A Promise-Keeping God

A Promise-Keeping God

“A Promise-Keeping God”

(Romans 11:1-32)

Series: Not Guilty!

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

First Baptist Henderson, KY

(9-27-09) (AM)

 

  • Take God’s Word and open to Romans, chapter 11.

 

We’re making our way, verse-by-verse, through the Book of Romans.  And we are in a section of material where God is dealing with this matter of Israel and the church.

 

In fact, while you’re finding Romans 11, let me conduct a little survey.  How many of you are Jewish Christians, could I see your hands?  You were raised a Jew and you have received Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah.  Look around.  I don’t see any hands.  The overwhelming majority of churches across the world today are not made up of Jewish believers, but non-Jewish believers, of Gentile believers.  Yet, we might have expected it to be the other way around given the fact that the Jews had the Old Testament promises about this coming Messiah.

 

Paul is addressing this question in Romans, chapters 9, 10, and 11.  And one of Paul’s main points thus far is that the problem of Israel’s refusal to embrace Jesus Christ as their Messiah cannot be blamed upon God.  Israel knew better.  They had the Old Testament full of prophecies and promises concerning the coming of Christ.  The problem of Israel’s refusal to embrace Jesus Christ is Israel’s problem.  We left off in chapter 10 with God’s saying to Israel in verse 21, “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”  It almost sounds as if God has given up on the Jews, doesn’t it?  Has he?

 

  • Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

 

Introduction:

 

One of the things that fires us up as we serve our Lord is the number of promises that God has made to us in His word.  He promises things like, “I will never leave you nor forsake you… I am with you always…and My grace is sufficient for you.”  We know God “shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Jesus says, “Come to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I shall give you rest.”  We know that, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and so on.  The promises of God!  We love the promises of God because we know that God keeps His promises.  God keeps His promises.

 

God is not like us.  We intend to keep our promises, but we don’t always remember, or we change our mind.  Someone hurts us.  You know, it’s hard to keep your promise to do something for someone who hurts you, disappoints you, or otherwise lets you down.  Well, God keeps His promises in spite of the fact that we hurt Him, disappoint Him, and let Him down.  Israel had had done that to God in their refusal to believe the Gospel.  Now, if God were like us, He would have wiped His hands and said, “Well, I’m through with you!”  But God had called Israel to be His specially-chosen people.  He entered into a love relationship with Israel and so He was not about to turn His back on them.  We serve a “Promise-Keeping God.”

 

In chapter 11, we read that God is working out His purposes for Israel.  If you have ever wondered about the Jews in general and what God is doing in His perfect plan, chapter 11 is essential to our understanding that.  As we study I want us to see some implications about what God is doing concerning the Jews and points of application for every one of us listening to this message.  First, in light of what we’ll read here in chapter 11, in light of God’s purpose and plan for Israel, here’s the first response:

 

I.  We should Live Reverently (1-12)

 

This chapter should increase the “awe factor” in our lives.  This chapter should “turn up the volume” of our reverence, adoration, admiration, and holy awe before God in light of how He is working throughout history to accomplish His perfect purposes for Israel.

 

1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

 

Paul is like, “I am ‘Exhibit A,’ proof positive of the fact that God has not washed His hands of Israel.  Let me remind you,” he says, “I am a Jew!”  God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.  See that in verse 2?  “foreknew,” which means, “fore loved.”  God set His heart upon these special people, the Jews.  So if we are tempted to think, “Well, God must be really fed-up with Israel.  I’ll bet He’s just turned His back upon these obstinate people who refuse to believe the Gospel,” Paul says, “Whoa!  Remember, I am a Jew.  God was gracious enough to open my eyes to see the truth.  And I’m not the only one.”  That’s the point of what follows.

 

2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,

3 “LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?

4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

 

Do you remember Elijah from 1 Kings 19?  We all know 1 Kings 18.   Elijah on Mount Carmel.  Great victory!  Then Elijah gets word that Jezebel is after him and he flees into the wilderness, exhausted and he’s crying to God, “Look, God.  No one else is following You.  Just me!”  God says, “No, Elijah, you’re not the only one.  There is a remnant of followers.  There are 7,000 others who follow Me.”  Paul uses this story to illustrate that in his day—as well as in our day—there is a remnant of faithful Jewish followers of the one True God.

 

5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

 

Paul’s point is that God has graciously chosen a remnant of followers.  These are Jewish believers who have received the truth of the Gospel.  Remember Paul had said earlier in Romans that “not all Israel are Israel?”  Not everyone who calls himself or herself a follower of God actually is.  There is the larger circle of Jews and then a smaller circle within.  That’s the remnant, the smaller circle within the larger circle.  The rest, those outside the smaller circle, are blinded to the truth.  Paul quotes from the Old Testament to illustrate this blindness.

 

8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor (the idea is “spiritual numbness”), Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”

9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.”

 

The whole point here is that Israel has become spiritually numb to the truth of the Gospel.  Their eyes are darkened and their backs are bent down, like their heads are down to the truth.

 

11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

 

Paul says that God has permitted Israel to stumble on their spiritual journey so that salvation might come to the Gentiles.  This is really fantastic!  It is a reminder that God is sovereign over all history.  He knows all things simultaneously, past, present, and future.  See, the church is not like “Plan B.”  It’s not like God said, “Well, I called these special people, the Jews, but they have refused to receive Jesus Christ as Messiah so I guess I’ll go to the Gentiles now.  Plan A didn’t work, so Plan B.”  No!  God’s plan is to build one new people through the power of the Gospel.  God’s plan is one new race—Jew and Gentile—through the Gospel.   So God works through the temporary failure of the Jews to embrace Christ that we Gentiles might come to know Him.  This was not a surprise to God.  It was part of God’s perfect plan from the beginning.  Thanks be to God for His including us in His salvation plan!

 

God allows the Jews to stumble so that we might come to know the Gospel.  And Paul says that through the Jews’ fall, God wishes to “provoke them to jealousy” by providing salvation to the Gentiles.  The idea is that the Jews should look and say, “The church is a remarkable thing, really!  I don’t get how these people can worship our God and why God is blessing them so.”

 

Paul teaches in verse 12 that the fall or failure of the Jews means riches for the world, spiritual riches for the Gentiles.  But here is a glimpse of something he’ll come back to later.  He says in verse 12, “If their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!”  That is, God is not finished with the Jews.  Something is going to happen in the future.  Many of them are going to come to Christ.  More about that in a moment.

 

I said that these verses should increase the “awe factor” in our lives and make us live reverently before God.  I hope you see what I mean by that.  God is working throughout history to make possible our salvation.  Again, the church is not like a “Plan B” when “Plan A” failed.  God, who knows the end from the beginning, worked all this out so that you and I as Gentiles might have the joy of His salvation.  Before you and I were even born, God had this plan to bring about salvation in our lives through the power of the Gospel.  Thank God for His salvation!  In light of God’s work, we should live reverently.  Secondly:

 

II.  We should Live in Humility (13-24)

 

We have noted recently that we have nothing to boast about in our salvation.  God makes the first move in His electing grace, choosing some to receive the truth of the Gospel.  There is a mystery here.  God’s choosing some to salvation is in perfect harmony with our freely believing the Gospel.  The two work together.  But we have nothing to boast about because God made the first move.  We were “dead in trespasses and sins” and God came to us and granted to us life.  Paul issues this same call for humility in light of what God is doing in and through Israel.

 

13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.

 

Paul’s desire is to live in such a way before his Jewish brothers and sisters that his influence would draw them to Christ.  There’s a word here for every one of us.  We should live our lives in such a way that people say, “I want what he’s got!  I want what she’s got!”

 

Just this week I heard about an exhausted and frustrated pastor who had become so busy “being religious” that he had become tired and cold and spiritually dry and had failed to build relationships with is neighbors.  He was always in a hurry, rushing off to church, busily doing this and that.  Someone asked him, “Do you know any of your neighbors?”  He had to hang his head and admit that he didn’t.  He said every time he went past one of his neighbors that summer there was this guy just sleeping in a hammock, sipping on a cold drink.  The pastor sighed and said, “You know, I tell our people we’re to live in such a way that people want what we’ve got.  That guy doesn’t want what I’ve got.  I want what he’s got!”

 

One of my favorite Keith Green quotes is that “we’re all living our lives in such a way as to evoke one of two responses.  Either our actions are drawing people closer to Jesus or pushing people further away from Jesus.”  Let’s live our lives in such a way as to draw people closer to Jesus.  Paul issues a call for humility.

 

15 For if their (the Jews, Israel as a whole) being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

 

Without going into a lot of detail here, Paul is mixing a few metaphors here to describe how God is using the Jews’ failure to receive Christ as the means by which He will save the Gentiles.  This last metaphor is particularly significant. Paul says that Israel is an olive tree and some of this olive tree’s branches had been broken off.  That is, the Jews are this olive tree but because of the unbelief of most of those Jews they were broken off.  That is, because of their own stubbornness, their own refusal to embrace Christ, God allowed these Jews to have their way and so broke them off of the tree.  Then, God took the Gentiles—a wild olive tree—and grafted them into the natural olive tree.  God graciously allowed us to enjoy this salvation.  But don’t boast about this, Paul warns.

 

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”

20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

 

There is no room for boasting here!  Remember, branches of the olive tree were broken off because of unbelief.  You stand by grace through faith.  Do not be haughty, but fear.  Do you really believe the Gospel?  Paul says God has shown his kindness and goodness to us through the power of the Gospel, but do not boast.  You may not continue in the faith.  See that there in verse 22?  “If you continue.”  True believers in Christ will continue in the faith.   But just as “not all Israel are Israel” so “not all believers are believers.”  True believers in Christ will persevere in the faith.  Will you?

 

The other day I heard Johnny Hunt, of First Baptist Church in Woodstock Georgia talk about seeing a church marquis, a sign outside the church one Monday morning that read, “15 saved on Sunday.”  He said, “We’ll see.”  That’s true.  Not everyone who claims to be saved really is.  Time will tell.  We must “continue in His goodness” not that our salvation depends upon our works.  No!  We are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ, alone!  But if we are truly saved, our lives will change.  We will want to be baptized as soon as possible to identify publicly with Christ, in obedience to His command to be baptized.  We’ll want to do that, to celebrate through baptism death, burial, and resurrection.  We’ll want to follow Christ publicly through regular attendance in corporate worship and Sunday school.

 

23 And they also (Israel; the Jews), if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

 

Paul is setting up something wonderful about Israel’s future.  He says Israel’s rejection is not final.  There is hope for the Jews as a whole.  They can always be grafted back into the olive tree if they do not continue in disbelief.  Before we read about that, let’s remember that this section is a call for humility in our lives.

We are not a naturally humble people.  We naturally boast.  I was at a pastor’s conference this week in Tennessee and we pastors are notorious for boasting.  I was sitting at a table kind of feeling compassion for this guy who was sitting there by himself and no one was talking to him so I spoke to him and then I learned why no one was talking to him.  Have you ever started talking to someone and wished later you had never said anything?!  This guy was so full of himself he just couldn’t help it.  It was all about him.  “Well, I started this little church and the people embraced my vision and we’re off and running and God is blessing.  And I’m doing this and I’m doing that.   Where’d you say you were from?”  “Western Kentucky, I—.”  “Oh, Kentucky.  I used to work in Kentucky.  Once I worked for RJ Reynolds…”  Folks, the guy slap wore me out.  I told Michele later that to maintain my sanity I actually started humming while he was talking.  He just wore me out!

 

Boasting is such a turn off.  If it turns us off, imagine how it turns God off.  There is no room for boasting with regard to our salvation.  Salvation is all owing to God’s grace.  Instead of boasting about your salvation, make your calling and election sure.  Make sure you really have experienced God’s grace.  We should live reverently and we should live in humility.  Thirdly:

 

III.  We should Live with Expectancy (25-32)

 

What does the future hold for Israel?  Look at verse 25:

 

25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

 

God is allowing Israel to experience spiritual numbness and blindness until the full number of Gentiles has come in, come into salvation, entering into the Kingdom of God.  God is working out His plan.  But look at what else God is doing.

 

26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

 

Do you hear what Paul is saying here?  God is allowing Israel’s blindness so that the Gentiles might come to know Christ.  God’s plan was for the Jews to bear the Good News of the Gospel to all the nations, but He could not use them in this way because they, in the main, had rejected the Gospel.  So God allows their blindness to accomplish the salvation of Gentiles like us.

 

But here is what we may expect to happen in the future: “All Israel will be saved.”  Of course this does not mean that every single Jew throughout history will be saved.  If we die without Christ, we remain separated from God.  This is why Paul prayed for the salvation of the Jews and why he said if it were somehow possible he would gladly trade places with the Jews and be condemned to separation if it meant the Jews would be saved.  No, “all Israel will be saved” is a reference to a future time when not only a faithful remnant, but so significant a larger number of Jews will embrace Jesus Christ as their Messiah that it may be said that the Jews in the main, are followers of Christ.  The Jews in general, corporately, as a nation, will embrace Christ.

 

What an incredible future event!  It seems to be tied into the time when Christ returns.  Verse 26 is a quote from Isaiah 59.  “The Deliverer will come out of Zion.”  Paul seems to tie the future restoration of Israel to the second coming of Jesus Christ.  At some specific point in the future when Christ returns, Israel, in the main, will turn to Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior.  What an incredible day that will be!  It will mean, “life from the dead” (verse 15).

 

So Paul reminds the Gentiles in verse 26:

 

28 Concerning the gospel they (the Jews) are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

 

In other words, their being enemies of the Gospel will not be forever.  They will one day, because of God’s gracious election, the Jews will one day turn to Christ.  Why?

 

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,

31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

 

Just as God took you and me—enemies of the Gospel—and graciously gave us the gifts of repentance and faith, so will God do in the future for the Jews.  That is what God had promised to Israel.  They are forever the object of His electing love.  God has promised their future restoration and He is a promise-keeping God.

 

He has promised to come again.  The Deliverer will come out of Zion.  Christ will return!  Take time every day to remember that Christ is coming again and that will get you through the hurts and struggles of each day.  Whatever crises you face in your marriage, in your health, in your finances, in your life, remember Christ is coming!  It will get better.  And this One who is coming is the very one who promises to be with you right now through your struggles.  He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.  I am with you always.”  He is the promise-keeping God.

 

  • Stand for prayer.

 

God keeps His promises.  He has said, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”  The stress there is upon whoever; anyone may follow Christ.  If you turn from your sin and turn to the Savior, yielding your heart to Christ, He will save you this morning.

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