Irrevocable Gifts

Introduction

When God called Abraham, he stated that through his seed, all the nations would be blessed. We know that it was ultimately because of Jesus that this happened. Because of Jesus, all who believed were blessed with being reconciled to God. But it was not just the fact that Jesus came to earth, lived, died, and rose again that the world would be blessed. As we’ve been seeing the last few weeks, the nations—the gentiles—are being blessed with this reconciliation because Israel—the Jews as a whole—rejected their own Messiah. Without their rejection, the Gentiles never are blessed. What we see in all of this, is a truth about God; namely, God is purposeful in all that he does. He never—never!—does anything capriciously or without purpose.

As we open up the text, we’ll see that even when God’s work looks unfruitful, it is doesn’t mean that it is unfruitful. In fact, God is using the present compost pile to bring about the greatest fruitfulness in the future. So I want to make three observations in these verses that I hope will help us to trust God a little more today than when we came in.

God’s Plan

God’s Promise

God’s Purpose

Romans 11:25–32 ESV

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

God’s Plan

The first thing we see in these verses is that God certainly has a plan and Paul wanted the Romans to understand it.

Romans 11:25 ESV

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

What we need to understand first is that Paul gave a purpose in his telling the Gentile Christians about this partial hardening. That word “lest” denotes purpose. We could say, “so that you won’t be wise.” It’s a purpose, and that purpose is that he does not want the Gentiles to become haughty, conceited, or prideful. It is so easy for God’s people to become conceited when they misunderstand God’s plan. We saw this earlier with the Jews in chapters 2-3 and now with the Gentiles in chapter 11. God’s plan will never lead to pride in self, but only boasting in God. If we are ever in the midst of God’s work and develop a haughty spirit, we have misunderstood someone’s role, whether our own, someone else’s, God’s, or a combination of the three.

Paul wanted the Gentile Christians in Rome to understand these roles. God was saving the Gentiles and hardening the Jews and as we saw over the weeks, using the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy. This was God’s plan at work. Paul wrote just a few verses before, in Romans 10:19-20, that this was God’s plan from the beginning; both Moses and Isaiah made it known. But now he shows his plan even more in verses 26-27:

Romans 11:26–27 ESV

And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Notice the mathematical emphasis in these verses. There is a partial hardening. There is the fulness of the Gentiles. There is all Israel. Let’s quickly break this down. The partial hardening is geared toward Israel. It’s not that the hardening is partial as if they are kind of hardened, but that Israel is partly hardened. Not everyone is hardened against the gospel or against Jesus. Remember, God always has a remnant. The fulness of the Gentiles is a time, when the last of the elect Gentiles will be saved. Thus, when as many Gentiles as come to Jesus as have been granted eternal life have received it, the Jews will begin to come in droves to their Messiah. And so all Israel will be saved. In essence, the Jews as a whole. Remember that we’re not talking about Israel as a nation. The nation that we know of today, is not the same nation of Israel in ancient times.So be thinking of Jews as a whole and not Israel as a place.

But the plan that Paul pointed out was that God would send his Redeemer, his Deliverer, his Savior to or from Zion. If you read the Hebrew Bible, it will say to. If you read the Greek Old Testament—the Septuagint—you’ll see from. But the point is not whether he is from or to Zion (though both are true), but that he will banish ungodliness from Jacob, in essence: Israel. God’s covenant with Israel, the Jewish people was to take their sins away. Since this hasn’t happened yet, whether in Paul’s day or ours, then Paul understood that God’s plan was yet to be accomplished.

Remember that in chapters 9 and 10, Paul expressed desire for Israel to be saved. He was willing to give up his own salvation if it meant it would happen. But that longing to see God’s plan come to fruition in the present, did not cause Paul to lose heart over God’s plan for the future. Brothers and sisters, we are not experiencing the movement of God like we’d like to in the present time. But we must not fall prey to thinking that he is not at work or that his plan has failed. God sometimes goes too slow for us, but his slowness is not really slow in the grand scheme of things.

God’s Promise

Which leads us to the second observation. The first was God’s plan. The second is God’s promise. Peter reminded his readers

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

And as we read these next few verses, we find that God must keep his promise. He may be slow in our estimation about fulfilling them, but the truth is that he is not as slow as we think and that he will keep them fully.

Romans 11:28–29 ESV

As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

On the one hand, the Jews were God’s enemies because they rejected the gospel. So as regards the gospel—in relation to the gospel—the Jews were rejected by God. They were broken off of the cultivated olive tree. All who reject Jesus are enemies of the cross. They are enemies of God. And this was to the Gentile’s benefit. It was for their sake. But that’s just a temporary state of being. Because on the other hand, the Jews were beloved by God—not on the basis of the gospel. God didn’t love them because they accepted the gospel. It’s clear that they rejected the gospel. In regards to election—in reference to it—God loved the Jews because of his promise to the patriarchs—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Many movies have been based on a promise from one person to their friend to watch after their family if the friend ever died. And for the rest of their lives, they visit, protect, and help that person’s wife, children, or whomever. But what happens if the person never dies? They continue to look after that person’s family forever. Abraham was called a friend of God. God made a promise to Abraham and God would see it through.

Paul sums it up with Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” What gifts? The ones mentioned in

Romans 9:4 ESV

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

God called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Jews as a whole. And Paul’s point here is the same point he made in Romans 3:3-4

Romans 3:3–4 ESV

What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

Israel’s faithlessness doesn’t give God the right to revoke his gifts and calling. Just because the Jews didn’t live up to what they should have does not mean that God regrets making his covenant with them. That’s what irrevocable means: without regret, without a concern or worry. God knew from the beginning what Israel would do, but he did not regret his calling or gifts. He would not revoke them.

And this is not just for Israel. This is for every single one of us. I have talked with Christians who wonder if their faith is enough. They wonder if it’s strong enough. They wonder if it’s big enough. They wonder if they’ve been faithful enough. But it is not the size of our faith or the strength of our faith, but the spotlight of our faith. It is not the fulness of our faith or the fortitude of our faith, but the focus of our faith. I remember reading that in J. C. Ryle’s Holiness book and my mouth dropping open at the simplicity of that truth. God does not revoke his gifts and calling because of tiny faith or tender faith so long as it is true faith.

God’s Purpose

So we’ve observed God’s plan and God’s promise, but now we come to God’s purpose.

Romans 11:30–32 ESV

For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

At this point, Paul began to show that the Gentiles and the Jews were really in the same boat, or better yet in the same sea. At one point in time the Gentiles set sail on their boat, let’s call it the SS Disobedience. Soon they encountered some stormy weather; in other words, they were under God’s wrath. However, the Jews started setting sail on their boat: the SS Disobedience II. The focus of the stormy weather—God’s wrath—shifted from the elect Gentiles and swept over to the Jews’ boat. Thus, mercy was shown to the Gentiles while wrath was shown to the Jews. In the same way, that storm will blow over eventually, leaving the Jews with plenty of sunshine and mercy.

Here is the point: God consigned all to disobedience, in order that he may have mercy on all. Nearly a year ago, I presented you with a Christmas gift. It was the gift of “because/for.” I told you that many times when we see the word because or for, we need to stop because we are finding the cause behind what’s going on. The cause is often the main point of a passage and if we don’t stop to assess whether or not the “because” or the “for” is the cause being revealed, then we can miss the point of the passage.

Now, when we look at verse 32, we see the word “for,” but if we were to examine whether or not this is the cause of something, we’ll see that it isn’t the cause. It is an explanation of what has been said, but not the cause of what has just been said. However, I’m ready to give you an early Christmas gift this year. It’s the gift of “so that, that.” If we don’t have the word because giving us the main point of a passage, we’ll often have the words, “so that” or “that” that do. Except rather than giving us the cause of something happening, we are given the purpose. To what end is God doing this? For what reason does God do this? “So that...”

In this case, God consigned all to disobedience, so that he may have mercy on all. The purpose of God imprisoning us to sin is so that he can display his mercy upon us. The question is only what does the word “all” mean? Is Paul preaching universalism—that everyone ever born receives his mercy? Not at all. In context, he is comparing the Gentile and Jewish Christians. You Gentiles were disobedient but received mercy. The Jews were disobedient and they received mercy. Thus, God threw all of us in disobedience jail so that he could have mercy on every one us.

I bet we’ve never thought of it that way before, have we? We most likely would look and ask, “What is God doing? Does he even know what he’s doing? How far off from his original plan have things gotten?” Yet Paul revealed to us that this is still in his plan. Everything that has happened along the way is part of his plan, whether or not we understand it.

Conclusion

As we finish this portion of Romans 11, let us not think that this is in regards only to salvation, election, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. As I said from the beginning, this is a truth about God: God is purposeful in all that he does. If you’re concerned about this nation and its direction; God is purposeful in his plan, even if we don’t understand it. If you’re concerned about your family, God is purposeful in every step even when you’re not sure how many more steps there may be. If you’re concerned about your job, your finances, your health; God is purposeful in his plan.

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

That doesn’t give us a reason or a right to be lazy about our part. Remember, God uses his people to accomplish his work. The Gentiles are being used to bring the Jews to Jesus. Paul was used to bring the Gentiles to Jesus. And you are being used in various ways for God’s work.

If you have yet to receive Jesus, understand that if you die without trusting in him, you will receive the full wrath of God upon your eternity. He is not some sadistic God who enjoys watching people suffer, but he is just and will see that cosmic treason be treated like cosmic treason. If you’d like to know more about what it means to receive Jesus and why you must, I would love to talk with you. Here is my number; text me or call me.

636-212-0699