Good to see everyone out this
morning. As Winston sang that song, great
is our faithfulness. God that we worship is a faithful
God. And because of that, as our title
suggests this morning, all Israel shall be saved. We're going to
be looking into that. That particular title that we
have this morning is taken from verse 26. If you'll go ahead
and turn if you'd like, Romans chapter 11. We're going to begin
at verse 22. I want to say a couple of things
this morning that some of these verses here in chapter 11 can
be a little difficult. Reason being is that Paul here
is, when he speaks, about Israel, he's talking about different
segments of Israel. First of all, he's talking about
the physical nation of Israel, all those Jews that were born
Israelites. He's also talking about the spiritual
nation of Israel, that is, Jews and Gentiles, all of God's elect. of every tribe, kindred, and
nation that make up that spiritual nation of Israel. And then again,
he's talking about, in some of these verses, the physical or
natural Jews that were part of that nation Israel. And also, we have God's elect,
a remnant out of that nation that were part of spiritual Israel.
They were not only born an Israelite, born a Jew, and they were not
only children of Abraham by birth, as they were born in this world,
but they were also later revealed and manifested to be children
of Abraham, spiritual children of Abraham. Now, to begin with
this morning, I want to point out a couple of things, and like
I always do in this verse-by-verse study, you've got to go back
in order to pick up the context of what we're dealing with, rather
than just starting out at verse 22. I want to give you a little
background, and I want to point out that the Apostle Paul is
seeking to defend God's faithfulness, not that God's faithfulness needs
to be defended. But the Apostle Paul, as he deals
with these men and women, who called into question the faithfulness
of God to fulfill his promise, his promise which was clear from
the very beginning. God had said through the prophet
Isaiah, look at Isaiah 45 verse 17, but Israel shall be saved
in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Now you got to do
a little explaining here because According to that, when it talks
about Israel, it also talks about an everlasting salvation. And
we know that God does not save every physical Jew eternally. And so we're going to be discussing
a lot of that this morning. And so as a Christian church
began back here, and as God had moved in the circles to bring
in and include both these Jewish believers and also the Gentile
believers into the gospel economy, the question began to be raised
by some of these Jews, especially as they looked around and saw
so many of their fellow kinsmen, so many of their fellow kinsmen,
according to the flesh, saw them in unbelief. They didn't believe
the gospel. The question is raised by some
of these Jews concerning God's faithfulness to fulfill his promise
to save all Israel. If God promised that he would
save all Israel and that all Judah would be justified, then
truly, then truly God is not faithful to his promise. We know
that it was said of our Lord Jesus Christ, he came into his
own being a Jew by birth, and his own received him not. The
nation as a whole, they despised and they rejected and crucified
the very Lord of glory. All you have to do in order to
see how the nation Israel responded is to read the first 10 chapters
of the book of Acts. You'll first of all, see how
they responded to the Lord Jesus Christ as he walked this earth.
And secondly, you'll see how they responded to the gospel.
that declared Christ, who was the one sin of the Father, and
to this world, to put away sin for his elect. The Jews as a
nation, those same people whom God chose as a nation, he chose
them as a nation to reveal himself, and to whom the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ, was to come. The nation as a whole did not
love the message of the gospel. In fact, they hated it. They
rejected the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, as it says back
in Romans 9, beginning at verse 31, where it says, but Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, or why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but, as it were, by works of the law.
for they stumble at the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold,
I lay inside a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. But you know the nation
Israel, those Jews, they're really no different from any other nationality
or group of sinners. By nature, we all love the works
of the law for righteousness. We all, as we're coming to this
world, We think that we gotta do something to be saved. Not only do we think it by nature,
we're taught it all of our lives. We're taught it all of our lives.
We love the ceremony and by nature we all love the ritual in religion. And all men by nature are caught
up in all these things. Even though the believing Jews
could not see a lot of evidence that God was saving a large number
of the Jews, Paul is telling these Jewish believers here at
the church at Rome, as well as these Gentile believers, that
God's faithful to his promise. God will save all Israel. We looked at that in our last
study, the verses that we went over the last time we had, that
I delivered a message. As the Apostle Paul talked about
the first fruits, be holy. The first fruits being Abraham,
and he's talking about spiritual kinship to this man Abraham. He is also talking about natural
kinship to Abraham. Two kinships here to Abraham.
The natural, being born a Jew, being a seed of Abraham, and
also the spiritual kinship to Abraham. He says in Romans 11
verse 16, For the first fruit be holy, or the first fruit be
set apart by God for a specific use. The lump is also holy, and
if the root be holy, so are the branches. So Abraham is the first
fruit here. He is the natural father of all
the natural descendants of the whole nation of Israel. And he's
the first fruit, Abraham, and the lump, all the natural descendants
of Abraham, is what that means. That is to say, national Israel
were set apart for God's use, for God's service. The one true
God dealt exclusively with this nation, the nation Israel, for
nearly 1,500 years. God brought through that nation
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham is also here in verse
16 referred to as the root. And the branches are the natural
descendants of national Israel. Notice verse 17 in Romans 11,
17. And if some of the branches be
broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree was grafted in among
them and with them partakers of the root and the fatness of
the olive tree. Paul here turns to the spiritual
kinship to Abraham. And what he is saying here is
that some of the natural Jews, Israel as a nation, are the branches
spoken of here that were broken off. Paul says they were broken
off. Now, why were they broken off? Why were these branches
broken off? Why were they rejected? Scripture
says it was because of their unbelief. In the last part of
verse 17, Paul goes back to speaking about spiritual kinship to Abraham. And he says that Abraham is the
root of the true church. This, of course, is only in the
sense that he is the father of our faith. He is the father of
the faithful, those that look to Christ alone for salvation. Whether they are Jew or whether
they are Gentile, he's the father of the faithful, for all the
spiritual Israel. Look at Galatians 3 and begin
at verse 6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him
for righteousness, know you therefore that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham, spiritually kin to Abraham. a child of Abraham by faith,
and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
and these shall all nations be blessed. So then, they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Also in Galatians
3, beginning at verse 26, Paul says here, for ye, are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you be Christ, if you be one with Christ, then
are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now,
Many of Abraham's natural descendants, those branches, had been broken
off. That is to say that they had
no spiritual kinship with Abraham, even though they were physically
born a Jew. And it was evidenced by their
unbelief. But on the other hand, many of the Gentiles, who were
not natural branches, and who had no natural ties to the nation
Israel, and were not naturally akin to Abraham, but were wild
branches. What happened to them? Thank
God, they were grafted in to that olive tree. That is to say,
they became spiritually akin to Abraham, and it was evidenced
by their faith, which revealed their membership into the true
church of God, partakers of the root, which was Abraham. Romans 4, 3 says, for what saith
the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him
for righteousness. What do all believers do? Just like Abraham,
true believers believe on him who justifies the ungodly. Every
one of God's children, every one of God's elect in each successive
generation are made to believe, to believe on Christ, to believe
on him, to trust in him and have no other hope. no other hope
for salvation other than Christ's righteousness alone. We believe
on him who justifies the ungodly. Therefore, after seeing how God
dealt with both the Jews and the Gentiles concerning the gospel
that we've gone over here, given a little context, verse 22 of
Romans 11 says, behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of
God. On them which fail, speaking of those Jews, those branches
that were broken off, severity. But toward thee, goodness, speaking
of those believing Gentile, if thou continue in his goodness,
otherwise thou also shall be cut off. Now we're gonna go into
some things here and explain this verse here, because it does
need some explaining. The goodness of God towards sinners,
Jew or Gentile can be seen, believed, and experienced only in the glorious
person and finished work of Christ and Christ alone. The severity
of God is seen and experienced upon all who fall due to unbelief,
all who are cut off and perish without Christ. This is the issue
of salvation. It's not whether or not one is
a Jew or whether one is a Gentile or any other nationality. The
kindness and generosity of God's heart is neither given to any
person, no matter who you are, because of your physical heritage,
your nationality, nor because of your works. It is freely given
to his people, spiritual Israel, both Jew and Gentile. because
of Christ. Look at Romans 8, 32. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? And also Ephesians
1, beginning at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The salvation of any
Jew or of any Gentile, is founded upon the shed blood and the imputed
righteousness of Christ. The damnation of any Jew or Gentile
is founded upon their unbelief. And they're insisting on trusting
in their own works for salvation. Now, the severity of God spoken
of here is the same as the terror of the Lord. In 2 Corinthians
5.11, where it says, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we're made manifest
unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
Now, this severity here that we're talking about is the fact
that God will eternally damn any and every sinner who comes
before him without Christ, without being washed in his blood, and
clothed in his righteousness. Once again, let's look at God's
standard of judgment by which he'll judge the world. Look at
Acts, beginning at verse 17. This is the standard of judgment
whereby God will judge this earth. It says, because he hath, because
God hath appointed the day in which he'll judge the world in
righteousness. By that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance to all men and that he had raised
him from the dead. That's that standard of judgment.
Christ, his righteousness alone, that's perfect perfection in
every way. As he obeyed the law in every
jot and till and went to the cross and paid that sin debt
by his shed blood. Now, God's goodness here in chapter
11, verse 22, is the same as His grace and
mercy in saving sinners through Christ. Also, the last part of
verse 22, this continuing is not a condition for salvation.
It is evidence of salvation. The goodness that believers continue
in is God's grace. It's looking to Christ, the author
and finisher of our salvation. It's salvation by Christ. without
deeds of law, with our efforts. It excludes our efforts, all
our efforts. Look back at Romans 11, 22, the last part. It says,
otherwise thou shalt, thou also shall be cut off. As he speaks
to these Gentile believers. To be cut off here is not that
they lose their salvation. It is the evidence here of a
false profession of faith. A false profession of faith in
Christ. It's being in a state of unbelief. It's those branches
that were cut off because of unbelief. Look at 1 John 2, 19. Now, this is where John is speaking
to believers concerning some of the group who profess to believe
the gospel. They profess to believe, but
who had been led astray by these false preachers. and who had
left the church, left the assembly, which proved that they never
truly believed the gospel in the first place. Not that they
were saved and then lost. It says here, they went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest. that they were not all of us.
The being cut off here does not determine the situation. It exposes
the reality of the situation, which is just as the unbelieving
Jews were cut off or broken off because of their unbelief, the
Gentiles also would suffer the same consequence if they were
found in unbelief with only a profession of faith. Then it says here in
verse 23 concerning the Jews, And they, these Jews here that
were at that time in unbelief, if they abide not still in unbelief,
shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Any Jew who has brought the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ shall
also be grafted into the nation of spiritual Israel. It is true
that as a whole, the physical nation of Israel has been cast
off because of their unbelief. But this does not mean that there
is no hope of salvation for any Jew. The scriptures say that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,
whether they are Jew or whether they are Gentile. God will save
his elect, and he will save them by his power as he regenerates
and converts them by the new birth. which is evidence of their
believing His promise of salvation conditioned on Christ alone and
repenting from their former idolatry and all those dead works in their
former religion. Dead works meaning all those
works they did in their former religion thinking that in some
way that it was going to have something to do with their salvation.
It's called dead works. God is able to take away the
blindness of their minds, speaking of these Jews, that God does
a work of grace in their heart. He's able to take away the blindness
of their minds and the hardness of their heart. Also take away
the veil that is over them and turn them to the Lord. Notice
how Paul emphasizes that the power is not of the believing
center, but it's all of God. Look back at Romans 11, verse
23. For God is able to graft them in again. For those that
God the Father chose before the foundation of this earth, before
the foundation of the world, those of whom Christ justified
by his precious blood, the Holy Spirit will in time call each
and every one of them by the preaching of the gospel. It's
God that justifies the ungodly. Now, in verse 24 here, Romans
11, speaking of the Gentile believers here, it says, for if thou were
cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, they were
not a part, any way a part of the physical nation of Israel,
and were grafted contrary to nature into the good olive tree,
speaking of spiritual nation, spiritual Israel, How much more
shall these, these Jews that were in unbelief at that time,
which be the natural branches, born an Israelite, born a Jew,
be grafted into their own olive tree? So what the Apostle Paul
is saying here in verse 24 is this. Let there be no doubt about
it. Let there never be any lack of
confidence in God's power to save his elect. whether they
be a Jew or a Gentile, any other nationality. Just think about
it. The Gentiles, who were not born
Abraham's natural descendants, but by believing, they were revealed
to be spiritually akin to Abraham. They were, by nature, born Gentiles,
not Jews. They had no physical connection
to Abraham. Therefore, it shouldn't surprise
us any of us that if any of Abraham's natural descendants, true Jews
by nature, who could trace their lineage back to Abraham nationally,
and who had all the privileges given by God to the physical
nation of Israel, it shouldn't surprise us any that if some
of these Jews were converted and truly turned to Christ, shouldn't
surprise us any. They would not only be physical
descendants of Abraham, born a Jew, physically, but they would
also be a spiritual child of Abraham, a part of that spiritual
Israel. As the scriptures say, all Israel
shall be saved, spiritual Israel, both Jew and Gentile. Looking back again at Galatians
3 beginning at verse 27, the scriptures are clear. If you're
in Christ by faith, if you're looking to Christ alone for all
your salvation, then are you Abraham's seed, spiritual children
of Abraham. It tells us whether we are Jew
or whether we are Gentile, whether we are male or female, Whether
we are born free, it doesn't matter what nationality nor circumstance
in which you were born. None of these things matter as
it relates to the salvation of a sinner. What is revealed when
a true child of God comes to faith and repentance? That's
the question. What is revealed when a true
child of God comes to faith and repentance? Well, it reveals
that we're Abraham's seed. And what else are we? Well, we're
heirs according to the promise, that promise of salvation conditioned
on Christ alone. Our salvation was and is by God's
amazing grace. There was nothing born in us,
nothing we've done to recommend ourselves unto God. We who were
by nature children of wrath have been cut out of the wild olive
tree, our fall and ruination and Adam. and grafted into a
good olive tree. The gospel church, our spiritual
Israel, our redemption and salvation in Christ. How much more or how
great and marvelous would it be if the Jews, who were physical
descendants of Abraham, and who had all those privileges given
by God to point them to Christ, how much more shall these Jews,
who were natural branches, be grafted into their own olive
tree? spiritual Israel. Our next verse here, verse 25,
reads, For I would not, brethren, speaking of those Gentile believers
as Paul was speaking to them, that you should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits,
that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentile be come in. When Paul told them that he didn't
want them speaking of the Gentile believers here, to be ignorant
of this mystery. The reason he told them this
is that he desired that they should grow in all spiritual
knowledge and judgment of these things concerning the blindness
of these Jews and the calling of the Gentile. Paul wanted these
Gentile believers to be better informed on how God would providentially,
in time, call the Jews by the preaching of these Gentile believers.
Wherein, in the beginning, God used these Jews. He used Paul
and all these Jews to preach the gospel to these Gentiles
in order that they believe. He used these Jews for that.
Well, in time, he's going to use these Gentiles. These Gentiles
preaching this gospel to these Jews and that they be saved.
This was also a mystery that God revealed mainly to Paul,
but also to others. Look at Ephesians 3, begin at
verse 1. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God, which is given me to you, how that the
revelation he made known unto me, the mystery, as I wrote afore
in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." This mystery of Christ
as he reveals himself that he's Gentile. The reason Paul was
telling them this is expressed in the following clause, Romans
11.25, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, meaning,
lest they should be puffed up in their minds, and because of
this, look with contempt upon those spiritually blind Jews,
as if to think that these Jews were always to, would remain
in such a state of darkness and of unbelief. This truth of God
sending the gospel to the Gentiles should humble us and make us
thankful to God for the Jews and pray for their salvation.
shouldn't cause us to be puffed up concerning these things. Part
of the mystery also that Paul had to inform them of is Romans
11, 25b, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until
the fullness of the Gentile become in. This was all, this was all
for God's purpose of getting the gospel to his elect among
the Gentiles. I'm not going to go into detail,
don't have time, But you know, for all those hundreds of years,
the Gospel was just with these Jews, with Israel. That was God's
chosen nation. And it was only after the death
of Christ, and as we know in Scripture, it talks about Paul
and Peter and all of them, that the Gospel went out to the Gentiles.
This blindness here is not a partial blindness. in the individual
Jew, this blindness here is not a partial blindness, but a blinding
of the biggest part of that nation because of their unbelief. The
phrase here in Romans 11, 25, the last part, until the fullness
of the Gentiles, is explained in the next verse, that Paul
shows that all Israel shall be saved. And this includes all
of God's elect. all of God's elect among the
Gentiles as well as the Jews. Now, our last two verses that
we'll deal with this morning reads, and so all Israel shall
be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the delivery and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. For this is my covenant to them
when I shall take away their sins. Paul quoting from Isaiah
here. Now the phrase here in verse
26, and so all Israel shall be saved, the question should be
who is the all Israel? Many claim this must be the physical
nation because of verses where Paul is clearly dealing with
the Jewish people as distinct from the Gentile. And if you
want to get somebody upset, Put a message out there that
speaks of the fact that the nation Israel, the physical nation of
Israel today, are not God's chosen people as far as He's going to
just save those people. And they're just not. Well, look
at Romans 11, beginning at verse 27. For this is my covenant unto
them, when I shall take away their sins, As concerning the
gospel, their enemy is for your sake, speaking of these unbelieving
Jews, but is touching the election, their beloved, for the Father's
sake. There's a remnant from that nation. There's a remnant
according to the election of grace. In these verses, the apostle
is talking about the Jewish people. But we must understand Paul's
whole argument here. Paul is speaking of spiritual
Israel, God's elect among the Jews, not physical Israel as
a nation. He is writing specifically of
that Jewish part of spiritual Israel, telling the Gentile believers
not that God's going to save that whole nation in the future,
but that God still has a remnant, a small group out of that nation
which he intends to save. Therefore, the Gentile believers
are not to be wise in their own estimation and thinking that
no Jew can ever be saved. As I stated earlier, the rejection
of the nation Israel here is not that God is not going to
ever save another Jew or Israelite because God's word's clear that
he still has a remnant out of that nation according to the
election of grace. And the rejection of the Jews
is not a final rejection. God will continue to save the
elect out of the Jewish nation as well as the elect from all
other nations. We saw back in Romans 11 verse
26, all Israel shall be saved. Another part of Romans 11, the
last part of 26 here says, as it is written, there shall come
out of Zion a delivery and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
For this is my covenant to them when I shall take away their
sins." Paul quotes from the prophet Isaiah concerning the coming
of Christ to do his great work of redeeming his people, all
Israel, from their sins. For whom did Christ die? The
question is, was it for God's elect among only the Jews? No,
Christ died for all Israel, all God's chosen people, all of God's
elect. Christ took away the sins of
the world. John 1, 29, God's elect both Jew and Gentile out
of the world, Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the world. Look
at 1 John 2, beginning at verse 1. The next day, John, speaking
of John the Baptist, he seeeth Jesus coming unto him and saith,
Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Again, God's elect both Jew and Gentile out of the world. This
salvation is for even us. Look at Romans 9, beginning at
verse 22. What if God willing to show his wrath and to make
his power known endured with much longsuffering the vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction, and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared under glory? Even us, Paul says, whom he had
called, Not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentile. All
Israel shall be saved, all shall glory in the Lord their righteousness. As we close out the study this
morning, let's look at a couple of scriptures that clarify who
the Israel of God are. Who are the Israel of God? Who
are those that God is going to save when he says all Israel
shall be saved? First, look back at the Old Testament
of Isaiah 45, verse 23. It says, I have sworn by myself
the words gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not
return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. Even to him shall men come, and
all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord. in the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. And who are the seed of
Israel? Look over at Galatians 6, beginning
at verse 14. This is the Apostle Paul speaking
here. Who was a Jew? He says, But God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For
in Christ neither circumcision, availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
whether you are Jew or Gentile, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace on them, and mercy upon
the Israel of God. God's Israel, all Israel, whom
he promised to save, are Jews and Gentiles. Abraham is their
spiritual father, and they are all, both Jews and Gentiles,
all other nations, of spiritual Israel. All Israel shall be saved
in the Lord. Amen.