:4 and 5 says, “I am a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, I am a Pharisee.” He was so devoted to Jewishness, he says in that passage, “I was a persecutor of the church.” He wasn’t just riding the fence, putting his arms around everybody. No. He was so all-out for Jewishness that he was the chief tormentor and persecutor of the church. So, when he says, “For I too am an Israelite,” yeah, you bet he was an Israelite. Nobody was more of an Israelite than the Apostle Paul. And then, he adds to that “a descendent of Abraham,” meaning he is a physical descendent of Abraham. He traces his lineage and he traces his roots back to Abraham. Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel. He was the father of the Jewish people. So, he is just driving a nail into the board and establishing his argument for Jewishness. But if that were not enough, he then adds, “of the tribe of Benjamin.” Now, that is one of the twelve tribes of Israel, also one of the elite tribes of Israel. Benjamin was one of only two tribes in the south that remained more loyal to the Word of God than the ten tribes to the north, though the two tribes to the south eventually capitulated and caved in as well. But, the tribe of Benjamin, it was out of the tribe of Benjamin that came the first king of Israel, Saul. The Apostle Paul was named for Saul, King Saul. And the land that was given to the tribe of Benjamin, guess what is right in the middle of the land given to the tribe of Benjamin? Jerusalem, the holy city, the temple, where temple worship was conducted. I mean, location, location, location in real estate. The tribe of Benjamin is smack dab in the middle of what God was doing in the nation of Israel. And so, when he says, “of the tribe of Israel,” he is putting his credentials out there. He is letting his readers know in Rome that “No, God hasn’t forsaken Israel. Look at me!” No one was more rooted and grounded in the soil of Israel than Saul of Tarsus who became the Apostle Paul. So, that is evidence number one that Paul puts on the table. He begins with the micro, and then he will work his way out to the macro. So, he then says second, a theological proof, a doctrinal proof, if you will. So, beginning in verse 2, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” Now, the word “foreknowledge” does not mean foresight. The word “foreknowledge” means whom God previously chose to love. That is what the word “foreknowledge” means. And God, previously before time began, made a choice among all the nations of the world to set His heart of affection upon the nation Israel. And Paul’s argument here is that sovereign election is irrevocable, that sovereign election is irreversible, that those whom God chose before time can never be rejected within time. That is the point that he is making. God would have to deny Himself and His own promises and His own covenant love before He would reject Israel. Now, let me just take you to a couple of verses in the Old Testament. Turn back with me to Deuteronomy, fifth book in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy chapter 7. And I just want you to see this, a couple of verses in your own Bible. We are going to go to just a couple of verses here, but I want you to see that it is God Himself that chose Israel. He chose to love Israel in a way that He has not chosen to love the other nations of the world. So, Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6. Moses is giving his farewell sermons to the nation Israel, and he says, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God.” Moses is addressing the nation before they enter the Promised Land. “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” God made a distinguishing choice. Out of all the nations around the globe, God singled out one nation by His sovereign will to choose to be His own possession through whom He would work in a very unique and special way. And that would be the case as the Word of God itself would essentially come out of the nation Israel, and the Messiah would come out of the nation Israel. The Law and the covenant promises would come through the nation Israel. Now, look at the next verse, verse 7. “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you.” Stop right there! I want you to see the synonymous interchanging of “love” and “choose.” Do you see that in your Bible? For God to love is to choose to love, and for God to choose is to choose to love. God chose to love Israel in a way He did not choose to love other nations. I didn’t write this book. I am just telling you what is in this book. Verse 7, “For the Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number,” meaning in population, “than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples.” How much like God is this? God reaches down to the bottom of the barrel when He chooses whom He is going to work through. He didn’t choose the Egyptians, He didn’t choose the Babylonians, He didn’t choose the Assyrians. He chose that tiny little speck of landmass that is the same distance from here to downtown Fort Worth, 45 miles across. It is just a tiny little sliver of a finger of land. So, why did God choose Israel? At the beginning of verse 8, he gives the only reason that he is going to give us, “But because the Lord loved you.” Why? Just because God chose to love Israel. The reason is known only to God. And the reason, even deeper, is found only in God. Known by God and God alone, according to the wisdom of His eternal counsel, He chose to set His heart on the nation Israel. Now come, if you would, to Jeremiah 31, which will be the second major prophet. Jeremiah 31 verse 37. And God is talking about the miracle of regeneration, the miracle of the new birth. Let’s just start in verse 33, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” It is talking about the new birth, the circumcision of the heart. And He says, verse 34, “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor, each man his brother, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” This is God’s promise to save the Jewish people. Now, can this ever be revoked? Can this ever be rescinded? Look at verse 36. Well, let me just start in verse 35. It is hard to pass over any of this. “Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon, and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name. ‘If this fixed order departs,'” meaning the rotation of the planets around the sun, the moon, the earth, the sea, the ocean, the waves coming in, the waves going out, being pulled by the gravitation with the moon, this fixed order that God has established in the entire universe. What His argument is going to be, I will just tell you before I read these verses. The whole universe would come to a standstill before God will stop loving Israel and before God will break His covenant relationship with Israel. The whole universe will stop before this is going to happen. So, verse 36, “If this fixed order departs from before Me,” declares the Lord, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.” “Thus says the Lord, ‘If the heavens above can be measured,” and they cannot, “and the foundations of the earth searched out below,” and they cannot, “then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all they have done.'” And when He says, “for all they have done” meaning all their sin. God says, “You go measure the entire universe and get back with me. And once you have measured the dimensions of the entire galaxies, once you get that figured out, then I will cast off Israel, but until then I am remaining committed to the nation Israel.” And you will note the last word of verse 36. For how long? Forever. That is a pretty long time. Now, come with me to one more passage, to Amos chapter 3 verse 2. This is going to be the third minor prophet. Amos chapter 3 in verse 2. For those of you highly spiritual, that is page 1291. Let me start in verse 1, Amos 3 verse 1, “Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family,” referring to the offspring of Abraham, “which He brought up from the land of Egypt.” Now, watch this: “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth.'”  Literally, out of the Hebrew, it says, “You only have I known,” which speaks of a love relationship in an intimate way. Not just know about, but “I have intimately, personally set My heart of love upon you. I have chosen to do this.” God has not said this to any other nation. He certainly hasn’t said this to America. He didn’t say it to anyone else at this time and He hasn’t said it to anyone else in this time. So, come back if you would now to Romans chapter 11. And I am just with these cross-references wanting to put some pillars under what Paul just said to bear it up. We can’t just write off Israel. We can’t just say, “Well, God has set Israel on the shelf and He is never going to have a future purpose for Israel.” That flies in the face of countless verses, and I just gave you the tip of the iceberg. So, number one is Paul’s personal proof, “I am a Jew.” Second, theological proof, God has foreknown His people. That means before the foundation of the world God chose the nation Israel to be His own possession. That doesn’t mean everyone in the nation of Israel is foreknown in a redemptive way, but it does mean they are foreknown in a general covenant way of God choosing to work through them and to use them to reach the world. Now, a third proof. I mean, Paul is just laying these out one after another. The third proof is found at the end of verse 2 and I am going to call it the “biblical proof,” in that he will now cite actual chapter and verse from the Old Testament to make his point, and he will go to Elijah. So, beginning in the middle of verse 2, “Or do you not know?” I can’t let that pass without making this comment. Whenever Paul says, “Or do you not know?” it is used in a little bit of a dismissive way, in that if you are thinking you know this, “Do you not know this?” I mean, there is a little bit of a slightly sarcastic dismissive tone to those words, “Or do you not know?” In other words, this is Theology 101. This is kindergarten stuff. Or, “Do you not know what the Scripture says?” In other words, “Don’t you know your Bible? If you know your Bible, you know this.” “In the passage about Elijah.” Now, Elijah is that fiery prophet of Israel, remember, who challenged the prophets of Baal to let fire fall down on the altar? “Let the true God answer by fire.” And so, “how he pleads with God against Israel?” Now, that word “against” is an important word here because Elijah appeals to God against Israel because Israel has been up to their nostrils in apostasy. Israel has been up to their eyeballs in idolatry. King Ahab with Queen Jezebel. I mean, she was a devil with a blue dress on. She was an ungodly woman and she was a priestess in the cult of Baal, and she convinced Ahab to tear down all of the altars of God around the country, just rip them down stone by stone and put in their place altars to the pagan idol Baal and leave the whole nation to worship Baal. I mean, it was a dark hour in the nation Israel. It was a generation that had gone apostate. And so, Elijah is pleading with God against Israel, “God, You’re going to have to do something. God, You’re going to have to judge these people. These are my people.” And then in verse 3, he quotes out of 1 Kings 19, “Lord,” and there is a sense of fervency when he…”Lord, they have killed Your prophets,” “they” referring to Israel. Israel killed their own prophets. The ones whom God sent to preach to Israel, Israel rose up and murdered them and slaughtered them. They didn’t want to hear the Word of God. And then he adds, “They have torn down Your altars.” They have ripped down Your altars that would lead to the true worship of God and instead have turned to worshiping Baal. It was just a dark hour in Israel. And, Elijah says in verse 3, “I alone am left.” And I can kind of understand how he comes to this self-pity moment. I mean, he looks around and he doesn’t see anyone to the left and he doesn’t see anyone to the right. He sees himself standing all alone at this moment, and he presumes that he is the only true believer in the whole nation. And he says, “They are seeking my life.” They are not neutral about Elijah. Ahab and Jezebel are after him like a hunting dog after the prey. And so, God responds in verse 4. But Paul raises the question. He is such a master teacher. Paul raises this question and then gives the Old Testament citation, “But what is the divine response to him?” So, how did God respond to Elijah regarding Israel? Now, God speaks, “I,” that is God is the speaker. “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal,” have not succumbed to pagan worship. The point that God is making with Elijah, “It may seem like you are the only one, but you need to understand how I operate. I always have a remnant. I always have a chosen minority. In the midst of the ungodly majority, I always have My people. I have not rejected Israel. I am still at work in and through Israel. It is just with a very small remnant,” though seven thousand is not that small. So, those are the three proofs that Paul puts on the table: personal, theological, and biblical. It is an airtight case. So now, number four, “the present reality” in verse 5. So from these three proofs, Paul draws this important conclusion. So, in verse 5, “In the same way.” So, here is going to be Paul’s argument, as it was then, so it is now. “In the same way, there has come to be at the present time,” referring to the middle of the first century. Paul wrote this in about 57 or 58 AD. I am going to say it has extended all the way down to today in the twenty-first century. “There has come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” Now, what is a remnant? A remnant is a small piece of something that is left over, that is hardly noticed, that is ready to be discarded. It is a small surviving part of the whole. Now today, we use the word. You go into a business place to buy some carpet, and if you are wanting to save money you will hear the price on the regular carpet, and you will go, ‘”Well, do you have any remnants?” And the remnants are just so marked down because they are just like little, almost like swatches, little corners of pieces that are left over that the main buyer didn’t need. And so, it is just a little small piece and they throw it over in the warehouse in a corner. And it is just almost like a junkyard with a bunch of old cars stacked up, and maybe if someone wants to come buy this door handle, they will come by. It is just what is left over. That is what the word “remnant” means, and it is predominantly an Old Testament word and concept that was used concerning the nation Israel. This is the only time in the entire New Testament, this Greek word is used for “remnant,” but it’s used sixty-two times in its Hebrew equivalent in the Old Testament. So, Paul is even pulling this word out of the Jewishness of the Old Testament to make his point, “a remnant,” and he is talking about here a small remnant of believing Jews that God has chosen from before the foundation of the world, not just as a chosen nation. This is inside of the chosen nation. This is an election unto salvation. So, when he says at the end of verse 5, “According to God’s gracious choice,” that literally reads, “according to God’s election of grace” or literally translated “according to God’s election by grace.” It is a Greek word ek-legomai. It is a compound word. Legomai is the main root word, l-e-g-o-m-a-i, and it just means “to choose.” You put the prefix ek, e-k in front of it, ek means “out of.” So, ek-legomai means “to choose out of,” and the idea is to choose out of the whole a small remnant. So, that is what Paul is teaching, and the word was used in the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew before the coming of Christ. It was used of David going down to the river creek right before he fought Goliath, and he chose five stones to put in his slingshot. Now, there were more than just five stones in that riverbed, but he chose just five out of the whole that perfectly fit his purposes and his needs to bring Goliath down. The word was also used of Joshua, a verse you are very familiar with, Joshua 24. I think it is like verse 17, “Choose you this day whom you will serve; as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The nation Israel has just come into the Promised Land, which had been inhabited by the Canaanites with all the Canaanite religions. And so, there were any number of multifaceted Canaanite false religions. And so, Joshua stands in front of the whole nation and says, “You’re going to have to make a choice. Out of all of these gods, choose you which one of these gods you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” That is the word that is used here, ek-legomai, to make a choice out of the many, to choose a few out of the many. Paul’s point here is that God made a distinguishing choice of certain Jews before time began whom He would save. He chose the whole nation in a general way, but He chose a remnant within that nation in a redemptive way. Now, I want to just give you some words here, I am going to give you seven words that will help us define the doctrine of election because here it is right in the text and I can’t just speed past this verse without being a faithful Bible teacher to you. So, let me give you seven words that will help us define this doctrine of election. Number one is “divine.” It is God’s choice of sinners, not sinners’ choice of God. Sinners will choose God eventually, but it is only because God has chosen sinners. God’s choice is the cause. Sinners’ choice is the result or the effect. God’s choice is the root. Sinners’ choice of God is the fruit. So, number one is “divine.” When we talk about election, it is God’s divine choice, not man’s. John 15:16, Jesus said, “You did not choose Me but I chose you.” The second word is “pretemporal.” That means it was made before time began, before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4. In eternity past is when God made this distinguishing choice. Three, individuals. It is God’s choice of specific individual people. This is not dealing in verse 5 with His choice of the whole nation. This is His choice of individuals within the nation. And I would refer us back to Romans 9. God chose Jacob, not Esau. God chose Moses, not Pharaoh. God chose individuals. Fourth, gracious. It is solely by grace. It is not based upon any human merit or any foreseen good works. It is entirely by the grace of God. It is not because of us; it is in spite of us that God chose us. Fifth, it’s “Christ-centered.” It is based upon the perfections of Christ. It is not based upon us. Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him,” referring to Christ, “before the foundation of the world,” because of who Christ is and what Christ would do on our behalf. Sixth: It is “saving.” Sometimes people try to get around the doctrine of election by saying it only deals with service but it doesn’t deal with eternal destinies. Wrong. I’d just point you back to Romans 9. Carefully, reread it several times. You will never get that sense. It is referring to eternal destinies, and God’s sovereign election is a saving choice. And then seven, it is “irrevocable,” which is the point of these verses, that those whom God chose in eternity past, that choice can never be annulled. It can never be canceled and it can never be rescinded. This is why God cannot reject Israel. First of all, He chose the whole nation in a general way to be His possession through whom He would work. So, He can’t deny that. But even within the nation Israel, there is a redemptive choice of those whom He will save. It is like double jeopardy. He can’t double deny Himself. So, that is the point that Paul is making. So, under this heading “The Present Reality” in verse 5, it is true even to this day. And not to embarrass Dan here, but Dan sitting right here is an ethnic Jew, who is a completed Jew. He is born again by the Spirit of God from above. And I don’t how many people we have here today. Let us just say there are forty of us here, I don’t know what the number is, we got one out of forty, and so that is really a microcosm of the globe, that this is just almost a picture of the whole world, that there is a small little remnant that is being preserved in grace until the end of the age. Now, when we get to the end of Romans 11, you are going to see in verse 29 that He is going to save all Israel, and we will talk about that. In the last days, there will be a great movement among the Jewish people to come back to their Messiah and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have got that to look forward to. But, let me give you the last heading, verse 6 here, the last heading is “the underlying principle,” and I need to finish this. As much as I want to go to the Q&A, I have got to put this in. Number five, “The Underlying Principle” in verse 6. This is good stuff, men. This is good stuff. Here is the basis by which a remnant within Israel will never be rejected by God, and it is the word that is used three times in this verse. You can see it for yourself. It is the word “grace.” It is because of grace. That is the underlying principle. Israel deserved nothing in order to be chosen. There are no works that they did for God to have chosen them, and there are no works that they can perform that God will reject them. The way they got in is the way they are going to stay in. It is all by grace. So, look at verse 6. “But if it is by grace,” and he is talking about saving grace, “it is no longer on the basis of works.” Salvation by grace is totally contrary to salvation by works. I mean, the two are incompatible, grace and works. It is either/or; it is never both/and. You are either going to be saved by grace or you are going to be saved by works. It is never a combination. Some people think you go to heaven like you are in a rowboat, one oar is grace and the other oar is faith. It is a nifty little illustration. The only problem with that is you are not going to heaven in a rowboat, okay? It is either all of grace according to the Bible, I will take the Bible over the illustration, or it is all of works. You choose which way you want it. And if you want by works, you are never going to get there. It is only by grace that you were chosen. It is only by grace that you were redeemed. It is only by grace that you are going to be preserved and one day glorified. It is just all of grace from start to finish, from eternity past to eternity future. That is Paul’s point that he is making here. So, how in the world could God cast away those whom He chose when the whole thing started with grace? God can’t shift now from grace to works. No, it is all of grace. That’s the underlying principle. So, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” So, salvation is not by human works; it is by divine working. It is not by human merit; it is by divine mercy. It is not even by human initiative; it is by divine initiative. And grace, if it was the entire Pacific Ocean of grace, there is not even one drop out of an eyedropper of works into the whole Pacific Ocean of grace. Otherwise then, that would cancel out the entire Pacific Ocean of grace if there was just one raindrop of works into the Pacific Ocean. It is all of grace, a hundred and ten percent of grace. So, this is good news for us I want to tell you, because how God operates with Israel is how God operates with you and me as Gentiles, okay? And it is all of grace that God chose you. There was nothing in you that would have made God choose you. You were a car wreck of a person. And as you were in your sin in Adam, God chose you simply because He chose you, because He wanted to choose you, because it pleased Him to choose you. Therefore, as He has now drawn you to Himself and kept you and redeemed you and reconciled you by grace, there was nothing you did to be reconciled to God. There was nothing you did to redeem yourself. There was nothing you did to propitiate the righteous anger of God towards you. It was all of grace. Therefore, comma, there is nothing that you can do to keep yourself in Christ. It is all of grace. You are sealed shut by the Holy Spirit in Christ, Ephesians 1 verse 13 and 14, and you are preserved by grace until you step into glory. And that is why when God gives you a crown it is going to be on your head for about half a second, if that long, and you are just going to cast it back at His feet, recognizing it was all of grace. There is no reason for this crown to be on my head. It is all of God’s grace that we will one day stand before the throne of grace. So, this is a great passage. There is great teaching in these verses, and you and I now are a part of this remnant of grace. I say “now.” We were in this remnant of grace in eternity past when God chose His elect, because He chose not only Jews to be a part of the bride of Christ, He also chose Gentiles to be a part of the body of Christ. And we have got a bunch of these coming. I know I was gone for the last month, but we have got a bunch of these coming in a row. We are going to get through Romans 11. We will see God is not finished with Israel. He is not casting them aside. I only want to get ahead of myself. You just have to come back for it. It is the strange workings of God’s providence through the nation Israel.