Turn to Romans chapter 11. And
don't let me forget, at the end of the service, I have several
announcements to make. But y'all remind me because I
will forget. Romans 11. We're going to pick up here where
we left off last time, Romans 11. At the end of verse 7, Paul says,
and the rest were blinded. He's talking about the non-elect
part of Israel. that non-elect part, the rest
were blinded. According as it is written, this
is found in Isaiah 29, God hath given them the spirit of slumber,
eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not
hear unto this day. And David saith, and that's Christ
speaking, and that's in the 69th Psalm, he says, let their table
be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense
unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see and bow down their back all way. Now notice
there who blinded them. It says God hath, God hath. And it was just because They
heard the gospel and disobeyed the gospel. They rejected Christ. If you want to look in Isaiah
29, from where Paul is quoting, it says there in verse 13, here's
why God hardened them, blinded them. Isaiah 29, 13 says, and with their lips do honor
me, but have removed their heart far from me. And their fear toward
me is taught by the precept of men." They weren't teaching God's
word, they were teaching man's word. Therefore, behold, because
of this reason, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among
this people, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish.
and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Remember 1 Corinthians 1, God
says he blinded the wise man and made foolish the prudent
man through the preaching of the gospel. That's what he did
here. He hardened them, he blinded
them because they rejected the gospel. Always remember this,
God saves and damns justly. justly. He saves and he damns
justly. If a man is saved, it's because
he's holy in Christ and therefore it's righteous for God to call
him to faith in Christ. But if God damns a man, it's
always because the man rejected God's gospel. He disobeyed the
gospel of God. We're not saved by our deeds.
We're not saved by our birth. We're not saved by our works.
We're not saved by our choice. But if we're cast out, it is
because we refuse to obey the gospel. And that's in perfect
harmony with God's eternal purpose. God is righteous to save and
righteous to damn. Always. He's holy. Now look at
verse 11. Romans 11, verse 11. Have they stumbled that they
should fall? Have God's elect Israel among
them stumbled that they should fall away forever? That's what
he's talking about. Remember he said God had some
elect among them. He said, notice that word stumbled.
Have they stumbled that they should fall away forever? Talking
about God's elect. God forbid. God never casts off
those that he foreordained to eternal life. He never cast them
off. He says, but rather, through
their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke
them to jealousy. Back there in Isaiah 29, after
God said He would harden the non-elect in Israel, He said
that the elect would hear the words of the book and their eyes
would see. and they would be increased in
their joy in the Lord. And they would rejoice in the
Holy One of Israel, that is, in Christ Jesus the Lord. So
God foretold that He was going to blind Israel, the non-elect
part, and yet He was going to give sight and faith to His elect
in Israel. He told that in the prophecy.
So, you know, people look at the nation of Israel and they
think that it's some sort of special nation and that God's
going to call out people just because they're of the nation
of Israel. But brethren, simply because God cast off the nation
Israel, it doesn't mean He cast off His elect remnant among them.
God's not saving anybody because they're of a special nation.
He's saving his people because he chose them in Christ. It doesn't
matter what nation you're from. That's so of Jew and Gentile.
He saves his elect who he chose. He saves by grace. It's not based
on our race or our works. To say it's based on our race,
just to say he's going to call all Jews, That's the same as
preaching works. That's basing it on a man's race. It's not that. He saves his elect. That's who he saves. And the
rest he casts off. God's grace has nothing to do
with race. That's the main point Paul's
making here. Now here's the question. But
those elect he had in Israel, they rejected the gospel too.
When they heard it at first, they rejected it too. Just like
the non-elect did. So how's God gonna be just to
call his elect to faith in Christ? We see how he's just to damn
those that rejected the gospel because they rejected the gospel.
But his elect did too. You rejected it the first time
you heard it. So did I. So how's God just to call his
elect that sin the same way as the non-elect? Look down at verse
16. For if the first fruit, Christ,
be holy. The lump is also holy. If Christ
is holy, then his elect are holy in him. If the root, that's Christ,
if he be holy, so are the branches. So are his elect branches. Christ
being holy, all his elect are holy in him. And so God's righteous
to call his elect. You get that? He's gonna damn
in righteousness because it's the right thing to do. He's gonna
save because it's the right thing to do. God's righteous in all
He does. So, I've titled this, If the
Root Be Holy. That root is Christ. If Christ
be holy. And here's the point. God's eternal
purpose is in Christ the root. God's eternal purpose is in Christ
the root. Therefore, because Christ is
holy, his elect are holy. And therefore, God works all
things in providence to call his elect to faith in Christ
because it's the righteous thing to do. He's righteous to do so
because his elect are holy in Christ. Regardless of what we
do in ourselves, We're holy in Christ and He's righteous to
call us. Now I want to show you this in three ways. I want to
show you first the purpose of God, and then secondly the righteousness
of God, and then thirdly a warning from God. So we'll see the purpose
of God, the righteousness of God, and a warning from God.
Now first of all, the purpose of God. Look at verse 11. I say
then, have they, now he's talking about God's elect among the Jews,
God's elect among the Jews, have they stumbled that they should
fall, that they should fall away forever? No doubt they stumbled,
they rejected the gospel, but have they stumbled that they
should be cast off, that they should fall, that they should
be cast out forever? God forbid. Paul answers that with disdain.
God forbid. He don't ever cast off those
he ordained to eternal life, never. Well, then why did he
let them stumble? But rather through their fall,
now he's talking about the fall of the non-elect Jews. They did
fall. They fell away. The elect among
them stumbled, but the non-elect fell. They fell away. But through
their fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles. for to provoke
them, to provoke the elect among the Jews to jealousy. That's
God's purpose. That's his eternal purpose which
he purposed before this world was made. It's threefold. Number one, God purposed from
eternity that he's going to send the gospel to the Jews and they're
going to reject it. and he's going to allow them
to persecute his preachers so he sends the gospel to the Gentiles
and saves his elect among the Gentiles. That was his purpose. Over in Acts 13, They were gathered
together to preach the gospel, and some of the Jews believed,
some of the Gentiles believed. But they wanted Paul and Barnabas
to come back and preach in the synagogue on the Sabbath day,
that Saturday. So they came into the synagogue
and they got up to preach. Well, the Jews saw it and they
got jealous that all these people were believing on Christ. And
so, listen, they persecuted Paul. They drove him out of their coast
and said, you can't preach here anymore. Listen to this, then
Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that
the word of God should first be spoken to you. It was necessary
according to God's purpose because God's going to use their unbelief
to drive Paul and them on to the Gentiles. It was necessary
that that word first be spoken to you, but seeing you put it
from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. That's
from Isaiah. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they heard Paul say this was God's purpose, that you would
reject the gospel, you Jews would reject it, and we'll turn to
the Gentiles. This was God's purpose. And they're
gonna be called out. And when the Gentiles heard that,
They were glad and they glorified the word of the Lord. And listen
to this now, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. You get that? As many as God
foreknew, as many as God had chosen in Christ, as many as
God had foreordained, predestinated to eternal life, those all believed. All of those believed. And the
word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. See,
God worked that in his purpose to send the gospel forth. Their
rejection, the Jews' rejection of the gospel, God used it to
send the gospel to the Gentile world. Now then, here's the second
part of his purpose. God purposed from eternity. Not
only would he use the unbelief of the Jews to send the gospel
to the Gentiles, and save his elect among the Gentiles, but
then he would use the believing Gentiles to provoke his elect
remnant in Israel to jealousy that he might save that elect
remnant among them. Look there in Romans 11, 11.
Paul said, through their fall, through the fall of the non-elect
Jews, salvation is coming to the Gentiles, to God's elect
Gentiles, for to provoke them, he's talking about the elect
among the Jews, to provoke them to jealousy, so that God might
call them to faith. Remember Paul said in that time,
he said at this present time, there's an election according
to the remnant of grace. So God in his purpose, his eternal
purpose, first to use the unbelief of the Gentiles, the unbelief
of the Jews, to send the gospel to the Gentiles. Then he used
the belief of the Gentiles to provoke to jealousy that remnant
of elect in Israel so that he brought them to believe. And
then there was a third purpose. God purposed that by calling
his elect remnant from among the Jews in Paul's day, that
elect remnant among the Jew, he purposed that when he called
them he would cause a greater increase of believers among the
Gentiles. Look there in Romans 11 verse
12. Now if the fall of them, that is Israel, be the riches
of the Gentile world, and the diminishing of Israel be the
riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? He's saying
this, if the decrease of the Jews If a bunch of them falling
away resulted in so many Gentiles believing on Christ, he's saying
just imagine how many more Gentiles God's gonna call when he calls
his elect remnant out of Israel. If the decreasing of Israel resulted
in Gentiles believing, what'll happen when God calls his elect
from among Israel? That's gonna cause more Gentiles
to believe. That's the threefold purpose God purposed from eternity. And what Paul's saying here is
he's declaring that God's gonna call all his elect. It doesn't
matter if they're Jew or Gentile. He's calling them all. A man's
unbelief's not gonna frustrate God. He's working his purpose. See, with God, there's nothing
new under the sun. Paul, well, not really, because
he knew the scriptures. But you and I may see something
happen in this world, we'd be shocked that it happened. It
doesn't shock God. It doesn't shock God. Man's rebellion
doesn't frustrate God's purpose, but rather man's rebellion is
a part of God's purpose. You get that? He's using man's
rebellion. Let's go to Isaiah 44 and look
at verse 24. Isaiah 44, 24. He says, Thus saith the Lord,
thy Redeemer, he that formed thee from the womb, I am the
Lord that maketh all things, that stretched forth the heavens
alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. He said,
I am he that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh
diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their
knowledge foolishness. I confirm the word of my servant,
God said, and I perform the counsel of my messengers, God said, that
says to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities
of Judah, you shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed
places thereof. In other words, it may look like
they've fallen, but it's part of God's purpose. God's never
going to lose one of his elect. He's using the rebellion of men
and frustrating their rebellion. They're not frustrating his purpose.
He's frustrating their purpose because he's using it to bring
to pass his purpose. So when you see men and women
reject the gospel, Don't just count them off as being reprobate.
Paul wasn't doing that. He wasn't counting off all Israel
as being reprobate. Why? Surely the wrath of man
shall praise God, and the remainder thereof he'll restrain. God's
in control. So rather than just write men
off as reprobate when they don't believe the gospel, pray that
if they be God's elect, it may be his purpose to call them to
faith in Christ. He's going to use their rebellion,
the rebellion of men around them, the belief of his people. He's
using all of that, and according to his purpose, to call out all
his elect. And that's what he's gonna do.
That's what he's gonna do. But notice there, I like how
Paul calls our gospel the riches of the world. Romans 11, he said,
if the falling away of Israel, if it meant the diminishing of
them, meant the riches of the Gentiles, Well, we're preaching
unsearchable riches. When I travel and I'm sitting
on an airplane, a lot of times, you know, they always the question
is going to come up. You start talking to somebody,
we just do this. What do you do for a living?
And I don't like to tell people what I do because they quit being
themselves and they start putting on some religious show. So I
just tell, when men say, what do you do for a living? I say,
I deal in precious jewels. That's what I tell them because
that's what I do. I preach the pearl of great price,
the unsearchable riches. And they go on acting, being
themselves and it doesn't cause a problem. We're preaching unsearchable
riches. And when God calls His people
out, God's enriching His people. That's what He's doing. Now secondly,
let's look at the righteousness of God in calling His elect.
Calling His elect who at first rejected the gospel. How's God
righteous to call those who rejected the gospel when He damns some
that rejected the gospel? Why does He call some and He's
righteous to do it and then He's righteous to damn the others
and both of them rejected the gospel when they first heard
it? How can that be? Verse 13, For I speak to you
Gentiles, Paul says, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,
that I might magnify or bring glory to mine office, if by any
means I may provoke to emulation, that is, provoke to jealousy,
them which are my flesh, his countrymen in Israel, and might
save some of them. For if the casting away of them
be the reconciling of the Gentile world, what shall the receiving
of God's elect among the Jews be but the same thing, life from
the dead? For if the first fruit, Christ,
be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root, that is, Christ,
be holy, so are the branches." You know, there's men and I think
more than anybody it's reformed folks who will say that election
and predestination will kill missions. Well, they're wrong. They're wrong. Paul proves that
right there. They're wrong. It was knowing that God had an
elect people that he had predestinated to believe on Christ. It was
knowing that God had chosen them in Christ and knowing they were
holy in Christ and knowing God was righteous to call them to
faith in Christ, it was knowing that eternal, predestinating,
electing purpose that made Paul zealous to preach the gospel.
He was zealous. He said that I might magnify
my office and thus save God's elect, and he said, including
some of my kinsmen according to the flesh. Every preacher
must magnify his office, but we don't magnify our office like
preachers of this world do. Preachers of this world magnify
their office by dressing in a costume that's different from everybody.
They magnify their office by going by some title like reverend
or father. Christ said don't be called that. There's one reverend, one holy
and reverend, that's God. There's one father in heaven.
So, but they go by these titles, they treat the people like they're
above the people, and they use manmade means. They try to make
the church look like the world so people feel free to come in
and unite with it. They dress like the world, they
act like the world, they talk like the world. I told you about
the nightclub across from the First Baptist Church in my hometown. I couldn't believe they put a
nightclub in across from the First Baptist Church because
they wouldn't even allow that when I was growing up for any
place to be close to a church like that. The church put it
in. It was for young people. It looked
just like a nightclub, a bit neon and flashing lights and
DJs and all that, but it was the church put it on. to make
it attractive to young people to come. Now, God's preacher
magnifies his office by preaching the righteousness of God in Christ
crucified, and that's all. And by his character, living
in all good faith and fidelity before God and men, That's how
he does it. That's how he magnifies his office.
Paul said, let a man so account of us as ministers of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God, it's required in stewards
that a man be found faithful. Faithful to men or faithful to
God? Faithful to God. Faithful to preach Christ and
Him crucified as God commands us to do. and use no other means,
no other means whatsoever. Paul said, therefore seeing we
have, as we have this ministry, as we've received mercy, we faint
not, but we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.
What you see in 99% of religion today is just flat out dishonesty. That's exactly what it is. He
said we don't walk in craftiness, we're not handling the word of
God deceitfully, and that's what's going on in religion. Here's
what God's preacher does. By manifestation of the truth,
we commend ourselves to every man's conscience and we do so
in the sight of God. That's what God's preacher does.
That's how he magnifies his office. He just preaches Christ and him
crucified. And that magnifies his office
before God's people. God's people are thankful for
faithful preachers because they just preach Christ and Him crucified.
And that's how Paul magnified his office. And he did it so
that God would use him to call out his elect from among the
Gentiles and from among the Jews. He knew the only way God would
do that is if he was preaching Christ and Him crucified. But
why now was Paul so sure that God was going to call his elect
from among the Jews? Why was he so sure God was going
to do that? Because of the righteousness
of God. He knew God is righteous. He knew God is holy. He knew
God must do what is right. And he knew this, look, verse
15, if the casting away of them resulted in the reconciling of
the Gentile world. And you could put there life
from the dead. That's what it was. That's what
being reconciled to God is. It's life from the dead. He says,
if the casting away of them was life from the dead for the Gentiles,
what shall the receiving of the elect in Israel be but life from
the dead? For if the first fruit's holy,
the lump's holy, and if the root's holy, the branches are holy.
What does all that mean? All God's elect are born spiritually
dead. All of us are born spiritually
dead. All of us are born enemies of God in our minds by wicked
works. So what Christ came to do is
he came to reconcile us to God, and through his blood, resurrect
us from the dead to life in regeneration. And this has all come about because
God chose his people in Christ before the world was made. He
set us apart. He made us holy by choosing his
people in Christ. So though we walked in unbelief
and though we were rebels before God in ourselves while we were
in our sins and dead in our sins, we were already set apart and
holy in Christ by the electing grace of God the Father. And
then Christ, He made us holy by His blood when it says He,
by one offering, perfected forever them that are sanctified. Them
that God had set apart in Christ, He perfected forever. He made
holy and righteous forever by His one offering. So it's righteous
for God to send the gospel to His elect even though they've
rejected the gospel. They heard it, they rejected
it. You did, I did, Paul did. Paul heard the gospel and rejected
it. But because God chose his elect and put us in Christ, he
separated us out from the world. That's holiness. That's being
made holy. That's being sanctified, set
apart for God's holy use. That was so from before the world
was made. And so no matter what we did, since God didn't choose
us according to our works, none of our works could make God reject
us. He didn't choose us by our works. So none of our words could
make God reject His elect. But because He put us in Christ
and made us holy, and because Christ was our surety and the
blood of Christ made us holy, it was just for God to send the
gospel to us and call us to Christ. And Paul knew that. And so he
knew, even though there's a whole bunch in Israel that's rejected
the gospel, if they're God's elect, because Christ is holy,
they're holy. You see? Christ here, Christ
here is the first fruit. He's the first fruit. Scripture
says, now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first
fruits of them that slept. He's the first fruit. We don't
much understand this, but you know, when you've got a garden
and you get your first fruits out of that garden, that first
fruit is a foretaste of what all the rest of that fruit's
gonna taste like. Well, Christ came out of the grave and went
into glory, he's the firstfruits of his people. What he is, all
the rest of his people are. He's holy, and all his people
are holy. He's the root that is divine,
and all his elect are branches in him. Remember, he said, I'm
the vine, you're the branches. He that abideth in me, the same
bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
As Christ is, so are his people in this world. He's divine, we're
the branches that come out of him. You go home and look real
close today, and the tree's in your yard, and you go see, the
trunk of that tree looks just like the branch coming out of
that tree, because they're one. And you and I, who are God's
elect, are one in Christ. As he is, so are we. And so that's
what Paul is saying. That's how come God's just to
call his elect, even though we sinned in ourselves. In Christ
we were whole. You get that, why he's righteous
to call us? See this thing, that is what
made Paul go preach the gospel. Knowing God had an elect that
were holy in Christ and God was righteous to call them out, that's
what made him want to go preach the gospel. If it was left to
man's will, If it was up to a man, God does all he can do, but he's
not going to offend your will, and yet we know you're dead in
sins, according to the scriptures, and you don't have a will to
come to God. God has to give you a new will, a new heart.
So if it was left up to a man's will, that wouldn't encourage
me to go preach the gospel. That's what would kill missions
for God's people, is if it was left up to man's will. But what
makes us zealous to send the gospel into the world like Paul
was, is because we know God has an elect, they're holy in Christ,
he's predestinated them to be adopted to himself by Christ
Jesus, and he's righteous to call them, and he must. That very righteousness demands
he must call them. So, that makes us want to go
preach the gospel. I'm going to just touch on this
warning because I'm out of time, but look at verse 17. Here's
the warning. If some of the branches were
broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted among
them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree, boast not against the branches, but if thou boast,
remember this, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
He's saying this, you and I who are Gentiles, we're considered
the wild olive branch because we were not of Israel. The natural
branches were those who were of Israel. And he says some of
those natural branches were broken off and we were grafted in. But
we don't have any room to boast against those branches. Because
if we want to boast, we have to boast in Christ because he's
the root and he bears us. We don't bear him. He bears us. We ought never become high-minded
and proud and arrogant, boasting in ourselves, thinking that the
Jews were broken off that we might be grafted in. Look at
the next verse, verse 19. Thou wilt say then the branches
were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well, because
of unbelief they were broken off. God was just to break them
off. They didn't believe God. But
you stand by faith. And where'd that come from? God
gave it to you. God gave it to you. We don't
have any room to boast, do we? We don't have any room to boast.
Everything we got, we got from God. Christ is the root who bears
us. Our fruit comes from him. So
we can't boast against the branches. So he says in verse 20, be not
high-minded, but fear, reverence God. For if God spare not the
natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee.
He's not saying there, when he says take heed, lest he spare
not thee, he's not saying God's gonna ever cast off any of his
elect. What he's saying is, if you start boasting in you, and
I start boasting in me, in my faith, in what I've done, we're
gonna prove we really aren't God's elect, and God'll cast
us out if we're not his. But what he's saying is God's
grace doesn't make his people high-minded. It humbles us because
we see everything we have, we got from God. We're no different
than those who rejected it. We rejected it. And so everything
God did for us, he did by grace. That doesn't make you high-minded.
That's the only message that will humble a sinner. The only
message. So let's review. God's eternal
purpose, it takes in the rebels against Christ. He overrules
that to bring to pass his purpose. So never become frustrated when
you see men reject the gospel. It's not frustrating God's purpose.
All God's elect must and shall be called because we're holy
in Christ. Even before he called us, we're
holy in Christ. And they're gonna be called because
it's righteous for God to do so. All God's blessings are given
to those He chose by grace, redeemed by grace, and called by grace.
Everything we have, we have by grace. And if we believe on Christ
and continue in Christ, we do it the same way, by God's grace. So, we don't have any room to
boast except in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's who we boast
in. All right. Let's stand together. Father, we thank you for this
word. Thank you for your grace and mercy. We ask you to keep
us humbled, keep us looking to Christ, knowing that everything
we've received in grace, we received it from him freely, not based
on anything in us. Don't ever let us forget that,
Lord. Make us to always remember that your grace is not based
on race, it's not based on sex, it's not based on Anything about
us, it's yours freely to give to whom you will, and you're
going to call out your leg. Make us pray for one another.
Make us pray for those who are in unbelief rather than be high-minded
against them. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy
and grace. In Christ we pray. Amen.