Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

It seems that we are quickly winding down on our study of ; and we do so with a sense of completion, fulfillment and satisfaction.

And we want to begin to look at this very important final section on the eleventh chapter beginning in verse 25.

And we are going to discover in this section that the salvation of Israel; like every other thing imaginable, is for the glory of God.

And what the prophet is saying is that God has an incomprehensible mind.

And that man, however astute, however intellectual, however spiritual, can fully plumb the depths of the infinite mind of God.

God indeed works in ways which are mysterious to man.

The story of Israel demonstrates to me the incomprehensibly wonderful mind of God, the wonder of God’s unique dealings with His people.

David saw the wonder of God’s working with Israel in .

He responded to God giving a great promise to him and the nation this way:

Ans what he meant by that is this is not the way that men do things, is it?

God so infinitely surpassed any design that David ever knew men might have in mind He had promised for His people.

The infinite mind of God, no man can plumb its depths.

And we are going to see unfolding in this text the wonderful riches of the wisdom and glory of God.

And it will lead us, like it did Paul, to burst out in the praise of verse 33.

Now, remember that Paul has been dealing with the place of Israel in the saving plan of God.

He has been answering the questions that he anticipates will be asked by those who say, “Well, if the gospel is try and Jews have rejected it, aren’t they permanently set aside from God’s Plan?”

And you will remember in Chapter 9 he said, “The rejection of Israel is true but not contrary to God’s plan.”

God planned it all along, that is the message of Chapter 9.

Chapter 10 reminded us that Israel’s rejection was due to their own unbelief.

They were set aside because they were disobedient.

In other words, it is true that it was the plan of God; chapter 9, but it is also true that it was their own fault, chapter 10.

And then we came to Chapter 11 and we saw the blindness of Israel, through the hardness of the hearts of Israel, through their rejection of Jesus Christ, God is working out a marvelous plan which will lead to the salvation of Gentiles, ultimately to the salvation of the Jews and finally to the blessing of the world in the millennial Kingdom.

Now as we come to the last section, he tells us that Israel ultimately will be saved and God’s plan will come to fruition.

So the presentation reaches its climax right here in our beginning text in verse 25.

And I will just remind you of the main points that we have seen thus far.

I.

The Setting Aside is Partial

II.

The Setting Aside is Passing

And tonight we come to the final point:

III.

The Setting Aside is Purposeful

God works everything to the ultimate blessing of world, as we will see, but the overall purpose of all these things is the Glory of God.

The goal of everything that happens in the universe is the glory of God.

And the reason that God set out to redeem man, both Jews and Gentiles, and the bring the Kingdom that He promised was that He might be glorified.

The ultimate purpose os not salvation, that is only a means to be ultimate purpose which is the Glory of God.

The ultimate purpose is not the bringing in of the nation Israel, that is a means to the Glory of God.

It is not Gentiles come together in the Church, that is a means to the Glory of God.

The ultimate end of God’s redemptive plan is not the glory of the eternal Kingdom, that is only a means to His Glory.

In other words, all that is created in the universe is for the glory of God.

Even the beasts of the field are for His glory.

And when the angelic hosts stood outside the place of the birth of the Savior on a Bethlehem hillside and made their great announcement, they gave glory to God in highest, because that is what angels do as well.

And we have been called to do the same thing.

1 Cor.

The surpassing purpose of everything is the Glory of God.

So you have in the first eleven chapters of Romans an outline of the doctrine of redemption and how it relates to the Jews and the Gentiles.

And then the climax comes in that marvelous benediction from verses 33 to 36 which calls is to glorify God.

The Old Westminister catechism had it right when it said, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Now, what does it mean to glorify God?

There are two aspects to God’s glory.

First, there is what is called His Intrinsic glory.

That glory that is His by nature, that which belongs to Him.

Isa.

6:

Isa.

6:

In other words, His glory is that intrinsic holy character.

His glory to be equal to His attributes, or to His nature.

It is very essence of Who God is; He is glorious.

A man’s honor could be taken from Him.

Let me illustrate it this way: a naked king and a naked beggar are indistinguishable, because the king’s glory can be taken from him.

But God has a glory that cannot be stripped and so at all times He is the ever glorious God.

It is His essential being.

We cannot add to it and we cannot diminish it, we recognize it.

And when the Bible says, “Give glory to God,” it does not means add to His attributes, it means to recognize them.

That is His Intrinsic glory.

Then there is His extrinsic glory.

That is the honor that we give Him for His intrinsic worth.

And so when we glorify God it isn’t that we are adding to His character, it is that we are recognizing it, it is that we are affirming it, that we are praising it.

And there are a myriad of passages that call us to give honor to the one who intrinsically is worthy of our honor and of our praise.

Man’s chief duty indeed is to recognize the infinite holy majesty of God and to praise Him in everything.

Instead, so much of the time we pull Him down to our level and second guess Him or make demands on Hi.

But we are called to glorify Him.

In fact, I will say that to not glorify Him is the single greatest crime in the universe.

And hell is filled with beings who did basically one thing wrong, they failed to glorify God.

Heaven will be filled eternally with beings who have glory to God, that is the dividing point.

In other words, God’s condemning judgment falls on those who fall to give Him glory.

In other words, give glory to God or else you will be judged.

Now, listen, the reason God will ultimately redeem Israel is the same reason He redeems us and that is that we might be to the praise of His glory.

That is the redemptive purpose.

So we are not shocked when we come to the climax of this tremendous treaties on salvation that ends at the close of chapter 11, to find Paul call us to glorify God.

The whole amazing redemptive plan was to bring us to the point of giving glory to God.

Now, Paul has talked about so many things and he is now drawing this down to his conclusion; he wants us to glorify God.

So in order to do that he focuses on the character of God and gives four attributes of God is the conclusion of this section.

Four great qualities; God’s Sovereignty, God’s Integrity.

God’s Generosity and God’s Incomprehensibility.

A. God’s Sovereignty (vs.

25)

Now remember that Paul just ended a warning.

He has been talking about the fact that Israel was set aside and Gentiles were grafted in to the tree of blessing.

But Gentiles, that is the Church, better no be proud, you better not boast, you are not to look down on the Jews.

It is a warning against pride and anti-Semitism.

And the warning is given because the day is coming when Israel is going to be back in the place of blessing and the church is going to be cut off.

So you better not boast.

We have not been grafted in because we are better than the Jews, but because we have believed and they have not believed.

That is the only difference.

Then Paul comes in verse 25 and calls on them “not to be ignorant of this mystery”; something that is hidden.

Do not be ignorant of it; certainly do not think too much of yourself.

The mystery God will reveal, do not be foolish and be ignorant about it.

And what is the mystery specifically?

It is given right here in the verse, the two part mystery, that blindness in part has happened to Israel.

The mystery is that the Jews would not believe.