Romans 11:1-6 "The Security of Grace"

Introduction

Israel always had a difficult time with following the way of the world versus following the way of their covenant God.

Even though they said the right things when the covenant was made and repeatedly ratified before the Lord, it was only a matter of time before they would be back to adopting the current cultural inclinations of their day.

And we see language in the Old Testament that would imply that God had rejected His people because of their idolatry. But to what degree and possibility was this truly a rejection in God’s eyes?

Well in our text this morning Paul explores this idea of the possibility of rejection of the Jewish people. Look back at your text to verses 1-4:

I. The Possibility of Rejection (1-4).

The Question is ask by the Apostle Paul, “has God rejected His people?” This is an question regarding God rejecting Jewish people without any further hope of their salvation.

Again this is a rhetorical question and as such he provides his own answer in response: “By no means!” No way, no how!, absolutely not! And he even gives documented proof to undergird the validity of his answer by providing two examples:

First he gives himself as an example. The Apostle Paul points out the he, himself is an Israelite a descendant of the ethnic line of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. Yes the Apostle Paul was Jewish and so were the other original Disciples of Christ.

Paul then states the obvious in verse 2 that, “God has not rejected those whom He foreknew.”

The term “foreknew” literally means to know before. We have seen this word before in Romans 8:29 in the order of salvation where those whom He “foreknew”, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Here Paul is arguing that rejection is not a possibility when it comes to the covenant people that He foreknew as His own.

He then gives a second example from the Old Testament. He makes reference to the Old Testament Prophet Elijah.

We have seen him use the Old Testament again and again as the backdrop for what he has been saying in Romans. Christian you need to know your Old Testament or you will have a very skewed view of Biblical Christian theology.

Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament and you can find information about him in I Kings 17 - 2 Kings 2, which is where Elijah is taken up to God on a chariot of fire.

At one point in Elijah’s prophetic ministry he was so discouraged that he felt like there was no one else left that was standing for God in relation to his covenant in Israel.

He was also being hunted down by King Ahab and his not so lovely wife Queen Jezebel. Elijah was completely discouraged and he cried out to God in his despair in I Kings 19:14: “Lord they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life” (3).

But the Lord knows just how to encourage Elijah. The Lord tells Elijah that He has kept for Himself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the false god Baal.

Baal was the Caananite god of fertility and prosperity. The people of Israel had embraced the god of the culture instead of the God of the Bible.

This was a great temptation for ancient Israel because when they saw the Baal worshippers prospering more than they were they were drawn into Baal worship out of their love for prosperity.

God would test the fidelity of their love for Him. He desired a people who loved Him for who He was not for how easy He made their lives. There were 7,000 men in Israel that were loyal hearts because God had worked in them.

God is the one who did the keeping and preserving of their lives for Himself. And in Paul's day it was the same way. Look back at your text to verses 5-6:

II. The Potency of Preservation (5-6).

This is really the New Testament application derived from the Old Testament inter-workings of God on behalf of His people.

Even Paul was fully aware in His day that there was still a remnant among the Jewish people who are chosen by grace.

But the obvious truth is that if it is by grace then it is not by pursuing one’s salvation through works of the law.

This is the Universal truth, that from among the Jews and the Gentiles God has chosen a people for Himself and He has initiated their salvation by His sovereign grace.

This is the potency of preservation. If God did not do the preserving no one would pursue salvation on their own.

All of us would go the way of ancient Israel. We all would be pulled into the culture of the day.

When I was a young man my cousin and I would go swimming bellow the dam on the Green River in Calhoun Kentucky. We thought it was pretty cool to swim across the river.

It really wasn’t that hard except for the one area where the water came over the spill-way. We would remind each other to swim extra hard in that section of the river because the current was strong.

If you weren’t careful the current would pull you down stream.

Christian if it were not for sovereign grace all of us, Jew and Gentile would have been swept downstream with the culture.

And even still many find it hard to swim against the current of culture in the modern day. But the gospel of sovereign grace reminds us that we do not swim under our own strength.

And I need to be reminded of the because the current of culture is intimidating to a fallen human being. Largely because I can see the personal challenges of sin that at times can entangle me.

Christian we are at times so prone to fear because we not only see sin’s power in our own lives but we can see it so obviously displayed in the culture of the fallen world in which we live.

But Christian the power of the gospel is not subject to this world system. I John 4:4 reminds us of a great truth: “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

In context the pronoun “them” is referring to the false prophets who endorse the system and spirit of antichrist. Which is the system and spirit of the world that denies the supremacy of Christ in the world.

That is the current that would pull us down stream if not for sovereign grace being applied in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now before you think I should have been an Olympic swimmer in my younger years. Remember when I said that it really wasn’t that hard to swim across the Green River. That’s because that after that short distance you were across the narrow channel.

And then the water wasn’t that deep and there was a rock bottom and if you were too tired to swim you could just stand up on the rock.

The current was powerless to move you.

Christian Christ is the solid Rock and we are bound to Him in a covenant in His own blood.

The gospel is the perpetual truth and proclamation that even though the current may be strong, and we often grow weary, and the trials seem unbearable, and the tribulations make us feel like we are going under, Christian stand up on the Rock of our salvation.

This is why I never get tired of preaching it. It is an all consuming practicality for the Christian life. Hard for us to see it because the antichrist system of the world deceives us into the pre-occupation of living through a self-focus instead of a Christ focus.

These are two mutually exclusive worldviews. A pre-occupation with self is more concerned with personal comforts and the Christ focus is more concerned with personal holiness reflecting the glory of Christ.

Conclusion:

Christian many of us need to stand up on the Rock and be reminded that God has not forsaken us today. He is working through your circumstance to bring about His sovereign will for your good.

That fresh reminder of standing on the Rock should encourage you to know that there is a foundation under you that cannot be moved. It is not there because of your good works but by sovereign grace. God has secured us to Himself.

Whatever your need come to Him and rest upon Christ. Confess and receive from Him.

Unbeliever whether you know it or not you are swimming with the current. You are headed downstream where final destruction awaits. You need the gospel. Believe for salvation.

Let’s Pray!