[0:00] We welcome you to the media ministry of Bethel Community Church. Knowing Jesus, making Jesus known. Well, good morning.
[0:14] Guess where we're turning to today. Romans chapter 11. Sometimes life throws you a little bit of a curveball. So I have a little bit of a different introduction than what I was planning to do.
[0:28] So let me go through that here. First, let me say next weekend, I get the privilege to officiate a wedding for Kayla and Travis. And so, yeah, that'll be good.
[0:42] So we had our final little meeting with them yesterday and everything went really well. We're really excited for the wedding. But what I kind of mentally was preparing for maybe two and a half, three hour get together turned into like an eight hour get together.
[0:59] And so getting to bed a little late last night, I did not go over my notes one more time. So I wanted to do it this morning. So during Sunday school, I snuck downstairs and went through that.
[1:12] So I missed Sunday school, but I heard we were in Romans 11. So here we are. So I want to say, though, what we're going to look at is Israel and what is God's plan for Israel.
[1:25] And that's what the Bible talks about. So we got to talk about it. But I want to first say something that Tom Grass says every now and again that I really appreciate is that as Christians, as believers with the word of God, in the essential things.
[1:43] So this would be Jesus Christ died, Jesus Christ was buried, Jesus Christ rose again. In the essential things, we have unity. And in the non-essential things, we have liberty.
[1:54] And I would say, you know, coming from kind of a more conservative background, some of those non-essential things could be like, do we use grape juice or wine? You know, that's not the hill to die on.
[2:06] Right. And so when you look at like the dispensational stuff and you look at Romans chapter 11, these are things are important things. But as Dave says, these are in-house debates.
[2:17] Right. And so it's OK to have some healthy debate on this and it's OK to have maybe a little bit of a different viewpoint on a few things. But the important thing is that our gospel is not changed.
[2:28] Right. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, forever. He died. He was buried. He rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. So I wanted to put that out there. Two, I wanted to say we're not continuing to dwell on like the dispensations and the Jews and the Gentiles just for the sake of doing it or to put anyone down or for argument's sake.
[2:47] It is that's just how it lined up coincidentally that we're studying it in Sunday school and we're studying it here. Just the way that it played out. And then the last two things are I don't have all the answers at all.
[2:59] Like I, me, I do not have all the answers. And then two, if you disagree, don't beat me up in the parking lot afterwards. OK, I need my glasses. Don't break them. Have mercy. So.
[3:10] But yeah, we're continuing our study in Romans. And it's interesting, you know, Romans is such a great book. On the way up to Hope and Jordan's wedding, however many years ago that's been, we stopped halfway at a friend's house in Iowa.
[3:25] And this guy is just a very successful man, just a great, strong believer, good husband, good wife. He's got great kids.
[3:35] He's an elder in the church. The church is growing. Just the type of guy you want to be around. Right. He's been the CEO of like two different companies. One of them was like a billion dollar company. He lives in a very modest 10,000 square foot house.
[3:46] Just great guy. Right. And so I, as a young man said, hey, what book, you know, if you had a book for a young man like me to read to maybe someday be in your shoes, you know, what book would that be?
[4:01] And I'm looking, you know, the self-help type of stuff, the business type of stuff. And he said, you know, I think I'd start in Romans. And my answer is like, well, you got anything else? You know, is there any other book you got?
[4:11] But Romans is such a great place. And, you know, the first eight chapters of Romans are great. You know, think about all the memory verses that come from Romans one to eight.
[4:22] Paul starts out just straight up with the gospel. You know, he says, we're all sinners. God revealed himself through creation to us. We weren't grateful. All have sinned, fall short of the glory of God.
[4:33] The wages of sin is death. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. I mean, it's all jam-packed in there. And then like six through eight, you have Christian living, this battle between the flesh and the spirit.
[4:44] So now that you're saved, how do you live? And then chapter nine, kind of through the end, we don't quite have as many memory verses from those chapters.
[4:55] And that's when Paul really starts going into really God's big picture plan. And he starts talking about Israel again. And he starts talking about the Gentiles again. And you get all, you know, kind of away from the meat and potatoes of like the gospel, the stuff that we really like to study and talk about.
[5:13] We get a little more into the weeds in these last couple chapters. So what I want to do, we'll pray and ask the Lord to bless our time. And then we're going to back up to Romans 9 and just kind of set the table for today's passage.
[5:27] And really the setting of the table, the sort of introduction, will be the lion's share of what we look at. And then we'll look at our passage, which today's passage is 11 to 24.
[5:37] So with that kind of as the first introduction, we'll pray and then we'll get into it. God, we just love you. And we thank you that you have loved us.
[5:48] We thank you that you've given us your word. God, it's crazy. The more we read your word and the more we study it, we see just how complex it is and how many layers there are to it.
[6:00] But Lord, it all fits together and we're just trying to understand what you have for us. And Lord, how that should reflect in our lives is love to one another and love to the world.
[6:12] And so God, we just thank you for your word and pray you bless the reading of it today. Okay. So if I had to title the message, the title would be, you know, Romans 11, 11 to 24, it would be a glimpse into God's eternal plan.
[6:28] That would be kind of the title I would give it, is a glimpse into God's eternal plan. So if you back up, like I said, to Romans chapter 9, I'm just going to set the table with a couple little facts here.
[6:41] And the reason for this is Romans like 9 through about the end of 11 is all one thought. That's all one big stream of thought. And so in Romans 9, verse 14 to 16, we're going to see the first point in that is that God is sovereign.
[6:58] So verse 14, chapter 9. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I'll have mercy.
[7:09] I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. So God is sovereign.
[7:22] The next thing would be that God has called those whom he has chosen for salvation. So God is sovereign. He has called those whom he has chosen for salvation. And then I would add both Jews and Gentiles.
[7:36] So if you go to verse 20 here of chapter 9, it says, Indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this?
[7:51] Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.
[8:22] So God is sovereign. God has called those whom he has chosen for salvation, both Jews and Gentiles. And then again here, Righteousness has come to the Gentiles, while Israel has stumbled.
[8:39] So go to verse 30. It says, What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith.
[8:49] But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law, for they stumbled over that stumbling stone.
[9:06] So God is sovereign. God has called those whom he has chosen for salvation, both Jews and Gentiles. The righteousness has come to the Gentiles by faith, while Israel has stumbled. And then over in chapter 10, this is kind of the last little foundational stone we'll look at, is that God's plan, for now, is to the Gentiles.
[9:31] And this comes from chapter 10, verse 19. It says, But I say, did Israel not know? First, Moses says, I will provoke you, the Jews, to jealousy by those who are not a nation, the Gentiles, and I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.
[9:45] Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me, and I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. But to Israel, he says, all day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.
[10:04] So God is sovereign. God has called those whom he has chosen for salvation, both Jews and Gentiles. Righteousness, for now, has come to the Gentiles, while Israel has stumbled. And God's plan for now is to the Gentiles.
[10:17] And so all of this leads to one question. This all leads to one big question. And the question is apparently what you talked about during Sunday school, is, Is God finished with Israel? And we know that it leads to this question, because the next sentence in 11.1 is, I say then, Has God cast away his people?
[10:32] That's the question that it leads to. And I would say that the answer is no, and I would say that pretty authoritatively, because the answer is, Has God cast away his people?
[10:46] Certainly not. And so kind of keep those thoughts in mind, the kind of foundation we just laid there. And I want to, Nicole, if you don't mind pulling up the slide that we had, I do want to just real briefly look at a little bit of dispensation stuff.
[11:04] This is the big slide, right? This is the big dispensation slide. And I appreciate whoever put this together. I really do. But I will tell you, when my eyes see that, and they transmit a signal to my brain, my brain says, Not today.
[11:19] I can't handle it. Too much going on. It's great. And I'm sure if you dig into it, it would be really profitable. But I cannot comprehend this.
[11:30] So I've created just a very 30,000, maybe even 50,000 foot view that I should have been passed around.
[11:42] And I just want to very briefly touch on this. So in the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter nine, Daniel has this vision of the 70 weeks. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Daniel's 70 weeks or whatever.
[11:55] But he has this vision of 70 weeks. And remember, Daniel is in captivity in Babylon. And so, you know, the Jews aren't doing so well. And in this vision, just the big picture stuff, the period of weeks are not literal weeks.
[12:12] There's some play in there. But it's a period of time, these 70 weeks. The period of time kicks off when Jerusalem is starting to be rebuilt, roughly speaking.
[12:23] That's when it starts. So it starts then, in 69 of these weeks, go by. Again, this is the 50,000 foot view. Go by. And they kind of culminate when Jesus dies in the year 30, 33, whenever.
[12:40] And then they completely culminate when Jerusalem is destroyed in the year 70. So that's 69 weeks from when Jerusalem was rebuilt the first time to when Christ died and then Jerusalem is destroyed.
[12:52] So that's 69 weeks. And that is in the past, right? We can agree that that has already happened. 2,000 years ago, whatever. Then there is this break in the 70-week plan.
[13:04] And that's where we're at now. And that would be the age of grace. Or sometimes it's referred to as the mystery or the church age. But there's going to come a time yet future where that 70th week will pick up.
[13:20] And we know that's yet future because in Matthew 24, Jesus refers to it and he talks about like the abomination of desolation. And it's a yet future time. And that will come what we would say after the rapture during like the tribulation.
[13:35] And so between week 69 and the 70th week, we have this big long gap, 2,000 or so year gap that we are in right now where salvation and grace has been extended to the Gentiles.
[13:51] And sometimes this is called the mystery. And I'll tell you, I've always struggled with, well, what is the mystery? And I think it's called the mystery just because it wasn't really referred to a lot in the Old Testament.
[14:02] And so they didn't really see it coming. But it was revealed to Paul and in Ephesians 3 he basically says the mystery is that for a time right now in the church age there's no distinction between Jew and Greek.
[14:14] And that is the mystery is that there's no distinction between the two. And so right now we are here where God is dealing with the Gentiles but there's a yet future time right after the rapture where God will pick it up with the Jews and to steal just a line from Frank's passage next week 1125 where all this is going where all of today's passage is going to it says that the blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
[14:49] So when that fullness of the Gentiles has come in rapture happens God will turn his attention back to the Jews and that 70th week will begin. So that's kind of like I said the big 50,000 foot view I don't have all the answers don't beat me up but that's the way that I think you can reasonably see it from the scripture.
[15:08] So with that in mind is God finished with Israel? From what we've seen in Romans 9, 10 and 11, 1 I would say no. From what I see you know in regards to Daniel's 70th week I would say no.
[15:23] And I think if you look at like I said 11, 1 has God cast away his people? Certainly not. 11, 2 God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. 11, 5 even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
[15:39] So no. God is not finished with Israel. So that's the thought that Dave started last week and that's the thought that we're going to elaborate on today and it seems like that's the thought Frank is going to elaborate on next week.
[15:52] So we're on that thought for a little bit. So the point that I would have from the first half of our passage which will be verses 11 to 15 the point that I'd have today the first point is that salvation to the Gentiles or righteousness to the Gentiles has come through Israel's fall Israel's failure and Israel's rejection.
[16:15] So salvation to the Gentiles has come through Israel's fall their failure and their rejection. So let's read 11 to 15 here. I say then have they stumbled that they should fall and this is talking about Jews the nation Israel have they stumbled that they should fall?
[16:35] Certainly not. But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles how much more their fullness?
[16:55] Let's skip to 15. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
[17:08] Paul uses these words here. He uses stumble. He uses fall. He uses failure. He uses cast away or some translations might say rejected. These words are not like final judgment words.
[17:23] These are not like permanent final judgment like he's done with them type of words. And we know that because he contrasts them with the words fullness and acceptance.
[17:35] Do you see that? He says their fall is riches for the world their failure riches for the Gentiles but how much more their fullness? Right? He says in 15 they're being cast away or they're being rejected if that is reconciling of the world what will their acceptance be?
[17:52] You know a yet future acceptance. So there's this contrast fall, failure, cast away with this fullness and this acceptance.
[18:05] So going to verse 16 this is a really cool verse it says this it says that the first if there if sorry if the first fruit is holy the lump is also holy and if the root is holy so are the branches so this section here section 16 to 24 the point I would have is that God has not forgotten his promise to Israel he's not backed out of the covenant he had to Israel and let's look at this if the first fruit is holy the lump is also holy and if the root is holy so are the branches he gives these two you know allegorical comparisons here the first fruit in the lump and then the root in the branches so the Jews back in the day when they had their harvest they would be required to sacrifice the first fruits of that right and it was this heave offering so when they got their grain they would make their grain into these little cakes they would mix it with oil they would mix it with water that you know grill them up and there you go you got some matzo cakes
[19:21] I don't know but before they would do all that they would take some of the grain some of just the ground grain and they would throw that before the Lord and that would be their first fruits so before they get to have their little cakes and all that comes from numbers before they had their little cakes they first took the very first part of the grain that they ground up and they would give that to the Lord that was their sacrifice that was their first fruits and the point is if God accepted the first fruits if that was presented to the Lord and that was considered holy and sacred then the rest of the lump of dough would be would be consecrated it would be holy it would be an acceptable thing right and so if the first part is good the rest will be good as well same thing with with the roots if you got a tree and the roots are good and the roots are holy the branches will be holy too if there's a problem with the roots then there's going to be a problem with the tree does that make sense if the source is good everything downstream of the source will be good so the question is what or perhaps I should say who is the first fruit or who is the root who is the foundation of of the nation Israel father so and so had many sons many sons had father so and so it would be father Abraham right
[20:41] I mean I would say it's Abraham and God made the covenant with Abraham he made it with Isaac he made it with Jacob these are all Abraham's descendants and that's the first fruit that's that's where the nation Israel started and so the question is does God still honor that covenant and I would say absolutely he absolutely does and interestingly he's brought the Gentiles into that covenant turn real quick if you will to Galatians 3 verse 26 of Galatians 3 it says you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus remember earlier in Romans when they were talking about father Abraham his salvation came by faith right therefore it was accounted to him as righteousness Abraham believed therefore it was accounted to him as righteousness for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ get this there is neither Jew nor Greek neither slave nor free neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus and if you are Christ then you are
[22:02] Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise so Abraham was saved by grace through faith we are saved by grace through faith as such we are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise the next page over in Galatians 4 28 it says we brethren as Isaac was are children of promise so God has not forgotten his first fruits covenant with Abraham and in fact he has brought us into that through Christ and so now in the church age in 2021 there is no distinction between Jew or Greek right there is no there is no distinction the Jewish believers are believers Gentile believers are believers we are the church collectively there is no distinction in the church but I would say there is a distinction between Jews and Gentiles in God's program God's big picture if you would call it the dispensational timeline whatever there is a distinction between the nations of the Gentiles and of the Jews and we were talking earlier and that's one of the things that I would tell you
[23:18] I don't have the answer on but I guess my answer if you made me give one is what is Israel I would say ethnic Israel the 12 tribes of Israel so right now in the church no distinction between Jews and Greeks in God's eternal program his plan for the world from eternity past to present there is a distinction and we know there is a distinction because he is going to make the distinction through 17 to 24 here now one other note before we read 17 to 24 you are going to see branches being broken off branches grafted in the threat that more branches could be broken off this is not talking about individuals individuals in individual salvation like my salvation your salvation this is talking about again people groups as a whole so the Jewish nation as a whole and the Gentiles as a whole because if you read this and think about individuals you could easily see or start to question you know can you lose your salvation that kind of stuff which obviously we know you can't so anyway when we read this it's talking about people as a whole so here
[24:23] I think is a real good glimpse into God's program if you will so verse 17 if some of the branches were broken off and I would say that's talking about Israel and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root remember that Abraham covenant if you became a partaker of that root in 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 you know when he says broken off there and again I say that that is referring to Israel go back to 11 to 15 right
[25:26] Israel has fallen for now they have failed for now they have been cast away for now these were broken off these branches were broken off and it says you a wild olive tree you were grafted in and became a partaker of the root so do not boast against the branches right we were saved by grace through faith there's nothing to boast about then it says you will say branches were broken off that I might be grafted in well said because of unbelief they were broken off again the nation Israel and you stand by faith do not be haughty do not be proud but fear for if God did not spare the natural branches Israel he may not spare you either therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severity but towards you goodness if you continue in his goodness otherwise you also will be cut off and so here he's saying to the Gentiles hey there's a chance you could get cut off too buddy verse 23 he says they also if they do not continue in unbelief will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again so he says hey
[26:55] God can go back to the nation Israel here if he wants to so again I would say that God will go back to the nation of Israel I'd say that would happen after the rapture when Daniel's 70th week picks back up I would call that the fullness of the Gentiles when the blindness to Israel will be done away with and the fullness of the Gentiles has come in the age of grace will be over and I would say how does the church age end not when does it end because I would say it would end at the rapture but how that's a good question right and if you'd asked me this a couple weeks ago I don't know that I would have had a good answer but going through the study of this Warren Wiersbe a good commentator lays out a pretty good idea of how it ends and it ends in unbelief and that's exactly what it says if you continue in his goodness otherwise you 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 so they were broken off due to unbelief and I believe that the
[28:10] Gentiles will fall away they will go apostate they will get into apostasy which I think you can clearly see in 2nd Timothy and 2nd Thessalonians and that's what Wiersbe lays out and that's the way the church is going to head as we will stray from the gospel stray from a true gospel get into a false gospel and God will be done with the Gentiles I think that's how the age of grace will end and at that point God will cut the Gentiles off his salvation to the Gentiles will end and the program will shift back to the nation Israel so again we're in the weeds here right I mean we we have got unity on the gospel through and through Jesus Christ died he's buried he rose again the third day according to the scriptures we totally agree on that we can feel free to debate this as much as we want and I'd love to do it but that's the way that I see it and I think that's the way that's the way that God just lays it out in his word and it'll continue on through the rest of this chapter really up until the start of chapter 12 and then he kind of continues a new thought in chapter 12 so if the musicians want to come up the two points
[29:30] I would have today is that salvation has come to the Gentiles through Israel's fall through their failure and through their rejection and unbelief in God but God has not forgotten his promises to Israel and will not go back on the covenant he made with them Father God we just love you so much and we thank you for your word Lord it's deep there's more to it than we probably realize it but we thank you for it and we thank you that you had a plan from the beginning and Lord we really thank you that that plan included salvation Lord the redemptive work of the cross Lord if your plan didn't include that we would be absolutely lost no way we could work it and attain it on our own we would be completely lost so Lord we are so thankful for you so thankful for your son for your love Lord for your goodness and for your severity
[30:31] Lord I just pray for Bethel here I pray we'd all get along and that they would know we're Christians by our love for one another and Lord I just pray we would study your word and be a people of your word even though it seems like the church in this country especially is straying from the gospel Lord the true gospel I pray we'd be people of your word so we just thank you once again and pray all these things in Jesus name