Israel's Rejection Not Final
Romans 11:11-36
What does the goodness of God lead you to think, say, and do?
#rejection
#godisgood
#israel
Published October 28th, 2017; Updated October 28th, 2017
Main point summary
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Notes
notes
Main point summary
The depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God is unsearchable. He provided salvation through faith for the Gentiles and Jews.
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NT
Romans 11:11-36
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I say then, have they stumbled
that they should fall?
actionpurpose
Certainly not!
But through their fall,
to provoke them to jealousy ,
salvation has come to the Gentiles.
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Now if their fall
is riches for the world,
conditional
and their failure
riches for the Gentiles,
series
how much more their fullness!
For I speak to you Gentiles;
inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles,
I magnify my ministry,
if by any means
I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh
and save some of them.
progression
actionmanner
ideaexplanation
For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
For if the firstfruit is holy,
the lump is also holy;
and if the root is holy,
so are the branches.
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,
do not boast against the branches.
But if you do boast ,
remember that you do not support the root,
but the root supports you.
You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith.
Do not be haughty,
but fear.
inference
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For if God did not spare the natural branches,
He may not spare you either.
ground
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.
And they also,
if they do not continue in unbelief,
will be grafted in,
for God is able to graft them in again.
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,
locative
how much more will these,
who are natural branches,
be grafted into their own olive tree?
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.
temporal
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;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
Concerning the gospel they are enemies
for your sake,
but concerning the election
they are beloved
for the sake of the fathers.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
For as you were once disobedient to God,
yet have now obtained mercy
through their disobedience,
concessive
even so these also have now been disobedient,
that through the mercy shown you
they also may obtain mercy.
comparison
For God has committed them all to disobedience,
that He might have mercy on all.
bilateral
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 has known the mind of the Lord ?
Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?”
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
This principle can be easily observed with children. A child can at times neglect the love of his mother. But if another child comes along, sometimes the first child gets jealous and wants the attention of the mother all back for himself.
If...cast away... Paul stated that God did not cast away those he foreknew in Rm 11:2 ESV and NASB translates "their rejection" ἀποβολή Noun strongs : G580 source : from ἀποβάλλω ; a casting away, rejection, loss
Victory in apparent defeat
Who is their? - Gentiles? Jews?
What is the fullness of the Gentiles?
Record of how "salvation has come to the Gentiles": And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46 ESV) Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” ( Acts 28:28 ESV) C. 1400 BC, God foretells the salvation of the gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy: They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. (Deuteronomy 32:21 ESV)
Paul's calling "I am an apostle to the Gentiles": But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. (Acts 9:15 ESV) And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 22:21 ESV) But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; (Galatians 1:15-16 ESV) "I magnify my ministry": To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (Ephesians 3:8 ESV)
"By any means" - Paul's effort to share with others in the blessings of the Gospel: To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:22-23 ESV) "save some of them" - Paul keeping close to the Gospel is not only saving him but also those around him: Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16 ESV) Paul's work of provoking to jealousy in order to bring back self-righteous sinners to salvation by faith alone: let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:20 ESV)
Israel's condition in rejection of the Lord and the promise of life O Lord, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord; we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. (Isaiah 26:16-19 ESV)
"Branches were broken off" because of the evil they have done against themselves to provoke God to anger in offering incense to Baal (child sacrifice): The Lord once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. (Jeremiah 11:16 ESV) Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2 ESV) "grafted in among them" promise to the Gentiles to be part of God's blessings for Israel: For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:39 ESV) remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12 ESV)
"Do not boast against the branches": Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV)
So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19 ESV)
and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:2 ESV) but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:6 ESV) For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:14 ESV)
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Notes
Romans 9-11 are chapters full of challenges with serious warnings, great insights to who God is, and much fuel to worship Him for His holiness. The following is a mere scrape on the surface of the depth of these chapters: God's plan according to His election cannot be changed. He can change His dealings with a nation, without affecting His purpose of saving His elect. God changed His dealings with Israel because of their unbelief. His eternal purpose with Israel remains unaffected. When Israel rejected Christ, the Gentiles gladly received the word of Christ by faith. But God can change His dealings with the Gentiles too if they reject Christ. Israel trusted and boasted in Abraham as their father and in the law of Moses. They thought to be righteous because of their heritage. But Abraham was counted righteous because of his faith and the law of Moses revealed the character of God and how badly we as the human family fall short of the glory of God by breaking the law. Israel rejected Christ and the righteousness received by faith. The danger for the Gentiles is to do the same mistake as the Israelites. The Gentiles could boast that God has turned from Israel to them. Then, the goodness of God is not the ground on which they stand by faith. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble ( James 4:6 ). Pride by nature is in opposition to God. To boast in one denomination or a single doctrine over others, would have the same effect. Once thriving gathered Christians turned from the goodness of God by undermining the Bible and what it teaches about sin and saving grace in Jesus Christ. Some became prideful by softening obvious truth and closed themselves to the goodness of God. Others have shifted their focus from Christ to a set of rules or activities. Of course, Christ is still in the package but the focus is on "the rules" and as long as you keep "the rules" you are fine, regardless of an otherwise immoral lifestyle. Pride is subtle and Paul does not want the Romans to get caught in it. So he warns to fear God, and not to be haughty in the way they think and in what they boast. The fear of God grows out of an understanding of the greatness and awe of God. If they forget who God is, then they are tempted to boast in anything else that seems to have the awe of God. In this case, they take the goodness of God and count His unmerited favor towards them, as their own achievement. They boast in themselves because they think themselves greater and better than some of Israel who were broken off. At the end of this chapter, Paul shares his rejoicing and worship over the greatness of God. God's purpose of salvation according to His election cannot be altered. God is able to do this humanly impossible work. He is rich, wise, and able to perform everything He determined.
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