Romans 11:7-12 "The Glory of Inclusion"

Introduction

God loves diversity and it is reflected in all of His creation. If you love nature that is not really very hard to see. You can see it in plant life and the animal kingdom. You can see it in humans in their appearance and their personalities.

All of those differences though at the end of the day teach us something about the glory of God’s inclusion. Because all of this diversity has all its origins in the one true God.

This is because it is all a reflection of His creativity and it all points to His creative power on display in His design.

But does God ever exercise exclusion over His creation? Some would say no He would never do this, especially when it comes to people.

But the Bible would say yes He does and it gives us an example of this in our text this morning regarding ethnic Israel and the problem they had regarding their exclusion before God. Look back at to your text to verses 7-10:

I. The Problem (7-10).

God’s elect who were chosen by grace obtained the salvation of the Lord but the rest of Israel was hardened (7).

As Paul makes reference to the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah. This is probably derived from Isaiah 6:10 and Isaiah 29:10. Both passages tell us how God hardened most of Israel as judgement due to their idolatry (8).

They had incorporated the worship of false gods into their lives. This was most often a blatant turning away to worship a Caananite deity like Baal.

As judgement God gave them blind eyes and deaf ears to the point that they were unable to comprehend spiritual truths even up to the current day, as Paul says.

Verses 9-10 are from Psalm 69:22-23 which is a Messianic Psalm. King David describes being surrounded and persecuted by his enemies. But the prophetic fulfillment of this Psalm was when the Lord Jesus hung on a Cross surrounded by those who crucified Him.

Why in the world would Paul spend so much time driving home this point about Israel’s failure contrast with the accomplishment of God’s grace in the work of Christ?

I think that he is trying to encourage these Roman Christians in the first century to find their security and hope in the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

I believe that Paul by the Holy Spirit knew there would be hard times ahead for Christians in the Roman Empire.

Just like Jewish persecution drove early Christians out of Jerusalem there would come a time when the persecution in the Empire would scatter Christians in and through the Empire.

An interesting thing about trials and persecution for the Christian is that such suffering tends to pull us out of ourselves and deeper into Christ.

It has a sanctifying affect and when the time came Paul wanted the believers at Rome to know what the solid core and foundation of their faith was and the security they had in God’s sovereign grace.

God’s plan for us Christian is not to abandon us in this world but to be with us and to keep us focused on Christ and what He has done for us through Him.

When we are pulled out of ourselves there is a spiritual dynamic that takes place that weans us off of our hunger to driven by prideful motives.

As we are pulled deeper into Christ the appetite and hunger for Christ and His glory begins to be cultivated in us. The gospel is the only message that can confront our pride while producing humility before God and others in our hearts.

When that transformation of grace is rejected and man embraces an idea of works salvation it just establishes human pride as the religious motive.

And it is hard to see in ourselves because fallen man’s motivation to work for his salvation fits in perfectly with a self-centered validation that we imagine God would have towards us. We project our approval of the self onto God.

This is much like when a hunter goes hunting with camouflage on. He does that in order to fit right in with his surroundings in hope that the Deer won’t see him. The hunter looks like the trees or the bushes.

I was once Deer hunting and I was camouflaged very well. The Deer came into the area I was in but there was a breeze blowing from me towards him and he couldn’t see me but he could smell me.

Good works that are done to earn your salvation before God may blend in to the human condition very well and in our human perception we may think we are righteous in our good works but God can smell the stench of our fallen nature a million miles away.

This was Israel’s problem. The strived to have the form of godliness and righteousness but their hearts were turned towards false Gods and God could smell the difference.

But Christian even this had a purpose in the plan of God. God knew what He was doing in allowing such things to take place in the life of Old Testament Israel. Look at the purpose in verses 11-12:

II. The Purpose (11-12).

The Purpose was to expand God’s Kingdom to be inclusive of all ethnic groups. If the Kingdom was only for ethnic Jews the Gentiles would be out of luck.

And one’s ethnicity would determine the outcome and it would have been the driving initiative behind salvation. Everyone would be trying to become ethnic Jews.

And obviously that is not what God desired. He desired diversity in His Kingdom when it comes to ethnicity. And Israel’s ethnic pride drove them to reject their Messiah.

But because of this salvation has come to the Gentiles. Not because of their ethnicity either but because of God bringing His purpose to pass in saving from among the Gentiles a people for Himself.

By doing this it is not an ethnic identity and their religious practice that gets elevated but it is the glory of the eternal Son and His work that gets elevated.

The Old Testament describes the burnt offering many times as a sweet smelling aroma in the nostrils of God. Did you ever wonder why?

I at one time even pondered that God must like the smell of meat bar-b-queuing. I like that smell too. Like when got steaks on the grill or you drive by the Texas Roadhouse and you can smell meat cooking in the air. Uuumm, time to eat!

That is not why it appealed to God. Ephesians 5:2 tells us why: “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

You see Christian when the sacrifices were made and the remains of the meat was roasted the smell pointed to a future time when the Son of God would die as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

That is why salvation is by faith in Christ alone because God delights in His Son and in all His Son has done. God knows what fallen sinners smell like and that is why Christ came. To cleanse us of our sin and to redeem us for God.

Conclusion:

The glory of Inclusion demonstrates the exaltation of Christ. Not diversity for the sake of diversity but diversity because of the glory of Christ as Scripture says, He will sprinkle many nations (Isaiah 52:15)

The glory of Inclusion demonstrates the redemptive power of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ for people of all nations.

The glory of Inclusion demonstrates what God’s plan was all along. Men may have meant it for evil but God meant it for good. His sovereign will has triumphed over the nations.

The glory of Inclusion demonstrates the grace again that is held out in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To you unbeliever that you may believe the gospel.

And Christian to you because it is that grace that sustains you in your faith in the world and keeps working even sanctifying us in His grace. Confess and receive from Him.

Lets Pray!