60) Warning Against Arrogance
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Pastoral Reminder: Head Heart Hands
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We have been working through chapters 9-11 of the book of Romans. Paul has turned his attention to the unbelieving Jews. We know from his greeting that this letter is not sent to the unbelieving Jews themselves but to the Christians in Rome.
7 To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As he writes to the saints in Rome, he turns to his unbelieving brethren
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. 5 The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.
He writes to clarify to the Christians God’s will for Israel. From the outside the actions of the Jews cause there to be a great number of questions to arise. How can the people that God made promises and covenants with behave in such a way. How can the people who are chosen as God’s own people reject the savior that they were waiting for.
Because of how people looked at the Jews in relation to the new church, it was important that they had a clear understanding of what is going on as many of the conclusions were contrary to God. A false understanding of Israel can bring forth false ideas about God.
He writes so that God’s name is not blasphemed when people make accusations about God. He writes so that the church does not turn their back on bringing the message of faith to the Jews as well as the Gentiles. He writes because he desires that his fellow unbelieving Jews would hear the message and believe.
Looking back through his argument we see that he is defending that God’s word has not failed. He has made promises to this group of people and he had every right to choose Israel as his people.
As a nation it looks like God is going back on his promises. But that is not true. Even though the majority have totally missed God’s plan of salvation, there is a group that has believed and is the true Israel. It is not by birth that saves but by faith.
He has defended God’s justice, for all are condemned before the law and God shows mercy and compassion on who he chooses.
So it is not God who is unfaithful but Israel.
Israel has pursued righteousness by works instead of by faith.
30 What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith. 31 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law. 32 Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
They are zealous but without knowledge. Pursuing the wrong ends and means.
They are ignorant of God’s righteousness.
They will not submit to God’s righteousness.
3 Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.
They failed to believe in the message of faith that was near them. Not in a far off place out of reach. But near their mouth and heart.
They would not confess Jesus as Lord or believe in his resurrection from the dead as a work of God.
They have not obeyed the gospel that they have heard and do not have faith.
17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
Paul asked,
18 But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
Did they have selective hearing? Was the microphone not on when God spoke? No there heard but they did not listen.
19 But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.
They heard but did they not understand. The scriptures and the prophets spoke of the message of faith that would come.
21 But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.
If this is true of Israel, then what has God done with Israel? If he has continually held out his hand and they only respond in disobedience and defiance then what has he done with them?
Paul asks directly, has God rejected his people? This is the third time he has asked a direct question.
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life! 4 But what was God’s answer to him? I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal. 5 In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace. 6 Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace. 7 What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day. 9 And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.
What About Me
What About Me
Has God rejected his people. This is the final thrust of this section and the main theme of chapter 11. This is a good question to be asked.
It is easy to read the New Testament and come to many different conclusions about what God is doing with Israel. As the early beginnings of the church is primarily believing Jews, there became many questions about the chosen nation of God. The nation that claimed to be God’s special people, and they were. But there was this new group that was claiming the Jesus was alive and that he has saved them from their sins. That he has made them righteous before God. The group that would eventually be called Christians.
This group was leaving the traditions and observances that Israel had followed for generations. The Christians were leaving the ways of temple worship and many of the other core rites and following this man that they call the Messiah.
So there is this growing group that is in and this other group that is out. So there was much confusion about the promises to the nation. Paul has argued that God has not gone back on his promises. That his word has not failed and that God has chose and maintained a remnant of his people as smaller group that has been saved as they have believed in God’s words by faith
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! ...
Has Israel been rejected? His answer is absolutely not. This is that emphatic, super strong, may it never be. This is unimaginable to think of.
The word Paul uses here for rejected means to cast away or cast off. He is not asking if God just held them off or walked away. He is asking if God, who has chosen this people and revealed himself through, would have just cast them off because of their defiance and disobedience?
This is unthinkable.
His first evidence is his own life.
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
Paul himself being in many ways the prototypical Jew would have been the exact case study for the accusations he just wrote about.
4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.
If God was going to reject a Jew based on the what he wrote about Paul would have been one of the first.
13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Paul points to his own life and says if he himself, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, can be saved then God has not cast off all of Israel due to their unrighteousness.
The man who persecuted and attacked the church becomes a man who’s entire life is redirected to taking the gospel to the gentile world. To the unclean and those that were not chosen.
If I was not rejected then God is still drawing those in Israel to himself. This is his first reason that God has not rejected Israel.
The next reason is looking at them as a group.
What About The Remnant
What About The Remnant
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life! 4 But what was God’s answer to him? I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal. 5 In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace. 6 Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.
God has not rejected his people even in the killing of the prophets.
22 The Lord will not abandon his people, because of his great name and because he has determined to make you his own people.
There is a possessiveness to this statement.
6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
These were a people that have been known to God before. Paul reminds them of what the scriptures said concerning Elijah. He comes to this place of trial as he turns to God and points out ways that Israel has turned from God. And are now after him. He feels like he is the only one left of Israel that is left and they are trying to kill him. Quoting 1 Kings
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.”
But God responds to Elijah that he is not alone in his faith and obedience. He is not the only one that has not abandoned the Lord.
18 But I will leave seven thousand in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
Paul edits the reference slightly by adding that God has left seven thousand for himself. He has left them. God claims that it is by his hand that these are left. That this group that was foreknown would remain after he brings judgment on Israel for their unfaithfulness to the covenant.
Then he adds to the reverence “for myself” as God was keeping these for his own possession.
5 In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.
This group of seven thousand were an example of the remnant then as there is still a remnant at the present time. This group that is left after all of the defiant and disobedient are removed have been kept by God as they have been chosen by grace. Even though they had not bowed the knee to worship Baal, I wasn’t there actions by which they were saved but by grace.
6 Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.
If something is earned it is not grace. If something is given because it is deserved it is not grace. Grace is given to those who the giver gives.
From the fall God has maintained a remnant for if he did not there would not have been one.
29 And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.
At all times there are those who are Abraham’s offspring. but by God’s grace there has been one.
What Then
What Then
7 What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day. 9 And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.
As a nation they were given great promises from God. These promises were what Israel was looking for but not all of Israel found what it was looking for. But there has continually been a group that did find it. Chosen by grace. Throughout the bible we see Israel turning away from God and going their own way as a nation. Worshiping false gods. Merging with foreign nations, perverting the worship of God at the alter. This rebellion led to God’s punishment and judgment on many occasions. But through it all there, was a remnant that found what it was looking for. Just look at Hebrews chapter 11.
The rest were hardened. as it is written in Isaiah.
9 And he replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. 10 Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed. 11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate, 12 and the Lord drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land.
This scripture is repeatedly quoted throughout the bible. When speaking of the hardened heart of Israel. The stupor and inability to perceive with their faculties. They have what they need to hear and see but in their unbelief and their rebellion they are blind and deaf to God.
22 Let their table set before them be a snare, and let it be a trap for their allies. 23 Let their eyes grow too dim to see, and let their hips continually quake.
The nation as a whole has been hardened by its unbelief and God has worked in and through that for salvation to come to the Gentiles.
11 I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!
They are not hardened from individually responding to the gospel and believing. For if that were his point then Paul himself would not be saved.
Paul is not defending the Jews rebellion but he is defending that God’s is faithful to his word and promises. That all of the promises he has made to Israel will be completed. When we look at the Psalms we see God make the same assertion that Paul is here as well. He turns to the Old Testament about 23 times directly in this section of scripture. So to understand what he is explaining the Old Testament must be looked at closely.
8 He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he ordained for a thousand generations— 9 the covenant he made with Abraham, swore to Isaac, 10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree and to Israel as a permanent covenant:
This is because of God’s character and not Israel’s obedience.
30 If his sons abandon my instruction and do not live by my ordinances, 31 if they dishonor my statutes and do not keep my commands, 32 then I will call their rebellion to account with the rod, their iniquity with blows. 33 But I will not withdraw my faithful love from him or betray my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or change what my lips have said. 35 Once and for all I have sworn an oath by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 His offspring will continue forever, his throne like the sun before me, 37 like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
Conclusions
Conclusions
The Jews have recieved great promises that we as gentile believers are brought into through our faith in Jesus as Lord and savior. But when the people of Paul’s time and even our own time look at the state of Israel we have the same questions. If we know God and his Spirit dwells in and leads his children and the Spirit produces fruit in a child of God, then why do we not see this in God’s chosen nation and people.
On one side there is the thought that God is done with them fully and has turned to the church and moved on. But that would mean that God could go back on his word. The author of Hebrews also wrote of God’s unfailing and unchanging word.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself: 14 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you. 15 And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute. 17 Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. 20 Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
God has not forgotten his promises even though there is continual rebellion throughout the history of Israel.
On the other side is a blind devotion to the nation of Israel just because they were chosen by God to be his people. But what we see here in these chapters is that not all Israel are Israel. That not all have found what they are looking for. As a nation they are still in many ways still in the same place. Seeking a righteousness of their own. Rejecting the message of faith. ignorant of God’s righteousness. God’s hand is on the Jews even today. As His plan of salvation continues until his return.
Paul is proof that God is not done with Israel and God’s words are true and can be trusted. God will continue to hold for himself a remnant of Jews that hear the gospel, the message of faith and believe.
The next couple of weeks will develop this idea further and bring the Gentiles into view.
When we look at passages that are primarily on Israel it may be easy to brush off these chapters. But when we dive into them we see more deeply God’s redemptive plan. His faithfulness and his promises. We see continuity from page one of the bible to the end. We gain instruction on how to live for the Lord. We see that God is faithful when we would have given up long ago.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
