Father, we confess before you that often we aren't honest with you in our prayers.
And Father, we confess that for many of us, when John was reading Romans 11, we were bored.
And we didn't think it was very interesting.
And Father, we confess that to you.
We confess that sometimes that's how your word strikes us.
Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply and powerfully move in our lives.
Father, help us to get over ourselves.
Help us, Father, to have hearts and minds and wills that are hungry for your word,
that are willing to pursue and just sit and think about your word.
Father, help us.
May your Holy Spirit so move and work within us that we might understand that you are wise,
that you speak what we need to know,
and that most of all, not only most of all, Father, but not only are you wise, but you are good.
And you sent your Son to be our Savior.
Father, draw us to yourself.
And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, here's the problem with the Romans 11 text.
There's several problems.
The first problem is that probably a lot of us, maybe, you know, maybe I'm just far more wicked than everybody here,
but, you know, for a lot of us that text seemed to go on and on and on.
Talked about olive trees and shoots and Israel, and you're thinking to yourself, when you think about it at all,
what on earth is going on with this text?
Before I became a Christian, my problem in becoming a Christian wasn't tempted towards atheism or something like that.
Nicky Gumbel expressed it very well.
I found Christianity boring and irrelevant.
And if you're a non-Christian here this morning, you might think Romans 11 is a test case in a text which is boring and irrelevant.
But it actually, it's very, very interesting.
It's a difficult text.
It's a funny text.
And it's a text which doesn't sort of immediately scream out,
immediately scream out to us postmodern Canadians in Ottawa in 2016.
But actually, if you caught two of the big, bolder, elephant-in-the-room questions in the text,
you'd realize that it's actually touching upon something that is very deeply relevant.
I don't know if you heard it.
It was in verse 1 and verse 11.
There's these two big, bolder questions, like a big rock, big elephant-in-the-room question.
The first question is verse 1.
I ask then, has God rejected his people?
Does God reject people?
And then the second one is in verse 11.
So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?
And this is this idea that somehow people stumble.
And the idea of fall is a very, very good word.
In the original language, the idea is that you fall and you keep falling and you keep falling and you keep falling and you keep falling and there's no turnaround.
Like it's a falling that leaves you completely crushed.
Those are actually very profound spiritual questions.
And whether we think about it very much.
You know, I know several people.
In fact, there's probably people here in this congregation.
It might be too painful for you to share it over coffee.
But I know that there are people in this church who haven't spoken to their parents in years.
Parents are still alive.
They have phones, internet, all that.
But they haven't spoken to their parents in years.
I know of several people who've lived in the home with their parents.
And in both the two cases that immediately come to my mind, they were both young women.
And in each case, they would live in the house with their father for years.
And for at least two or three years, not say a single word to their father while living in the same house with them.
And just to make it a little bit even more personal, you might notice that I don't refer to my parents very often.
I, in fact, have only talked to my parents, I think, twice in seven years.
Now, you know, in all of these cases, if you got into it, there's, you know, there's different things.
And maybe in some cases, it's because parents have done profound things of abuse and have been unrepentant.
And it's hard to talk to people who've abused you and been unrepentant.
And for others, maybe it's a type of a hardness and an arrogance in heart.
The parents might not or the other person might not or it's a friend that you've cut off.
And it might be that there's a bit of an arrogance and a hardness in you.
But in fact, it's a very common human experience.
And so the question, whether we're consciously aware of this or not, is, is God like this?
Is God like this?
Does God come to a point with human beings, or not just human beings in general, but maybe human beings in general,
but particular people where that's it, sick and tired of this, not talking, not having anything to do with them ever again, ever, ever, ever again?
Happens to human beings?
Is God like that?
Now, when you realize that that's actually the question that the text is addressing, you realize that, whoa, one moment, okay,
they might seem to answer it in an odd way that doesn't just sort of jump out at me with, like, you know, flashing lights.
But it's actually a pretty good question.
So it's really helpful if you have Bibles, if you open them to Romans 11.
And we're going to begin, in fact, we're going to, Andrew, if you could put up the first, the Romans 11 text.
You can find your Romans 11 in your Bible.
But there's going to be a couple of times, I'm going to sort of cheat.
I'm not saying this to stop us from talking.
I'm not saying, okay, now you see 33 or 36.
There's nothing else we have to talk about.
You know, get, you know, repent and just, you know, shut up and, you know, get on with God.
But this is how everything is going to come to an end.
And if, in fact, part of the fundamental question before us, an existential question, is, is God like this?
It's just really important to see where the whole argument of Romans 1 to 11 is going to come to rest.
And if you get nothing else out of this service, we're going to read this verse together about four or five or six times.
If you get nothing else out of the service but getting this a little tiny bit in your head, then this is really good.
So let's, let's, could you say this with me out loud?
Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.
For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.
So I'm not saying that just so we can say, okay, George, that's the end of the question.
We don't have to discuss it.
No, no, no, no, no.
You know, the details are important.
But it's, it's, it's a good bit of a pause here just to take a minute to think about how different God is.
And we're going to see that we haven't even begun to really understand how different God is until we look into this text.
How counterintuitive God often acts towards us because he's wiser than us.
So, so let's look at the beginning of chapter 11, verse 1.
And it goes like this.
I ask then, has God rejected his people?
By no means.
For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
Now just pause here for a second.
And if you're guests here this morning, you'll notice, actually all of you, even if you come here pretty well, you know, it's Romans chapter 11.
And, and the way the book, you know, Paul didn't just sit down and write a whole pile of quotes.
If you, you know, I'm turning my Bible here, like he began writing over here and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he comes to chapter 11.
So it's obviously sort of a bit of a flow.
And, and part of the flow of it is that he's been really trying to talk about how God does everything, that, that God works so that we come to the point where we recognize that unless God does something for us, we're really stuck.
Occasionally I let bad words slip just by accident because it's how I talk when I'm not up in the, in church.
And then Andrew will say something.
And I think the last time I let something slip, he deleted it.
So there's no internet record.
But I almost said something there, which maybe wouldn't be completely polite.
But, you know, so anyway, so he goes through the fact that, you know, Paul is trying to argue that unless we come to this point where we realize unless God does something, we're really stuck because we're helpless.
And then he talks about how Jesus and what Jesus does on the cross.
And he gives the first few things in chapter four and five primarily about the things that Jesus takes away from us so we can be made right with God.
And then chapter six, the things that Jesus gives us so that we're made right with God.
And then in chapter seven, he, he, he acknowledges the fact that human beings are divided and have contradictory selves and that we're sort of all messed up and confused.
And then in Romans eight, he's sort of coming to a bit of a crescendo and, and he says, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
And then he, he goes on and he has this ringing thing.
In fact, I'll just read it to you right now.
It says ringing, ringing thing at the end of Romans chapter eight.
He says, um, uh, where does it start here?
What shall we say?
Verse 31.
What shall we say then to those, to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.
How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God select those whom God has called and made right with himself?
It is God who justifies who is to condemn.
Who's going to condemn us?
Christ Jesus.
No, he is the one who died more than that.
Who was raised?
Who is at the right hand of God?
Who is indeed interceding for us?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written.
Then he quotes from the Bible to show that God knows that even after we have become his children,
bad things will still happen to us.
For your sake, we are being killed all the day long.
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No.
And in Greek, it would be like bolded, emphatic.
In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
And God's God people say amen.
Exactly right.
But in the way that the Romans is written, Paul knows that there's going to be some skeptic in the congregation.
There always is.
Actually, often it's me, but that's a separate story.
Who puts up their little hand and says,
that all sounds really nice, but what about the Jews?
Like, what about all that Old Testament stuff we've been reading every week?
And that doesn't seem to have worked out very well for them, does it?
And so in chapter 9 and 10, he's really dealing with this question.
Like, before Jesus, does God, in fact, keep his word?
And in chapter 9 and 10,
and so it comes now, here we are in verse 11,
as part of Paul's long answering of this question,
is Romans 8 actually true?
And so now he comes to this point, this existential point,
where we have to wonder, because it's just part of our very, very nature.
Even when we deny God,
often what we're doing is we're denying God who is a version of ourselves.
And even when we believe in God,
often we're not really believing in the God who is there,
we're believing in a God who is a version of ourselves.
I mean, it's a deeply seated human problem.
It's a human problem for Christians as well.
And so in chapter 11, verse 1, he asks,
has God rejected his people?
Is God like the young woman
who lives in a house with her father for three years,
and even though the father will attempt conversation,
she will act like he is the table or the chair,
and who talks to tables and chairs,
or listens to them?
As a side, if you think your table's talking to you,
and you're listening,
you need help.
You need help.
We don't talk to tables or listen to them.
So is God like that?
Has he rejected us so totally?
Absolutely.
And, you know, some of us might say,
oh yeah, you know, we've been over that.
But, you know,
the Baptist church I grew up in,
and I'm not picking on Baptist churches,
you know, it would often happen
that a couple,
their marriage would quietly come to an end.
And even though it was a church that preached grace,
the fact of the matter is,
is that for many Christians,
it's their spiritual and emotional performance
that makes them think they're right with God.
And so their marriage would come to an end,
and both the husband and the wife
would stop attending the church.
Because their performance
hasn't matched the standards of the church,
and there's a feeling that God has rejected them.
And therefore, they don't belong with other,
those Christians.
It's a deep question.
So see how he answers it.
It's going to be a little bit in odd language,
because you see,
the way we work in our culture,
we'd want to try to,
I'd maybe want to say,
well, let's look at Bob.
Here's Bob's life.
Or let's look at Sally,
and this is their life.
But no, no.
He actually, he goes back to the Bible,
because he realizes that, you know,
human experiences,
it can be hard to know what goes on in human lives.
So let's see God's actual written record
of how he deals with Israel.
And so here it is.
I ask then, has God rejected his people?
By no means.
No.
Absolutely not.
So he's going to basically give two reasons
why God hasn't rejected his people.
First, he's going to say,
I'm exhibit A,
in terms of evidence.
Verse 2.
No, just the end of verse 1.
For I myself am an Israelite,
a descendant of Abraham,
a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
God has not rejected his people,
whom he foreknew.
Then he gives exhibit B.
He goes back to the story
in the Old Testament about Elijah,
when it looked as if
every single person in Israel
had fallen into idolatry and paganism,
and completely rejected the Lord.
I think it's Numbers 14.
Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah,
how he appeals to God against Israel?
Lord, they have killed your prophets.
They have demolished your altars,
and I alone am left,
and they seek my life.
But what is God's reply to Elijah?
I have kept for myself 7,000 men
who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
So too, at the present time,
there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Now just pause here for a second.
I'm going to put a point up in a moment,
but this is going to be really important.
What's going to be constantly emphasized
in this entire text
is the reality of God's grace.
The surprising nature of God's grace.
The unstoppable nature of God's grace.
The irrevocable character of God's grace.
What's constantly going to be emphasized in this
is that grace is a mystery
because we don't actually really understand
who God is,
and we keep wanting to try to make God
look like ourselves,
and we know that we lack grace,
that we have hard hearts against certain people.
We have grace towards those we love,
but not very much grace towards certain people.
I'll try to show that to you later on in the sermon.
And he's going to try to show you
that all grace is a miracle,
and that every human being who receives God's grace,
there's a miracle in their lives.
And so right here when he says
there's a remnant chosen by grace,
this is going to be really important.
It's going to get deep in.
And the rest of the imagery in the book of Romans 11
is trying to emphasize this aspect of grace.
Grace to become a Christian,
grace to stay a Christian,
grace to be glorified with the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and the new heaven and the new earth,
to live in all eternity with him.
In verse 6,
but if it is by grace,
it is no longer on the basis of works.
Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
Just to pause,
you see,
those people in the Baptist churches
that I grew up in,
they sort of believed,
like us,
that grace makes you a Christian,
but after that it's your performance.
And Paul is going to say
that we need to be gripped
by the gospel of grace
to understand that it's always grace,
all the time,
that we become a Christian by grace,
we stay a Christian by grace,
we die a Christian by grace,
and grace means grace,
that it's not my performance.
It never is my performance.
Absolutely never.
In verse 7,
what then?
Israel failed to obtain
what it was seeking.
In other words,
it was seeking to be right with God,
but it was seeking it not by grace,
but by its accomplishments.
It fell into all sorts of errors.
The elect obtained it,
that is,
those whom God has called,
but the rest were hardened.
As it is written,
God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.
And David says,
let their table become a snare
and a trap,
a stumbling block
and a retribution for them.
Let their eyes be darkened
so that they cannot see
and bend their backs forever.
Now,
just before we go on,
we're going to keep sort of
trying to get this part of it
sort of in our minds.
Andrew,
if you could put the first point up,
please.
God hardens those,
God hardens those
who harden themselves,
but even then,
God's grace through Jesus Messiah
can always be the final word about me.
I don't always remember to do it,
but I always try to put my points as me
so that if you're writing them down,
if there's something you want to think about later on,
it's saying me.
You know,
you're saying it about yourself.
That God hardens those
who harden themselves,
but even then,
God's grace through Jesus Messiah
can always be the final word about me.
I don't say it will always be
the final word about me
because some people persist in unbelief
right to the grave.
But what this text is going to say
is that for no human being
does being closed to God
and rejecting God
have to be the final word about you.
That it does not matter
if you're sitting here this morning
and you've been divorced
and married and divorced seven times.
It doesn't matter
if you've done unbelievably horrible things.
It doesn't matter at all
what your sexual orientation is.
It doesn't matter anything
about your heritage or your background.
It doesn't matter how successful
or how much of a failure you've been.
that there is always the chance
to receive God's grace
and that from that time
of receiving God's grace,
God's grace will be
that final word about you
until you appear to God face to face.
And that's what Paul
is going to try to emphasize here,
that even when God judges,
grace is present.
You see, hardness doesn't necessarily mean
that we have lots of anxiety.
It just means closeness in a sense.
I don't know how many of you
have ever had this misfortune
of when you go to a wedding
or something like that
or you go to a funeral reception,
you end up having to sit down
and you sit down beside people around you
and you know,
you're feeling a little bit of chatty mood
and you're, you know,
we're Canadians,
we should chat at things.
So you ask the person beside you a question
and they give you a grunt for an answer.
Try another question, grunt.
Another question, grunt.
You're thinking, gosh,
normally four questions are like enough
to get at least some type
of a conversation going
and every question there's a grunt.
They're just completely closed.
That's fundamentally what hardness means.
And you'll see here
that in these texts
it looked very daunting
that actually what God does
is he allows people
to have what they want.
Look at,
he gave them a spirit of stupor.
In other words,
that they're not interested.
That they're sort of closed.
Eyes that would not see,
they don't want to see.
Ears that do not,
ears that would not hear,
they don't want to hear.
You know,
but then even when it says
a snare and a trap,
a stumbling back and a red,
you know,
eyes darken and all that.
And, you know,
and then it asks in verse 11,
so I ask,
did they stumble in order
that they might fall by no means?
And just before we get
in terms of the surprising way
that God, you know,
puts it,
is that
stumbling is sometimes
a way to find things.
I mean, you know,
just after the winter solstice,
I have to wake up
at six o'clock in the morning.
I don't always manage it
quite that early,
but six o'clock,
it's still dark.
I don't want to wake up my wife
who's sleeping beside me.
And sometimes the way
I find something in my room
is by stumbling over it.
I mean,
some of us have PhDs
in what we've learned
by falling over it.
You know?
In other words,
some of us,
doesn't matter where
we formerly went to university,
our real university
is the School of Hard Knocks.
And we have PhDs
from the School of Hard Knocks.
And sometimes,
Hard Knocks
is the only way
we find anything or learn.
You see,
so even in this,
and then when it says here,
verse 11,
so I asked,
did they stumble
in order that they might fall?
And as I said earlier,
in the Greek,
it's that they fall irrevocably,
that they fall
and never return up.
And this is really
an important question
because,
you see,
this,
if we're honest with ourselves,
many of us wish this
for certain people.
And so,
therefore,
at the back of our minds,
whether we consciously
express it or not,
we worry that God's like this.
How many people
were hoping
that Harper would lose,
that he would fall,
and that he would fall
in such a way
that he would never rise?
How many people
are hoping
that Trump will fall?
And that when he falls,
he will fall
and be revealed
as a complete
and utter buffoon
and he'll be mocked
and he will never rise again.
How many people
hope that Trudeau
will have that happen to him?
Or Hillary Clinton?
How many people hope that?
And if I haven't picked
one of your four things,
because really,
you think,
you don't follow politics at all,
you have no idea
who I even talked about,
there's something else
in your sphere of influence.
Maybe you're a foodie
who doesn't follow politics.
And for you,
it's people who eat at McDonald's.
I don't know.
You know,
you hope that they get sick
and they fall
and they just keep
going down, down.
You know,
it's a human thing, folks.
And if we're honest,
there are people
that we think that of.
I've told this before,
but you know,
I came out of the counterculture.
I was like a neo-Marxist,
I was very left-wing.
And I remember,
I really,
and I was really
into protest music.
And when I heard
that Bob Dylan
became a Christian,
I thought,
yes,
Bob Dylan
became a Christian.
When I heard
that Charles Colson,
who was the right-hand man
for Richard Nixon,
that right-wing president,
I said,
that dirty rat,
he didn't become
a Christian.
He's just trying
to get out
of being punished.
And I would have just said
I was being prophetic,
not revealing
my hard,
unfeeling heart.
Colson obviously
became a Christian,
by the way.
So Paul's asking
this really,
really tough question.
And once again,
it all goes to
how we view God.
Do we believe this
about God?
Like,
let's just sort of,
you know,
keep going.
Because part of the problem
is,
remember a few weeks ago
we looked at how
God reveals himself
that he's the potter
and we are the clay,
and the fact of the matter
is that human beings
believe that we're the potter
and God is the clay.
And we both love that
and we're terrified by it.
If we're honest with ourselves,
if we think about it.
We love it
because we can form God
the way we want.
We're terrified
because God ends up
being exactly like us.
Verse 11.
So I asked,
did they,
so remember,
so the point here
in all of this stuff
is that what Paul
is trying to say
is the reality of grace,
the constancy of grace,
the fact that
it's never the case.
God is not like you and me.
Thanks be to God.
He does not look at St. Clair.
He does not look
at any single person
in this room.
He doesn't look at Trump,
Harper,
Trudeau,
or Clinton
and say,
I hope these guys
fall in such a way
that they just fall
and fall and fall
and there is no bottom
to that hole.
God is never like that.
Up until our final breath,
his hope is
that we will turn to him
and receive his grace
and be made right with God.
Verse 11 again.
So I asked,
did they stumble
in order that they might
fall and fall and fall
and fall?
By no means.
And this is now
the surprising thing.
Rather,
through their trespass,
salvation has come
to the pagans
so as to make Israel jealous.
I'm going to explain
this in a moment.
Now,
if their trespass
means riches
for the world,
that means,
and here the world
means all the people
groups on the planet.
And if their failure
means riches
for the pagans,
he's basically
just reiterating it
to bring in the emphasis,
how much more
will their full inclusion mean?
Now I am speaking
to you pagans
inasmuch then
as I am an apostle
to the pagans.
I magnify my ministry
in order that somehow
to make my fellow Jews
jealous
and thus save some of them.
Remember,
the opening question
is has God rejected
his Jewish people?
For if their rejection,
that's not that
they've been rejected
by God,
but their rejection
of God,
okay?
They've rejected God.
If their rejection
means the reconciliation
of the world,
what will their acceptance
mean but life
from the dead?
If the dough offered
as first fruits
is holy,
so is the whole lump.
And if the root is holy,
so are the branches.
Now we just sort of
want to pause here
for a tiny,
tiny,
tiny bit of a
second
because there's going
to be a bit
of a transition here.
Just as part
of this transition,
many of you know
that one of the problems
that's going on
in Canada
and throughout
the Western world
right now
is rising antisemitism.
And those of you
who are still
university students,
you know that one
of the centers
of rising antisemitism
is university campuses.
In fact,
it's the intelligentsia
which is part
of the source
of growing antisemitism
in our country
and in Europe.
And as well as that,
we have to realize
that Christians
have a terrible past
and history
of antisemitism.
Hopefully,
this text
will help us
to realize
that not just
antisemitism
but all prejudice,
all hatred
of people groups
just because
of who they are
is deeply unbiblical
and deeply unchristian.
All of it.
I mean,
it's very interesting
how the text was put
because it says
that the Jewish
rejection
of the gospel
has led
that Christians,
that pagans
become Christians
and that every people group
is to hear about Jesus.
Every people group.
There's to be no prejudice.
Like,
just because we're prejudiced
doesn't mean
we're not a Christian,
okay?
But every one of us
who has some prejudice
against another people group,
that is deeply offensive
to the Bible.
And the Bible
is going to now
move the image
to root this,
this complete rejection
of antisemitism
and complete rejection
of all prejudice
in yet more
of the miracle
of God's grace.
But before we do that,
could you put up
Romans 11 again?
Because I want us
to keep remembering
that we're all talking
about God
and how he's not like us.
Could you read this text
with me again, please?
Oh, the depths
of the riches
and wisdom
and knowledge
of God.
How unsearchable
are his judgments
and how inscrutable
his ways.
For who has known
the mind of the Lord
or who has been
his counselor
or who has given
a gift to him
that he might
be repaid?
For from him
and through him
and to him
are all things.
To him be glory
forever.
Amen.
So let's keep reading
from verse 17
and we'll see here
how the Bible
is going to give
this profound image
that even deeply,
more deeply rejects
all antisemitism
and indirectly then
all prejudice.
Verse 17.
But if some of the branches
were broken off,
he's talking about
the olive tree, right?
We'll see in a moment
it's an olive tree.
But if some of the branches
were broken off
and you,
although a wild olive shoot,
were grafted in
among the others
and now share
in the nourishing root
of the olive tree,
do not be arrogant
toward the branches.
If you are,
remember it is not you
who support the root,
but the root
that supports you.
Then you will say,
branches were broken off
so that I may be grafted in.
That is true.
They were broken off
because of their unbelief,
but you stand fast
through faith.
So do not become proud,
but fear.
For if God did not spare
the natural branches,
neither will he spare you.
Note then the kindness
and the severity of God,
severity towards those
who have fallen,
but God's kindness to you,
provided you continue
in his kindness.
Otherwise,
you too will be cut off.
And even they,
if they do not continue
in their unbelief,
will be grafted in.
For God has the power
to graft them in a game.
For if you were cut
from what is by nature
a wild olive tree
and grafted contrary to nature
into a cultivated olive tree,
how much more will these,
the natural branches,
be grafted back
into their own olive tree?
That's a lot of different things
in there.
It was a long reading,
but here's the,
could you put up the point,
Andrew,
the second point?
God has only one olive tree
and we can only be grafted
into that by a miracle
of his powerful grace.
That's what he's trying
to communicate here.
One of the,
you know,
one of the,
when I said that
beginning of the service
that some people get,
hear Romans 11,
get bored,
others in the room,
a minority,
they get all excited
about Romans 11.
Why?
Because they can fight over it.
In fact,
that's one of the things
that non-Christians
don't like about Christians.
It seems it either goes
from being,
they either go from talking
about unbelievably boring things
to wanting to fight
about boring things.
And so for some Christians,
they love going to Romans 11
because it gets them
to talk about different things
about Jewish and Israel
and the place of Israel.
And what we're going to see
in this text
is that the Bible,
on one hand,
condemns fully anti-Semitism,
but it also completely
and utterly rejects
any attempt
to make Israel
or Jewish people
into an idol.
This Bible completely
and utterly rejects
the idea
that Jewish people
don't have to come
to faith in Jesus,
that just by being Jewish,
they will be reconciled to God.
This Bible text rejects it.
Olive tree is an original image
of Israel
and it's extended by Paul
to mean all who come
to be part of God's people.
And God doesn't have
two olive trees,
one for pagans
and one for Jews.
There's only one olive tree.
Only one olive tree.
And the other thing
that this text does
is it tells us
that Christians,
not only evangelicals
and charismatics,
some of them
who believe that Jewish people
don't have to come
to faith in Jewish
because they have their own way
of being made right with God,
it also says
that the Anglican Church
of Canada,
when they say
that we should not pray
for the salvation
of Jewish people,
is an error.
And it says
that when the Roman Catholic Church
has just recently
made a statement
that we aren't to pray
and work for the conversion
of Jewish people,
the Roman Catholic Church
is an error.
There is one olive tree.
Could you put up
the second point here?
Oh yeah,
it's up already.
So here it is.
God has only one olive tree
and we can only be grafted
into that
by a miracle
of his powerful grace.
I'm terrible with gardening.
There's been a couple of times
my wife has been gone
for a couple of weeks
and I forget
to water the plants.
Like I completely forget
to water the plants.
When I was single,
my plants suffered
one of two fates.
They would either die
of dehydration
or they would die
of root rot
because I would water them
so constantly.
And very early on
in our marriage,
my wife learned
that you never send George
out to weed the garden
because George
hasn't the vaguest idea
between the difference
between a carrot growing
and a weed growing
or anything else.
I'm completely hopeless.
So for those of us,
I didn't know this
until I read
the commentaries on it.
If you take Paul's example
and you take
a good healthy olive tree
and you graft
a wild olive branch
into it,
if you try to follow that
to have lots of olives,
you'll fail
because grafting
wild olive branches
into a healthy olive tree
creates less fruitfulness.
So what's Paul saying here?
Paul is saying
that he's not,
Paul,
this is,
you see,
it's not about natural processes.
It's never about natural processes.
Grace on one level
is never natural.
It isn't that somehow
or another
that these natural,
these pagan branches
are coming in
and that's going to just
sort of naturally
make the whole tree
of all the people
who are God's better.
It's grace.
It's a miracle.
It's not natural.
It's not some natural process.
Nothing's a natural process.
We keep thinking
there's natural processes.
We look at the world
and we say
that person could very naturally
and easily become a Christian
and that person could naturally
and not become a Christian
and not go God's grace.
You know,
look at them.
Look at those earrings
or look at those tattoos
or look at the way they,
you know,
look at that.
They drive gas guzzlers
or look at that.
They eat at McDonald's
or look at that.
They vote for Trump
or look at that.
They vote for Sanders
or, you know,
whatever it is.
We all have our different prejudices
about what is natural
and the Bible wants to keep reminding us
that it's never natural.
Never.
It's always a miracle of grace.
And if we go around
thinking,
you know,
the Jewish people,
they'll never come to a faith.
You know,
that my Jewish dentist
or my Jewish doctor,
I actually happen to have
a dentist who's Jewish
and the doctor who's Jewish
just by,
well,
maybe not coincidence,
by providence.
But I,
you know,
you maybe think,
oh,
you can't share the gospel with them.
You know what I mean?
It's just,
it's very natural.
This whole image
is that God's church
is never natural.
It's always supernatural
and it's always by grace.
It's always by grace.
It's always a miracle.
Only a miracle.
That's how he works.
If you could put up
Romans 1 for us,
Andrew.
You have to be careful
here at the time.
This is the verse
for all of Romans.
Can you guys read it
with me, please?
For I am not ashamed
of the gospel.
For it is the power of God
for salvation
to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first
and also to the Greek.
For in the gospel,
the righteousness of God
is revealed
from faith to faith.
As it is written,
the righteous
shall live by faith.
And I've explained before
how everything
in the book of Romans
is sort of just trying
to fill that in
and help us
to understand it.
And the heart of this text
is that the heart
of this text
is that the gospel
telling you about
what Jesus did
for us on the cross,
that that is a power
that comes from God.
It's God's power
that makes us right
with him
and we receive it
by believing,
by putting our faith
and trust in him.
And that God works
in a way that is right
to make us right
with him
and it's all God.
All God.
Completely God.
Nothing of us.
All we do
is receive it.
We are beggars.
We are a chosen people
not choice people.
Chosen people
not choice people.
Andrew,
could you put up
the Romans 11 text
for me right now,
please?
I don't know
if that's in the right order.
Let's just read this
together again as well.
Oh, the depth
of the riches
and wisdom
and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable
are his judgments
and how inscrutable
his ways.
For who has known
the mind of the Lord
or who has been
his counselor
or who has given
a gift to him
that he might be repaid?
For from him
and through him
and to him
are all things.
To him be glory forever.
Amen.
So,
God is just really,
really different than us
and that's really,
really, really good.
and nothing can stop him
from showing grace.
He never regrets
or wants to change
his mind
about calling
any one of you
to be his child.
I don't have any authority
to say that myself
but it's what the Bible says.
Just if you look
at verse 25,
lest you be wise
in your own sight,
I do not want you
to be unaware
of this mystery,
brothers and sisters.
A partial hardening
has come upon Israel
until the fullness
of the Gentiles
has come in
and in this way
all Israel will be saved
and all Israel,
by the way,
doesn't mean every
Jewish person,
like when we think
of the last time
Canada was in the
World Cup of Hockey
or the Olympics
for the gold medal,
you could say
all of Canada
watched the game.
We don't mean
every Canadian
watched the game,
right?
But you know
what you mean by that
and that's what
you're saying
that there's
potentially a time
when many Jewish people
will come to a faith
in Jesus.
Verse 26 again,
in this way
all Israel will be saved
as it is written,
the deliverer
will come from Zion
and he will banish
ungodliness from Jacob
and this will be
my covenant with them
when I take away
their sins.
As regards the gospel
they are enemies
for your sake,
that's temporarily,
but as regards election
they are beloved
for the sake
of their forefathers
for the gifts
and calling of God
are irrevocable.
Could you put up
the next point,
Andrew, please?
God's call
is irrevocable
but it is not
unconditional.
God's call
is irrevocable
but it is not
unconditional.
What Paul is saying
here is this
and this word
irrevocable
is a very, very,
very good word
but underneath it
there's a deeper
type of image
that makes it
even more wonderful
because one of the things
that we regularly
have as people
is maybe we offer
to, I don't know,
maybe we offer
to lend somebody money
or we lend somebody
clothes
and then afterwards
we regret it
and then we want
to renege on our deal
we want it back
and what Paul
is saying here
is that God
never regrets
calling a person
to be his own
and he never
takes it back.
It's irrevocable.
Some of you
might say
George
that all sounds
very good
but wasn't there
earlier this part
about if you don't
stay and you don't
stay in faith
you're going to
lose your faith.
Wasn't that somewhere
earlier
and I just noticed
that you kept
reading and reading
and reading
but that jumped
out at me
George.
That jumped out
at me
at this idea
that isn't that
really more
the experience
that you can
have a faith
in Jesus
and all that
but then later
on you just
get over it
and then it's
all over
and it doesn't
seem as if
it's irrevocable.
Isn't that what
the Bible
just said
a few minutes
ago?
Let's look at
it in closing.
It was earlier
on in verses
19 to 23.
It goes like this
then you will say
branches were broken
off so that I
might be grafted
in.
That is true
they were broken
off because of
their unbelief
but you stand
fast through
faith.
So do not
become proud
but fear
for if God
did not spare
the natural
branches
neither will he
spare you.
Note then
the kindness
and the severity
of God
severity towards
those who have
fallen
but God's
kindness to you
provided you
continue in his
kindness
otherwise you too
will be cut off
and even if they
even if
and even they
if they do not
continue in their
unbelief
will be grafted in
for God has the
power to graft
them in a game.
Here's the thing
this text
is not talking
about people
being
who come to
faith in Jesus
being cut off
by God.
Andrew if you
could put up
the next point
true faith in
Jesus has
several counterfeits
one of which
is presumption.
This text
isn't talking
about how God
is going to
cut people off
who don't
perform well
this text
is talking
about how
God eventually
reveals
counterfeit
faith.
Counterfeit
faith.
And there's
different types
of counterfeit
faith but the
one which Paul
is talking
about here
is presumption.
Andrew if you
could put up
the next point
please.
God wants me
to die to
presumption
and deepen
in gospel
faith.
He wants me
to die to
arrogance
and deepen
in gospel
assurance.
God wants me
to die to
presumption
and deepen
in gospel
faith.
He wants me
to die to
arrogance
and deepen
in gospel
assurance.
See the
fundamental human
problem is that
we want to be
like God.
And so for
some of us
when we hear
this offer
of the gospel
that God
will make us
right with
himself and
that nothing
can then
separate us
from the love
of God
that we are
guaranteed
that we will
be with God
forever.
For some
people all
they do is
just take that
that they've
got.
It's not a
conscious thing
but that they've
got God
by the
shortened
Harry's
that they
figured out
a way
around God
and they
hear that
and they
say wow
that's
fantastic
I don't
have
God's
going to
make me
go to
heaven
no matter
what I
do.
I've got
to get
out of jail
free card
and it
just leads
to a type
of laziness
and complete
and utter
indifference
and it
leads to a
type of
pride
and arrogance
and at
the very
very center
of it
we start
to think
that we're
not
it's not
that God
chose
us
but that
there's
something
choice
about
us
but
true
faith
has
come
to the
point
in time
when they
recognize
that
all of
my life
maybe
those of
you who've
been
growing up
in
Muslim
backgrounds
or Orthodox
Jewish
backgrounds
or just
households
where there's
lots of
a type
of moralism
and lots
of rules
and where
the parents
love
seems to
be
conditional
upon
performance
and it
just seems
as if
our whole
life is
trying to
be about
performance
and about
performance
and about
performance
and God
wants us
to come
to the
point
in time
where we
realize
that it's
not about
our
performance
it's never
about our
performance
we can
never
perform
enough
that's
the bad
news
but the
good
news
is that
God
because
he loves
you
he sent
his son
to die
upon the
cross
and he
will do
everything
to make
you right
and that
when God
takes you
when he
takes your
hand in
his
when he
takes you
into his
life
when he
enters into
your life
your hand
is weak
your performance
will falter
there will
come times
you can't
perform at
all
you will
do the
opposite
of performance
you will
do terrible
things
but God
will never
let you
go
and he
wants us
to have
an assurance
that he
will never
let you
go
if I do
a terrible
job in
this church
and in
two years
there's only
three people
left in the
congregation
he will
never let
me go
if all
of a sudden
something
happens
and we're
doing five
services a
day and the
place is packed
out and there's
two thousand
on a Sunday
it doesn't make
any difference
to whether God
loves me or not
not about my
performance
God will never
let me go
and when we've
been gripped
when we've been
broken
if you notice
in all of those
images of the
olive tree
the only way
you get on
the olive tree
is if you're
broken
and grafted in
and for some
of us
when we realize
that it's all
about what God
does for us
it frees us
up to no
longer have to
be all about
our performance
it frees us up
to look at why
we aren't talking
to our parents
or what there is
in our past
or our hardness
of heart
or how we
project on God
it frees us up
to say
you know what
maybe I'm going
to share the
gospel with my
Jewish friend
because you know
what God says
Jewish people are
going to keep
becoming Christians
or you know what
maybe that person
that's really
really really
different from me
I don't know
they go to
McDonald's
or they have
you know
things that look
like they're about
you know
this big
in their ears
or they have
lots of tattoos
or they have
no tattoos
whatever it is
your culture
crossing your
culture
maybe I'll share
the gospel
with them
why
because I don't
know who God
I can try it
that grace
frees us up
that our lives
start to be
changed out of
gratitude
not out of
any sense of
accomplishment
and that our
gratitude we can
look within
we can give up
self-defensiveness
we can give up
trying to justify
ourselves
we can give up
trying to make
ourselves righteous
we can live
in gratitude
and be
live and ground
in gratitude
and live out of
promise
and we can try
and we can fail
and we can know
that nothing
will take us out
of God's hands
God wants us to
have assurance
not arrogance
he wants us to
have faith
not presumption
and God
even when he
starts to reveal
the depth
of our
presumption
and arrogance
it's only
so we can
call out to him
and receive his
grace
even if we
have lived
a life
of profound
presumption
religious
arrogant
presumption
he wants you
to stumble
over it
so you know
grace
please stand
you know
our big text
is
oh the depth
of the riches
and wisdom
and knowledge
of God
how unsearchable
are his judgment
and how inscrutable
his ways
for who has
known the mind
of the Lord
or who has
been his counselor
or who has
given a gift
to him
that he might
be repaid
for from him
and through him
and to him
are all things
to him be glory
forever
amen
I mean do you know
the God who is there
because the God
who is there
has revealed himself
that he sent his son
to die upon the cross
he who is rich
became poor
so you could become rich
and the God
who is there
he has said
that he will act
in a way
that is wise
it's not our human wisdom
it's his human wisdom
it's his God wisdom
that means that
Jesus is the means
by which we are
reconciled to God
and God knew
every single thing
there is to know
about you
and he's revealed
that he knows
everything about you
but he doesn't
turn back on you
and doesn't reject you
he died
he sent his son
to die on the cross
knowing everything
there is to know
about you
and still he loved you
and still he died
on the cross
so you could be his
and when Jesus
dies on the cross
he dies on the cross
it's an unbelievable
gift of riches
we can never repay him
we can never put him
in our debt
and this is just
how God is
we can never
put him in our debt
absolutely never
no amount of
religious accomplishment
spiritual accomplishment
victimhood
ever puts him
in our debt
ever
all he does
is give
this is the God
who does exist
do you know him
are you willing
to have your minds
purged by scripture
as you reflect upon
Jesus on the cross
there is no better time
than this
to call out to God
that you would be
a disciple of Jesus
gripped by the gospel
of grace
learning to live
for his glory
let's pray
father we thank you
just to hear the sound
of children laughing
in the background
and father we give you
thanks and praise
that you laugh
and have joy over us
you don't laugh
at us stumbling
or falling
you don't want us
to fall irrevocably
and never get up
that you just
always offer grace
so father we thank you
that we do not have
to have a really
strong hand
in a life of profound
religious performance
but that when we put
our hands in your hands
that you never let us go
you never let us go
it's all about your power
not about ours
father we thank you
for this
father we ask that
your holy spirit
would move in our lives
to make us disciples
of Jesus
gripped by this gospel
of grace
learning to live
for your glory
that you would help us
father to die
to presumption
and die to arrogance
but to rest
in assurance
of grace
and your unfailing
character
goodness
and mercy
and this we ask
in Jesus' name
Amen