tonight we turn in our bibles to romans chapter 11 romans chapter 11 and we are considering verses 11 through 24 and the next week we conclude this major section of romans and so tonight we are considering again verses 11 through 24 let's give tonight our attention to the word of the lord beginning of verse 11 so i ask did they stumble in order that they might fall by no means rather through their trespass salvation has come to the gentiles so as to make israel jealous now if their trespass means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for the gentiles how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I'm speaking to you Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as first fruits is holy so is the whole lump and if the root is holy so are the branches but if some of the branches were broken off and you although a wild olive shoot were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree do not be arrogant toward the branches if you are remember it is not you who support the root but the root that supports you then then you will say branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness otherwise you too will be cut off and even they if they do not continue in their unbelief will be grafted in for God has the power to graft them in again for if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree how much more will these the natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree. And I'm going to read 25. 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. The Lord bless the hearing of his word tonight. Well, I know that this section of Romans has probably been a bit, and maybe I'm making too much of an assumption here but a bit of a struggle for reformed believers because we question a little bit tonight the importance of this for the life of the church maybe. We probably know that in the reformed, reformed believers make up only a small, small fraction of the broader evangelical Christian world. We're just a little group in the midst of the big. And for 90% of Christians, this issue tonight is what they talk a lot about. It's sad that I have had numerous people in my time as a pastor, and I've heard this growing up, ask me, well, why don't reform people preach on Revelation? And why don't reform people talk about Israel? And I've had lots of these questions. I'll never forget a pastor responding to a prisoner who asked that, saying, well that's not practical for daily life really i want us to think about that tonight is this important i believe that we if we are at all going to care about the concerns of other christians and in particular concerned about what the bible teaches when it comes to israel then we should give ourselves to understand this this should be of interest to us for the single reason most importantly that god inspired this and that god wants you to understand this and why does it matter for you well tonight you should probably know if you haven't known that you are labeled in the broader reformed world as replacement theologists did you know that i'd be curious to know if you knew that the average radio guy will call you a replacement theologists guys guys that commonly talk about this have coined this a david hawking and others this is how they characterize and describe reform people and the claim being that we teach that the church has replaced israel all the promises made to national israel they were the apple of god's eye therefore they think we teach that the church now gets all of these and that god has replaced. He has simply replaced Israel with the church. I remember a woman coming up to me saying that we have got to get away from this terrible replacement theology. I can appreciate the zeal these Christians have because they genuinely believe that people have totally disregarded all of the promises made to Israel. And that we have said, they're done. No promise for them. It's over. And the impression that is easily given is that we teach God has abandoned His people. That's how they characterize it. The fundamental question tonight in this whole discussion, which is a big discussion, and I believe there are serious consequences to how we answer this question is whether we should see God as having two different peoples or having one people Israel and the Gentiles are they separate or are they one how are they to be regarded and that question tonight has a a direct bearing on how we understand the gospel how we understand Christ's work on the cross and how the entire Old Testament then looking back now in fulfillment is to be understood and read because many are looking for a future restoration of national Israel in their land and it raises the question it raises all sorts of concerns would the temple go back up would we ever want to see the man-made temple go back up and sacrifice an offering reinstituted. When it was tore down in AD 70 and we were given access to the heavenly temple, would we really want to localize it all again and have everyone coming to a man seated on a Jerusalem throne when he's seated on the heavenly throne? Think about these kind of questions. How deceived might we be? The issue tonight is not whether Israel, whether the church has replaced Israel. But we have to take a step back tonight and ask how we are to understand the fulfillment of God's promises that He spoke to Israel. What was God's design from the beginning? One people or two. And that tonight is what Paul is unraveling and explaining for us, how the Jew and Gentile relate together. And you'll notice this is a complex section, and he's very hard on this, because these two are going at it. They're at loggerheads. They're fighting. And it's not going well in the Roman church. And so Paul is explaining how all of this works. And so last week we dealt with the question that the dispensationalists have asked over and over and over to reform people. And they ask in Romans 11.1, has God cast away his people? are you guys saying that God's cast away Israel? And we say with Paul, no, we don't believe that God has cast away Israel. And Paul answered that last week as we looked at in a few different ways. Number one, he said, I'm one. I've come in now. I'm proof that God does not cast away Israel. And then he said, he looked back at history and he says, this has always been true. There's always been a remnant according to the election of grace. And in Elijah's day, there were 7,000 who had not bowed down the knee to Baal. And that principle still stands, says Paul. So then, conclusion, at the present time, there's a remnant. Right now, there's a remnant of real blood Jews coming in to christ there's a remnant according to election of grace so now tonight what we're dealing with then is we're picking up with this last thought that we looked at last time and it led to paul to ask this question that he anticipated that he knew people would ask in verse 11 so i ask did they stumble in order that they might fall. He had just quoted Isaiah. God gave them a spirit of blindness so that seeing they should not see, hearing they should not hear to this very day. God blinded them. God hardened them. And you say, well, what were they hardened to or what were they blinded to? They were blinded to their Messiah. They didn't receive their Messiah. Jesus said that. You don't come to me that you may have life. They wouldn't receive him. And they went on looking for him. John 7 talks about that. So Jesus outlined this. Jesus said this, that they had rejected him. And in Romans 10, you'll remember the apostle said that they did not receive his righteousness. They tried to attain to their own righteousness by the law. He's been saying that consistently throughout Romans. That's the trespass. That's the sin of Israel. And so, what we have here tonight is, and when you heard that last time, God blinds. God hardens. Those are tough verses. And, you know, I struggle with teaching reprobation. There's nothing easy about that. I don't particularly enjoy teaching it. It's hard. My mind doesn't fully grasp it. But he said something at the end that he knew, the apostle knew, would raise that kind of emotion. That kind of emotion of, if God's doing the hardening, conclusion then, they stumbled that they could fall, that they should fall. God determined that. That's the fear the apostle has when he quoted those verses of how people are going to read this and understand that and so the question then in verse 11 goes like this did god send them that blindness with the goal that they should fall in other words was it just something that god decided arbitrarily it didn't matter he just did it to harden them in judgment with no real purpose just that they would stumble just that they would fall did god just doom them all to hell did he have a reason in that that's the sense of this and paul is really emphatic in the greek here certainly not certainly not look at what he says rather through their trespass salvation has come to the gentiles so as to make israel jealous well the trespass was the rejection of their messiah unbelief in jesus they stumbled he said at the stumbling stone they trespassed and not coming even though he was announced to them all throughout the old testament and aren't you seeing that with abram we're going to look at next week the gospel was preached to abram but what's really fascinating is the way the apostle explains this so notice his conclusion here through their trespass through their fall through that blinding that they chose for themselves what happened you're sitting here tonight now paul's presenting this really positively god opened the door to the gentiles through their fall because remember salvation sat in one little nation of the earth throughout history and at pentecost everywhere they all heard him speaking the wonderful things of god in their own tongue it was a beautiful thing so notice what he's saying here then notice what he says through their trespass salvation has come to you gentiles so as to provoke them to jealousy and he says if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? So this is a really unexpected twist. An unexpected twist. Almost a reciprocal kind of relationship. What is Paul saying? Jewish unbelief opened the door in God's plan for you. And what has that done? It's provoked the Jews to jealousy. They're really bothered about that. And Paul sees that as the greatest blessing for them. Because when they get jealous, some of them might come in. That's about as simple as I can say it. It's about as simple as he says it. That through their jealousy, they're going to get angry that you're here and that you've receive their Messiah, and then some might come in. And you know, if you were to go through the program in Acts, that's exactly what we see. This whole program in Acts plays out. And I'll just show this to you briefly tonight. In Acts 13, if you have your Bibles, you can turn there. In verse 42 of Acts chapter 13, Paul is at Antioch. And listen carefully to the events at verse 42. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God. By the way, would you pray that the whole city would come together to hear the Word of God? Wouldn't that be great? But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. And contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. So Christ was first preached to them. They rejected it. They're enraged with jealousy. They're looking around. What are all these dogs in our territory for? What are all these Gentiles listening to this about and they are furious and so the apostles see this and what do they do fine you judge yourselves unworthy listen look at verse 46 then paul and barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of god should be spoken to you first but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has, this is Romans 11, the Lord has commanded us to do this. And then he quotes Isaiah, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Now, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed and the word of the lord was being spread throughout all the region so god wanted it to go to the gentiles it was god's design the jews are getting mad they're being provoked well what happens if you look at the first verse of chapter 14 there was a mob that followed paul or that followed paul and barnabas to iconium and listen to the first verse of chapter 14 in Acts. Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews and so spoke that a great multitude of Jews and of the Greeks believed. Did you see what happened? They were provoked and by all this time, by it was done, some of the Jews came in. So the Jews rejected Jesus. That led to the Gentiles, all the other nations of the earth to receive him. And the more and more the Gentiles received him, the more and more the Jews got mad and some of them came back in that way. And you see, that leads to the doxology that Paul gives at the end of this very chapter. Oh, the depths of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. We would have never thought that's it would have gone, and look at it in fulfillment now. That is glorious. Now, coming back to Romans 11. If you look at 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 my flesh and save some of them for if they're being cast away is reconciling of the world what will their acceptance be but life from the dead so i am all about magnifying the ministry of righteousness i am giving myself to magnify the ministry of preaching jesus christ to the gentiles because this is going to be the effect if I give myself to them. It's going to provoke Jews and Jews are going to come in. And the more that happens, the more there is the fullness of Israel. The true Israel. And so in their being cast away, the world is being reconciled. When they come in through this great provocation, that means they are being born again. They are getting life from the dead. They're being spiritually born again like Nicodemus. They become alive in Christ. I think this is just wonderful. And I have to pause and say that it really discourages me, and I lament the horrible Zionist theology that I see today. What do I mean by that? We have piles of teachers in this country who are obsessed with national Israel and they're hurting their own cause. Why do I say that? If Israel's the apple of God's eye and this is what they've done, they've turned, how are we helping them to support them in unbelief? We don't run around telling them, God has a wonderful plan for you. He's going to restore your kingdom. God loves you. He's the apple of your eye. Everything's great. No, we say what the apostles said. You are judging yourselves unworthy of everlasting life because you're rejecting your Messiah and therefore we're going to the nations. So I say that because the greatest cause for Israel, the greatest blessing for Israel is a whole bunch of pastors who are Gentiles preaching the Jewish Messiah. Preaching the gospel. Magnifying this with people who are really excited about this. That's going to have some kind of effect. Paul said that. The greater that goes on, the greater we give ourselves to that, there is going to be the reality that God's going to save some of them. And so I guess there's a justification for a radio ministry. All of these Bible prophecy guys hurt their cause. And I think that, I believe the beauty here of what we're being told is that God hardened Israel to reconcile the world, fulfilling the promise to Abram and you all the Gentiles of the earth will be blessed. And he has given that so that as we preach that they come in. Now here's where I think, believe paul is challenging us tonight to be a little bit more sensitive to this subject let's face it one of the saddest phenomenons has been a kind of anti-semitism and christians have been accused of that and it's fascinating to me that in verse 13 how paul then speaks to the gentiles and he admonishes he admonishes the gentiles about this he's challenging the gentiles here to be faithful in the preaching of the cross and he challenges us to have this aim in our ministry to have this goal in our ministry because a careless or arrogant attitude to them or to anyone else for that matter is not what the gospel is about it's to misunderstand what god has done for us and so a careless attitude to this or an arrogant attitude to this or whatever attitude to this displays a lack of understanding, and this is what Paul is going to say, of what God has done for you. And if you don't believe this is a problem, and I'm the first one, how much do you ever pray for Israel? How much have you ever prayed for Israel? Paul's saying it would have never come to you without them. Look at verse 16. For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root is holy so are the branches and as some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree do not boast against the branches but if you do boast remember you do not support the root but the root supports you he applies this to israel israel's the root the olive tree, the branch, right, that belongs to Israel. These are consecrated to the Lord. Some of those branches were broken off for unbelief. But you guys are a bunch of wild olive trees. You are a wild olive tree. And notice the language here. You've become partakers of the fatness of the root the richness of that tree and that's an important point because paul is saying here that israel is not being replaced by the church paul is is saying that the gentiles are grafted into that olive tree and so the root of israel the fullness of the church comes from that as we are brought into that tree that's the fullness of israel and the gentiles have been grafted in as members of that so he's just dismantled for rome roman christians separate peoples he's just attacked the whole notion that they're separate peoples and he says you're one you're one but the Gentiles, you've been brought into that. Your Johnny-come-latelys, if I may. And that's his point here. You'll remember that in Ephesians chapter 2, which I've always thought is a beautiful passage to describe this, he looks at Gentiles and we would be ashamed of where our ancestors were. I've heard stories about ancestors here, by the way. He himself is our peace, who made both one Jew and Gentile one and has broken down the middle wall of separation having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in himself in Jesus Christ he's the man Psalm 80 was we sang about in Christ Jesus One new man from the two, thus making peace that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, putting to death the enmity. And now we grow in one holy temple to the Lord. Not a physical temple, a spiritual temple with living stones. So, notice how Paul is admonishing Gentiles tonight. if we disregard them or if we even disregard any ethnic group and we think it's all about one group we've not understood grace we've not understood how we stand we've not understood yet the gospel that has announced to us that there was nothing good in you there was nothing good in me it was all free grace according to God's wonderful election according to grace and that's the way which we stand and so he's attacking the superiority angle and so he says in verse 18 you will say then branches were broken off that I might be grafted in well said you got it why were they broken off because of unbelief and you stand by faith well if you stand by faith which is according to grace then don't be haughty but fear and paul is saying gentiles consider that you owe a lot to the jews you owe a lot to the jews and we don't deserve any of this and so you notice how this just would have bolstered the unity in the church at this point we only stand by the principle of grace and if that's so it should never produce in any of us a superiority or pride because anything we have anything that we are has always been by wondrous grace a gift of god that we didn't deserve that he loved you from the foundation of the world with That kind of love. And the warning that he gives is a warning to say if you're trying to stand on anything other than that, you're done. You won't make it. And that's what verse 21 is all about. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Why weren't the natural branches spared? Because they didn't receive their Messiah. They looked to themselves. They were pompous in their own righteousness. And Paul says, if we demonstrate that attitude, then that's the same attitude that Israel displayed. And he says, he won't spare you if you have that kind of, you think you're standing on that. But he says, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severity, but toward you goodness, if you continue in his goodness, otherwise you will be cut off. So what he's saying here is, remember the wonderful grace of God to you. And that excludes boasting. So what is the fruit of that tonight? I want to close with this thought tonight. What is the fruit of all of this tonight when it's properly understood? What breaks down all of this, the fruit of an understanding of the gospel message of grace will be seen in a heart for the lost. I really believe that's what Paul is telling us here. People touched by this, people who understand this, what do they want preached to them? The ministry of righteousness. The ministry of Jesus Christ. And that's why Paul says that's what we magnify. And Israel was cut off. If I believe Israel was cut off, that I might be brought in if God has said through the ministry of preaching Jesus Christ, they might be provoked and come back in, well then, I should be all about that kind of ministry, shouldn't I? I should want that kind of ministry. I should pursue that kind of ministry. You imagine the implications of that kind of ministry when it's all appreciated and loved in the heart and lives of God's people. The fruits of that, you'll have a heart for evangelism. You'll have a heart for service. You'll have a heart for humility. And you'll remember that all you have is from Him. And it'll lead you to this glorious doxology that's coming at the end of this chapter. That's why I love with how verse 24 ends. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into the cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? And I read that, and I believe God just left the door wide open. That's my take, that the door is wide open for the possibility that we could see a bunch of national Israelites come in, and I believe we should pray for that. Did you know that today, in the day that you enjoyed a worship service, 155,000 people died? 155,000 people just ended their earthly existence. That's the going statistic. And when we look at Israel, who sits in darkness to this day, and people wanting to take them out, I think we need to again remember and reflect upon how good this gracious God has been to us and to call out upon His name that He would save to the ends of the earth and bring in the fullness of the Israel of God. And we together tonight can say, think of the joy of this tonight, say in fulfillment the words of Psalm 117, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Praise Him, all you people. He loves us very much. The Lord will be faithful to us forever. Praise the Lord. Let the Israel of God praise the Lord. Let's do that. O Lord our God, we praise You tonight. We thank You that You so carefully instruct us and nourish us in the good words of faith and that You confront us when we need to be confronted. And we confess tonight, Lord, that often our priorities have been wrong and that we have not sought for or had the same kind of heart that is displayed in the Scriptures concerning Israel. And we pray for them, knowing that we were brought into that root, that tree as wild olive branches. And we pray that there would be a great turning to you. And that being so, then, that you would again give great wisdom to preachers of the gospel all over the ends of the earth to be faithful in magnifying the ministry of Jesus Christ. That we would remove the triviality and the silliness and take seriously this ministry of righteousness again. And that you would be merciful and send your spirit to work powerfully today in the hearts and lives of your people to bring great zeal, great boldness, great passion to preach your gospel. the kind of zeal that we see in Acts that led whole cities to come and to hear. And we pray that in confidence because we believe that you are that powerful and that you can do all that we ask or imagine according to your perfect will. In this, we praise you tonight and ask that you would accomplish that will by magnifying the name of Jesus to the ends of the earth. In his name we pray, amen.