The Roman’s Road to Righteousness (Chapter 11:1-10)‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏

Hello Friends!

Welcome Back! Let’s continue our journey through the book of Romans – “The Romans Road to Righteousness.”

The Roman’s Road to Righteousness (Chapter 11:1-10)

 
This week we will begin reading chapter 11, verses 1-10 as we consider Israel’s Rejection is Not Total…

There is an important truth that must be initially established for a full understanding of the heart and soul of this chapter – the Bible makes it very clear that God can be trusted and God keeps His word! Having said that, we will make a direct application of that principle. 

 

God has made very specific “promises” to the “Jews” of the nation “Israel” and the Bible is literally filled with these special pronouncements. You will remember back in chapter 9 that it is the “nation” of “Israel” God “chose” for “blessings” and “adoption” as well as other wonderful benefits:

…who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises – Romans 9:4

Israel's very existence today as a “nation” is tied directly to these precious “promises” of God! The “Jews” were “elected” by God as His “chosen nation” and by His own “unconditional” Sovereignty He promised to “bless” them. In fact, the Abrahamic Covenant was not even conditioned upon them! In other words, God determined to “choose” them no matter what they did or didn’t do! God would bring about the right circumstances to fulfill His “promises” to the nation of “Israel” – in His perfect timing. The question of God keeping those “promises” is a question of divine integrity. If God has cancelled or changed His “promises” to “Israel,” then we as Christians are in a lot of trouble! Why? Because we then have a God who can't be trusted and who may also change His “promises” to us – the Bride of Jesus Christ!

 

Many pastors and “religious” leaders today teach that God has cancelled all of His covenant “promises” to “Israel” and they are now being spiritually fulfilled in the church today. In other words, the church is the “new Israel” and is spiritually receiving all of the literal “promises” that God has made to the literal “nation” of “Israel.” This false and unbiblical doctrine is known as Replacement Theology or Super-Secessionism. These “teachers” tell us that Christians are now the new “Israel” of God. Is this true? If the “Jews” have rejected Jesus Christ as their “Messiah” then aren't all His “promises” to them cancelled? The Biblically correct answer to this very important question is an unwavering NO! And that's the bottom line understanding of what is before us in this critical chapter!

 

Three triumphant truths take up Paul's thoughts in this amazing chapter. We will see that “Israel’s” rejection by God is partial, passing and purposeful. 

 

First ~ Israel’s rejection by God is partial (verses 1 to 10)

Second ~ Israel’s rejection by God is passing (verses 11 to 24)

Third ~ Israel’s rejection by God is purposeful (verses 25 to 36) 

This week will consider the First section (verses 1 to 10) of Paul’s exposition of God’s future plan for the “Jews” and the “nation” of “Israel” in His prophetic time table of events… 

 

Israel’s rejection by God is partial:

 

First of all, the Apostle Paul addresses the question “has God cast away His people?” And again he provides his critics with a very familiar and straight-forward answer – “Certainly not!”:

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin – Romans 11:1

Again, “Certainly not!” is the strongest negative in the Greek language – “God forbid!“ Paul testifies: “I also am an Israelite” and the “seed of Abraham” of the “tribe of Benjamin.” In other words, Paul is saying: “If God has “cast away His people,” I wouldn't have entered into covenant blessing and I certainly wouldn't have come to “salvation” in Jesus Christ!

 

HISTORICAL NOTE: The two “tribes” of “Judah” and “Benjamin” had moved south and never totally defected from God. They had the most dignity, honor and prestige of all the “tribes” of “Israel.” The other ten tribes had moved north and went completely apostate…

 

With another Old Testament explanation from the book of 1 Kings, Paul further explores the truth of God’s “electing” purposes for “His people whom He foreknew”:

God has 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, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal” – Romans 11:2-4

The Bible tells us that God “foreknew” a “nation” and it was birthed. This is the knowing of deep intimacy – a close relationship of “love” for His special people. Of all the “nations” in the world, it is only “Israel” that God predetermined – “foreknew” – to “love” with His eternal intimacy! Here in Paul’s reply we also see that “Elijah” had a “martyr complex” – “I alone am left...” But what was God's “divine response” to him?

Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him – 1 Kings 19:18

There were indeed “seven thousand” people that God protected with “Elijah” because they did not go into the apostasy of “idol” worship – a small “remnant” to be sure! In fact, during Malachi's time, there was also a “remnant” that “feared the Lord” and did “esteem His name” who “spoke to one another” and sought to have their names “written” in God's “book of remembrance”:

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name – Malachi 3:16

REMEMBER: There is always a “remnant” of believers who are “saved” by God’s Sovereign preservation. In fact, even in the time of Paul we see that the whole of “Israel” hadn't rejected God:

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace – Romans 11:5

There was a “remnant” at that “present time” for God. There were the Apostles of Jesus Christ. There was the church in Jerusalem of which quickly grew under power of the Holy Spirit – 3,000 faithful “Jewish” people were “saved” at the day of Pentecost “according to the election of grace” through God’s undeserved favor! In fact, by the time of Acts chapter 8 there were some 20,000 Christian “believers” filling “Jerusalem” with the “Gospel” of Jesus Christ. And in Acts chapter 15 we find the very first Jerusalem Council meeting under the direct leadership of Jesus’ “believing” half-brother James – Praise the Lord!

 

Paul then makes another familiar pronouncement pertaining to the “election” of God’s “grace”:

And if by 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 – Romans 11:6

What Paul is saying here is the “election” of God’s “grace” is what “chooses” His “remnant.” And if it's by God’s “grace” then it's “no longer of works” because if you’ve earned it, it’s “no longer grace” – Salvation is by God’s “grace” alone! God's “grace” and man's “works” are mutually exclusive. And so God has His “remnant” according to His “grace.” There will always be a faithful group of a believing “remnant” to fulfill the very Word of God – Very important to understand!

 

To further support his point from Scripture, Paul takes another look back at the Old Testament books of Isaiah and Deuteronomy:

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day” – Romans 11:7-8

Here Paul quotes the Prophet Isaiah:

For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers – Isaiah 29:10

And then finishes this thought with a quote from Moses:

Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day – Deuteronomy 29:4

In other words, “Israel” hasn't “obtained what it seeks” and they “were blinded” by God with a “spirit of stupor.” But the “elect have obtained it” by “faith” in God. The Greek word epizeteo for "seek" is a very intense and earnest kind of seeking for “righteousness.” However, as we’ve learned, the “Jews” went about to “establish their own righteousness” and didn't submit themselves to the “righteousness” of God. They never “learned” that “Jesus Christ” is the “end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” They didn't know it was a matter of “faith” and not of “works.” But “to this very day” the “Jews” still “seek” for a “righteousness” of their own kind – Utterly impossible!

 

Finally, Paul quotes another Old Testament Patriarch:

And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always – Romans 11:9-10

These are passages quoted from King David in the book of Psalms:

Let their table become a snare before them, and their well-being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; and make their loins shake continually – Psalm 69:22-23

Psalm 69 is one of the most marvelous Messianic Psalms in the entire Old Testament in speaking about the suffering of the “Savior.” It is a “lament” of the “Messiah's” grief, suffering and pain. The picture of the “darkened” eyes and a “bow down” back is the picture of pain, grief and blindness. The “table” was known as a place of “well-being” and comfort. However, the “Jews” are “trapped” at their own self-righteous “table” of pain and are “feasting” on a false religious system of heresy. Here “David” pronounces this curse – “a snare” and “a stumbling block” – on the enemies of God who refuse to be “obedient” to Him… “Jew” or “Gentile” alike!

 

In closing:

 

There are three different Old Testament Hebrew expressions of "the apple of His eye" translated into the English:

 

The first Old Testament expression is found in the book of Deuteronomy and literally says in Hebrew "little man of the eye."

He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye – Deuteronomy 32:10

When you get close enough to someone and look directly into their eye, you invariably see a reflection of yourself reduced to a very small stature…

 

The second Old Testament expression is found in the book of Psalms and literally says in Hebrew "little daughter of the eye."

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings – Psalm 17:8

These first two expressions describe the part of the eye in which you appear to be very small by reflection…

 

The third Old Testament expression is found in the book of Zechariah and literally says in Hebrew "gate of the eye."

For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye – Zechariah 2:8

This is the retina of the eye – “the gate” – which allows the light to come into the mind. Therefore, when you “touch” the “apple of His eye” you are poking your finger in God's eye! You “touch” God in a very sensitive spot…

 

The point these Scriptures are making is that God deeply cares for “Israel” and this special “nation” has a very unique relationship to Him:

I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you – Genesis 12:3

When you “touch” the “Jews” you GREATLY irritate God – Not a wise thing to do!

Please continue reading verses 1-10 of the eleventh chapter of Romans.

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com

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Blessings!
Shane K. Morin <><

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