God has NOT forsaken Israel: Romans 11:1-6

today we're gonna continue our verse-by-verse study of Romans we're in Romans 11 starting in verse 1 and let me just give you like a little preview of some of the questions and things we're gonna deal with the I mean the question comes right out of verse 1 it says has God then cast away his people that's the question and the people here are the people of Israel the Jewish people has God cast them away are they rejected does God still have a pleasant future for Israel in some national sense that's the question in light of anti-semitism this is really important in light of the the persecution of Jewish people throughout the history this is really important in light of some of the nutty stuff you hear said sometimes in the name of Jesus this is important to know what is God's plan eschatologically in times or his future plan for Israel what is what's the dealio and also in light of trusting God's promises because if God could really cast off Israel then how do I know he wouldn't just cast off me you know there's like an element there where is his faithfulness to Israel is what encourages you in his faithfulness to your heart when you failed also there's going to be a lesson that's not really on my heart a lesson about running with endurance about living our life with a sense of endurance for this into patience in the challenges that we face which we do constantly and growing challenges so what I'll do is I'm gonna start it here in Romans 11 we won't finish it today for sure very sure after studying out like yeah there's no way but we're gonna do for the first at least verse probably even a little further than that he'll probably do at least the first six verses of Romans 11 God willing but what I do encourage though is if you're feeling like you're getting lost in the verse-by-verse nests of Romans going PO but what about the whole book remember actually the first study I taught in Romans was an overview of all sixteen chapters of the book and so it was a one study overview of the whole flow of the book it might be good to refresh yourself on that if you're interested it online it's just called Romans overview I think is the tie but it should be the first one in my series on Romans is the first video there so I did that on purpose because I knew we could get lost in a particular passage and not see how it connects so there it is so Romans 11 verse 1 I say then has God cast away his people my first question is I read this is what is meant by cast away I mean his people here is talking about the Jews there's no question about it the Jewish people Israel are in question but cast away I think the context is are they utterly lost is it is it over for the Jewish people if you're a Jew and you have these promises that you think God's with you and you think God is going to take care of you do wonderful things in your future is that all over is God just done with the Jewish people that that's that's what we've gone from Romans 9 through Romans 10 and we see how all these events have been prophesied the Messiah would come he'd be ultimately not received by a lot of a lot of Israel he would end up going to the Gentiles his message to the Gentiles they would receive so then the natural next question is so what's up with Israel then is it over for them and it's it's actually his answers implied in the question because it says he doesn't say has God cast away Israel he says has God cast away his people like the answer is implied in the question isn't it they're like his people you think he's cast away his people that he chose and he called that he brought out of Egypt that he made all these promises all up to God he Israel didn't choose God he chose that and so um that's interesting so he answers it in verse 1 he says certainly not now some translations will actually say God forbid have you maybe you've read a translation that says that God forbid that is not what it says in the Greek at all some pastors get pretty upset about that they're like like they feel that this is actually almost taking God's name in vain you just insert God's name to make your statement more powerful god forbid but but just to be clear that's certainly not that's what it says in the Greek it's like this really strong way in Greek of saying no way no no no no no no absolute denial of that so it's a very emphatic like strong denial no way has God cast away his people and then he gives an example of proof of this he's like let me give you a piece of evidence for I am also an Israelite Paul says of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin he wasn't even a convert right he's a Jew he is a blood of Abraham tribe of Benjamin Israelite this is who he is and so he says I'm yeah hello has God cast away his people and to this I think that there's a hello answer to anyone who thinks that God has utterly cast off Israel he has no interest in them I just want to say do you love Paul but hate Jews is that because there are some people I don't I don't think any of them are represented in this room right but there are some people who are very anti-semitic they're very against the Jewish people and they try to use Jesus as a reason for this and I'm like are you aware that Jesus is a Jew he's Yeshua the Messiah are you aware of this he's Jewish Paul is Jewish are you aware that you're reading the books you're reading to try to establish your hate of the Jewish people we're all written by Jews it's just the irony of it so it's like duh but it's not only Paul not only Jesus but all of the first believers were Jewish almost all of them that believed in Jesus were Jewish if you read the book of Acts and you pay attention to Jewish Gentile issues which I highly recommend and then you start to notice something in the book of Acts about 3,000 people got saved in the first preaching of the gospel do you know who those people were Jews yes that's who they were if God's cast off his people how is it that the that the first do you know huge reception of the of the Gospel message was amongst Jews and it wasn't just that one time it was for years in the early church initially the gospel went out and it was almost entirely and only to Jewish people and the only Gentiles who seemed to receive it were Gentiles who had been Jewish converts so they were Gentiles who were underneath the the law and all this they had converted to Judaism Cornelius in fact if you read a book of Acts chapter 10 you get to chapter 10 and there's still no significant Gentile group of believers that aren't following Jewish customs and all this sort of thing so this is why when when we get to Acts chapter 10 we have this story of Peter and he's there at Simon the Tanners house he's up on the roof and and God shows him a vision of this blanket being lowered out of heaven and on it is all these different animals including unclean animals and God says to him Peter get up kill and eat kill and eat this is like the hunters verse right it could have killed me and so Peter says Lord far be it from me I've never eaten anything unclean and just like a pig there I'm not gonna I'm gonna kind of do this and so this happens three times this conversation with God and then Peter is pondering this vision and he gets visitors that come to the door and they're knocking they're like we've come for Peter and it turns out that these visitors are coming from Cornelius he is this Gentile guy who says I want to hear the gospel I want to know more about God and God gave me a vision that I should call for Peter the problem is he's a Gentile right and Peter just had this vision he gets told by God go in and visit this man Cornelius so he goes in and visits him he ends up sharing the gospel with them and just the Holy Spirit just falls upon them in a powerful way like to demonstrate that these Gentiles can be saved now think about this in context of the book of Acts for a second the Apostles and the and the Christians who were Jewish right they were messianic they were wondering can Gentiles really be saved without becoming Jews because that's how Jewish the early church was it was so Jewish that they weren't sure what to even do with these Gentile people over here did you first and then the Gentile that's how it went out so so he's told not by God you know don't call unclean what I've called clean and so he learns a lesson through but let me read to you what was what was said in acts 10:45 about this whole scenario Acts 10:45 it says and those of the circumcision who believed were astonished so that they're Jewish and as many as came with Peter because here's a blew them away the gift of the Holy Spirit have been poured out on the Gentiles also it's well these Gentiles can get save like this is so for those who are thinking like God has cast off his people and the Jews it's all God from them and you're like okay when did this happen exactly because if you're gonna say that the Jew the Jewish rejection of Messiah equals them being completely cast off then how is it that the first ten chapters of Acts they're not even thinking about Gentiles for the most part because it's so Jewish that's that wouldn't make any sense this is literally years goes on so Peter his job his job title was apostle to the Jews that's what he's called and Paul comes later he saved years later he sent later he is the apostle to the Gentiles so then the gospel starts going out to the Gentiles right Jerusalem do Samaria Judea and to the uttermost parts of the earth the gospel goes out and continues to expand if you read acts as a as though you are following the the spreading of the gospel you'll see how it goes from Jewish to Gentile over a period of time and how God had to like sort of train the early church about how open the Gospel message was sometimes used to train us about how how open God's love and his message of grace is for everyone because we can sometimes get a little you know mmm like we don't I don't need to worry about that person over there God can save them really are you sure so God has not cast them away Paul's case in Romans 11 is I'm a Jew hello if they've cast him away then why am I here verse 2 so he says God has not cast his people away his people whom he foreknew this is this is the for knowing of God he knew all of their issues the moment he called them yet he promised them great things in the future so those things are not undone because God knew from the beginning all of the issues they would have and this speaks greatly to God's love and mercy and long-suffering attitude towards people towards towards Israel but towards me as well and I'm really grateful for that I just think of Jesus how the disciples asked him how often should I forgive people if they sin against me and he says you know Paul says like seven times if you know it's like 490 exactly and then you can know that's not not the whole story but they but he gives an illustration though and he says this he goes if someone sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day comes and ask for forgiveness you should give it to him in a day why would you say in a day here's the thing at first you think I have to forgive that much and you get discouraged and then you think God forgives that much and you get encouraged right this is God's incredible forgiveness towards me just blows my mind and it didn't calls me to an incredible level of forgiveness and grace towards others and that's a beautiful thing that's a beautiful thing so God he knew Israel when he first called him he knew about their apostasy he even predicted it in the prophets Moses talks about how they're gonna do it Joshua when he's like as for me and my house will serve the Lord and they're like we will - and he's like no you won't you can't even serve God and he kind of reams them you know in the book of Joshua and so you got the prophets talking about apostasy of Israel hello and yet after the apostasy parts read through the prophets then predictions about them being restored over and over and over again about them being backslide and falling down and yet being picked back up and brought back in and this is greatly encouraging to my heart God's love for Israel and his love for us so he's not cast away his people whom he foreknew or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel saying Lord this is Elijah speaking they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars and I alone and left and they seek my life but what is the divine response say to him God now speaking I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal what I would like to do actually is turn to this passage in first Kings so let's let's familiarize ourselves with it first Kings 19 there's just some beautiful stuff in here for our hearts as well as our theology we should never just be doing one or the other right first Kings chapter 19 I believe that's Old Testament and and I'm gonna read a chunk of this now notice what what it said there in Romans 11 verse 3 it says verse 2 it says how Elisha was pleading with God against Israel so it's just describing what Elijah's doing he's like saying God I want you to strike Israel I want you to come against them Lord so he's asking God to attack her or deal with those people why because they've rejected God and they've rejected him and now they're trying to kill him so let's let's refresh ourselves on this first Kings verse chapter 19 verse 1 as well were where we were going to start but let me remind you this is after the Mount Carmel incident that is when Elijah comes and he has a showdown like an old school showdown with the false prophets like 450 prophets of Baal and one prophet of God Elijah and he comes and he says let's see which God is the true God if Baal is real then let him prove himself if God is real he will prove himself and so they do the showdown right they have the pit of fire they're gonna offer a sacrifice and they go whichever God answers with fire in other words we won't light the fire that that God has to light the fire himself that's the real God so first the prophets about Allah go right they they put the wood and they sacrifice and then they start chanting and doing their prayer stuff and they start doing their weird weird rituals things that they do and they start cutting themselves and Elijah actually mocks them and he's like maybe you're gods in the bathroom and he can't hear you like I mean he's like making fun of them it's interesting passage right but now this isn't just childish mockery this is important because he has to put on display for Israel the foolishness of this idolatry it's actually very important sometimes it's important to to tear down false ideas even though it might offend some people because for their sake you need to break down this destructive idea and so he does this and and nothing happens and they cut themselves and they go for hours and hours and then Elijah Stern comes and he's so bold in his faith and trust God's power and the fact that God not only could answer but will answer that he says add water so they got the wood there and he they add water they had buckets of water so they just soaked the whole thing and he he just prays he doesn't cut himself he doesn't chant he doesn't have to have 30 worship songs first like he just prays and God answers with lightning from heaven boom just blows the thing up up everything that's in there and then Elijah is like kill the false prophets God has proven himself now this is Israel okay this isn't going into some crusade and some foreign land oh this is Israel this is the people of God who said we will follow God and here's the deal these false prophets who've been lying to you deceiving you causing you eternal harm now they must die so they slay these prophets and now in my mind now we're gonna read first Kings 19 we're gonna do this from the perspective of what is it like for Elijah to go through this like have you read this thinking how did it feel for Elijah he's up on Mount Carmel he has his mountaintop experience and in a sense it is the false prophets revealed for who they are God's glory shown to Israel and I think Elijah is thinking this now they will follow God now I could be wrong here I'm just guessing at his attitude this is what I would be thinking though I'd be like man God you showed yourself to all the people you proved yourself are those false prophets like amen now they will follow you God now Israel will revive Israel will turn their hearts back to you God yes and so you know they they slay the false prophets and then he comes leaves the mountain and then here's what happens next first Kings 19 and Ahab that was the king of Israel this is the Northern Kingdom Israel that they never didn't have a single good king by the way unfortunately many have told Jezebel that's his wife who's the one who inspired all this false worship of Baal so Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying we repent and we will turn to God no the messenger says so let the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time he gets a death threat from the queen of Israel whom Ahab is bowing down to ultimately she's really running his not her husband at this point and so so he here's the response the royal response to all of this is we're gonna kill you not a revival threats redoubling of the hatred against the truth of God so what does he do verse three and when he saw that he arose and ran for his life it is never wrong to run for your life he ran for his life and went to Beersheba which belongs to Judah and left his servant there Jew okay so the Israel this is a Northern Kingdom at this point they're split so Israel that's where a hub and Jezebel have their power and authority and she's like I'm gonna kill you so he goes down to Judah to try to get probably away from her in her power so he's just running for his life here he was thinking Israel's gonna be restored his riyals brought back to God and instead they're just solidified ultimately in the in the apostasy and it's just it's just tragedy verse 4 but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree there any prayed that he might die and said it is enough like I've had enough now Lord take my life for I am no better than my father's I want you to know something he did not take his life he may have had those ideas but he didn't think he had a right to take his life apparently but he did pray Lord I just wish you would take me just just kill me I just want to be done with life he goes from this mountaintop experience God's glory revealed all this powerful stuff but because of the response of people because of maybe disappointment maybe just the struggles of ministry I mean talk about a hard ministry he just he just wants to be dead I just wanted I just want to be gone I'm tired of these battles Lord is enough just take my life again doesn't talk about taking his own life but he just wishes God would do that I think he's experiencing massive discouragement massive massive discouragement to say the least he says he's no better than his father's I think he might be referring to the prophets who went before him who prophesied to Israel and try to get his reel to turn to God and they failed to and he thought when he started his ministry oh you know I know what I'm doing oh there will be revival once once I'm doing this thing once I travel around I tell people in the mess I've got like they're gonna oh man Israel's gonna come back to God no no I remember praying especially at a younger age lord please don't let me have a jeremiah ministry because I don't want to I just didn't want a ministry where you preach and nobody ever responds and now and now instead it's like lord I if that's what you want me to have just let me have the ability to bear it because that's not gonna be fun but your glory whatever you want you know let it be done butBut the stress of that is is tough and and I think we all know this when there's people you know and love and you care about you want to minister them and and it doesn't work out it's great anguish in your heart so as we as we read on it says on verse five and then as he lay and slept under a broom tree suddenly an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat then he looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coals in a jar of water so he ate and drank and laid down again the idea is he's just sleeping he's depressed I think he's just I'm sleeping I just leave all day I don't want to do anything don't want to get up don't move don't worry and some angel comes along says here's some food and water eat and drink he eats it goes back to sleep it seems like seems like a type of depression going on there and verse 7 in the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said arise and eat because the journey is too great for you but you have coming up you're not ready for it it's too great for you and that might be a key to the passage is this idea of it's too great for you you are not up to the task any more at this point you want to die you want these bad things to happen for yourself and then that attitude will turn to Israel in a second so he arose and ate and drank and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb the mountain of God and there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him God says to him what are you doing here Elisha the Lord asked questions it's not just to find the answers it's to get us to find the answers you know what are you doing here Elisha so he said I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword I alone that's important there alone am left and they seek to take my life God look at me I love you I've been serving you I've been faithful to you them they've rebelled against you they rebelled against your prophets and now they want to kill me and I'm here alone I'm alone I'm like the only one left on earth who loves God that's how he felt I'm the only faithful person around everybody else is just backslidden they're all fake Christians no it's just me it's just me that's how he felt verse verse 11 he says then he said go out God speaking stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks and pieces before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice so it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave suddenly a voice came to him and said what are you doing here Elijah it's the same thing he said before what are you doing here I I can't help but just think he's shaking him up right he's like what are you to get oh my largest and then like wind work like fire and then guys like what are you doing Carol and it's his attention you know in a really serious way I was like she's taken to somebody up in his sins and he said I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts because the children of Israel forsaken your covenant torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword I alone him left and they seek to take my life he's got the same five things he says then the Lord said to him go return and look at look at what happens to Elijah now go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you arrive anoint Hazael as king over Syria and you shall anoint jehu the son of nimshi as king over Israel and elisha the son of shaphat of abel mahalo you shall anoint as prophet in your place in your place he says it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of his ale a J who will kill and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu elijah will kill I think that he's I think here's what's happening I think with Elijah cuz what happens next is he gets taken up and we look at that as a glorious thing because it is a glorious thing but what occasioned it is a sad thing Elijah is overwhelmed with his responsibilities he's overwhelmed with discouragement and he just wants to give up and quit he can't see what's really happening and he thinks things are actually darker than they are so he says to God I went out I just went out I'm angry I'm upset I'm you know what just I wish you would just deal with them and God says anoint your replacement you're done at least for now I know your replacement I mean no Elijah is Elijah's replacement and he goes do these last tasks and your ministry is over I take that as like whoa whoa and then God tells him the truth of the situation that he just can't see verse 18 yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him Elijah there are seven thousand people like you who love me in Israel in the in the apostate Northern Kingdom where you've been all over the place for years preaching and ministering and you think there you think they're not there but I'm telling you they're there this is pretty intense the stuff you can go back to Romans 11 and he goes and he fulfills his task and he gets taken up and and glory to God for this but but man it's just so real I think that um Elijah comes he pleads according to Romans 11 he pleads with God against Israel Lord like take them out basically and the divine response verse 4 I've reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal guess what you want me to say off with their heads and God could he could have said off with their heads at any point I mean how many times could God have had a reason to destroy Israel or me for that matter or you in your life he just looks down it goes oh yeah you're done I mean how many times but that's not his heart towards us it's not his heart towards Israel God didn't instead what does he do he mentions a remnant whom he has preserved because God is working even in the midst of their greatest apostasy in the history of Israel God is at work still with people who are faithful to him in the darkest times are still lights shining I think that Jeremiah went through some similar stuff I mentioned Jeremiah a minute ago but but if you would turn to Jeremiah chapter 12 and let's look at what God said to Jeremiah when he had a similar situation and hopefully it'll speak to our hearts today because I think we need to hear this and if you don't need to hear it now you'll need to write it down and remember it for later cuz it seems like it's just a matter of time till you face your own intense discouragement in life it just seems like it's just a matter of time Jeremiah 12 starting in verse 1 he says righteous are you O Lord when I plead with you yet let me talk with you about your judgments he says god you're in fact one translation says righteous are you O Lord when I complained to you it's really interesting because he says okay I'm gonna its careful he's going I'm gonna complain to you God but I'm just acknowledging your righteous like you're right I know I'm wrong but let me tell you how it feels like that's so it's really very human you know it's just a very human moment God you were righteous I'm not at all impugning your goodness but please let me deal with this let me process this issue I'm going through and so he just puts it out there let me talk with you about your judgments why does the way of the wicked prosper why are those happy who deals so treacherously you have planted them yes they have taken root they grow yes they bear fruit they are near in your in you are near in their mouth but far from their mind they're false believers and there they say the name of God but their lives are wicked and you allow this it's like you've been it's almost like you've been blessing them what's up verse 3 but you O Lord know me you have seen me and you have tested my heart toward you pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter how long will the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither the beasts and birds are consumed for the wickedness of those who dwell there because they said he will not see our final end like there'll be no real judgment for our cup for our sins it's never gonna happen then in verse 5 here's God's response and it blows me away it's not what you'd expect he doesn't even explain to Jeremiah everything that's going on he just says this if you have run with the footmen and they've wearied you then how can you contend with the horses Jeremiah you think this is hard wait till you see what comes next you think this is tough you think the struggles and the battles are going through now our heart I'm telling you there's greater trials coming your way and you need to learn to deal with trials that's intense Jeremiah you've been running with you've been running a foot race with other footmen later you'll be running against horses and if you can't handle this now how will you handle the next trial how will you deal with the next thing that is coming your way Jeremiah I'm calling you to a glorious purpose but the glorious purpose is you reaching out to wicked people with God's truth and love it's not gonna be that easy Wow it continues he says if in the land of peace in which you trusted they wearied you then how would you do in the flood plain of the Jordan and it's a very picturesque language but he's saying he's saying you thought this was going to be easygoing and you can't handle it but I'm telling you this is the easier place what's coming next will be harder and so Jeremiah though he does actually continue his story is a tough story as ministries a tough ministry his life is a hard life until he goes to be with the Lord but he looks for a greater Kingdom and eternal glory I'm so more than worth it but we learned something through the Elijah through Jeremiah and I think we learned this is that you guys will face intense discouragement in life it's gonna happen at some point or another and sometimes rather than you know answering our complaints God is kind of saying you need to trust me you need to buck up spiritually and put your faith and trust in me because this is what you're here for this is this is what you're here for sometimes we have people in our lives we look at we think that person can handle this that person can handle anything and and God looks at you and he says with my strength in you you're that person with my power in you with my help for you you're that person I'm not saying it's easy but I'm saying it's biblical and and there's something very powerfully true about this stuff were you expecting a prosperity message tonight well prosperity is coming it's just not yet that's all God has preserved people and there's times where we look around in our lives like Elijah and we looked around and we think no everyone hates you God everyone's reject you the world's getting so dark and we need to remember this as dark as you think the world is now you don't know what God is doing in different places you don't know about the goodness that's happening like what if God just for a second arranged a meeting between you and everyone that got saved in the last 24 hours just around the world everybody who gave their life to Jesus in the last 24 hours and you got to sit down with them and just see and God goes look what I did in the last 24 hours that you don't even know about but you were freaking out because you watched the news and we just don't know what God's doing and if he preserved in Israel's greatest apostasy these 7,000 who had not bowed the knee is God not working today I don't want to be foolishly optimistic or foolishly pessimistic as a believer if God was no longer doing anything in this world the world would be over God is at work God is doing glorious things and we sometimes don't see it and it discourages us it discourages us things aren't as Extreme as we think they are when we look at the negative sides of this world and every generation thinks futures worse than they ever were before and it's like everybody says that every 10 years it's just maybe we're just be always becoming more aware of things as we get as we get older and and more alert to issues but things aren't necessarily worse than they were before I'm thinking that in the in the days before the flood things were probably even worse than they are just thinking you know that's that that's the case so don't quit don't think it's over stay hopeful stay hopeful don't be discouraged if you are discouraged take your complaint to the Lord and and and let let his word guide and direct you in this remember this I want to learn the lesson from Elijah and here's the lesson and this is what I honestly think I don't want to be disqualified from what God might do through my life because I get too easily discouraged because I think things are darker than they are and because I let things burden me in the wrong way I want to continue to get to serve Jesus more and so this means being able to say you know what I need to not believe my own news reports that I play in my head of the reality I see around me and I need to trust that God is working yeah I also think there's another lesson in there if 7000 had not bowed the knee which is a good number of people especially the population size back then but but a large number had bowed the knee what we need to learn and we learned this from a lot of the the fact that the minority of Jews had accepted Christ the majority had not is we cannot be testing the wind in life like oh oh the wind is blowing the church is now accepting homosexuality okay I'm down because I don't want to be looked at as a bigot or I don't wanna be seen as rude or cruel or whatever or oh the wind is blowing again hell has become unpopular so we're no longer gonna teach on that issue or judgment or wrath or Jesus being the only way or any of these other many solidly biblical truths that when the wind blows I want to be found as one of the few that has not bowed the knee to those things and that's that's a good encouragement for us is be willing to go against the flow alright let's continue to get a little bit further tonight verse 5 it says even so even so in now Paul takes the illustration from Elijah and he applies it to his day even so at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace not because they deserve it but because of God's called by grace and love and mercy there were a remnant of Jewish believers in Jesus in Yeshua at the time of Paul there's two messages here to the Jew I would say be mindful of the fact that the Hebrew Bible speaks of this remnant of faithful Israel so they shouldn't be going well a lot of Jews don't accept Jesus so I won't either but rather they should go now a lot of Jews didn't accept Jeremiah or Elijah or Isaiah or Ezekiel or you know any of these guys so let me look at Jesus as the possible Messiah the faithful among Israel have been the remnant before but to the Gentile that messages this is don't discount the Jewish people there was an imminent in Paul's time there was still a remnant and there's still a remnant today although it's bigger than it was in Paul's time as of a few years ago the estimates that I that I read like five or six years ago were that there were about 350,000 Messianic Jews Jews who believed in Jesus three hundred fifty thousand now these numbers are tough to come by because a lot of Jews who do believe in Jesus they realize they'll be ostracized sometimes sometimes from family members and so then there's a lot of kind of nervousness about how open to be and all that sort of thing there's been some who have been treated as though they're not Jews like it could be Buddhists and you're a Jew you're still a Jew you'll be Hindu and you're a Jew you're still a Jew you become Christian you're a Jew you're not a Jew anymore it's it's it's kind of a persecution thing towards the Jewish believers well nowadays there are more Jews following Jesus than in Paul's time so anyone that says Israel is cast off and God's completely done with them I think it's unbiblical to say that and and it speaks to God's love and mercy and faithfulness towards us that he's still working his glorious work in Israel though I don't think this means we endorse everything national Israel does and we shouldn't we should be more thoughtful than that verse 6 it says an if by grace if there's calling if this choosing of God is by His grace then it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace but if it is of works it is no longer grace otherwise work is no longer work this is the last scripture will do tonight but we've got to focus on it because this verse is so neglected and I love verse six okay I know it's like a dictionary verse it's like it's like it really is like a section of the dictionary here's what grace means here's what works means here's what it doesn't mean and here's what it doesn't mean so it it's defining terms it's beautiful and it's super important and it's totally neglected and I would beg every Jehovah's Witness every Mormon every Catholic and anybody else who believes in grace plus works to study verse six of Romans 11 because it completely destroys those theologies they're not possible let me explain it says here that grace is no longer of works and works is no longer of grace because if you're gonna pretend that if it is of works it's not of grace if your attendance of grace and it's not of works that these are this is what's called a dichotomy a separation of two options there's only two choices here you are a saved by grace or you're saved by works what everyone tries to do but all false Gospels try to do is they try to combine the two into some mixture so that when we encounter a Jehovah's Witness and you say well I believe we're saved by grace and they go we agree and you go wait a minute I don't think and you talk to the Mormon I believe we're saved by grace and they go absolutely we agree and you go but wait a minute that's not a creek and you talk to the Catholic I believe we're totally saved by grace and you go like you can't you can't say that because if you say grace you may not works and they go well I'm not saying not works I'm saying grace you know and works but the Bible here is saying you cannot say that that's not allowed I think it's the rules okay you can't you can't add grace plus works you can't have Taco Bell and Mexican food okay it's one or the other it's not both so one is one is not the other so here's here's here's a way to summarize this as you're as you're sharing with people and you get into that confusing moment where you're like wait a minute you can't say that is you can show them Romans 11:6 and then say but if it's by grace then it's no longer of works and if it's by works is no longer of grace these things don't compute you can't combine them so I I here to put this way is everyone believes in the necessity of grace all false Gospels will teach that you need some version of grace that grace is needed it's necessary but they don't believe in the sufficiency of grace or in other words they don't believe grace is enough just grace not enough you got to do stuff too and then I would say well if you have just Grace and doing stuff that's not grace because they view grace get this as a discount on salvation not free salvation grace is viewed like it's a coupon like oh Jesus I'm gonna bring all my works like I got all I got all my change but then I got the coupon so I have enough to buy salvation that's ultimately what we're saying but grace is simply free it's utterly free gift of God I do not offer anything so grace equals not works works equals not grace it's a true dichotomy you've got to pick one or the other the Bible is defining its terms here and you can't argue with this and be biblical it's like the Bible is going just so you know future false Gospels let me define what I mean when I say grace saved by grace it means not works that's good stuff good stuff grace is not a discount on salvation it means salvation is utterly free so how does that relate to why's Paul pointing this out how does it relate to what he was saying about about the the Jewish people and he's like God has has elected chosen to do a work in the Jewish people and he's chosen to do this work by grace and so just as your salvation is secure in grace so God's future promises to Israel are secured by grace there are promises God made to Israel that are not conditional right where he just says to Abraham here's what I'm gonna do period I'm just going to do it by grace there are other ones that are conditional and we see those things experienced the flip flop of Israel and judgment on this and that but yet those unconditional promises and the prophetic statements about their future are secured so we'll talk more about that next week and what I want to do next week is will continue in Romans 11 but we'll look at actually some of those promises to Israel in some of the prophets so we can kind of try to build an image of what God's future plan for Israel is as a nation because we believe that their God is not done with them God is not done with them and I think that that's encouraging because when I see God's love and patience with Israel I know he has the same patience towards us and I need it let's pray father God we are grateful for your love and grace we thank you Lord that you are so faithful to to the people of Israel to to the Jewish people that you you're your calling of them as a people even though it might be working through a remnant at the time it is still intact and there's a future hope for them and that we delight in that God we delight in that we pray as we continue through Romans 11 you give us wisdom to understand the relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles between being grafted in and the natural branches and all that and the root give us wisdom let us let us just get it and understand it better but but tonight as we close our prayer is this lord help us to have endurance help us to have endurance that we would not see things as darker than they are they wouldn't process things through our limited vision but we would have a hopeful attitude in that we don't see everything we know that you say you are working all things together for good or let us know that that's true we pray for encouragement for each of us Lord we are sword that you'd encourage everyone here everyone listening who is hearing this message who's been facing some discouragement because that's the real battle that that's it's worse than what's going on is is how it impacts us so God see our weakness meet us where we're at be our refuge and give us more hope so we can continue serving you so we don't get disqualified from those future opportunities to glorify Christ in this world in Jesus name Amen [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 19,982

Keywords: God has not forsaken Israel: Romans 11:1-6, has God forsaken Israel, what is God's plan for Israel, God's love for Israel, replacement theology, elijah, mount carmel, 1 Kings 19, still small voice, Jeremiah 12:5, Romans 11:1-6, anti-semitism, Jesus was a Jew, Mike Winger, BibleThinker, does God still have a plan for Israel?, are the Jewish people forsaken?

Id: o4xwzInRySA

Length: 44min 35sec (2675 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 08 2017