Morning everyone, great to be here. Keep your Bibles open there at Romans 11.
Got a question for you to kick off with. When can a circle ever be a triangle?
There we go. Discuss that. I'll give you 30 seconds.
Is there any mathematicians in the room? I don't mean to explode your brain right now.
When can a circle ever be a triangle?
The actual technical answer is never. Never.
They are two very two-dimensional shapes.
There is no way possible to actually make a circle into a triangle without it losing its circle-ness.
If you go and look up the definition of what a circle is and what a triangle is,
it's not possible for either one of them to be made into the other without it losing its original identity and purpose.
However, the two shapes can come together in such a way to create a three-dimensional object where you see a circle, you see a triangle, but it's actually a cone.
And it will depend on which angle you are looking at it as to what you actually see.
Two individual shapes, 2D shapes, can come together and make a more complex 3D shape.
And depending on which way you look at it, you'll see one thing or you'll see the other.
And such is the complexity of God's sovereignty and human responsibility working together.
It is a complex issue.
And in debating these matters over the centuries, it's not unusual to push either God's sovereignty or human responsibility to such a point that they lose their shape.
Rather than holding them, as the Bible does, in balance together.
God chooses those he will save through faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ.
We are responsible for our rejection of him and the good news of Jesus Christ.
The Bible declares that they are both true.
The circle and the triangle, but they're actually working together.
100% true.
Not 50%, 50%, not 75% or 95% and 5%.
Both are 100% true at exactly the same time.
It's God's mathematics, not Wikipedia's or mine, yours.
Or to quote John Stott from his Romans commentary,
if anybody is lost, the blame is theirs.
But if anybody is saved, the credit is God's.
This contains a mystery which our present knowledge cannot solve,
but it is consistent with scripture, history and experience.
It is a mystery.
And in attempting to remove the mystery over the centuries,
people have wandered into heresy on multiple occasions.
So the Jews, as we've been reading,
God's historic people are responsible for their refusal
to put their trust in Jesus Christ.
And they have not come to faith because God has not chosen to have mercy on them.
They're both true.
That's a summary of chapters 9 to 10,
as we have so far read in Romans.
So now we're up to chapter 11.
And Paul is still wrestling with this big idea
of whether God has rejected his historic people.
The central argument in this chapter
is God has not rejected his people, Israel,
because the books are still open.
And there is still an opportunity for them to embrace Jesus
as their Lord and their Saviour.
And therefore, the books are still open for us this morning
as we gather here in person or online.
There is still an opportunity.
So I've got three things to say,
the trustworthy God, the saving God, and the praiseworthy God,
if you're someone who likes to take notes.
Chapter 11 opens with a familiar question
of whether God has rejected his people, Israel,
and the short answer is no, then a long explanation.
And Paul, in the first number of verses,
gives four arguments as to back up the short answer.
And the first is the Paul argument in verse 1.
That is, Paul himself is a Jew
who's come to faith in Jesus Christ.
This blasphemous Christian persecuting Paul
is a Jew who God has not given up on.
And he's now being used by God
to multiply his gospel work.
The second argument is in verse 2,
the election argument.
Paul is saying that God has determined,
he has foreordained to bring Jews to faith in him.
Those he has chosen will not fail to believe.
The third argument, verses 2 and 4,
2 to 4 is the Elijah argument.
It's a historical argument.
1 Corinthians, sorry, 1 Kings 19.
We read that Elijah thought that God
had abandoned his people too,
had rejected them,
and he was the only one left.
And yet, as we find out in the chapter,
there are many left.
And there has always been a faithful remnant
amongst God's historical people
who have trusted by grace.
The fourth argument is in verses 5 and 6,
and that's the grace argument.
What guarantees that there will always be
a faithful remnant
is not that there will always be a group,
a group of good people
amongst God's historic people,
a group of smart people
amongst God's historic people
who believe,
but because God is always gracious.
Then in verse 7,
Paul takes us back to his point
in chapter 9, verse 6,
where he says,
for not all who are descended from Israel
are Israel.
So in verse 7,
he makes the point,
it is not God who has rejected his people,
but it's his people who have rejected him.
Have a look at it with me.
What then?
What the people of Israel sought so earnestly,
they did not obtain.
The elect among them,
the elect among them did,
but the others were hardened.
And last week in chapter 10, verse 3,
we read that Israel
did not know the righteousness of God
and sought to establish their own.
So Paul tells us here
that they sought righteousness earnestly.
God's historic people
sought a right relationship with God earnestly.
They earnestly pursued it.
A right standing,
a right relationship with God,
but they did it on their terms.
Instead of receiving
a right relationship with God
as a gift through Jesus Christ,
they attempted to establish their own,
to work for it themselves.
Israel earnestly sought
a right relationship with God,
but they did it the wrong way.
And that is the case for all of them,
except for those that God had chosen.
And as a result,
most of God's historic people were hardened.
And the hardening here,
just to remind us of the last couple of weeks,
is a legal punishment
for having a proud heart
that rejects the good news
of God's grace in Jesus Christ.
In verse 8,
Paul again quotes from the Old Testament
to show us how it has been,
always been.
And what Paul's doing here,
is he quoting Isaiah.
And Isaiah himself is quoting Moses.
That is, what we have here
is both Paul in the New Testament
is quoting the law and the prophets.
And Paul is saying,
Moses warned Israel in his day
that their rebellion resulted in God
giving them a spiritual blindness.
Isaiah in his day told Israel
that he had continued through their history
a spiritual blindness
because they pursued righteousness
on their terms.
And now,
the apostle Paul
is telling the Roman church
it's happening again.
Right through history,
the pursuit of righteousness
on our own terms.
And so,
in verses 9 and 10,
we have this spiritual blindness
is a retribution.
It's a punishment
that exactly fits the crime.
Hardening
is a fitting punishment
for a proud heart.
You see,
pride and self-centeredness
lead to hardness
and lovelessness.
Rejection of God
leads to rejection from God.
It's a just punishment.
But these verses
are quite confronting.
The very people
who had earnestly,
diligently,
zealously
sought a relationship
with God
were the same people
who rejected
his love for them.
It's an amazing dynamic.
And the amazing dynamic
is that a person
can try
so desperately
hard
to please God
with all of their life,
to serve him
with all of their life,
and end up
resisting
the very idea
of God's mercy
on their life.
And you find that
an incredible dynamic.
most people
who believe
in God
conclude
that God
is transcendent.
You don't have to be Christian
to do this.
They believe
that God is transcendent,
that he's powerful,
that he's good
in some kind of way.
And therefore,
the assumption
with human wisdom
is that we need
to approach this God,
we need to appease
this God
in some kind of way.
And I need
to improve myself.
in some kind of way
in order to appease
this God.
And such people
generally find
any concept
of free,
total,
unconditional
acceptance
dishonouring
to God.
You may have
thought it yourself.
you may have
even heard
someone say
something like
the idea
that a convicted
murderer
could just say
words of repentance
and be right
with God,
just like the good
religious person
who's volunteered
themselves
in the,
you know,
the local hospital
all of their life,
like as if somehow
it's a level playing field
for all people.
people,
that's just illogical.
How insulting
to my life
of good deeds.
How insulting
to common decency.
How insulting
to God.
And yet the Christian
gospel,
the core of the
Christian faith
is in fact
an assault
on
our
religious
works.
It appears
in fact
on one level
to be assault
on good character
and on God.
Through a real
desire to please
God
mixed with a
deep pride
and a
self-confidence
the human
heart
becomes
vaccinated
against
and hatred
towards
in fact
the mercy
and the love
of God
through Jesus Christ.
That is the
normal
human
condition.
We like
to bring
God down
and elevate
ourselves
up.
And that's
the case
with so
many
religious
people.
Where a
right standing
with God
is seriously
and earnestly
sought.
Seriously
and earnestly
sought.
And yet at the
same time
his loving
offer of that
right standing
as a free
gift
is rejected.
It may even
describe you
right now
where you're
sitting right now
in this room
or on
screen
tuning in.
Christian faith
motivated
almost
completely
by fear
by guilt
or a need
for approval.
If anything
else that
Romans has
taught us
now is the
time to lay
that down.
Now is the
time to
surrender your
heart to
Christ.
now is the
time to
confess a
heart that
is not
humbled.
A heart
that is
proud that
set itself
up ultimately
against God's
grace and
his mercy.
Do it
today.
Come to
Jesus.
So the
majority of
Israel has
rejected God.
Historic
Israel.
Ethnic
Israel has
rejected God.
So is that
it?
Is that the
end of the
story?
Are they now
beyond salvation?
That's the
essence of the
question from
verse 11
onwards.
Again,
Paul again
gives a
definitive no
and then
goes on for
an explanation.
Then he
outlines three
stages of
God's plan of
salvation for
Israel.
The first
stage is the
stage that
Paul himself
is currently
in and that
is one of
hostility to
the Christian
message.
Yes, he
says, many
early Jews
believed but
the majority
have rejected.
Majority have
rejected the
Christian faith,
rejected Jesus
as their
Messiah.
And if this
rejection, he
says, had
not happened,
the early
Christian Jews
could have
easily
concluded
that the
gospel was
only for
ethnic Israel.
No need
for the
Gentile world
to know
of this.
And you
see this
happening in
the book of
Acts.
Gospel is
preached,
first of
all, to
a synagogue.
The Jewish
community is
fractured with
some believing,
some are
hostile.
Those who
come to
faith then
go to the
Gentiles to
see them
embracing the
Christian faith.
And as a
result, the
early church,
right from its
inception, is a
multi-ethnic
church.
This leads to
stage two.
As they see the
church growing and
Gentiles coming to
faith, in verse
11, we are
told, these
Gentile converts
make Israel
envious.
Paul repeats
it himself in
verse 14.
I take pride in
my ministry in
the hope that I
may somehow
arouse my own
people to envy
and to save
some of them.
Now, we
normally would
think of envy in
a negative
sense, which
as a general
rule, it is.
But I think
that John
Stott, writing
in his Romans
commentary,
captures here
Paul's thinking
in a much
better way,
where he
writes,
not all envy
is tainted
with selfishness
because it is
not always
either a
grudging
discontent or
a sinful
covetousness.
At base,
envy is the
desire to
have for
oneself something
possessed by
another.
And whether
envy is good
or evil
depends on
the nature
of the
something
desired and
on whether
one has a
right of its
possession.
If that
something is
in itself
evil or
it belongs
to somebody
else and
we have no
right to it,
then the
envy is
sinful.
But if
the
something
desired is
in itself
good,
a blessing
from God,
which he
means all
people to
enjoy,
then to
covet it
and to
envy those
who have
it is not
at all
unworthy.
This kind
of desire
is right
in itself
and to
arouse it
can be a
realistic
motive for
ministry.
I think
that's a
great
explanation
of what
Paul's
trying to
do here.
God's
historic
people will
see many
of God's
historic
promises to
them being
fulfilled in
the Gentiles
and that
will prompt
them to
want to
believe it.
Here's the
remarkable thing
about God's
plan.
Just as
the Gentiles
could only
have heard
the gospel
because Israel
had largely
rejected
Jesus,
now the
Jews can
only believe
because those
who accepted
Jesus were
largely Gentiles.
Paul then
writes that
the third
and the
final stage
of blessings
for the
Jews is
sometime in
the future.
in verse
12,
he seems
to have a
vision of
a significant
number of
them coming
to faith in
Jesus Christ
which we see
again at the
end of the
chapter.
If their
unbelieving
has had a
remarkable
benefit,
imagine the
benefit of
their believing
in Jesus.
Jesus.
In verses
17 to
24,
Paul uses
an olive
tree as
an illustration
if you like
to bring
clarity on
how God's
salvation plan
works.
And this
is also a
warning to
the Gentile
Christians that
are there.
Verse 17,
if some
of the
branches have
been taken
off and
you,
though a
wild olive
shoot,
have been
grafted in
among the
others and
now share
in the
nourishing sap
of the
olive root.
Now,
to get what
he's saying
here,
there's a bit
of a
horticultural
lesson to
understand what
he's getting
at.
And who
better to
understand a
horticultural
lesson but
to turn to
a Scottish
New Testament
scholar,
William Ramsey,
he writes
in his
commentary,
in exceptional
circumstances,
it is customary
to reinvigorate
an olive
tree which
is ceasing
to bear
fruit by
grafting
into it
a shoot
of a
wild
olive
tree so
that the
sap of
the tree
enables,
ennobles,
enables,
this wild
shoot
to in
fact grow
while at
the same
time
encouraging
the original
olive tree
to bear
fruit.
This wild
olive branch
is a
dynamic
and a
growing
thing
in and
of itself
but it
can draw
and produce
life
only because
it is grafted
into an
olive tree
because it's
there,
it draws
the nourishment,
it needs
full life
and at the
same time
that that's
happening,
the presence
of the wild
olive branch
renews
the
original
olive tree
in such
a way
that it's
invigorated
and it
starts again
to bear
fruit.
Verse 13
tells us
that Paul
is applying
that metaphor
specifically
to the
Gentiles.
They are
the wild
olive shoots,
they've been
grafted into
God's historic
people and
all its
promises.
the Gentiles
are being
grafted in
so that
they might
be nourished
by the
giving gospel
of justification
by faith
which has
always been
the faith
of God's
historic
people ever
since Abraham
right through.
They've now
been included
in justification
by faith
and so
the lesson
here for
the Gentile
believers
are growing
humility.
You're not
smarter
than they
are.
You've not
seen something
or got
softer hearts.
The Gentiles
must not
boast.
Verse 18
Do not
consider yourself
to be superior
to those
other branches.
If you do
consider this
you do not
support the
root
but the
root
supports
you.
You will
say then
branches
were
broken
off
so
that
I
could
be
grafted
in
granted
but they
were
broken
off
because
of
unbelief
and you
stand
by faith.
Do not
be arrogant
but
tremble
for if
God
did not
spare
the
natural
branches
he
will
not
spare
you
never
and so
a genuine
response
to the
good news
of the
gospel
is a
reverent
fear.
Verse 22
calls us
to meditate
on the
kindness
and the
sternness
of God
that is
justification
by faith
God's grace
to us
through his
sovereignty
ought
never
ever
lead to
presumption.
We see
throughout
Romans
and the
Bible
the
ongoing
problem
of
presumption.
We saw
it in
chapter 6
and 7
presumption
God
saves me
he's
sovereign
I don't
need to
do
anything
presumption
though
Israel
were
God's
chosen
people
they
started
to
think
they
were
the
choice
people
they
became
confident
that
they
were
in
no
matter
how
they
lived
simply
because
Abraham
was
their
father
they
became
proud
and
looked
down
on
others
and
Paul
is
calling
these
Gentile
believers
not
to
fall
in
the
same
presumption
of
historic
Israel
so
again
verse
22
consider
therefore
the
kindness
and
the
sternness
of
God
sternness
to
those
who
fell
but
kindness
to
you
provided
that
you
continue
in
his
kindness
human
responsibility
work at
it
otherwise
you too
will be
cut off
the only
way
we know
that God's
sovereign
love is
upon us
is that
we
continue
we
persevere
in
seeking
to be
like
Jesus
until
the
day
we
meet
Jesus
it's
not a
circle
or a
triangle
it's a
cone
if
the
continuing
disappears
we
start
living
for
ourselves
and
living
sin
and
start
to rely
on our
own
performance
our own
theological
heritage
marriage
we
start
relying
upon
those
things
for
relationship
with
God
then
we
will
and
we
should
begin
to
wonder
if
his
kindness
is
still
upon
us
if
we
have
faith
in
Jesus
Christ
we
can
be
assured
and
confident
but
we
must
never
be
arrogant
and
proud
assured
and
confident
but
never
arrogant
and
proud
Paul
closes
off
this
section
by
revealing
a
great
mystery
it
is
designed
to
stop
the
Gentiles
from
being
conceited
when
they
look
at the
failure
of
ethnic
Israel
to
embrace
Jesus
Christ
as
their
Lord
and
Saviour
in
short
Paul's
language
in
writing
about
that
mystery
allows
for
the
possibility
of
a
steady
but
growing
flow
towards
Jesus
amongst
his
own
historic
people
ethnic
people
and
so
he
says
here
the
Jewish
unbelievers
are to
be viewed
always
with
hope
always
with
hope
the
Christian
must
say to
themselves
over
and over
again
I
disobeyed
God
I
refuse
to
believe
the
gospel
but
now
I'm
a
Christian
I'm
a
child
of
God
I'm
an
inheritor
of
all
his
historic
promises
to
his
people
Israel
I
am
here
in
part
because
the
gospel
reached
beyond
disbelieving
Israel
and so
if
God
can
reach
me
even
me
in
his
mercy
through
a
Jew
and
through
their
disobedience
he
can
certainly
reach
them
through
his
mercy
and
through
my
faith
the
mystery
is
that
God
uses
the
Jews
to
reach
the
Gentiles
and
the
Gentiles
to
reach
the
Jews
that
in
itself
is
a
grounding
for
a
multi
ethnic
church
all
people
Jew
and
Gentile
have
been
disobedient
and
are
lost
and
yet
all
people
found
by
God's
mercy
so if
you're
someone who
takes
notes
maybe
write
this
one
down
as a
bit
of a
summary
of
9
to
11
God's
mercy
does
not
come
to
all
without
exception
but
it
does
come
to
all
without
distinction
God's
mercy
does
not
come
to
all
without
exception
but
it
does
come
to
all
without
distinction
this
causes
Paul
to
pause
he
has
carried
this
idea
of
God's
sovereignty
and
human
responsibility
to the
edge
as far
as
knowledge
has
taken
him
as far
as
revelation
has
taken
him
as far
as
God
has
wanted
him
to
know
he's
gone
to
the
edge
of
the
earth
sailed
to
the
end
and
if
there
is
more
to
know
of
God
which
there
is
God's
chosen
not to
reveal
it
at
this
point
and
there's
only
one
thing
left
to
do
and
that
is
for
a
heart
to
be
lifted
a
mind
to
be
lifted
and
to
overflow
in
praise
of
this
God
the
God
of
the
wonderful
of
the
mysterious
as
he
draws
this
to
a
close
recall
God
here
in
the
first
place
don't
forget
at
the
end
of
chapter
eight
we
have
declaring
that
there
is
no
in
no
uncertain
terms
whatsoever
that
God's
promises
to
his
to
believers
in
Jesus
Christ
are
absolutely
rock
solid
you
can
be
confident
of
your
salvation
in
Jesus
Christ
nothing
he
says
can
separate
us
from
Jesus
God's
word
is
true
it
is
reliable
it
is
consistent
God's
promises
are
always
completed
and
fulfilled
not
one
single
bit
falls
to
the
ground
God's
chain
of
salvation
as
Aidan
said
is
unbreakable
those
who
have
been
elect
will
be
glorified
and so
we start
beginning
of chapter
nine
what about
Israel
then
you know
has
God
failed
them
has
God's
plan
of
salvation
failed
that's
the
undercurrent
of all
of
nine
to
eleven
and
that
issue
as
I
said
at
the
beginning
is
a
deeply
personal
issue
for
the
Jewish
Paul
a
deeply
personal
issue
he
is
at
the
beginning
of
chapter
nine
in
deep
anguish
about
his
people
deep
anguish
this
is
not
an
intellectual
exercise
for
him
this
is
not
a
lecture
room
where
we
got
an
exam
to
complete
at
the
end
of
this
understanding
God's
sovereignty
and
human
responsibility
this
is
not
a
book
that
he's
writing
for
distribution
per
se
so
that
he
can
sell
things
this
is
a
deeply
personal
issue
he's
in
anguish
in
chapter
nine
and
at
the
end
of
chapter
11
he
just
breaks
out
in
spontaneous
worship
and
there
are
things
we
can
learn
from
these
verses
but
I'm
going to
throw
up
four
firstly
there
is
no
worship
without
truth
Paul
is
quoting
scripture
as he
praises
God
spontaneously
in
verse
34
he quotes
from
Isaiah
40
13
and
in
verse
35
he quotes
from
Job
41
verse
11
knowing
scripture
intimately
makes
an
enormous
difference
both
in the
ignition
of praise
in the
heart
and
in the
expression
of the
praise
that comes
out of
your
mouth
many
books
will
teach
meditation
and
spiritual
techniques
to
centre
on
things
like
visualisations
of
incidences
of
one's
past
life
or
visualisation
of
phrases
or
images
or
even
of
nothing
at
all
in
fact
there's
a lot
of
meditation
that says
you
got to
get to
a point
where you
don't
visualise
anything
and just
nothing
worship
of the
creator
God
the biblical
is totally
different
than that
worship
should not
come
from
meditation
in
general
or of
nothing
in
particular
but
through
the
meditation
of
scripture
specifically
the
bible
must
always
be
the
centre
of
any
public
or
private
praise
and
worship
secondly
there
is no
teaching
there
should
be
no
teaching
or
study
of
truth
without
worship
that's
the
point
of
the
truth
to
look
to
the
truth
so
that
we
see
God
and
engage
with
him
it's
about
communion
with
him
Paul
does
not
just
teach
or
study
truth
without
using
it
immediately
as a
basis
for the
praise
of
God
he
never
treats
truth
as
something
just to be
known
something to
be debated
with
something
or even
just to be
applied
but as a
gateway
into
praise
and so
if you
study
great
doctrines
like
God's
sovereignty
and
human
responsibility
and
election
and all
that
sort
of
stuff
you
study
all
of
those
things
and
never
works
over
into
worship
for you
you've
totally
missed
the point
of it
all
and
it
itself
the fact
that it
never
flows
over
to
worship
is
in
itself
and
I
say
this
gently
an
indication
of a
hard
heart
now
is the
day
for
humility
now
is the
day
to
confess
that
and
to
surrender
to
Christ
the
God
you
don't
know
fully
Paul
never
treats
truth
just as
something
to be
known
or
applied
but as
a gateway
to
praise
of
God
we
are
never
to
study
the
Bible
or
to
study
God
in
a
detached
cool
manner
we
must
let
ourselves
be
disturbed
we
must
let
ourselves
to be
confronted
comforted
and
challenged
by
the
truth
we
must
always
allow
ourselves
to
feel
its
power
thirdly
truth
that
exalts
God
leads
to
the
greatest
joy
in
life
Paul
does
not
find
the
deepest
impulses
for
praise
here
by
looking
at
human
accomplishments
praise
comes to
the degree
that we
see
our
weakness
we see
our
impotence
and our
complete
dependency
upon
God
when we
understand
our
smallness
our
limitation
and his
limitlessness
and his
bigness
in
other
words
the
doctrines
of
God's
complete
sovereignty
in
salvation
are
what
leads
Paul
here
to
the
greatest
joy
and
praise
we
have
never
given
God
anything
he
owes
us
nothing
these
are
the
ideas
that
well
up
in
Paul
in
such
a
way
that
it
overflows
with
worship
and joy
and
lastly
Paul
does
not
even
get
troubled
by
the
parts
of
the
Bible
and
God's
ways
that
he
cannot
discern
or
figure
out
verse
33
is
such
a
key
verse
here
oh
the
depths
of
the
riches
of
the
wisdom
and
the
knowledge
of
God
how
unsearchable
his
judgments
in
other
words
for
us
it's
if
you
have
not
got
to
a
point
of
mystery
you've
missed
God
how
unsearchable
his
judgments
and
his
paths
beyond
tracing
out
many
people
feel
that
they
cannot
get
to
the
point
of
bowing
the
knee
and
surrendering
to
God
and
worshipping
God
unless
they've
understood
everything
about
him
Paul
knew
that
was
an
impossibility
without
even
studying
theology
just
philosophically
it's an
impossibility
it's an
impossibility
for the
finite
to know
the
infinite
it's
an
impossibility
for those
who are
time bound
to
understand
timelessness
you
can't
get
your
mind
around
it
a
God
whose
counsel
we
could
fully
grasp
whose
ways
that
we
could
fully
discern
whose
nature
we
could
fully
explain
would
be
no
greater
than
your
mind
and
by
definition
no
longer
divine
because
that
divine
being
is
all
of a
sudden
limited
it is
not
a cop
out
to
call
some
things
about
God
and
his
ways
of
mystery
it's
a
point
of
praise
and
worship
the
God
of
the
Bible
is
far
bigger
than
you
and
me
and
so
with
Paul
we
actually
don't
need
to be
worried
about
that
we
don't
need
to be
worried
that we
don't
understand
everything
about
him
and
his
plan
he
has
revealed
enough
for
us
to
be
confident
in
him
he
is
reliable
he
is
trustworthy
he
is
merciful
he
is
righteous
we
praise
him
for
all
that
he
has
revealed
and
we
praise
him
that
there
is
so
much
more
that
he
has
not
revealed
we
may
not
be
able
to
understand
everything
about
him
and
his
ways
but
we
are
able
to
marvel
at
him
and
so
we
echo
with
the
apostle
Paul
in
verse
36
to
him
be
glory
forever
amen