The Remanent of Grace
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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.
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.”
At the beginning of ch 11 Paul poses a question. “has God cast away His people?” “cast away” meaning to push away, repel, drive away from one’s self, reject or refuse. This whole section of Romans which deals with Israel’s rejection of Christ as those who were meant to be God’s people began immediately after Paul boldly says in Rom 8:37-39
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A tremendous truth if indeed God’s word is true.
But how could God’s word be trusted if He had broken His covenant with Israel. That is if God’s covenant was with all those who were of Jacob?
But Paul’s argument has been that God’s covenant has been and still is with His elect that is the vessels of mercy which He had prepared beforehand for glory even us whom He had called, not of Jews only but also of the Gentiles. Those of Israelites who reject Christ do so because they are not God’s elect.
This was in fact the same teaching of Christ.
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
What did the Jews think of this? Well they called Jesus a devil possessed Samaritan which was about the worse thing a Jew could call you at that time.
But what does this tell us? That Jesus understood that there were Israelites who were not of God’s people.
So then God is faithful and true and keeps His covenant with His people His word is effective. His promises sure. Which brings us back to Paul’s question at the beginning of ch 11 “has God Cast away His people?” Paul’s answer, my answer, your answer this morning is a resounding “CERTAINLY NOT!”
The KJV translators render it “God forbid” even though the Greek word for God is not in this phrase but they are attempting to capture the strength of the Greek phrase “me genoito” (may shanoito) It’s hard to express in english but it is an very strong objection something like no way! never! absolutely not.
So Paul is saying that God would never cast away His people no way! imposable!
In the next verse he says God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew
If you are God’s people whom he foreknew he will never ever reject you. He will never leave you or forsake you. He will never cast you away.
There are difficult scriptures which may seem to contradict this truth. Warnings about falling away becoming a shipwreck or being spewed out of God’s mouth etc. Warnings which I do not wish to ever weaken or deny their power or the force in which they are delivered.
However, one thing I’ve come to believe about God’s Word and that we see in history is that we must never reject or deny an absolute truth of the scripture in order to enable us to wrap our mind around another truth. To do so is how false teachings, heresies, and cults are born. I don’t have the understanding to fit all scripture together but when I find absolute statements like this one in the Bible I chose to believe it and accept it by faith knowing that my mind is incapable of comprehending the mind of God. So when two truths of scripture seem to you to contradict each other i urge you to hold them both, until the Spirit reveals it to you wether in this life or the next.
Paul then gives evidence that God has not utterly rejected Israel in that He has not rejected Him. He is God people.
He also reminded us of Elijah who thought that he was the only Israelite who still followed God and had not turned to worshipping Baal. But God told Elijah that He had reserved 7000 for Himself who served Him. Paul’s point was that God had also reserved a remnant of Israel who had accepted Christ as Messiah and were God’s people.
It’s at this point that Paul emphasises How God has reserved this remnant.
According to the Election of Grace
According to the Election of Grace
5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Why does Paul mention that this remnant is according to the election of grace? This is the truth that Paul has woven in and through this whole section from chapter 9-11. That God’s people whether Jews or Gentiles are his people only because God choses them to be His people and His choice is not based on anything that we have done or will do but is a choice of grace.
This is what He said back in chapter 9
11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
and
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
And now he brings us back to it again in 11:5 by clarifying that this remnant is according to this same election and it is of grace.
And in case we didn’t understand what he meant by grace he defines it for us.
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.
Paul tells us that specifically what he means when he says that election is of grace is that it is not of works.
From what he tells us in vs 6 we see that grace and works are mutually exclusive. You cannot have salvation by grace and works. it is either by grace or it is by works.
Work receives wages. For our election to be based on works would mean that we earn it. We either earn it before we receive it or we earn it after we receive it.
On the other hand grace is an unearned and underserved gift.
So if i earn it in any way then in it immediately ceases to be grace and becomes a wage.
Someone may say what about works after salvation? Any works done after salvation are fruit of the election of grace. Is fruit important? yes but it can never earn salvation. Whether you work for salvation before you receive it or after you cannot earn it.
You cannot make God indebted to you by your works and salvation cannot be purchased using afterpay.
We are sinners. If we try to work to earn salvation Rom 6:23 tells us what our work earns us. The wages of our work is death but the underserved unearned gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
This ties back to
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
This seems unfair. Those who worked hard to earn righteousness, election, eternal life, they seek it and pursue it and they do not attain it. Surly those who work the hardest at being righteous deserve it the most. But they missed it, they fell short because righteousness, eternal life, the election of God cannot be earned. it is the righteousness of faith they that attain it my seek it through faith not works. It is of grace and if of grace it cannot be of works. But Paul now becoming more precise with his words doesn’t say in 11:that the gentiles have obtained it but the elect have obtained what Israel has fallen short of. The elect the church the people of God the vessels of mercy who are both Jews and Gentiles, male and female because in Christ there is no difference they are all God’s elect.
So Paul has come down to only 2 categories the elect and the rest.
The elect have obtained all that the Jews sought but missed because they sought it by works. The rest is everyone else.
And what does Paul say of the rest?
The Rest Were Blinded
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.”
This is a judicial blindness that God gives to those who are not His elect. These are those who we saw in Rom 1
They have suppress every truth that God has given them
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
This is most of the world today. They have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. They prefer a lie to God’s truth.
God gives them a spirit of stupor. That is of slumber or insensibility so that they are not affected by the gospel they have no sense of the need for salvation. They have eyes but they are unable to help them to see their great need or the beauty of Christ of salvation, of all that God offers them. Their physical ears are unable to help them to hear and understand the gospel message.
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.”
Their table the food and comfort of this life the very gifts that God allows them become their snare and trap.
Their eyes are darkened so that they do not see blindness to the glory of God in the person of Christ.
And their back is aways bowed down never looking to God and only able to see earth things possessions, money, power.
You are either the elect or you are the rest. But how can you know which you are? If you are here this morning or listing to this broadcast and you can see your need for Christ, your sinful condition, and you hear this Word of God’s and it sparks something in you. Then you are not in a stupor. There is hope for the blind
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.