The Remnant Matters
Tony Schachle
Why Israel Matters • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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God Always Has a Faithful Few
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This morning we are talking about the idea of a remnant.
Remnant = a small, surviving part or leftover portion of something that remains after the main part is gone, used up, or destroyed
Examples of Remnants:
Noah
Joseph | House of Jacob (Israel)
Hebrews Who Left Egypt
Joshua | Entering the Promised Land
Elijah | 7000 Prophets
Ezra & Nehemiah | Return After Babylonian Captivity
Prophets in the Old Testament
All the Way to Today
MESSAGE
MESSAGE
THE REMNANT — God Has Not Rejected His People (Romans 11:1–10)
1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew...
Certainly Not - the strongest language to say no.
God has not cast away the Jews, because God has not cast away Paul.
2 ...Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Example of Elijah.
God had a remnant then.
5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
God had a remnant in Paul’s day.
The Election of Grace = Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” 9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.”
Israel is currently spiritually blind.
stupor = sleep
2 Quotations (Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10)
THE PURPOSE — Israel’s Failure Has Become the Gentiles Blessing (Romans 11:11-16)
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Israel’s fall is not final.
2 Redemptive Purposes:
Provoke them to jealousy.
Salvation for the Gentiles.
12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
Riches for the world.
Riches for the Gentiles.
Riches for all when they come to fulness.
13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.
Paul is an Apostle to the Gentiles.
Paul’s goal is to provoke Jews to jealousy.
Paul’s purpose is to save some.
15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
God is reconciling the world to Himself through Israel’s temporary casting away.
Their acceptance will be a miraculous blessing.
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Jewish people.
They were the carriers of the Old Covenant.
They were the nation God chose out of all the nations of the earth to bring Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins.
We are the branches, and Israel is the root.
Grain offering connection.
THE OLIVE TREE — A Warning Against Arrogance (Romans 11:17-24)
17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
We are grafted in “among them.”
“with them” we become partakes of the root.
18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
We should not become arrogant against Israel.
We should not reject Israel.
We should not neglect to pray for Israel.
We need to remember where we came from.
We need to have a healthy fear of God.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
God can remove you too.
Dichotomy: Goodness | Severity
Continue in His goodness.
God will graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
“wild by nature” | “contrary to nature”
“cultivated olive tree”
Easier to graft them back in again.
THE MYSTERY — All Israel Will Be Saved (Romans 11:25-31)
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
The mystery is now unveiled.
How long will Israel be blind?
Until the fulness of the Gentiles comes in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
Not every Jew who has ever lived will be saved.
A remnant at His Second Coming will accept Him as Messiah.
He will make them righteous and take away their sins.
He will “fulfill His covenant” with them.
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Israel are currently “enemies of the Gospel for [our] sake.”
Israel is beloved “for the sake of the fathers.”
God always leaves the door open to restoration.
30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
We have been saved by grace.
Israel will soon receive the same grace by accepting Jesus as Messiah.
THE DOXOLOGY — The Unsearchable God (Romans 11:33-36)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
The Depth of God’s Riches.
His wisdom and knowledge
Romans 8:38-39
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” 35 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”
We can’t know God’s mind.
We can’t offer God counsel.
We can’t ever repay Him.
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Of Him | Through Him | To Him
Glory forever.
So be it! Amen!
CLOSING
CLOSING
ANTICIPATE THESE OBJECTIONS
ANTICIPATE THESE OBJECTIONS
"The remnant just means individual Jewish people getting saved — not a future national salvation."
The remnant in verses 1–6 describes the present reality — individual Jewish believers in every generation. But Paul introduces something new and future in verse 25 — a mystery. A mystery is not something already known. The future national salvation of all Israel is categorically different from the ongoing remnant. The remnant is the preview. All Israel saved is the premiere.
"All Israel will be saved just means the elect throughout history."
Paul has already addressed the elect remnant in verses 1–6. He signals something new and beyond that in verse 25 with the word mystery. The mystery is not the remnant — that is already established. The mystery is the future national event triggered by the fullness of the Gentiles. Individual election does not require a sequence trigger. This national salvation does.
"The olive tree just means the church has replaced Israel."
The opposite. Paul calls it Israel's own olive tree in verse 24. You cannot re-graft a branch into a tree it has been permanently replaced by. The re-grafting Paul describes requires that the tree still belongs to the original branches. The church was grafted into Israel's tree — not the other way around.
"Romans 11:29 just means God does not change His mind about individual salvation."
The context of verse 29 is the nation of Israel — Paul has been arguing about Israel's national future for 29 verses. The gifts and calling he refers to are the covenant gifts given to Israel as a nation — adoption, glory, covenants, law, service, promises, the fathers (Romans 9:4–5). These national covenant gifts are irrevocable. That is the argument.
