ROMANS 11:1-15 ISRAEL IS GODS PEOPLE2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 11:1-15 Israel Is Gods People

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. And so we're here in Romans chapter 11 this evening, and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 18, but let's get started for the evening in reading verses 1 through 6. Romans chapter 11 verses 1 through 6 says this,

And they seek my life.

But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Verse 5. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of 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. Here we're getting into Romans chapter 11 and continuing the discussion that Paul's been having regarding the nation of Israel and their part and their place within the gospel message and the work of Christ upon the cross and the message of the gospel that we have, but then also their reception or rather rejection of that gospel message.

And so he's going to go into pretty great detail here in chapter 11 about the nation of Israel and their place in God's plan. And so I've titled the message this evening, Israel is God's people. We need to know as we look at these things and read these verses that are set before us this evening, that Israel is God's chosen people. They have a special place in God's plan. And this has been true since...

Abraham, where God selected Abraham to be the father of the nation. And so the descendants of Abraham are the Jewish people, the Israelites, the Hebrews. And so God selected Abraham and had a special plan for him and his descendants. One of the parts of that plan was that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come from the line of Abraham. And so God

And so that's one aspect to, you know, them being the people of God and God's chosen people. But there's also many other things that go along with that. They are God's chosen people. It was true of Abraham and his children and his grandchildren, but it's still true today. And it will always be true that Israel is God's people.

Now, this is some interesting stuff to consider for some, and you maybe have some background in some of the different opinions regarding Romans chapter 11 and the nation of Israel. Some people teach these things differently. Some people believe that God has no future plans for Israel.

That right now, as far as God is concerned, Israel is just like any other nation. It could be Mexico. It could be Peru. It could be Spain. It could be the United States. They're just one of many nations. No real special purposes. No real special plans for Israel any longer in the plan of God. That's what some people think.

Others take it a little bit further and also say that the church has permanently replaced Israel. And so all the promises that were given to Israel that were not yet fulfilled, those are all fulfilled in the church. And so it's the church that has replaced Israel, and it's only about the church that God is working in and working through, and that's all that God has in store for the future.

Now, these things relate to what people believe about the end times.

And I'm not going to get into that, but, you know, there's different views than what we believe and what we teach regarding the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ. And so there are those who do not believe that there will be a millennium, or they believe it happens at different times, and that's intertwined with their understanding and their perspective on Israel in God's plan.

Now, again, like I said, I'm not going to get into that this evening, but there's plenty there if you want to dig into those things. There's lots of interesting things to consider about the end times and Israel's place in the end times. I'll pray about and maybe cover that, you know, in the coming weeks, some of the end time scenarios integrated with God's plan for Israel. But I want to focus this evening on God.

the fact that Israel is God's people, that they are God's chosen people, and that God is not changed that. He has not changed it. He will not change it. And that's demonstrated. I'll just share a quick scripture with you from Jeremiah chapter 33, where the Lord says, "...if my covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth..."

Then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will cause their captives to return and will have mercy on them. Now this prophecy is given through the prophet Jeremiah during the time where Israel is being taken captive, or rather Judah is being taken captive by Babylon. And so here God's promising this isn't the end.

Even though Babylon is conquering the nation, it's not the end. That I'm still going to bring them back and they're still going to be the descendants of Abraham and there's going to still be people to rule on the throne of David. There's still going to be a work of God. You're still going to be my people, even though there's this captivity that is taking place.

But the way that God addresses this makes it clear this wasn't just for that moment, that captivity, that issue that they were facing, because God ties his covenant to the people of Israel today at night. Now, today we had a sunrise.

And this evening we had a sunset. It continues today. And God says, as long as that continues, as long as there's this cycle of day and night, as long as, you know, essentially the earth is rotating and experiencing this relationship with the sun, well, then there is going to be the ongoing commitment of God that Israel is his chosen people.

And so as we look at these things today, we can understand these things are still true. Israel is God's chosen people, and they play an important part in God's plan of salvation.

for all humanity. And so we'll see that a little bit as we get into these verses this evening. So we're going to look at four points here from Romans chapter 11 verses 1 through 18, looking at Israel as God's chosen people. The first point found in verses 1 through 6 is that God has not cast Israel away. We need to understand as we look at these things that God is not done with Israel.

God has not cast them away. He's not through with them, but he still has plans for them. Looking again at verse 1, Paul says, Paul says, Now, why is this a question?

Well, if you've been following along with us in Romans chapter 9 and 10, Paul's been dealing with the subject of Israel, the people of Israel, and their rejection of the gospel, their rejection of the things that were brought by Jesus Christ.

You might remember in Romans chapter 9 verse 3, Paul says, I wish that I was accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. Paul was talking about the gospel, the great benefits of the gospel in Romans chapter 8, that glorious chapter that gives all these incredible truths about who we are and what we have as believers in Jesus. And then he goes into chapter 9 and he says, I wish my people, the Israelites, had those benefits. I

And I wish even I could be accursed for their sake. So I would be cut off so that they would experience the glories of the gospel and the forgiveness that's offered by Jesus Christ. But he explains there in Romans chapter 9, but they don't. They don't have those things. And he concludes in verse 32, the reason why they don't have those things is because they stumbled at the stumbling stone.

They got tripped up over Jesus. They got tripped up over the idea of righteousness comes by faith and not by keeping the law, not by doing good works or following the laws that were given through Moses. Again, in Romans chapter 10, Paul expresses a similar thought and he says, my prayer continually is that Israel may be saved.

He says, I bear them witness. They have a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge. They're passionate about God, but they don't really know what they're passionate about. They don't really know what's going on. They don't know the truth. And so instead, they insist on approaching God according to their own righteousness. And in Romans chapter 10, verse 3, it says that they have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

So again, the problem with Israel is that they were attempting to approach God on the basis of their own works. They're keeping the law, their goodness, and they refused to submit to the righteousness of God, which comes by faith in Jesus Christ. At the end of Romans chapter 10, where we ended two weeks ago,

It tells us in Romans 10, 21, it says, to Israel, he says, all day long, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.

And God is expressing there, he's been reaching out, desiring for Israel to be saved, and they continue to turn away, continue to rebel, and continue to resist. And so now comes the question. Since that's the way they've been relating to God and been treating God and been dealing with the gospel and Jesus, does that mean now that God has cast away his people?

Does that mean that God has cast Israel away because he's been stretching out his hands, but they've been disobedient and contrary and not receiving what he has to say? Now, the idea here is he asked this question, has God cast away his people? The idea, the implication that he's making is that has he cast God's people away in a complete or permanent way? That is, is it

that Israel has no future plans, no further purposes in God's kingdom or God's plans for the world. Is that the case? Because they rejected Jesus, does that mean God has cast his people away permanently? And then Paul answers that question.

And he says, certainly not. This is a strong, absolute no. No way. No way, Jose. Absolutely not. Not possible. Never going to happen. Certainly not. That's what that means. God has not cast away his people. And Paul goes on to offer some proof of that here in verse 1.

in himself. He says, I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. And so the point he's making here is if God had cast away Israel permanently and completely, then Paul could not have been saved.

Paul would not have been saved because he was part of Israel. And so he's presenting himself as proof God still is doing a work in the people of Israel. God still has plans for the people of Israel. Now, this concept here in verse 1 is a really important key to understanding the things that we'll be dealing with here in Romans chapter 11.

Paul is talking about Israel collectively and generally. And as he's talking about the Gentiles in a few more verses, he's going to be talking about the Gentiles collectively and generally. And so we need to understand we're not talking about individual salvation in this chapter. We're not talking about, you know, because...

some of these things, as we'll see even more next week, about the branch being grafted in and pulled out and, you know, the once saved, always saved, and those kinds of discussions all get heated up in this chapter. But it will help us tremendously if we will remember Paul is dealing with the people as a whole, collectively. And so, in general, the nation of Israel rejected Jesus and

But it's not an exaggerated, total, complete, everybody in Israel rejected Jesus. No, many of the people of Israel actually turned to Jesus and received Jesus as Savior and continue to this day. But collectively as a whole,

You know, it's not the majority that have turned to Jesus. There is some. There is a remnant, as we'll see later this evening. And the same thing as we talk about the Gentiles, that he's dealing with them as a whole, collectively and generally. He's not really talking about specific individuals. And so he presents himself as the example to say, look, I'm part of Israel. So you can't say that God has cast away his people altogether and completely. Right?

Moving on to verse 2, it says, Verse 4, Verse 5,

I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So example number two, Paul gives, so that you can know that God has not cast Israel away. First is Paul himself. Second, he gives the example of Elijah. And he's calling back to 1 Kings chapter 19. There in 1 Kings chapter 19, we see the prophet Elijah saying,

Immediately after he's been dealing with the prophets of Baal, and you remember the altar that he built, and he had to pour water on it, and he said, all right, whichever God answers by fire, that's God, and we're going to submit to that God and follow that God. And so they all agreed, and then, of course, Elijah calls out to the Lord, and God answers by fire. Well, immediately after that, the queen, Jezebel, threatens Elijah.

And he gets freaked out. He has this great victory, but he gets freaked out by this queen who says, I'm going to kill you. And so he runs to the mountain of God. He hides in a cave and God comes to Elijah and says, hey, what are you doing here? Why are you here in this place right now? And Elijah responds and Paul's quoting it here in verse three. And he says, Lord, I've been very zealous for you.

I mean, I've been doing awesome things for you. I've been passionate for you. I've been serving you. I've torn down their altars, and they've torn down your altars. I've killed the false prophets, but they've killed the true prophets, and I'm the last one. I'm the only one that's left. It's all me, Lord. That's all that's left. I'm the only one here, and

And so, Lord, I've run away. I'm trying to preserve my life. And you can see perhaps some depression happening here in Elijah as he says, I alone am left and they seek to take my life. He's distraught. He thinks he's the only one. Do you ever feel like that? You ever feel like you're the only one that's faithful to the Lord?

Maybe you're wise enough to know that you're not the only one faithful to the Lord, you know, in the world. But sometimes we feel like we're the only one in the family or the only one in the workplace or the only one, you know, in the community or in the church or wherever. And we feel like I'm the only one, you know, I'm the only one that's been faithful. I'm the only one that's, you know, really serious about the Lord. And Paul, I'm sorry, not Paul, but God responds to Elijah in 1 Kings 19, verse 18. Paul quotes it in verse 4.

And he says, you're not the only one. Like, who do you think you are? Like, all of God's plan depends on you, you know, and it's all about you. No, he says, I've got 7,000 men who've not bowed their knees to Baal. They've been faithful to me. I've got 7,000 men. They haven't worshipped Baal, and they're ready to do what I call them to do. You're not all alone, God tells Elijah. You're not all by yourself.

There is this group of people that I have preserved and reserved for this time, and they're ready to serve me. They've been faithful to me. And so what Paul is saying here is, okay, from Elijah's perspective, he thought God has cast away Israel. There's nobody who serves God anymore. There's nobody left. It's all me, and they're about to kill me. And as soon as they kill me, then that's it. God's plan is over because, you know, there's no one left in Israel who worships God.

But God corrects him and says, no, you don't know the whole picture. You don't have the whole story. I have my people reserved, preserved, ready to serve me. And so Paul is making the point, just as God had that group of people reserved in that day, well, even in this day that he was writing that, and even in our day today, God has not cast away Israel. Yes, the majority reject Jesus, but the

There are those that he has preserved, that he has reserved, who are faithful to him. And so he sums that up in verse 5 saying, even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. He says, even so at this time, right now, there is a remnant of grace.

And God always has a remnant. It was true in Elijah's day when Elijah didn't believe it or didn't know about it. It was true in Paul's day and it's true today. God has a remnant, specifically amongst the nation of Israel, of those who are descendants of Abraham, who are faithful to him and who follow him and believe in Jesus Christ. We need to understand that it was never automatic that every person

descendant of Abraham was saved. Now that's what the Jewish people thought in Jesus's day and Paul's day. They thought we're automatically saved because we descend from Abraham. Abraham's our father and so that means we're saved. But that was never the reality that God presented. There were always individuals who rebelled. Even when the nation as a whole was following God, there were individuals who rebelled against God. They weren't automatically saved.

There were always individuals who believed God, even when the nation as a whole was turning away from God and running away from God. So, for example, in Jeremiah's day, the nation as a whole was rebelling against God, but Jeremiah was faithful to God. In Elijah's day, the nation as a whole was turning away from God, but Elijah was faithful to God. There's always been the individuals who have believed even when the majority have turned away.

And there has always been those who rebelled, even when the majority have been walking with God. It was never automatic. God has always had his followers, whether the masses are faithful to him or not. Now, he says, even so then at this time, there is a remnant, but notice what he says, according to the election of grace. So how did the people of Israel get the privilege of being included in this remnant?

How did it come about that they got to participate? They got to be part of this special group of people who were faithful to God and reserved for the work of God. And he says, it's according to the election of grace. That it wasn't that they earned a place in the remnant, but that by God's grace, they

these were included, these who are faithful to the Lord. In verse 6, he expounds on that a little bit more. He says, 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. This is a great verse. There's a contrast. Grace and works are opposites. You can't

have both operating at the same time. Because grace is, well, it's God's goodness that is not earned, not deserved. That's what it is. Works, on the other hand, are, well, it's earnings. It's earning something. So when you work, you have wages. It's what you've earned. But grace is a gift. It's unearned, undeserved.

And so he says, if it's by grace, then it's no longer by works. If it's a gift, you don't have to earn it. If it's a gift, you can't earn it, is the point that Paul is making. Because if you have to earn it, then it's no longer a gift. But if it's of works, that is, if you have to earn it, well, then now it's not a gift. It's not grace anymore. Otherwise, then works are not work. Because if you have to earn it, but then it's not earned, then...

Earning isn't earning if it's given. Make sense? No, it doesn't make sense. That's the point. It's according to grace. It's not according to works. You can't earn it. You can't deserve it. It's not earned. It's not works. It's grace.

And so those who are part of the remnant, those who are part of those who are faithful to God are part of that group, not because they've earned it, not because they've deserved it, but because God has given it. He has shown grace. Nobody earns the right to be part of the remnant. Now, some will take this too far to the other side and say, well, that means then

that people didn't have a choice. So God just chose, all right, you're in the remnant, whether you like it or not. But understand that because it's grace, because it's the election of grace, doesn't then eliminate the responsibility of a person. The way that God works is he included the people in this remnant. He showed them grace, the ones who responded to him in faith, who pursued righteousness by faith and not by the works of the law.

But even though these are the people who chose to obey God, chose to pursue the righteousness of faith, they still didn't deserve. It's always grace. None of us deserve goodness from God. Anything that we receive good from God is always grace. And so there's this responsibility on our part, responsibility on the individuals of Israel's part, as well as the calling and election of God, the choosing of God, and the working of grace.

But what's not true is that it's works. So no matter what, it's not earned, it's not deserved. It's by God's grace that there is a remnant at all times, that God shows grace to his people to preserve a group. So God has not cast Israel away. That's the point. He has not cast Israel away. And that means that he is faithful to his word.

Now, for you and I today, of course, there's important aspects to this to understand this truth regarding the nation of Israel, that Israel is God's people and he's not cast Israel away. But we can also understand from these truths that as faithful as God is to the promises that he made to Israel, he's going to be also that faithful to the promises that he's made to us, the church, as believers in Jesus Christ.

And so as a believer in Jesus, I want to encourage you this evening, no matter what happens in your life, God has not cast you away. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you can know for sure, as certainly as God has not cast away the people of Israel, for you as a believer in Jesus, no matter what happens in your life, no matter what you go through, maybe something already right now, or maybe something that's happening tomorrow that we don't even know about yet, no matter what is happening, God has not cast you away.

Remember, and all this ties back to Romans chapter 8, where Paul said, You are not cast away from God. You might feel like that sometimes. And the enemy, of course, tries to convince us of that many times. But

But understand, as God is faithful to the nation of Israel and his people, he also is faithful to you as a believer in Jesus Christ, and he will be faithful to his word. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Also, I would encourage you that no matter what's happening in your life, God is still able to work. We can be like Elijah and look around and think, I'm the only one. You know, how is anything ever going to get done? Nothing ever, you know, good is ever going to happen. There's

God would say, I have plans that you don't know about. I'm still able to do a work. And we can look around and think it's impossible to reach our nation. But God could say, you know, if I want to reach the nation, I can reach the nation and I can include you in that work if I desire to. We might look around and think it's impossible to reach my family. You know, they're just too far gone. It's too difficult. Too much things going on. Too much history. But God might say, you know,

I could do that work. I have some people reserved for that. And maybe you're one of them. You're part of the remnant, part of what God wants to do. We might look around and think it's impossible to reach our workplace. And God could say, you know, I have some people that I could throw into that mix and do a great work there. And so no matter what is happening in our life, we can still trust God and know he's able to work. He has not cast us away. I like what David Guzik says. He says, we often think that God needs a lot of people to do a great work.

but he often works through a small group. Usually it's just a remnant. It's just a few of us. And God says, with the remnant, you know, think about Gideon, you know, with the 300, I can do a great work and that way I get the glory. And so don't feel like God has cast you off in the same way that he has not cast off Israel, he has not cast off you. Well, going on now to point number two in verses seven through 10.

Here we see the point that Israel is blinded. Verse 7 says this, So they're not cast off. So, well, what is the condition of Israel? What is their status? Well, the issue is Israel has not obtained what it seeks.

What was Israel seeking? They were seeking right relationship with God. They were seeking righteousness, but they didn't obtain it. They didn't obtain right relationship with God, but the elect have obtained it. The elect have received right relationship with God, but those who didn't receive it, the rest, he says, were blinded. Now, they did not obtain the

Right relationship with God or righteousness because Paul explained in chapters 9 and 10, they sought that right relationship with God by their works instead of by faith. But there are those who have obtained it and Paul refers to them as the elect. Now, we can also substitute the word remnant there.

The remnant that we've just been talking about. Of the nation of Israel, of the people of Israel, there are the elect. There are the remnant. Those who have obtained right relationship with God. And the reason why they've obtained right relationship with God is because they responded to God's instruction and sought righteousness by faith and not by works. And so they become the remnant or the elect. But notice what he says at the end of verse seven. He says, the rest were blinded.

So Israel is not cast away completely. There are those who have received God's truth and God's word and responded to it. But the rest, the majority, the rest who did not receive righteousness by faith, they were blinded. And Paul's going to go on to say they were blinded by God. And here's what we need to understand. There's a spiritual truth that is revealed here. And that is to refuse the light is to embrace darkness.

The reality is, the issue here is that the nation of Israel as a whole rejected the light. The light came into the world, but men love darkness rather than light, we see in John chapter 1. Now, when we reject the light, it's also at the same time an embracing of darkness. And the result is this blindness. If you refuse to seek right standing with God by faith in Jesus, you will become blind. Now,

We shouldn't take that so far to think that, you know, you get one shot. Hear the gospel one time. If you reject it, now you're blind forever. It's not single elimination. It's not double elimination. God's patient and he gives us multiple opportunities to turn and to respond to his word. But there does come this time where God stops bringing revelation. Now, the idea of the rest were blinded, you know, that God brought blindness upon the nation is

Causes some concern for some people, you know, because is it fair for God to blind them? Because we think of it in terms of like, well, doesn't that mean that God's taking their choice away? But understand that when it talks about God bringing this blindness, it's not about God taking away their choice. It's about God honoring their choice. He's giving them what they have chosen. Another way to look at this or to think about these things is Israel,

only has opportunity to see God when he brings forth revelation. And that's true for every person. Jesus said that we only draw near to God when God draws us. We only call out to the Lord when he draws us. The only time that we have revelation is when God brings it. And so for the nation of Israel, they had revelation. God brought revelation. They never had the ability to have revelation from within them themselves.

They never had that ability. They never had sight on their own. It was never their resources that gave them revelation. It was always God bringing them revelation. And so as God brought them revelation and they refused, they turned away, they refused to look, they refused to believe, then ultimately God said, okay, well, I'm going to stop bringing you revelation then.

Because you've made it quite clear, you don't want revelation. And so it's, again, it's not God forcing a choice, it's God honoring their choice. God keeps turning on the light and they say, no, turn it off. And he turns it on and they turn it off and he turns it on and they turn it off. And this goes through for some time. You can see throughout the history of Israel. And so finally God listens. It's okay, well, I'll leave the light off then.

And so they're blinded. The end result is they're blinded because they refuse to receive the light. In verse 8, he says,

Now here, Paul is quoting from a couple different passages. It's not really a direct quotation, but getting the sense of Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse 4, as well as Isaiah chapter 29 verse 10. But again, it's the same type of thought. God has given them a spirit of stupor. He's brought this blindness so that they should not see.

so that they should not hear. Then in verse 9 and 10, he quotes Psalm 69, verse 22 and 23. He says,

Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see. Psalm 69 is where this is quoted from. And it's a messianic psalm. It's a psalm that's spoken by the Messiah, by Christ. And so the Lord is saying, let their eyes be darkened. Again, is it fair for them to be blinded, for God to bring blindness on them? It is fair. Don't think of it as God taking away their choice. It's God honoring their choice as they refused to

Not just once, not just twice, but repeatedly refused and insisted they did not want what God was saying. They did not want to hear what God brought forth. And so God honors that choice. Think about it in the way that John Corson says it here. He says, God only blinds those who want to be blinded.

You see, God's goodness is so completely irresistible that were he not to blind their eyes, people who didn't want to know him or walk with him would have no other choice. God offers them blindness to preserve their free will. Or as I've been saying, God is honoring their choice. He could reveal the truth and they would have no choice.

Because, well, it's the truth. He could reveal the truth in such a way that they would not have a choice, but he honors their choice. And if people insist, I don't want you in my life. I don't want to know you. I don't want your revelation. I don't want your word. God will honor that. As I've often shared, God will help you in whatever decision you make. If you want to decide to walk with him, God will help you. If you want to decide to refuse him, God will help you. He helps you in that. Either way.

And so, of course, it's to our benefit to walk with God and to make that decision, and God will strengthen us in it. But for the moment, Israel is blinded.

They're God's people. It's not permanent. He hasn't cast them off completely and totally forever. But for the moment, as a whole, the nation is blinded. They refuse God, they refuse God, refuse God, refuse God to the point where God says, okay, now you're not going to be able to see. I'm going to honor your choice. I'm going to do a separate work amongst the church and then I'm going to come back to you and you're going to see and there's going to be something new that I will do.

encouragement for us then as we see this is how God deals with the nation of Israel. I want to encourage you this evening to make sure that you don't become blind, but that you continue to respond to God. Like the author of Hebrews says, today if you would hear God's voice, do not harden your hearts. Make sure that you respond to the things of God and don't continually resist. You know, God's telling you, he's telling you, he's telling you, and you're like, no, no, no, no, no.

It builds up a hardness of our hearts. Another way to look at this blindness, it can also be translated a hardness of heart. And it builds up, rebelling against God, refusing what God is saying, builds up within us this hardness of heart where it prevents us to keep hearing from God. It prevents us from seeing what God wants to show us. Well, moving on now to verses 11 through 15, we have point number three, and that is that Israel is a blessing.

So again, looking at God has his chosen people, Israel. They have a special place in his plan, and we need to understand that Israel is a blessing. In verse 11, he says,

So again, Paul's reasoning through the different arguments and questions that he's anticipating regarding what he's declaring about the nation of Israel. So have they stumbled that they should fall? And similar to verse one, where he said, has God cast away his people? The idea was, was that a complete and a permanent casting away? And Paul said, certainly not.

Well, very similar here. Have they stumbled that they should fall? Again, the idea here is that have they stumbled that they should fall permanently, completely? They have fallen. He says there in verse 11, but through their fall, you know, there has been a fall, but the point that he's making is it's not a permanent, complete, and total fall.

And so he says, certainly not, absolutely not, no way. But through their fall, he says in verse 11, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. So now Paul's explaining. So they've fallen in a sense, not permanently, but they've fallen, they've been blinded, and God has used that

to bring salvation to the Gentiles. God is causing this situation to be an opportunity for the Gentiles to be saved. So it's because Israel is blinded that the gospel is offered to the Gentiles in order to provoke Israel to jealousy. Now, for those of us who are Gentiles, sometimes this can be a

God has a clear order. He does. Israel is God's people. Think about, of course, the famous verse, Romans chapter 1 verse 16. Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. And we'd be much more comfortable if there was a period there. But then it goes on to say, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

There's an order. God has an order. He has a priority. Israel is God's chosen people. They have a special and unique place in God's plan. They're first. And because they've rejected, because of their blindness and refusal to hear what God is saying, well,

Now, God's still working amongst the nation of Israel, but what he's doing is he's provoking them to jealousy by bringing salvation to the Gentiles. But it's through their rejection that then salvation comes to the rest of the nations. Salvation comes because they refused to hear from God. Verse 12.

Now, if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? Now, try to wrap your mind around this, okay?

On the one hand, you might think, why do we care about Israel's future? Like, why is this whole chapter, you know, devoted to this? Even you could look at chapters 9 and 10, as well as 11. And this is a whole lot of, you know, dealing with the nation of Israel. And, you know, we know it's all about the church. So why are we so concerned about Israel? Why is all this in here? Why do we need to know all these things? And Paul's saying, because of their place in God's plan.

They do have a special place in God's plan. And think about it this way, he says, they rejected Jesus and their rejection of Jesus benefited us so greatly in that we got to have the opportunity to have the gospel, to have salvation. Now, if they rejected Jesus and we benefited so greatly to such a degree, how much more will we benefit when they receive Jesus?

You see, whether we like it or not, whether it offends our pride or not, the reality is that we're totally dependent upon the nation of Israel for all things that God wants to do regarding salvation. Now, if their rejection of Jesus benefits us to such a great degree, they're receiving Jesus. We can't imagine the benefit that we will experience. We will become perfect.

part of the blessing because they receive Jesus, because of their turning to the Messiah. This is pretty incredible. Kind of hard for us to fully grasp in our minds, especially, I think, you know, for us as Americans and maybe even more as Southern Californians, you know, the world revolves around me. You know, that's what we know for certain. Everything else is questionable, but I know for certain the world revolves around me.

It's all about me and everybody's in my way on the freeway and everybody's in my way on the, you know what I mean? It's like, it's all about me. But the reality is it's not all about us. It's about God. And God has chosen to bring salvation to the world through the nation of Israel. And because the nation of Israel refused it, God has brought it to the rest of us.

And when they eventually turn around and receive it, well, we're going to benefit in that as well. There's going to be an even greater degree of blessing when Israel receives what God has provided for her. Verse 13, "'For I speak to you Gentiles, "'and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, "'I magnify my ministry. "'If by any means I may provoke to jealousy "'those who are of my flesh and save some of them.'"

You could see the battle in the apostle Paul's heart here. He's already expressed a couple times, I wish I could cut myself off so that they could be saved. And I pray continually, I'm always grieved. They're zealous for God, but zealous without knowledge. He has a real heart for the nation of Israel, but that's not who God called them to reach. God called them to reach Gentiles. From the very beginning, when he got saved, he said, I'm going to do great things through you, Saul, later became Paul.

and you're going to reach the Gentiles. Now, why would God send this Hebrew of Hebrews, this, you know, he was the ultimate prime person to reach Jewish people, but God sent him to the Gentiles. He had a heart for the Jewish people that could only be rivaled by Jesus, but God sent him to the Gentiles. And so here's what he decided. Well, I'm going to magnify my ministry then. God sent me to the Gentiles. I'm speaking to Gentiles.

So I'm going to magnify my ministry. I'm going to do everything I can to fulfill this ministry. I'm going to give it all that I got to minister to the Gentiles, to minister to you Gentiles, so that if by any means I may provoke to jealousy. He's not really saying this, but you know, you can kind of, if you take it too far, you can say, you know, I don't really care about you, but I'm trying to reach you because I really care about them and I want them to be saved. So, you know, I'm really trying to reach you for them. You're just kind of

the way that I have to do it, you know. Paul's like, I love the Jews. And the way that God is reaching the Jews right now is by bringing the gospel to Gentiles. And so I'm going to magnify my ministry. I'm going to go all in and reach the Gentiles as much as I can so that if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are of my flesh and save some of them, I want them to be saved. So I'm going to do the best that I can to reach them by reaching the Gentiles, by fulfilling the ministry that God has given to me.

Paul says, I can do the best I can at what I'm called to do in an effort to reach them. Now, we would maybe approach things differently, right? It seems like the best way to reach Jews would be to minister to Jews. I want to reach the inner city, so I'm going to go to the country. Well, that doesn't really make a lot of sense, right? But God says, here's how I want you to do it, Paul. Fulfill the ministry that I've given to you, and you'll have opportunity to reach some. Some will be saved by your ministry, Paul.

You're provoking them to jealousy in your ministry to the Gentiles. Now, I think kind of taking a quick side track here, just for a moment, if you would just bear with me. For you and I, as we consider these things, God's working with Israel, God's ministry that he gave to Paul, sometimes we feel passionately about certain things. Maybe we similarly want to reach certain people. And we would think then, well, I need to

deal directly with those people. I need to be involved directly in that thing in order for that to go forward, in order for there to be a work in that way. But let me just remind you, the best thing that you can do is to fulfill what God is calling you to do. Fulfill what God's calling you to do.

Sometimes the ministry that we are in at the moment isn't what we imagined or wasn't what we dreamed. It wasn't what we hoped for. It wasn't what we wanted. It wasn't what we asked for. It's not the ministry we want at all. We want to minister to those people. But God says, here's where I have you. And we can become frustrated. I want to reach those people. I care about those people greatly. And God says, the best way for you to reach those people is to reach the people that I've set in front of you.

The best way to impact the ministry that you want to be involved in or to do the work that you want accomplished is for you to do the work that I've set before you here. Sometimes we need to be submitted to the Lord and not chasing down what we're most passionate about, what we want most, and be submitted to God. And the best way to do that work is to be obedient to him. Another way to put this, and I've shared this many times, is that the best thing that you can do for your family is

is to walk with God fully. The best thing that you can do for your family is to be faithful in what God's calling you to do. Now, that means sometimes that you're going to be away from your family when God calls you to be away from your family. And again, that's like, that's not how it's supposed to be. I'm supposed to be ministering to my family. But you know what? You be faithful to what God's calling you to do. And that's the best way that you can minister to your family. That's the best thing that you can do for them.

is to be in right relationship with God, to be walking with him, to be right where he wants you to be. I would encourage you to provoke the people around you to jealousy with the abundant life that's found in Jesus Christ. Provoke them to jealousy with your abundant life. Now, don't fake it. Don't pretend to have abundant life when you don't have abundant life, but just surrender to the plan of God. Submit to the will of God.

And live the abundant life. Jesus said, I came that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Enjoy that. Live in that. Walk in that. Fully surrender to the Lord. And that's the best thing you can do. It will provoke to jealousy those who are around you. Maybe those that you care most about. And God hasn't called you to minister directly to them all the time. Sometimes he calls you to minister to others. But in doing so, he's doing a work in provoking to jealousy those

by your faithfulness to him in these other areas. All right, so moving right along now, verse 15. So same thought he mentioned a few moments ago, but repeated. If they're being cast away, not permanently, not ultimately, but for this moment, for this season,

That's resulted in the reconciling of the world. And we've been given the ministry of reconciliation and God's done a glorious work reaching the world with the gospel. If that was the result of their being cast away, what's going to be the result of their acceptance when God embraces them fully and they take their place in God's plan? Israel still has a huge place in God's plan.

And God's plan for all humanity still centers around the nation of Israel. The things that God promised to Abraham are still true in Genesis chapter 12. He said, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. He says, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The blessing that comes to all humanity still exists.

goes back to this promise that God gave to Abraham. He's the blessing. Israel's the blessing. And through them, all the families of the earth are blessed. Not just in that the Messiah was produced from that genetic line, but our eternity is permanently tied to God's plan for Israel. Israel still has a huge place in God's plan. They're a blessing. Even in their rejection of Jesus Christ, God has used that for them to be a blessing themselves.

to all the families of the earth. And if their rejection of Jesus has resulted in such a great blessing, we can't even imagine. Eye is not seen, ear is not heard. It's never entered into the heart of man what God can do. There's great things that God has in store as Israel turns back to the Lord. We are blessed because of Israel. And that's true in their rejection of Jesus. And it's even more true

in their receiving of Jesus, which is yet to come. There's glorious things that God has in store because of his people, Israel. I was going to do four points and move into verses 16 through 18, but I'm going to reserve that for next week and end on that note. God has not cast away his people. They're not completely gone. They're not completely cast away. He is doing a different work for the season because they're blind. They've refused to hear his word and respond to his truth.

But even in the midst of that, they are a blessing. And so we owe a great debt to the nation of Israel, a debt of honor. It doesn't mean that the current nation of Israel, you know, we always agree and support everything that they do. But the people as a whole, they're still God's people. God still has great things in store for them. The psalmist tells us in Psalm 122, "'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. "'May they prosper who love you. "'Peace be within your walls, "'prosperity within your palaces.'"

May they prosper who love you. That's us. We ought to love Israel, to pray for them, respect and honor, not because they've earned it, not because they deserve it, but because God has given them that place in our lives, in our salvation, in our eternity. That's amazing. Israel is God's people. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. These truths, Lord, I pray that you would help us to grasp hold of them. They're not just words.

Random theology, Lord, that is unimportant to us. But Lord, these truths illustrate to us. Your word is true. Your promises are true. You are faithful to your word. Even when we can't see it, even when we think we're all by ourselves and everything else has failed and there's nobody else with us, Lord, you're still faithful and nothing can separate us from your love. And so I pray, Lord, that you would help us to trust in you as a result of your word and your working with the nation of Israel.

And Lord, as they are a blessing to us, I pray that you would help us to honor the people of Israel, the nation of Israel, your people, God, that we would respect them. And Lord, that we would recognize that our blessings and everything that you have for us is a direct result of your plans for the nation of Israel. And so Lord, help us to trust in you, to walk with you. And Lord, I do pray that you would help us to be faithful. As Paul said,

magnified his ministry. Lord, help us to magnify the ministry that you've given to us, to focus on it, to be passionate about it, to give it all that we got, Lord, that we might be faithful to you and that all those, Lord, that we desire to reach and those that we

where we want to see a work happen, Lord, that you would do that work. And maybe it's not with our direct involvement, but it's as we are faithful in where you've called us, Lord, that you'll do that work. And so help us, Lord, to be faithful and to do all that you've set before us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.