THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF GOD

Romans 11:1-10

Has God rejected Israel?

Has God replaced them with the church?

 

Let’s answer that question this morning…. but we must first begin here. Abram is called by God and moves from Mesopotamia to Canaan; the nation is begun with Abraham. Abraham descendants go from Canaan to Egypt to escape famine but they were enslaved by the Egyptians. God redeems His people from slavery and establishes them as a nation on Mt Sinai. The ten tribes of Israel are decimated by the Assyrians, where a large portion is head in captivity by Assyria. Most never returned to their homeland. In 538 B.C. the capital of Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians. In 538 – 432 B. C. Groups of exiles return from Babylon and rebuild Jerusalem. A. D. 70 the capital, Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans….most flee their homeland. 1940 The Holocaust in Nazi Germany results in the death of millions of Jews. 1948 the Zionist movement receives permission from the United Nations to re-establish Israel as a nation her homeland. 1967 Israel has regained control of Jerusalem. 1948-Present, millions of Jews from all over the world return to their ancient homeland, with more arriving each year. Over the course of about 4000 years Israel is a major player in the world affairs.

 

So I ask the question again!  Has God rejected Israel? No 

Has God replaced them with the church? No

 

Chapter eleven specifically asks the question, “Does God have a future for Israel?” What the past three chapters reveal to us is that God will/always, keep His promises with His church, and especially with His chosen people, Israel. As according to Romans 9:4-5, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” They are still God’s people and He displays amazing patience. “All day long I have held out my hand to a disobedient (literally means to “contradict, to speak against, opposing God”) and contrary people.” Rom 10:21

 

Jesus gave a parable about the great banquet to help us understand what Paul is saying here. “But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.' And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.' And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'" Luke 14:16-24

 

Because of Israel’s persistent rejection of His Son, Jesus lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!” Matt 23:37

 

What is before us this morning reveals that God hasn’t rejected Israel. There are some important steps we need to take when it comes to a portion of Scripture like this… (as with all Scripture). The theological term for this is called a proper “Hermeneutics”; this deals with how we interpret the Bible. If we interpret Scripture literally, in accord with the historical–grammatical method of interpretation, we will stay on track. In other words! God meant for His Word to be understood, and we will avoid much confusion if we simply accept what He is saying at face value.

A proper interpretation of the text is everything

for the student of Scripture.

 

The First Hermeneutical principle is the “Golden Rule” of Scriptural interpretation. “If the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.” The Second Hermeneutical principle is the “Direct Statement” of Scriptural interpretation. “God says what He means and means what He says.” These two principles are vital to understanding Scripture. Especially, as it relates to Israel and the church.

 

What do I mean?

 

Israel, means Israel; and church, means church. The two are never interchanged or used in the same manner. The have similarities, but they are different in many ways. Israel is a people who are descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Church is a people made up of many nationalities and were born on the day of Pentecost, as we see in Acts 2. When we approach a text of Scripture like this we always need to understand that some of God’s plans and purposes are established and unchanging. This is true in the case of the nation of Israel, but this is also true in the church age. In the time of the church a great majority of those who fill her buildings are Gentiles, with a small remnant of converted Jews. But this doesn’t change the fact or replace Israel with the church.

 

Baptist understanding of these two groups is…… Looking at Israel and the Church as two trees, God planted and tended to Israel, but she bore no fruit, so God cut down the tree leaving the stump and roots intact. He then turned His attention to a new tree, the Church. Currently, the Church is bearing fruit, and, when her time is complete, the Church will be raptured and transplanted to heaven. The old stump of Israel will sprout again. God will cultivate her, and she will finally bear fruit. The Church does in no way replace Israel, nor is the Church considered a “new” Israel.

 

Unfortunately there is a teaching out there called “Replacement Theology”

which sees Israel being replaced with the church. Replacement theology agrees that Israel bore no fruit. But, instead of cutting her down and leaving the stump and roots intact, God uprooted and destroyed her. In her place, God planted a new tree—the Church—who took over all the functions and promises of Israel. In this view, the Church is the New Israel. This is a wrong teaching and a great misunderstanding of God’s providential workings of His chosen people, and the church revealed in Scripture.

 

Israel isn’t the church and

 the church isn’t Israel.

 

Replacement theology is destroyed by Romans 11…when God is done with the church, He will resume and complete His program with Israel. (v26-v27) The church never at any time replaced the nation of Israel or made the covenant with Israel of no value. God has not rejected Israel…. but by Israel’s rebellion and stubbornness, the church was grafted in though the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

The Old Testament is a witness to the promises

that God has with Israel.

1 Samuel chapter 12 is a great reminder of that reality as Samuel reminds the people that God has not forsaken them. “And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.” 1 Sam 12:20-22. It’s because of God’s great name that He doesn’t abandon Israel.

Psalm 94:14-15 reveals God’s commitment to Israel. “For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” Matthew Henry wrote, “Let God's suffering people assure themselves of this, that, whatever their friends do, God will not cast them off, nor throw them out of his covenant or out of his care; he will not forsake them, because they are his inheritance.”

 

Jeremiah expresses God’s commitment to Israel as God uses creation to assure there rightful place. “Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name: "If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever." Jer 31:35-36.  Do the sun, moon and stars still operate? Yes, they do! And so does God’s love for His people of Israel. And that is proven in the next verse of Jeremiah’s letter. “Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD." Jer 31:37

 

This statement clearly reveals that God would never reject Israel. Despite their lack of understanding and rebellion towards God. God has never given up on His Covenant people. The same is true of His elect/church, those who respond to the gospel message by faith in Christ alone. John said it best in relation to God and His redeemed son and daughter. “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

 Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus comforted and calmed the disciple’s fear of the unknown with this, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. It’s this love that reassures the child of God; and the hope of a future for the nation of Israel. Israel is the inheritance God will not forsake; the same is true for those who respond to the gospel by faith, also have an inheritance with God. “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Eph 1:11-14

 

Again this doesn’t mean the church replaces Israel. Why? (v2a) God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.

“Foreknew” in the Greek means, “choosing beforehand”. It’s not just knowing something ahead of time. It’s an intimate knowing. He chose them before they existed. In Amos 3:2 we read this, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth;..” The word “chosen” literally means “known” in Amos 3:2. You only have I chosen… amoung all the families of the earth. The knowing in (v2) and in Amos 3:2 are used in reference to Israel in the same way Paul uses in reference to salvation. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Rom 8:28-30

 

The fact that Israel is known, guarantees

they will not be rejected.

 

To seal that guarantee Paul is living proof of this. (v1-v2a) “for I myself am….” Paul was part of the plan and proof that God has not rejected Israel. Paul is part of the remnant that God was keeping until the salvation of the nation took place. (v25-26). This is similar to what we see in (v2b-v3) as Paul quotes the lament from Elijah to reveal that God has not rejected Israel. “He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks 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 the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." 1 Kings 19:10-14

 

Elijah thought he was alone because there was great spiritual apostasy in Israel. Elijah thought he was the only one who had stayed faithful. How does God respond to Elijah’s lament of loneliness?... (v18) “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:18). God’s perfect amount of faithful Israelites, shall survive all the persecutions of Ahab and Jezebel, and carry down the worship of our LORD to another generation. A small percentage of people who faithfully keep pressing on, as God does His work in preserving the remnant of Israel. (as we see in Romans 11:5)

 

Same is true for the church! Though the church is not Israel, and Israel is not he church. We have the same God, who is over us, in times of darkness and wickedness, rebellion and persecution, throughout the church age From the times of the…. Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, Renaissance Age, to the Pragmatic and Present Evil Age of today……..God is still working to reveal His glory through His church. God is still working even when we can’t see it, or even when our faith is small and weak. God is still working even when we fail to love Him, as we ought to. God is still working to produce in you and in me something that is effectual as he reminds us, and lead us home. God is still working saving and calling sinners to Himself through the good news.

 

This is why we can find peace and encouragement like Paul in (v6). It’s all of grace because grace and works are mutually exclusive. They do not go together. God’s choosing of individuals or the nation of Israel, has nothing to do with works. This was most of Israel’s problem, and also for many still today who sit or do not sit in pews of churches. If it was by our working towards something, meaning salvation, than it wouldn’t be by grace, but works. Man’s works righteousness produces death. That’s why what Paul says in Romans 10:21 bring a ray of hope to a disobedient people. “All day long I have held out my hand…”

 

Why is God holding out His hand and not rejecting

the nation yet?

It’s all of grace! God is working out, in His rebellious children who thought they could gain, hear, and work their way to Heaven. And because of that…. Paul says “They were hardened” (v7-v8).  What does this mean? It was salvation by works that Israel sought after, Israel tried to become righteous as many try to become Christian in the church. Paul addresses this issue in Rom 9:32, “They did not pursue of it by faith, but as if it was based on works.” Seeking to establish their own righteousness and failed to understand or subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Rom 10:1-4. Paul said some were “hardened” this is a medical term that means “calloused”.

Callous forms around a fracture when a bone is broken, just as a callous forms over your skin, when you work too hard and get blisters. When you get a callous that part of the body loses feeling and becomes insensitive. Hardening in this sense is a “callousness of the truth of God.” The person, or in this case the Jews, were insensitive and the callous to God. This doesn’t mean… God causes them to sin, but that He gives them over to their sinful desires. This hardening is what Paul reveals at the opening of his letter. ”For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.” Rom 1:19-26

 

This is why when you read the Scriptures the Word of God will influence people in two ways. The softening effect which responds by faith from the heart that confesses that gospel saves. The hardening effect that rejects and becomes more hardened by each passing day. This is why Paul said the gospel has two effects or outcomes for those who hear its truth, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” 2 Cor 2:14-17

 

Without the truth of God, a person will get more and more insensitive to the things of God. For many it will and has ended in the great eternal suffering as God pours out His wrath on the unregenerate man or woman. Here is the good news, the sliver of hope for mankind, and ultimately for the nation of Israel. God is patient and full of grace, despite the hardening of one’s heart. God is patient and full of grace, despite the hardening of a nation that rejected His Son. They proved their hardened hearts when they persistently cried out “but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him." But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.” 

Luke 23:21-23

 

How much do you have to hate someone to have

these words come from your heart?

Despite their hatred and anger towards the Son of God, our Almighty God has not rejected or given up on the nation of Israel. Throughout the nation’s history this was a divine judicial hardening, but a temporal one in God’s divine providential plan. (v25).The nation was under a “Spirit of stupor” a state of insensitivity towards spiritual things as David spoke of. (v9-v10)

(v9) is a quote from Psalm 69:22, “Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.” “Table” is supposed to be a place of blessing and nourishment. But for Israel it became a “snare and a trap” ……they placed themselves in this position. Their eyes became darkened and their backs became bowed under the continual burden and terror of the situation they put themselves in.

 

What do we learn from the nation of Israel?

What do we learn about God?

 

Israel thought they saw it all; now they see nothing. Israel thought they could do it all; now they can do nothing. Israel thought they could hear it all, now they hear nothing. The only solution for this problem is for God to open up their eyes and ears to hear about the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The gospel removes the scales from our eyes to see His grace. The gospel opens our ears to hear about the only way to be reconciled to God are through the finished and perfecting work of Jesus Christ. Israel was God’s chosen vessel in which He deposited the promise of His blessing for all the world, but Israel had failed to dispense those blessing obediently. Now they have been set aside, so God might call the Gentiles to Himself through the agency of the church. And one day God is going to remove the scales from the remnant of Israelites as He did with you and me; as He did with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Paul.

 

This God will never stop pursuing the elect for their eternal good,

and His ultimate glory as He draws sinners to Himself.