All right. All right. Let's go with, let's turn
to Romans 11. All right, so Romans 11, we'll
be looking at verses 26 through 36 today. Picking up a little
bit of 25 just for context. Now, last week we looked at the
mystery. Paul was revealing regarding
the Jews, the general blindness that was upon resting on the
hearts and the minds of the Jews, and Paul was revealing this mystery
to his Gentile brethren, and it appears what Paul is saying
there is that spiritual blindness is going to continue to rest
on the Jews as a nation, as a people, until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in, until it's completed, until the appointed time when
God has determined it to be. And the purpose, Paul tells us,
why he tells us this, is that we, brethren, we who are Gentiles,
that we not be puffed up because we've come in a glorious manner
which God has made clear to us and plain to us, which was a
mystery to the Jews back in the Old Testament, and it was wonderful
when salvation came to us. And so he's saying, lest you
be puffed up in your minds and think that somehow you're now
the chosen people of God, don't lose sight of the fact that he
has his people in the Jews as well, and don't exalt yourself
over your Jewish brethren. even those who are yet to come
into the knowledge of the salvation. And so let me read verse 25 here
Romans 11 25 he says for I would not brethren that ye should be
ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in. The next thing that Paul
says is verse 26, and so, all Israel shall be saved. Now, if this mystery was just
simply stating, well, salvation had first come to the Jews, and
then it comes now to the Gentiles, and so all Israel shall be saved,
it doesn't really fit the context of what Paul is saying here in
this 11th chapter. So what helps us to understand
it, though, is as we work our way up to verse 32. So look at
verse 32 here. And he says, for God hath concluded
them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. All right, so what he's saying
there is that first, the Gentiles were in unbelief. They didn't
know the things of God, they were in unbelief until Christ
came, and then the Gospel went out with tremendous power and
had tremendous success among the Gentile peoples. And then during that time, though,
the Jews were then shut up in blindness. They didn't see, and
they rejected Christ. Providentially, God made it plain
and obvious to all, this is really the thrust of what Paul is saying
here, is that both Jew and Gentile are all seen plainly as being
guilty of disobedience and rebellion against God. That naturally,
none of us believed God. There's not one of us that can
stand on the platform that we know something, or that we're
better in some way, or have anything to exalt ourselves over our brethren. But every single one of us, Jew
and Gentile, all had their part plainly shown that they reject
God when left to themselves, that they will reject and refuse
the true and living God. And so what becomes obvious,
and this is the thrust of what Paul is saying here to us, is
that there's not a single one of us that's saved apart from
sovereign grace and mercy of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a single one. And so I've
titled this, I think appropriately, Jew and Gentile Need Sovereign
Grace. Jew and Gentile Need Sovereign
Grace. Begin here with the first few
verses looking at the promise to the Jews. Okay, the promise
to the Jews. So we'll read 25 and 26 again. For I would not, brethren, that
ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye, ye Gentile
brethren, should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in
part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
become him. And so all Israel shall be saved. Okay, so what
it appears that Paul is saying here is that the nation of Israel
at some point in the future will become like what we see is so
in Christian so-called Christian nations today that there will
be a great many people that believe on Christ and profess Christ
but don't ever lose sight of the fact that for sure one thing
we know for sure you can have your varying degrees as to what
that would look like coming to Israel but the reality is what
we know for certain is that it's always to the remnant seed according
to the election of grace that are saved and rejoice in the
God of their salvation and so the best I can explain it the
way we should see it now is that just as the rejection of national
Israel Back when the Gospel was coming out in the times of the
Apostles, just as the rejection by that whole country of people
there didn't include every single individual Jew, which we know
because the Apostles themselves were Jews. And there were many
Jews, hundreds, maybe thousands, even thousands of Jews that believed
Christ. So it wasn't every individual,
so also the restoration of them would be the same thing. Many
will be saved, many will believe, but it's not to every individual.
It doesn't have to be to every individual for it to be appropriate
in what Paul is saying here. So if you just look at our, we're
called a Christian nation. I think we're still called a
Christian nation, I'm not even sure. But what does that really mean?
We know that there's many nominal professors of God. That's counted. People who believe that Christ
is the son of God, that he was born of a virgin, that he came
to this earth and was crucified, and that he died, was buried,
and rose again. And people believe that to varying
degrees, and that counts for them as being a Christian nation. but we know that salvation comes
to the remnant according to the election of grace. That's the
Lord's people. There's many people, right? You
can look at the history of Israel. There was many people that appeared
to be the people of God in Israel, but there was always a remnant
according to the election of grace. Sometimes that remnant
maybe was a little bigger than other times when it was fewer
in number, but it was always the remnant that our God loved
and reveal themselves to in power and in grace. Now, to verify
what Paul is saying, he begins to quote at least a couple of
Old Testament scriptures, maybe even several Old Testament scriptures,
but look at Romans 11, 26 and 27. And so all Israel shall be saved,
as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins." Now, the first part
of what he's saying there, the majority of it comes from Isaiah
59, if you want to turn there. Isaiah 59, verses 20 and 21. And it says, the Redeemer shall come
to Zion. That's what he's saying, that
the Redeemer, Christ, came to Zion, His people, and unto them
that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. That
is, the Messiah comes and He turns away His people from transgression,
from trusting in their own works of righteousness and to look
to Him. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the
Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have
put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed,
saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. And so what we see
there is this covenant promise that God makes with his chosen
seed, which First there, in the nation of Israel, was made to
those elect Jews, which were of the natural seed of Abraham. They descended from Abraham. They were his natural seed in
Isaac. In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
The children of promise first seen, first revealed to us as,
oh, this is the Jews. These are the people who believe
and worship the true and living God. But all of it we know when
we look there in the Old Testament, in the Scriptures, we see also
the beautiful picture of Christ for all his church. All his elect seed are blessed
in the body of Christ there. And then second, he quotes from
what appears to be Isaiah 27.9, another one in Isaiah 27.9, He says, and it's the first phrase
there, by this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged. And I'll continue it. And this
is all the fruit to take away his sin when he maketh all the
stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in sunder. In other words, the salvation
of Jacob, those elect Jews that call Jacob here, their salvation
is by the work and the blood of Jesus Christ. We're working
their very salvation, giving them righteous, making them righteous,
and giving them his spirit, whereby they know and call upon the Lord
in spirit and in truth there. So that picture there of the
altar being broken down shows it's not by their works of the
law that they're made righteous, but they too are made righteous
only by the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. a fulfillment in natural Israel. That has proven to be a slippery
slope for many who go into the Old Testament and abuse what
the interpretation of that means. But in the context, that's how
Paul is applying it. He's applying it to Abraham's
natural seed, but not really the natural seed so much as the
remnant seed that are of Abraham's natural seed. Let me word it
that way, alright? So, there's other scriptures
too that speak like this. In Zechariah 12, verses 10 and
11. Zechariah 12, 10 says, And I
will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And in that day there
shall be great mourning in Jerusalem." That speaks of that time when
there will be a great many that are shown, you've rejected the
Messiah. You not only crucified him, but
you've continued in rebellion and disobedience to God, and
they'll see it and believe. rejected our salvation. We've
forsaken our own mercy and know there will be a mourning there
for it. Again in Psalm 14 7, Psalm 14 7, O that the salvation
of Israel were come out of Zion, when the Lord bringeth back the
captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall
be glad. Okay, so I understand, you know,
if you're a little skeptical and saying, well, Does that really
have any fulfillment there in Israel? And you may, certainly
I see how it's truth for every child of God in Christ, and how
the Lord redeems his people and saves them. But Paul is using
this here in the context to speak of Israel in the flesh, and we'll
see that as we go further in the text. So let's do that, because
here, this second point here, is that he begins to show us
the differences of the Believers providentially. He's showing
a providential difference between the Gentile Believers and the
Jewish Believers. So, he says in verse 28, as concerning
the Gospel, they. As concerning the Gospel, they.
Who they? Well, Israel, who he's just been
quoting these Scriptures about from the Old Testament. They
are enemies for your sakes, you Gentile sakes. They're enemies
right now of the God of this gospel here. But as touching
the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes. He's talking about Israel according
to the flesh, that remnant in the natural lineage there of
Israel. And so what he's saying is there's
still a remnant seed there. that God is calling and will
bring out into the light and into the knowledge of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so how large that remnant
is, I can't say, but if we're just thinking it's a trickle
of Jewish believers, two or three here and there, that's really
no great mystery to devote these words to if it's just talking
about a trickle of believers, rather than a great many that
will come to see and call upon God in Christ, okay, in the future. But, what I want you to pick
up is that we Gentiles, as the elect chosen seed, we have a
blessing, a blessing that comes upon us as Gentiles, that's peculiar
to us as Gentiles, that wasn't peculiar to the Jews as Jews. Romans 11 says, through their
fall, he's talking to you, Gentile brethren, through their fall,
the Jews, salvation is come unto the Gentiles. And then verse
15, the casting away of them, those Jews there, is the reconciling
of the world. So you see, there's a blessing,
a benefit that we've received as Gentiles, that probably many
Jews looked at and said, wow, How come they have it so good?
They believe and they weren't even seeking God. They were off
in the woods worshipping stumps and stones and God brought grace
to them and has revealed Christ to them and given them salvation. But also the Jews. Also the Jews
who are of the elect chosen seed, blessed with the benefit of being
a Well, they descended from the patriarchs. They came through
the patriarchs. So that's what Paul was saying
there in 1128. I am making this up. He says, as touching the
election, they are beloved for the father's sakes. See that
they had this patriarchal blessing that they came through providentially. Providentially, how God purposed
it for them. When you see, oh, wait a minute,
we were blessed as Gentiles, not like God cheated us in any
way. We had the great blessing of
being a Gentile where we weren't even seeking the truth. We were
off in idolatry and God brought salvation with power to us in
Christ for being Gentiles, as being Gentiles, right? And then
the Jews, they were brought, they were called out of darkness
but providentially being related to or coming through that patriarchal
line. And so then it begins to make
more sense when Paul says, well, what advantage then hath the
Jew? Much every way. And he says that they had their
blessings, too, as Jews. Providentially, they had their
blessings in that manner. And so you and I had our advantage
as Gentiles, and they had their advantage as Jews. And that's
what he's showing us here. But regardless of the advantage,
or regardless of the providential path that we were brought through,
the power, the reality is that all of us are one in the body
of Christ. We all had our providential way
that we came, but we all came under the blood of Christ, and
none of us is born into the kingdom of God except through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all saved one way, by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, okay? But that providential path by
which we learned of our calling, by which we learned of our election,
if you will, was providentially different, alright? And so the
Jew, they had promises made to them, from their descent from
the patriarchs, right? But before we got to their blessing,
what happened? Their descending from the patriarchs
actually proved providentially to be a stumbling stone to them,
a hindrance to them, right? Where they stumbled over Christ
because they looked to their works in the law to make themselves
righteous. That's what most of them all
understood these outward blessings to mean is that, oh, well, we
have this law by which we make ourselves righteous by it. Well,
they had to be broken from that. They had to be broken from that,
okay? And it proved to be a hindrance
because of the infirmity of this flesh, which we all have. But God made promises to them
and uses their stumbling and disobedience, right? They're
stumbling over Christ as a means of grace to them when he brings
them to the knowledge of himself, right? Whenever that time is. Because they're not going to
come through the law. The law doesn't save anyone. They have
to be broken from that hope in the law and being deceived by
their own flesh, thinking that that was their righteousness.
But the Gentiles had promises made to them not in the scriptures,
in the mystery, where the Lord spoke of a people sitting in
darkness whom He would bring to, a people that weren't even
seeking Him, that He would bring the light of this salvation to
them in sovereign grace and mercy by His power. Now, verse 29,
Romans 11, 29. Here's what it says here. for the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance." Now, when he says for the gifts
and calling, that word calling is another word for election.
For the gifts and the election of God are without repentance.
Look there with me at Romans 8.28. Romans 8.28 says, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose, to them who are
the elect of God according to his purpose. Another example
is Romans 1.7. Paul says, to all that be in
Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, elected to be saints,
right? So that word calling is just
our election in the Lord. And so the gifts in calling or
the gifts in election of God are without repentance. And we
see that. We see that even with the brethren. In Mark 16, when the angels were
speaking to the women at the tomb, he said, go tell his disciples. Remember, all the disciples abandoned
Christ. They all fled from him. And then
Peter even went so far not only to flee, but to outright deny
the Lord, to reject Him. Just like the nation of Israel,
he rejected Him and said, I don't even know this man who you're
talking about. And so the angel said, tell his
disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There
shall ye see him as he said unto you. So the Lord made a promise
to Peter And he didn't forsake him, he didn't change or go back
on that promise to him, because he's of the elect. And that's
what Paul is saying to us, is that those who are God's elect
chosen seed, he's never gonna turn from his word of promise
to them. That's true of us who are Gentiles,
and that's true of those that are Jews, that are of the elect
seed of Christ, all right? Now, the next thing, we read
this providence of how God revealed their calling. He reveals to
His people their calling, their election in Christ. We've all
had the revelation of God revealing to us that Christ is our Savior
because He's revealed it by faith. That's how we know it. He reveals
faith through the preaching of the Gospel. We hear Him say,
Lord, yes, I'm a sinner and I desperately need that salvation and you sent
your Son to put away my sin and He reveals that in us. Providentially
we see how God revealed salvation to the Gentiles, and now He providentially
revealed salvation to the Jews. Look at verse 30 and 31. For
as ye in times past have not believed God, ye Gentiles, yet
have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, those Jews, even
so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they
also may obtain mercy. You see, that's a future obtaining
when many shall come and believe on God through that providential
path that God is pleased to bring them through in that manner.
And so, what our Lord did here, why he does it this way is that
he's making it so apparent to us that sovereign grace and mercy
is necessary for salvation. Whether you're Jew or Gentile,
none of us is saved apart from the sovereign grace and mercy
of our God. And he made it very clear by
snapping that relationship of the Jews to the law because they
stumbled over Christ. And it's clear that that law
is not their salvation. So that when they believe, it
has nothing to do with that law. They believe because of their
being the elect, chosen seed of Christ. You see that? That's
why they're stumbling because What God did is made it clear
that I'm saving these Jews by sovereign grace and mercy, apart
from any relation to Abraham, any relation to that law. And so then you Jews, you stumble,
it becomes clear that it's not by your works of righteousness
by which you're saved, but there's no relationship there. And so
clearly now, when they believe, it's obvious that it's by sovereign
grace and mercy, the same as it is for us, just a providentially
different path, that's it, a providentially different path, beginning, if
you will, but it all leads to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the Gentiles, they were
in their darkness, right, in unbelief, And then the Jews were
in their darkness, but each one had their own unique advantage,
if you will. It was just the way the Lord
did it, so that none of us can boast or glory, so that he allows
sinful man to appear what he is. It's very obvious now to
us all, we're all sinners. There's nothing we can look to
or trace back to something that we've done. We all are dead in
trespasses and sins before God reveals His salvation to us,
right? And so He shows us that each
one of us is desperate for His grace and mercy. If we're to
be saved, it's going to be by His grace and mercy, which He's
provided in Christ. And so both sunk low, right? If we see it, both of us, Jew
and Gentile, were sunk low so that none of us now can rise
up in glory over the other. None of us has anything to glory
over because God's shown it plainly that we all sinned and aren't
saved unless He's gracious to us. And so it's obvious that
the grace of God in Christ alone saves. Listen to Galatians 3.22. but the scripture hath concluded
all under sin." And that's what God's showing us. We're all under
sin. That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given
to them that believe. That's our promise. That's our
hope. Against hope is that God is saving us in Christ alone. And then Paul goes into this
in Romans 11, 33. And we'll finish out just reading
this text here. He says, Oh the depth, right? Understand, none of us has anything
to glory in, despite the providential differences that we came, we
have nothing to glory in. And then he says, oh the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again? for of him and through him and to him are all things
to whom be glory forever. Amen. And so you see there, that's
why it's so glorious and why Paul is so lifted up, because
he sees that providentially we came different paths, but God
made it plain that we all need his sovereign grace. And if you
think about where this chapter 11 is placed, that's the capstone
to everything he's been saying. all that doctrine that we've
seen from chapter one right up through this chapter is all declaring
grace, grace, grace, sovereign grace, right? And you're thinking,
well, why is he repeating this again right here? Why is he repeating
once again this sovereign grace here? Because I mean, when you
want to show somebody election and sovereign grace, you typically
go to like chapter nine, right? You're like, wow, look at how
clear this election is in chapter nine, but he's really saying
the same thing here. But the placement of it, not
only is it important and critical, but if you, what we'll see as
we go through the rest of the book is it becomes very, it becomes
applied now. He starts applying these doctrines
and our understanding of his grace so that we all don't think
more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. And that's
what he told the Gentiles, right? In verse 25, lest ye should be
wise in your own conceits. You and me, we're nothing. We're
just another member of the body. We all needed his grace, and
he led us through providentially. And like the Jews and Gentiles,
so even we here benefited with that understanding. We've come
up in different, you know, we grew up in different parts of
the country, many of us. We grew up in different socioeconomic
households, right? Some of us had one parent, some
of us had two parents. Some of us grew up in Arminian
congregations, some of us always sat under the preaching of grace. And in that, some of it was lighter
and easier, some of it was very heavy-handed and whipping with
the law, right? We all came through these different
backgrounds and we all come with this various baggage, a dead-letter
religious baggage, you know, and that's how we see these scriptures
and what the Lord's doing is He strips us down to have no
hope in those things and to fix our hope in Christ, just to keep
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation alone, And
in that light, then we see how the application of these things
is all traced out for us as just members of his body, as it pleases
him to teach us, because he all brought us through providentially
in different paths. But it's all united under the
one blood of Jesus Christ. And so that's what I want us
to see and to rejoice in and recognize, the beauty of what
he's really saying here. It's not end times theology.
It's to help us to see that our God is a God of greatness and
salvation and might, and he saves his people through grace under
the blood of Jesus Christ. So I pray that that would be
a comfort and a joy Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and mercy to us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, that I'm nothing, that
each of us here is nothing in ourselves, but that you're everything,
Lord. And Father, we pray that you
would bless this word, help us to hear the truth of it, that
we not exalt ourselves over another, and that we be patient and kind
one with another, Lord. and trusting that you are our
God and that you save each one by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And you teach us these things. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.