we turn tonight in our bibles to romans chapter 11 we are concluding romans 11 tonight and we will be considering verses 25 to the end of the chapter that's found on page 1205 in your pew bibles if you're visiting tonight romans 11 after this long section in 9 through 11 tonight it all concludes now and ends in doxology let's consider tonight beginning at verse 25 of romans chapter 11 let us hear the word of the lord lest you be wise in your own sight i do not want you to be unaware of this mystery brothers a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so too they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all. Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever amen the lord bless the hearing of his word understanding the master plan of something and the goal of a project is essential to the effort that you are going to put into it understanding the master plan and what is happening with that plan is essential to the effort and the work that you're going to put into it it would be crazy if you signed up to build a house and you didn't know why you were doing it why you were building it you'd never get it off the ground you'd never go anywhere the same is true with regard to what you are a part of in christianity if we have no idea of the plan of the master architect if we have no idea of the master's plan if we don't know what he is doing what he is working toward what the goal is how this all is going to work out what does that produce nothing on our part no motivation no service no passion for completion the kind of ignorance that only facilitates remaining in a dull, lifeless, uncaring member of Christ's kingdom. And that's what nobody should aspire to be. That is why understanding is everything in the Christian faith. Understanding, giving ourselves to understand the plan, to understand the gospel, to understand what God has revealed to us is so important for the big picture of what God is doing and understanding how we're a part of that. And with all of that said tonight, we come to Paul's conclusion on this issue with regard to Israel and the Gentiles. Has God cast away his people Israel? And tonight Paul is explaining and summarizing everything that he has said for us and he's really challenging us right at the end of this to think through the consequence of being ignorant to his plan. There is a consequence of being ignorant. And tonight, the Apostle Paul sums up everything he's been saying with one goal in mind as he shows this and he leads them to doxology and to praise. God does not want us Gentiles conceited because of ignorance as to what he is doing right now with Israel. In other words, God has been saying something to us about how we are to view Israel's unbelief. That is what he has been explaining to us in Romans 11. He wants us to understand Israel's unbelief and understand his faithfulness to his own promises. And when we understand this mystery, as he calls it this, it's going to lead to something very healthy among us. It's going to really raise the value and appreciation of the gospel ministry that we get to enjoy and to advance to the ends of the earth. God is giving us real purpose tonight to what we're doing. And when we understand that we have this and what it's accomplishing, it leads us to the very end of Romans 11 tonight where we are absorbed in praise and glorifying God for the marvel of His plan and the working out of His ways that no man could ever figure out apart from His revelation. In verse 25, the Apostle is bringing the conclusion to what he has been saying all the way back at the beginning of chapter 9, and notice how he says it in verse 25 of Romans 11. Lest you be wise in your own sight. Lest you be wise in your own conceits. Lest you think more highly of yourself than you should. I want you to understand this mystery. Brothers, I want you to get this. This is a very important mystery for you to understand. Now, that is a very pastoral verse in this closing section of Romans 11, because he's making the final conclusion of how we are to look at Israel. And listen to what the Lord is saying here, and think about this just for a moment. I don't want you to be ignorant. I don't want you to start thinking highly of yourself because the consequence of that is huge. There's a great thing that's damaging about that. It leads to conceit. Don't be wise in your own opinion. I don't want that because if you don't understand what I'm doing, it's going to lead you right into pride. It's an amazing statement because he's telling us that a lack of understanding runs that risk. It runs that risk of producing pride in us. Now, here's where it's really important to understand the situation again. What's happened? The gospel's spreading. The Gentiles are receiving the Messiah. But we've already studied that that has occurred because a partial hardening has come upon the Jews, has come upon Israel. And we have looked a lot at this. They trespassed. They didn't receive their Messiah. And in God's divine plan, this was all worked out according to plan so that He could open the door wide to the Gentiles and that you could be received into the kingdom. He opened the door at Pentecost to you. And that opening of the door was a beautiful thing, but it also faced a lot of challenges in the early church. It created a lot of tension in the early church. The Jews were filled with envy over this. And the persecutions and the struggles between Jew and Gentile, we really have to get into the first century here. We have to understand the world here this was this was a very tense time and there was a lot of struggle at this time and paul is very concerned in all of this now as an apostle to the gentiles that the gentiles are not becoming conceited because they don't understand why the hardening occurred this is a big issue tonight isn't it we're not talking about a little issue we attained they didn't paul said that in romans 10 that's big and i suppose it's important to say that's you know to realize that's not the kind of stuff we're used to splitting over by the way uh christians today divide over well everything that Scripture tells us not to. We divide over disputes over words. We divide over practices, two offices, three offices, common grace, two kingdoms, how to read and understand Genesis 1, versions of the Bible, how to understand Sinai. We just divide. And we don't show a lot of charity on these kind of things. Some of the divisions, obviously, in the Christian world are necessary. Paul said that. And when the word is directly violated, the Christian is called to take stands, the Christian is called to engage and contend earnestly. The Bible never says, and I just want to say this up front, that we promote peace at all costs at the expense of the truth. That is not what this is saying. But tonight, though, it's fascinating that on certain things that have never been viewed in the history of the church as essential, people separate out into their own groups. And in pride, the banner is waved that now the true church has been found. We have found the single true church. The only true church. Here's my point tonight. What Paul is dealing with is not a division over little issues. It's not any kind of debate on the things that we debate. This issue is at the very heart of having Christ or not having Christ. This is the gospel issue. This is the heart of what it is to receive the Messiah or to reject the Messiah. This is a true, false church, true discussion. Here's what Paul was facing. It's all the more powerful when you consider it's Paul. From the Jews, this is 2 Corinthians 11, five times I received 40 stripes minus one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep. He rehearses all of the problems of the Jews to him. And it was brutal. Think of this in 1 Thessalonians. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us. And they did not please God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they may be saved so as always to fill up the measure of their sins but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost wow this is a big deal the jews filled up the measure of their sins by rejecting their messiah and then persecuting these apostles who wanted to take it at the command of God to the Gentiles. Now here's Paul, to the Gentiles. I don't want you conceited about this. I don't want you puffed up. I don't want you becoming wise in your own opinion about this because you don't understand the whole picture. If we're prone to disputes over the little things, what do you think the Gentiles were prone to in the early church over this? Think about that. If we fight over things that we shouldn't, what do you think the Gentiles did when the Jews were doing this? We've attained. They haven't. How dare they persecute us? We have Christ. They're the ones who've rejected the Christ. We're not the dogs now. They're the dogs. We have baptism. They are stuck in circumcision. Who are these outcasts to come after us? We have the true Messiah. They've rejected the gospel. They've turned from the gospel, but we have the gospel. They're stuck in the types. They're stuck in the shadows. They're doing the Old Testament worship. We're doing it in spirit and in truth. We're free. Ours is pure. Theirs isn't. you see it i don't want you to be start becoming wise in your own opinions as the apostle lest you start developing a pride that you came to this in your own power that's the sense of this in other words if you understand what the lord is doing the approach will be a little bit different won't the approach to looking at people will be a little bit different and i believe we can understand this. History has taught us this. When the Reformation happened, which really parallels this, if you ever were to study it, it really does in so many ways. There was so much abuse for so long in Rome, similar to exactly what went on with the Pharisees. And when the gospel was recovered, I mean, the gates just opened and everyone was free. I mean, it was this remarkable day. What was the danger in that? Well, Luther described it. Luther was concerned about this. He described a spirit that developed in many of the enthusiasts as seditious. And think of what Paul's saying here, and I'll use Luther's words. They're ignorant. They're trained in revolt. They're infiltrators. They're crude. They're factious, rebellious spirits. Messengers of the devil. rabble preachers. And then he said this, I'm not even sure what they do believe. Whoa. Freedom had come, and look at what happened. So they had been given that freedom, the freedom of the gospel. And there's a reason Paul would say, don't use that as a cloak for vice. Rome was labeled everywhere as a false church, and we have a series of articles on the definition of a true church and amen but what begins to happen in the true you can become a little too truly confident in yourselves take this a little closer when the urc's formed what was the danger well there was righteous anger to what was viewed as a slippery slope of the denial of the authority of Scripture, a new body forms. What's the danger? We've got back the true church. We've got it. And our identity could now easily become defined by that new freedom in the attitude taken against those who still remained in that. That's how we could easily view it. It's kind of like when an evangelical becomes reformed. All they tend to do is sit around and bash the evangelicals now. These aren't little things. This is a big thing. This is the gospel. And in all of these circumstances, the Jews, the Roman Catholics, whoever it might be of the reform camp, the newly reforms, what is the danger here? That's what Paul's addressing. That's what Romans 11 and is ending with, it's pride. Did you ever stop and think about this, says Paul? God hardened them for a purpose, to bring in you. What if we thought about that all along the way? That means that what we receive came by grace, that God opened the door for us to receive the truth, and if we've received grace to know the truth, and God opened a door to the truth for the gospel, the last thing that should produce is hard, uncaring, cold people. If you had your house built on a slope and there are all these other houses built on the slope and somebody comes along who knows what's going to happen and they tell you, they say, listen, you need to get off that mountain. You need to get off that mountain because when the next rain comes, they're all those houses, they're all coming down. They're all coming down. Your neighbors won't listen. hey, but you move your house, you move your family, and you get it off the slope, and all of a sudden, one day, you know the rain is going to come, and they're all going to die. What kind of person would you be if you said, after you're safe, and your house is secure, and your family's good, my house is okay. My house is okay. Shame on them for not listening. Do you see the spirit of what Paul's warning against? That's Paul's concern. He said in verse 20, Don't be haughty, but fear. Don't boast against the branches. What Paul was so concerned about is the Gentiles would lose the sight of the fact that everything they've been given, all of their understanding, any conviction they have of the truth was all grace. And grace excludes boasting, he said at the end of chapter 3. And if Gentiles started despising Jews, that arrogance would become the very thing that led in the first place to the pride that caused God to harden the Jews. It was that pride that led to their hardening. That kind of conceit. So all of this is to say tonight that Paul wants us to understand the mystery then. What is the mystery? Well, mystery here is not like a novel. Mystery is something that we would never have known unless God had made it clear by His revelation. He's made something really clear tonight for you. He wants you to understand this tonight. He wants to enlighten you as to what He's doing with the Jews and with you. And so all those statements that seem to indicate that Israel was done, that God was done, That Israel's final rejection by Christ, if not clarified, we would think those Jews get their desserts. But notice what he says here in verse 25. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Gentiles, there's a reason you're here. God is saying, I blinded them for you. I did that for you. I went ahead and I blinded them in the plan that I had planned through Father Abram so that you would be here and sit here tonight and hear the good news. But don't write them all off. Don't write them all off. Look back at them. I have a whole remnant there according to the election of grace that are coming in right now. You see, this is the spirit and the concern and the burden. I've got them coming in. Don't write them all off. Remember last week, that glorious truth? We would have never understood this had God not made clear this mystery to us. Remember verse 11? I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to you Gentiles. And then he went on to say, if their trespass is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. Unbelieving Israel was hardened. God's purpose was to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to open the door. The Gentiles here, a great number of Gentiles have come in today. The Jews get jealous. Through that jealousy, the chosen remnant comes back in through the Gentile witness. That's the mystery. That's what he's been explaining. And that's why Paul said, I magnify the ministry. I preach Christ to the nations because that will mean salvation for some of them. So notice how he emphasizes this tonight. Blindness has happened in part. It happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Here's the conclusion. Something that this means that at the very end there will be a whole bunch of Jews who will be converted. A mass of them. Here's what Paul, I believe, is saying. Blindness in part, a partial hardening, has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in that way, in that manner, all Israel will be saved. so are we going to see something happen over there? I don't know. I hope so. I hope that we see a whole nation turn to Jesus. Shouldn't that be our prayer? But he's not adding anything new here. He's already explained. God hardened the Jews. Right now there's a remnant. Gentiles are coming in. They've been brought into the olive tree and through that Gentile inclusion, right now many jews are being born again right now right now and he says in this manner israel's being saved israel all of israel will be saved notice how he to make sure we get this rehearses that again in verse 30 everything that i've said he says it clearly again just as you were at one time disobedient to god but have now received mercy because of their disobedience so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they may now receive mercy right now everything here in romans 11 is focused on the present that they're coming in god has consigned them all verse 32 to disobedience that he may have mercy on all and so in that way every true israel every true israel who are born again by the spirit are going to be saved jews and gentiles together gentiles brought in jews coming in now through the gentile witness and so together in this manner in this way that paul's explained all of Israel will be saved. The fullness of the Israel of God. And I love that he cites Isaiah 59 here. The deliverer will come out of Zion and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob that for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. That's the new covenant. That's the Jeremiah 31. That's the day in which we live. That's now. And he just said when Jesus comes on the scene of history, he will deliver his people Israel. And Paul just explained, you're included in that. We live in the most glorious day of fulfillment. And, you know, as we look at this whole thing and this master plan that has been unveiled for us, I want you to think about how Paul closes this. What does it lead to? The whole master plan. You're here today. Jews are coming in through your witness, forming the fullness of the Israel of God. In this way, all Israel will be saved. That is so beautiful. The apostle is so taken with that. Notice how he ends this section. Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgment and how inscrutable His ways. Oh, the ocean depths, the depths that can't be plummeted of God's wisdom and knowledge, His decrees and His ways, His sovereign decisions, they're completely unsearchable. No man could ever figure these things out. But look at how perfect His plan of salvation has unveiled itself to the ends of the earth. I love this tonight because the Apostle Paul has shown us along the way continual grief for his countrymen. And by the time this is done, thinking through this glorious plan of redemption to the ends of the earth, it overwhelms him to the point of breaking out in praise. Isn't this beautiful? What has been said of him all throughout the Old Testament, whatever was declared of God's great attributes, His wisdom, His infinite perfection, His knowledge, all of His ways, unsearchable, His judgments, past finding, all of it, all of it is proved true. All of it is proved true because He's not losing one of His Israel. And that when the Lord declared that the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin. When he said that after the golden calf event, he meant it. And it's shown to the ends of the earth. He's committed. And Paul says, all I can say is who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor? My joy is complete. I marvel in his ways of how everything is so perfectly worked out according to plan. And because of His faithfulness, because of His sheer goodness and mercy and love, I will praise Him. I will praise Him. Lord, You are my God, I said Isaiah. I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things. Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Therefore, strong people will glorify You. The city of the terrible nations will fear You, for You have been a strength to the poor. A strength to the needy in his distress. A refuge from the storm. A shade from the heat. For the blast of the terrible ones is a storm against the wall. Job said, behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? Who is prescribed for him his way? Or who can say you've done wrong? Remember to extol his work, said Job. of which men have sung in time's path. Paul concludes tonight, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. You have everything in Christ tonight. He's the source of your life. He's the goal of your life. He's the joy of your life. And you've been given Him. That's kind of the conclusion to both of the messages today, isn't it? Praise Him for His everlasting love. Praise Him in the heights, O angels. Praise Him in the depths. Praise Him, all you creatures. Praise Him, sun and moon, stars. All that He made, let Him praise the name of the Lord. And you know, as you walk out of here tonight, God told Israel so many times along the way, remember what the Lord has done for you. Remember that you were once Gentiles in the flesh. And that time you were without Jesus Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. May that produce in us a life of praise that God has considered us and now given us the desire to see the gospel go to the ends of the earth that all tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations would enjoy what you enjoy. The joy and the peace of the love of God to be called one of His children. Let's praise Him tonight in prayer. O Lord our God, we bow the head and we thank You after all of these months in Romans to culminate and to finish with this high note of praise. That the wonderful grace that You have shown to us, that You've opened the door to the Gentiles. That you've magnified your word to the ends of the earth and that you have not forgotten your people Israel, but that you have made this one body together, coming in together to form the one body, to be the fullness of your people who proclaim your praises, who called us out of darkness and brought us into this marvelous light. keep us from conceit, keep us from pride. And let us always remember that in these situations and things that happen in the course of life where people harden their heart and turn against You, that we, O Lord, would remember them in prayer and that we, Lord, would ask for Your mercy for them and that You would use us to make known your gospel truth in love as you call us to do. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.