809 Rom.11.1-16 Israel Has Not Been Excluded

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

-- For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: "THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED." 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.

Romans 9:11–13 NASB95

11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

-- 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." 13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."

Romans 9:30–31 NASB95

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

-- That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

- That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

Romans 10:3 NASB95

3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

- 3 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

-- 21 But as for Israel He says, "ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE."

Romans 10:21 NASB95

21 But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

-- 21 But as for Israel He says, "ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE."

- From these passages, you might think that Paul has it in for his own people – that they are doomed & have been discarded by God

- But you can only reach that conclusion if you think, as a Jew, that your ethnicity entitles you to the salvation of God

- What the apostle has done, has shown that ethnicity is not the issue when it comes to a relationship with God

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- For the person who listens carefully to what he has said, you would take note of these special verses...

Romans 10:12–13 NASB95

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

Romans 9:27 NASB95

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved;

-- "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED

- The apostle has not or is not disregarding Israel in that salvation from God

- What he is saying is that there is now, there is an equal footing into a relationship with God

- Gentiles, as Gentiles may enter the kingdom of God, through Christ

- The works of the law – the Jewish distinctives – count for nothing, now that Jesus has come & inaugurated the New Covenant

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- However, Paul finds it important to demonstrate, in this passage today, that he is not saying that Israel has been excluded

- Sure, ethnicity no longer counts, being bound to the Mosaic law, no longer counts, but it doesn't follow that some from Israel cannot be part of the kingdom

- It is not Jewish ethnicity that matters; it is not through holding to the works of the law that will matter

- Israelites that have faith in the Messiah Jesus will be equally in the kingdom alongside Gentiles believers in Christ

1. Paul Has Not Been Rejected

- The question of whether God has rejected Israel is equally a problem for the Gentile Christians in Rome

- It seems that they themselves have got on to the bandwagon & denounced Israel by saying that God has now rejected them

—28 From the standpoint of the gospel they (the Jews) are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;

Romans 11:28 NASB95

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;

- You could understand this antagonism since much of the persecution against the Church is coming from Israel

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- During the reign of Emperor Claudius, he expelled the Jews from Rome ()

- Aquila & Priscilla were expelled from Rome with the entire Jewish community

Q. Why did the Roman Emperor Claudius expel the Jews from Rome?

- There were riots, in Rome, arising from within the Jewish community

- So Claudius made an edict that expelled Jews from Rome for an entire year (AD 49 – AD 50)

- The Roman historian, Seutonius, says that “the Jews were indulging in constant riots at the instigation of Chrestus”

- Historians understand that this, most likely, means that Christianity had come to Rome & was causing a stir among the Jewish community

- Chrestus is understood to be Christ

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- Then we have this in Revelation

Revelation 3:9 NASB95

9 ‘Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.

- Jesus refers to this Jewish Synagogue in Philadelphia as “the synagogue of Satan” - why?

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- Everyone in the Empire was obligated to worship the Emperor

- They were compelled into pronouncing “Caesar is Lord” & were forced to gain certification that they had offered libations & sacrifice to the Emperor

- The Jews could not do this & so they gained a concession off Rome so they were not forced to do it

- The term for this toleration is “Religio Licita” which is Latin for “legal religion”

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There were many Jews & few Christians in the beginning & Rome treated Jews & Christians alike & extended this concession/toleration to the Christians too – they considered them a sect of the Jews

- However, with their opposition to Christ, the Jews lobbied Rome & insisted that the Christians were not a sect of Judaism & should be treated under “Religio Illicita” which is Latin for illegal religion

- They were successful & Christians then came under the persecution of the Romans as well

- The Jews were expelling Christians from their Synagogues & were giving the Roman authorities the names of these Christians

- No wonder that Jesus would not say that they were anything other than a Synagogue of Satan

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- You can almost hear the Gentile Christians cheering Paul on as he has demonstrated that God's kingdom is equally available for the Gentile & especially when he says that not all Israel is Israel

- But he has to say to them that God has not rejected those Jews He foreknew – or chose out of the world

- To prove it, he says, “look at me” - I'm a Jew who loves & obeys Jesus

- I was a persecutor of Christians, but I have embraced Christ as Lord

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- God accepts all Gentiles who believe in Christ without reference to ethnicity

- So God can't have rejected all Jews simply based on their ethnicity

2. A Remnant from Israel

- One of the difficulties that we have with living faithfully to Jesus is finding the journey to be a rather lonely one at times

- When we stand up for Christ in the workplace or maintain our faith in the midst of people who would look funny at us, you tend to feel like you are on your own, even though you have many fellow believers standing with you – at least in spirit

- Elijah felt this way too as he was pursued by the rage of the pagan Queen of Israel, Jezebel

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- It is interesting how Elijah experienced the real highs & lows of his faith & how quickly they changed

- He is on Mt. Carmel & Yahweh (God of Moses) grants him a miraculous victory in the sight of all Israel

- Yahweh accepts Elijah's sacrifice but there is no response from Baal to the sacrifice made from all his 400 of more, priests

- Baal, the storm & lightning god, is impotent but Yahweh brings down lightning from the sky & swallows up the offering with all the water that was dosed on it

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- The people all respond “Yahweh is God”, “Yahweh is God”

- That very day, the drought breaks & it rains – again showing that the One who is God & who controls the weather/the storms & the harvests is not Baal, but Yahweh

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- The next day, after such a victory & such elation - & feeling so vindicated after he had been preaching this truth for so long that Jezebel threatens Elijah's life

- After all, he had all her pagan priests put to death for their idolatrous practises & she is hopping mad & swears that Elijah is history

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- Great elation – surely now, all the persecution will be over; surely now, I will have the favour with the King & the people

- But you have one terrible thorn in his side that throws this right out & he is now on an emotional roller-coaster ride, I think it is fair to say, into a depressed state

- He runs down to Mt. Sinai where he says to God that he is a failure & that he just wants to die

- In his depression - & perhaps a bit of woe is me – he says that he is the only one left – the only one faithful to Yahweh

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- God is very good to Elijah & cares for him, in spite of his depressed state

- He allows him to retire from his ministry work having been a faithful servant of God & to pass the mantle on to Elisha

- But God reminds him that he is not alone – that there are 7000 in Israel who, like Elijah, have not bowed the knee to Baal

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- So whilst there are many Israelites hostile to the Christian churches throughout the Roman Empire, there are Israelites who are Christian & who will become Christian – God has not rejected Israelites merely because they are Israelite in ethnicity

3. Called According to God's Gracious Choice

Romans 11:5–6 NASB95

5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

—5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

- You cannot boast before God that it was through your human achievement, that you gained His salvation

- You cannot be delivered from sin based on the work of man

- Reformed theology like to make this one of the cornerstones of our faith, but this is not what the apostle is specifically saying here & we should not put in his mouth, words that he is not intending to say

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- The centrepiece for the apostle is this notion that you need to become Jewish in order to know God

- Jewishness is about being involved in & centring yourself on, the things that mark out your Jewishness - & those things are called works or the long version - “works of the law”

- For Israel, it is in circumcision & maintaining the law that identifies you as one of the chosen ones – for them, it is the Jewish nation of Israel

- Gentiles could be converts to Judaism & find their salvation that way

- Yet, the apostle Paul will have none of that

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- It is not the uniform of works of the law, but faith - & that faith now has to be firmly founded on Jesus Christ

- He is THE seed of Abraham & all who are in Him are now regarded as the true Israel, the elect people of God

- If the law matters when it comes to being God's people, then it is no longer by God's gracious choice

- Your ethnicity; your pedigree, does not matter to God

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- There were Jews, however, that embraced Jesus

- A number of Paul's converts were Jews from the Synagogues at which he preached

- The apostles & disciples of Jesus were mostly Jews

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- One of the problems Jewish Christians had was that many of them considered that they needed to keep the law in order to be saved

- Peter, himself, struggled with this on a number of occasions

- Jews would separate themselves from Gentiles as they considered the Gentiles unclean & unsaved

- Paul had a conflict with Peter in Galatia, because he began to withdraw from table fellowship with Gentile Christians

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- He also struggled when visiting the household of Cornelius at Caesarea

- If it were not for the vision he had from God of the unclean animals being let down out of heaven on a sheet, he would never had entered Cornelius', the Gentiles, home

- In that vision, God says to him, “Get up Peter, kill & eat” & like a good Jew, he says, “By no means Lord, I have never eaten anything unholy & unclean” & the voice says to him “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy”

- This happened 3 times which confirms the matter

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- The sensitivity to these matters were high on the Jewish cultural radar

- The Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote this about the Jewish communities in the Roman Empire

“...other reasons for their increasing wealth may be found in their stubborn loyalty and ready benevolence towards brother Jews. But the rest of the world they confront with the hatred reserved for enemies. They sit apart at meals, they sleep apart, and though, as a nation, they are singularly prone to lust, they abstain from intercourse with foreign women; among themselves nothing is unlawful. They have introduced the practice of circumcision to show that they are different from others. Proselytes to Jewry adopt the same practices.” - TACITUS, Hist. 5.5.2–5.

- TACITUS, Hist. 5.5.2–5.

- Not a very flattering account of the Jewish communities, but did you notice how separation from Gentiles was of paramount importance to Jewish sensitivity

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- When Peter is sent for, to go to the Gentile Cornelius, he must have had quite a soul search going on – listen to what he says to Cornelius...

Acts 10:28–29 NASB95

28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. 29 “That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”

—28 ...“You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. 29 “That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for.

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- The Jewish reliance on the law gave them a false assurance that they were the chosen ones & by adhering to the law – to Jewish identity – they maintained their salvation

- Yet, the Gospel & the New Covenant has nullified the exclusive Jewish claim to God

- A minority of Jews embraced this truth & these, Paul regards as a remnant from the nation of Israel

- But even to Jewish Christians who want to maintain the Jewish identity in the law, he calls false brethren & not part of a remnant of Israelites

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—9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Galatians 1:9 NASB95

9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

Galatians 1:13–16 NASB95

13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,

—13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,

—3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. 5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

Galatians 2:3–5 NASB95

3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. 5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

- So salvation is a matter of God's gracious choice & not the works of the law – not, Jewish identity

4. The Rest Are Hardened

- The notion of predestination is a hard teaching – especially when Paul says that the rest of Israel were hardened

Q. How does that work in reality?

Q. Have you heard of the American Crowbar Case?

Phineas Gage was a foreman working on a railroad in 1848. They would drill into a rock & put explosive powder down the hole & he would use a steel bar that was a 1 mtr long & about 3 centimetres in diameter to pack the explosive powder down. He had done this many times, but on one occasion, his tamping created a spark which ignited the powder & an explosion propelled the rod in his hand up through his cheek bone into his head & out the other side & landing like a javelin 25 metres away. Against all expectation, Gage survived.

- However, to cut a long story short, the damage to his brain affected his ability to restrain the more base elements of human nature

“The equilibrium or balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculties and animal propensities, seems to have been destroyed. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), In this regard his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was "no longer Gage" — Dr. John Martyn Harlow

- What is interesting here is that for some time, while the brain was healing from the frontal lobe injury, he struggled to curb the baser elements of behaviour

- This case has caused a lot of interest for Neuroscience, but it also causes us to think about the relationship between our condition with the conscious decision to follow Jesus

- Apparently, the damaged part of Gage's brain is an area that is involved in a person's decision making capability

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- This may help understand this aspect of what happens

- You could add to that the environmental impact

- Children who are raised in a family whose politics are conservative, usually end up conservatives themselves

Q. What if those same children were raised in a family whose politics are progressive or liberal, would they end up liberals themselves? Probably!

- The Bible instructs us to train up our children in the ways of God so that when they are old, they will not depart from it

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- These things are quite beyond our understanding, but what we take from this is that God is sovereignly in charge & in control of what happens in the world

- Even from the nation of Israel, we find that God has hardened them from responding rightly to Him

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- But just because this scenario is real, it does not preclude us from saying “faith comes by hearing”

- There is a counter-side to this, as there are two sides to a coin

- Who God predestines, He also gives grace, but there is also an earthly traction to that call

Romans 8:29 NASB95

29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

—29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

- The remnant of Israel respond to Jesus, but the rest are hardened & this is shown by their unwillingness to leave the works of the law, in favour of following Jesus

Summary

- The main point of today centres us on the words “not rejected”

- Chap. 9-10 speak much of the fact that what Israel sought, they did not attain, but the elect Gentiles did

- However, this does not mean that God has cast off every single Israelite

- There is also a remnant of Israel that are also the elect of God

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- Yet, the elect Israelites are not elect because they are maintaining their Jewishness, through the works of the law

- They are elect because they have turned to Jesus as their Saviour

- Their Jewish ethnicity no longer matters because their call from God has come via His gracious choice, not via the law

- This says something very important about God & we'll close with this from the apostle Peter's response to Cornelius

Acts 10:34–35 NASB95

34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.

—34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.

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