Now, if you will, let's open
our Bibles to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. We have a day in this nation tomorrow
to be thankful to our God. We truly have something here
tonight to be thankful for. We should be thankful to Him
every day. Romans chapter 11. We're going
to begin in verse 11. I'm going to try to stay just
in Romans, Acts, and Corinthians tonight, so we'll either be going
left a book or right a book, but we'll try to stay right there
in Romans. Romans 11, verse 11. I say then, have they stumbled
that they should fall? Paul speaking of physical Israel. that physical nation. God forbid,
but rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles,
for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the
riches of the world, and their diminishing of them the riches
of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to
you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles,
I magnify my office. If by any means I may provoke
you to emulation, them which are my flesh," he's saying those
brothers and sisters he had after the flesh, the physical nation
Israel, those Jews, and might save some of them. For if the
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the
receiving of them be but life from the dead? For if the first
fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy,
so are the branches. Many times I talk about the Jews
and the Gentiles. It's all through the scripture,
isn't it? I want us to be on the same page. Until I was about
10 years old, I just assumed that the Jews was from that nation
over there off the Mediterranean in Israel. And I thought all
the Gentiles was that people couldn't say Galatians right.
I thought that was the same word. It was all people from Galatia.
But that's not the case, is it? Those physical Jews, that is
Abraham's physical seed. He had Abraham, his son Isaac,
and his son Jacob. Jacob had his name changed by
the Lord to Israel and he had 12 sons. That's 12 tribes of
Israel. That's the physical seed of Abraham.
And the Gentiles were what the Jews called the world. There's us and them. Everybody
else. It was only the Jews and the
world. Gentiles. Anyone that was not directly
related to Abraham was a Gentile. And then we speak of Abraham's
spiritual seed. Who's that? That's the children
of God. That's Jew and Gentile. In Revelation 7 it says, "...a
great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongue." It's not just that physical nation
of Israel, those physical Jews, it's spiritual Jews, the spiritual
children of Abraham. That's the message in Romans
11. We'll look at next week the grafting.
And I think the Lord's given me some light on that. Like you
graft a limb into a tree. You cut the tree and you make
it one with the branch and you anoint it, put a balming on it,
and you bind it together. bind it permanently. That's the
message of Romans 11. God removed the branch from that
tree that was by nature, that was physical Israel, the seed
of Abraham, physical seed, in order to graft in the Gentile,
the spiritual seed of Abraham. Now the Jews called the Gentiles
the world. They referred to them as the
world. When Christ spoke to Nicodemus, he was the ruler of the Jews.
He was a Pharisee. And he said, for God so loved
the world. Here's the head one. They believed
in election, and he thought he was the head honcho. And Christ
looked at him and said, God so loved the Gentiles. He gave his
only begotten son. He so loved the world. Every
nation, tribe, kindred, tongue, it didn't matter. If they're
in him, that's who Christ came to die for. That would provoke
Nicodemus to jealousy, wouldn't it? How do you think he'd feel?
Let's look here in verse 11. I've got three points this evening.
We'll look at God's sovereignty and justice, God's servant, and
God's salvation. But first, God's sovereignty
and justice. Here in verse 11, Romans 11,
11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather through their fall
salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy."
He says there, have they stumbled that they should fall. Did the
Jews stumble at Christ that stumbling stone and then they were just
pushed the rest of the way by God? They keep on shoving them. Look up in verse 7. What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded. According as it is written, 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, 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 always. Paul
was moved by the Spirit of God to write our text tonight, verse
11. And he asked the question, does
God predestinate people to hell? That's been a great accusation
from a long time ago. Like the 1700s, William Huntington
called it, up one side and down the other. Hyper-Calvinists and
everybody we know gets picked on for that, doesn't it? Paul
says, God forbid. Who would believe such things?
That's not what he's speaking of. But we never forget, God
Almighty is just. The wages of sin is death. Sin
must be punished. What sends that? Unbelief. Unbelief must be punished. That
physical nation, they heard the Word of God. They heard the message
of salvation through the blood of Christ. They heard it in type.
They saw it in picture, in activity. They had the tabernacle with
them, a cloud by day and a pill of fire by night. All the sacrifices,
the Passover. They had the prophets preaching
to them. And they refused it. God didn't push them the rest
of the way. He gave them to their will. And given those Jews that
were fallen in Adam just exactly what they wanted, the Lord removed
His presence from them and He cast them away. That was their
nature. Don't look down on those Jews.
That was me. I had no interest. Don't want to hear it. As David
said, plug their ears, cover their eyes. Turn over to Acts
13. We're going left one book to
Acts 13. Here in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas,
they were asked by the rulers of the synagogue to stand up
and say some words. And Paul stood up and he preached
the gospel to them. Told them of how the nation of
Israel, they wanted a king, and so they got Saul. They'd been
prophesied against, been warned against. The Lord warned them,
but he gave them Saul. And then that went horribly wrong. But he was removed by the Lord,
and the Lord put David in his king. He anointed David, a man
after his own heart, and through that one, through David, through
the man that the Lord appointed and anointed, crossed our king,
the second Adam. He would be the savior of his
people through King David. The Gentiles and some of those
Jews, they asked Paul and Barnabas, they said, that was wonderful.
Will you come back next week and tell us more? And the next
week came, and multitudes showed up. We'll see here in Acts 13
verse 45. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. They stood up
and preached, and then they got right up behind them and said
the opposite of everything that had come out of Paul and Barnabas'
mouth. They contradicted and blasphemed. Then Paul and Barnabas,
they waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the Word of
God should have been spoken to you, first been spoken to you,
but seeing He put it from you. They got the Word of God first,
they had it in type and picture, and they put it from them. I
don't want to hear that. and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life." What's everlasting life? Christ is everlasting
life. And they say, ah, that's not
up to my standards. I don't have enough to do. I
don't have enough to look to. I don't have enough to say or
people to look at me. They judge themselves unworthy
of Christ. They didn't need him. Lo, we
turn to the Gentiles. That natural kingdom, that natural
nation had all those advantages, had the gospel preached to them
and they refused it. I don't want to hear it. And
Paul said, that's why the Lord sent us to the Gentiles. Gentiles
heard this and they were delighted. Salvation is reserved for a particular
people and it's not just the physical Jews. We thought we
were cut out of the game. But it's spiritual Jews. We're
not excluded because of our birth. And the news went out through
all the land. They told everybody. They said,
all this time we thought it was just them. This is us. This is
Christ we've heard of. This is for us. For sinners. Then the Jews, they brought up
all the false witnesses they could find in that town and they
run Paul and Barnabas out. Run them all. Now turn over just
a few pages to Acts 28. Acts 28. Paul ended up a prisoner in Rome,
and he was on house arrest there, and he rented a home for two
years, and he preached to everyone that would come to that house.
Everybody that had come by. In Acts 28, verse 23, And when they had appointed him
a day, there came many to him in his lodging, to whom he expounded
and testified the kingdom of God. How's he going to do that? Persuading them concerning Jesus. Both out of the law of Moses
and out of the prophets from morning till evening. He went
to that law and he said, you can't fulfill it. Here's the
one that did. He went to the prophets and said,
this whole Old Testament tells of somebody coming. This is him. He came. This is him concerning
Jesus. Verse 24, And some believed the
things which were spoken, and some believe not. And when they
agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul
had spoken one word. These people said, well, I believe
and you don't believe, so they left. And Paul said, well spake
the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the prophet unto our fathers. He
said that what Isaiah wrote down was well said. Verse 26, saying,
go unto this people and say, hearing ye shall hear and shall
not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross. It's waxed dead. And their ears are dull of hearing
and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their
eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart
and should be converted and I should heal them. That's what Isaiah
said. You heard this gospel. It's been
clearly put to you. You plugged your ears and covered
your eyes and said, I don't want no part of it. He says in verse
28, now he's speaking to those still there, be it known therefore
unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles
and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words,
the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. They
had something to chew on. They weren't happy. And Paul
dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received
all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching
those things which concern the Lord Jesus with all confidence,
no man forbidding him. The Jews could not stand to hear
what he said, and no matter the opposition, He wasn't a man-pleaser,
as he told us in Galatians. No matter the opposition, Paul
continued to preach the same message to everybody that come
through that door while he was chained up to the wall. Christ
and Him crucified. The same one. Some, it was a
savor of life unto life. Others, a savor of death unto
death. Got tired of hearing it. It was outdated, boring. Took glory away from man, didn't
want it. I'm back in our text, Romans
11, 11. I say then, have they stumbled
that they should fall? Lord causes, God forbid. But
rather, through their fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles for
to provoke them to jealousy. It says there, but through their
fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles. The Lord allowed
this political nation to fall with all those benefits they
had, all the privileges they had, gospel right in front of
them, to prove to the Gentiles and to every soul throughout
the earth that salvation is not in man. That it's not our works. It's not our physical birth.
It's not all the benefits we have around us. It's not growing
up with gospel in front of us. It's a work of God's grace in
Christ. That's the only way they're saved.
And it says to provoke them to jealousy. Now we think that jealousy
is a bad thing, don't we? For the most sense, jealousy
is a bad thing. But this is a good jealousy. This is a good thing.
I had a brother that loved the Lord and he had a business dealing
that went south and he had to get a lawyer against his business
partners. And he went to that lawyer and
he said, you take everything they want and give it to them.
I want to show mercy, grace, and he had peace during all of
it. He was just calm, cool, and collected. And that lawyer looked
at him and said, I've never had a client do this. Why would you
do this? And he said, that's the gospel
I was saved by, and that's the God I believe in. He's sovereign
in all things. He gave me everything. He can
take it all away. He's loving, He's merciful, He's gracious,
and all of my peace is in Him." And that lawyer said, I want
to hear more about where you go to church at. I want to go
to church with you. I want to hear more about this God. Tell me
that gospel. I knew another man, I know several
stories of this, but a father who was absolutely blessed graciously
from the Lord. That man walked this earth as
someone that believed God, and it was evident to anyone that
walked around him. He was married to Christ, richer
or poorer, in sickness and in health, it didn't matter. He
looked to the Lord. A shining example of what a believer
ought to be. And he died. And had peace when
he went. And his son said, I want to know
who he knew. What was that? He was provoked
to jealousy. I want to provoke you to jealousy. I pray the Lord will give me
a life that provokes people to jealousy, to see my peace, my
hope, my assurance. And I want people to say, I want
to know who you know. Tell me more about him. Provoke
to jealousy. We don't provoke sinners to jealousy
for Christ by our works, by our clean living, by our outward
prayer, by our putting on a show. That's all just religion. We
provoke them as the Lord provokes them by pointing them to Christ,
pointing them to our eternal hope. And if God the Holy Spirit
gives them eyes to see Christ, they see. And if they're given
ears to hear Him, they hear. And if they're given living hearts,
they live forever. If God's pleased to leave them
to their own covered eyes, their own plugged ears, and their own
dead hearts, they will leave murmuring, and they'll go all
the way to judgment as those Jews did, looking to their own
reasoning. I know better. I think better. That book's got to be lying.
Now there in verse 12, Romans 11-12. Now if the fall of them
be of the riches of the world, the Gentiles, and the diminishing
of them, the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. If the Gospels preach to the
physical seed of Abraham, and it was rejected, in order that
you and I could have the Gospel preach to us what riches. what riches to us. Like those
Gentiles there in Acts 13, we hear the good news that Christ
shall save his people from their sins. We rejoice, we are glad,
and we glory in the word of the Lord, and we give him all the
praise and all the honor. We sing his praises. It says
there how much more their fullness. Now consider hearing the gospel
and its cost. Here we have a, there's a cost. These lights aren't on for free,
right? We have a rent and internet and everything else. There's
a cost to it. But if the fall of a nation happened
by the Lord's divine decree just to bring salvation to me and
you, how full and how precious that should be to believers. Me and one of the brethren here
were sent halfway around this world for the Lord to teach us
something. Do you think, would God have
a war between two or three countries just to save one of his sheep?
In Isaiah 43, it says, Since thou wast precious in my sight,
thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Because we're
precious to the Lord and He's loved us, therefore will I give
men for thee and people for thy life. He said, I'll give nations
for you. We shouldn't be shocked at that,
should we? How unknowing and feeble-minded I am, to find fault
in the Lord's will in casting away a people or giving nations
for His people to give us the gospel of Christ. Something much
more valuable was given for our salvation. more valuable than
nations and every nation put together. Christ was cast away
for us to be saved. He was forsaken for us to be
made righteous. That means our saving, the means
of our saving, and the riches of our saving are all the fullness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul wrote to the
church at Ephesus. He said that Christ may dwell
in you, in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ.
which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." Christ willingly gave himself for a people, and
we are filled with the fullness of God. That's His sovereignty
and His justice, taking our punishment out on Christ and giving us His
righteousness. He's just and right to do so.
Now we see God's servant, verse 13, Romans 11, 13. For I speak
to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles.
I magnify my office. The Jews look down their noses
at what they call the Gentile dogs. That's why Paul is magnifying
his office. He said, I'm proud to be the
apostle to the Gentiles. Now you think about that his
whole life. raised in knee-deep religion
that they're just Gentile dogs. They're not the Lord's people.
They're not even real people. Don't even talk to them. And
he persecuted the church. And now he says, what a gracious
gift it's been given unto me to preach unto you. And he was
thrilled of it. It's a heart the Lord put in
him. But to provoke the Jews to be saved in the same way that
the Gentiles are, through the faith of Christ given to the
Lord's people in a heart work by the Holy Ghost. He said, I'm
thankful to be your apostle, and they might be provoked to
jealousy and emulate this. The Lord might save them. If
He does it, it's going to be the same way He saved you. But
for them to look down their noses unworthily on those Gentiles,
we're going to see as we go through this chapter, as it reads, the
Lord's going to have a revival in the nation of Israel, in that
physical nation. You read through that, and my
first thought is they don't deserve it. They done threw it away once,
didn't they? How am I any different than those
Jews looking down their nose at the Gentiles? Ain't no different,
is it? That's a strong warning. It's
pride of grace, isn't it? Verse 14, if by any means I may
provoke to emulation, that means copying, in a rude sense, them
which are of my flesh and might save some of them. He went from
jealousy to emulation. I want them to be interested.
Now I want them to do it. I gave an illustration of that
believer and the lawyer provoked to jealousy. Here's the same
picture but of emulation. How do we learn how to pray?
Pray as Job prayed. The Lord gives and the Lord takes
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And pray as Christ prayed in
the wrath of God. Lord, I remember your salvation. I'm brought into remembrance
of you. That is truly magnifying the office of an apostle, office
of a preacher. Not in the wearing of robes,
not in the wearing of titles, or acting like you're holy, or
pointing your finger at other people, but to point sinners
to Christ faithfully. Look to Him. To magnify at office is to be
faithful in office. 1 Corinthians 4, he said, Let
a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful. Does that mean he's got to muster
up faith? No, he's got to be full of faith, full of faith,
looking to Christ alone and nothing and no one else. That's to magnify
the office, pointing others to Christ. Now turn over to 2 Corinthians
4, a few pages. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 1. Therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God." Paul says, they've renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, and not walking in craftiness,
and not handling the word of God deceitfully. What's that
look like? If you want a yes, you're going
to find it. We all know that walking in this world. If you
want to do something and everybody's against you, you ask enough people,
somebody's going to agree with you. If you want to make some
hodgepodge doctrine out of nothing that's nonsense, you can piecemeal
together a couple words here and a couple words there. And
the next thing you know, I wish they got Ruby Ridge. You'll be
saying, oh, that means it's in Idaho. Nonsense, foolishness,
craziness. A man asked me one time, he said,
do you know how to rightfully dissect the word of God? I said,
I hope so. Preach it. If you don't understand it, read
more. Don't cut it up. But by manifestation of the truth,
by telling the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience
in the sight of God, like Nehemiah said, they declared the scriptures
and they gave the sense of the text, not their sense of the
text. Don't tell you what I think.
Nobody cares about what I think. What's the Lord say? Rightfully
declare the word. Tell the truth of the scriptures.
Tell the truth about man. Tell the truth about God. Not
dissecting it for gain. And what's the result of that
type of preaching? Look at verse 3, 2 Corinthians 4, 3. But if
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. We point
people in the magnifying of Christ from the Passover feast to cross
the Passover. We point them from keeping a
Sabbath to cross their Sabbath. From the mercy seat in that tabernacle
they had to carry around to cross their mercy seat. From the garments
of that high priest as he was adorned to cross their high priest. And if that's hid, plainly said,
plainly showed in the scriptures, if that's hid, it's hid to them
that are lost. And back in our text, we'll see
the Lord's servant, now we'll see God's salvation. Romans 11,
verse 15. be the reconciling of the world.
What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? For if the first fruit be holy,
the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, so are the
branches." In these verses we see the Lord's reconciling His
elect to Himself, our two-part resurrection, and the righteousness
we possess through the blood of Christ our Lord. First, that
reconciliation. It says there in verse 15, for
the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world. Paul
wrote to us in 2 Corinthians, said, therefore, if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. What's that mean? It's a lot
of words in it. The covenant of works has been
removed by the living of Christ and replaced by the covenant
of grace. The punishment of wrath has been removed by the dying
of Christ and replaced by the rewarding of the fullness of
all spiritual blessings in Him. Sinners are reconciled to God
by His work of salvation to magnify the office of that apostle, of
a preacher, is to declare salvations of the Lord. He reconciles his
people to himself. So Paul wrote to us and said,
now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech
you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. That's my prayer for you. Here's
the gospel. Christ saved sinners. And everyone
that was given to Him, He will not lose any. Look to Him. Come
to Him, Jew or Gentile, bond or free. Be reconciled to God. And we see there next the resurrection. Paul writes, What shall the receiving
of them be but life from the dead? That's what the new birth
is. Life from the dead. It's not
praying a prayer. It's not walking the aisle, not
joining the church, not being baptized. We were dead in sin
and the Lord our God has saved us from our sins, giving us His
life. We went from death to life. Christ was raised from the grave
from death. So in the believer's new birth,
we are raised from spiritual death and now live the life that
we have in Christ our Lord. That's what our resurrection
is while we walk this earth. What a blessed day it'll be when
either the Lord comes or this old body of death goes away.
I have a confidence. I ain't never died, so I'm kind
of apprehensive about it. The act of it, I'm not looking
forward to it. But I have no fear in death. It may sting on
the way out, but I know whom I have believed. That's okay. You've got two months to live.
Well, good. If the Lord's raised, I'll be
raised. Resurrection of Christ was the
evidence that His person and His work was accepted by God
the Father. And as He lives, so we live. As He's seated at the right hand
of God, so are we seated there. What's that mean? That is where
our rest is. That's where I sat down. He's
seated at the right hand of God, ever interceding for His people.
Can you sit down on that? You stop working and just rest.
The Lord's accomplished it all and He currently intercedes for
us. What more could I ask for? Now we see righteousness. In
this new life that's given to spiritual Israel, those that
believe on Christ, we're not left to ourselves in that old
nature. He doesn't polish up an old cup
and say, you better keep it. A new nature's put in us, an
incorruptible seed, and that nature is holy. A lot of people
on this side of the earth and all around the earth, they gasp
if I said that. If you believe on Christ, you're
a child of God, you are holy. Perfect as He is perfect. Look
here in verse 16. For if the first fruit be holy,
who's the first fruit? Christ, the first fruit. He's
the firstborn among many brethren. That's Him. The lump, the elect,
His church, all those that believe on Him, is also holy. And if the root be holy, we're
sure we're talking about Christ. That's Christ, the root of David,
isn't it? So are the branches, you who believe on Him. Holy. We are made holy as Christ is
holy by the doing and the working of God. In the rest of this chapter,
we'll see more about these branches being broken off others being
grafted in. And a lot of scholars and theologians,
they've got great opinions about that and the prophecies to come
and all this. It would do us a whole lot better.
We'd be a lot better off if the Lord gave us a text about how
branches are broke off and trees are grafted to get an understanding
of this text and go outside and look at a tree. I got a lemon
tree and a lime tree at my house that's been grafted in to a different
set of roots. And I walked outside and looked
at it, and I was like, well, that makes sense, doesn't it? I'm not going
to write no books about that. I just want to tell you, it's
precious. An arborist, I spelled that wrong. And when I clicked on it, it
had to give you a definition to make sure you got the right
word. And it said a tree surgeon. And I thought, boy, that's beautiful.
He bruises the tree. Christ was bruised for us. And He does not beg that branch
that He's cut off, He's gonna graft in. Will you please get
in this tree? Just come on, all you gotta do is get in here and
you'll live. He takes that branch and He puts it where He bruised
it. And when He puts it in that branch,
that tree, He doesn't say, it's up to you to stay there. He anoints
that tree with oil. He puts a balm on it, and He
binds the branch to the tree. He ties it there until it's made
one with the tree. Our grafting, our being made
one with Christ, was the Father's ordaining. We are bound to the
Master, we receive life from Him, and we are made righteous
as He is made righteous. So is the holy root, so is the
branch. I pray that the Lord's sovereign
will will allow me to boldly tell you That all of our reconciliation
is Christ alone. Our new birth is of Christ alone. And that our righteousness is
of Christ alone. The Lord our righteousness. If
you are of that spiritual seed of Abraham, you are anointed,
you are bound, and live together with Christ as one. No man can
pluck you from that vine. It's forever. I pray that good
news, that comfort, provokes you to jealousy. You haven't,
who don't know you're bound there yet, I hope that provokes you
to jealousy and say, I want to know more about that. That you
desire to be made one with Christ the Holy God. It'll be something. And you'll sing his praises if
you are. I promise. Amen. Let's pray together.