God has not cast away His people Israel, but has reserved a remnant according to His grace, demonstrating that salvation is by grace, not works. The sermon explains that Israel's partial blindness has led to salvation for the Gentiles, which in turn will provoke Israel to jealousy and eventual restoration. The core lesson is that God's faithfulness to His promises ensures the future salvation of all Israel, highlighting the interconnectedness of God's plan for both Jews and Gentiles. This future restoration will be a great blessing to the entire world.
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and verse one. Romans eleven and one. I say then, hath God cast away his people? And God forbid. For I also am a miserite of the seed of Abraham and the pride of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. What ye not, what the Scripture saith of Elias, how ye make of intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone when they seek my life. What saith the answer of God unto him?
I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed to me to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time, and is in this day of grace, Also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace? Otherwise works is no more works. Now that's kind of a difficult text to read. I'm going to kind of paraphrase it for you. In other words, if it's by grace and works and human merit, just go out the window.
If it's by work, if salvation is by works, why, then grace goes out the window. You have the two opposing principles here, the principle of grace and the principle of works. The one that is the works, principle of work or salvation by works, originates in the heart of the sinner. But grace, the principle of grace and salvation by grace, originates in the very heart of God. If by grace works, meaning is meaningless. If by works, then grace is meaningless. And that's what the meaning is of verse six. And if by grace, then it is no more of works.
Otherwise grace is no more grace. And if it be of works, then it is. Is it no more grace? Otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber eye, slumber eye that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them, Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back all the way.
I say, then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for it will provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them, the diminishing of the Jews, the be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office. If by any means I may provoke to emulation or ambition or rivalry, then which are my flesh, Jews, and might save some of them.
For if the casting away of them, that is the Jews, be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be? That is, to bring back the restoration of the Jews, be but light from the dead. For if the first root be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being of wild all of three, were grafted in among them, and with them partaketh of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. The Gentiles are doing a lot of those things in half. Boast not against the branches, but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root but the root thee.
Thou will say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. Well, if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he spare not thee. Now, he's not talking about a born-again Christian losing his salvation. He's talking about the nation, the Gentile nation. But if God spared not the natural branches, that is Israel, take heed lest he spare not thee the Gentiles, and he certainly will not spare them, as will be seen at the Battle of Arnegemony. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God, on then which fell the Jews' severity.
But the Lord be Gentile's goodness. If thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall, that is an affirmation, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these which be the natural branches be grafted into their own tree, own olive tree? Why would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceit, that blindness in part is happened to Israel?
until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. We were speaking last Sunday morning. We could go today on seven definite scriptures with that word until, and that's a very interesting line of truth relative to it. Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and that will be the rapture. And so all Israel shall be saved. And that doesn't mean every Israelite. means in that coming day because they're reporting to it there will be those saved out of every tribe in Israel, all twelve tribes. For this is the covenant of verse twenty-sixth. So all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jit.
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins, and is in the future tense, as you can see. as concerning the gospel, that is today, they are enemies, for your sake, the Jewish say, just the same as the Gentiles today, on the basis of grace, no favor to them, that as touching the election they are beloved for the Father's sake, that is, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the fathers referred to, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as he in time passed had not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their or Israel's unbelief. Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may attain mercy.
For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depths of the richest oath of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath first given unto him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him and through him are all things to grue me glory for ever. Amen. Now we're getting into the last message on this prophetic section.
I think we've spent twelve messages on chapter eight and four, or two in chapter nine, four in chapter ten, and now four in chapter eleven. And here you have this prophetic section, chapters nine, ten, and eleven. Next, sweet Lord willing, we'll get into chapter twelve on to the end. That is a very practical section of this wonderful epistle. In other words, in this chapter, this section, God is dealing with Israel. Now all the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament, you might say they all had a threefold message, whether it was Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then the minor prophets, they had a threefold message.
That was Israel's sin, God's punishment upon them for their sin, and their eventual restoration to the land again. But isn't it chapter, chapter eleven? two is divided into three sections. The first ten verses have to do with the remnant. And then you have, also in verses eleven to twenty-four, the result of Israel being set aside. The rest of the chapter from verses twenty-five to thirty-six you have Israel restored. In other words, you've got spiritual blindness now in the opening verses.
Israel as a nation is spiritually blind. And that's very evident. As we tried to point out last week, you can talk to a Jew about other matters, and he's very brilliant. Any matter that is concerning science or medicine or education or politics or anything of that nature. And he's a brilliant man, or she's a brilliant woman, being a Jew. But when we talk to them about the gospel, They just can't seem to see it, and the reason is a veil is over their eyes. God has blinded them. Why did you have a text that brings that out over in second Corinthians chapter three?
And not as Moses would put a veil over his face that the children of Israel should not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, but their minds were blinded, that Israel must. For until this day remaineth the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it, when their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. But that veil is still upon the eyes and heart of the Jews.
And so you have Israel's spiritual blindness today. Thank God it's not total, as we have in verses seven to ten. It's not fatal either, as you have in verses eleven to twelve, because the Gentiles have been blessed, even though Israel was more or less cursed because of a rejection of the Messiah. and thank God it's not final. God has a purpose. He's going to re-gather Israel and bring her back to her homeland again. It is partial because there's going to be a remnant even in this present day, in this day of grief.
And Paul mentions that himself. He says, why, I'm a Jew, I'm a Benjamin, and I'm saved, though all Jews are not cut off, and many Jews were converted in the first century. Just in the Acts of the Apostles, many of the scribes and the Pharisees believe, showing that there is a remnant that is being reached and saved. But Israel being cut off is beneficial. Their being cut off has been beneficial to the world and to the Gentile nations, and certainly their restoration will be more beneficial because the blessings will be even greater for the Gentile nations.
on the earth in that coming day. Let's think of the remnant and the result and the restoration. Israel's future, the argument for that is in verse twenty-eight, the certainty of it in verse twenty-seven and the purpose of it fulfilled promises and world blessing. And you have the manner of that restoration in Zechiel thirty-seven that we spoke on last Lord's day. You have Paul's conversion, I think, as an illustration of how Israel, as a nation, is going to be restored in the coming days. Here is the apostle, a Jew, a settled Jew, taking everything that was not Jewish.
Even, as you know, he received papers, he received authority to apprehend anyone that spoke to the Lord Jesus, bringing them into prison, and having some put to death. And when Stephen was stoned his clothes, Stephen's clothes were laid down at the feet of a young man by the name of Saul. Yes, he was a jealous Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was proud of the fact. And yet, on the Damascus road, no human instrumentality is evident. He was spoken to direct from heaven. He got a revelation of a written Christ.
are written in Christ. And it says, the stale fell from his eye. Now that's going to be true of Israel in a day to come, when a nation shall be born in a day. When the veil of unbelief will be lifted, the stale will be lifted from his eye. And Israel, who has been so bitter, just like the Apostle Paul, they have been so bitter against the gospel, are against Jesus Christ, calling him an apostate. Israel is going to undergo an amazing, miraculous change as is the case of the Apostle Paul.
And Israel is going to be born as a nation when their eyes are open to see the death one that they have rejected for centuries was indeed their Messiah, and they in that day will be restored unto not only Christ, but unto their land. That is, Emmanuel's land, Palestine. I was struck in reading through Romans. I think I mentioned it previously. How often you read those two words, God forbid. And ten times you find those two words in this epistle. In other words, God forbid. Certainly not.
The first time you'll find it is in chapter three and verse four. Shall the unbelief of a few nullify God's promises to all Jews and Gentiles? Certainly not. God forbid. Then is God unrighteous when he takes vengeance? Read in verse six of chapter three. Will he punish all because a few were sinful? God forbid. Certainly not. And then in verse twenty one of chapter three. Do we make for the law through faith? God forbid, certainly not. We establish the law.
When a person gets saved, it certainly means he has met all the demands and righteous requirements of the Ten Commandments because he has Christ, and Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one of the believers. And then the fourth time you'll find those two words in chapter six and verse two, Shall we continue in sin that grace may have bound? God forbid. Certainly not. God has given us the power to keep from sinning. In other words, Paul has taken up the argument. Now that you're saved by grace, are you going to impose upon the grace of God and do as you please and sin because you've been saved by grace?
God forbid! God says, I don't want you to do that, and I'll give you the power not to do it, and that power is in the invalid Holy Spirit. Shall we sin because we are not under grace or not under law? You read that in verse fifteen of chapter six. God forbid we are under a new law. That new law is love. The law, all that we were pointing out, of a light and a power that's greater than the old nature. You were pointing out the difference between the law of gravity and the law of aeronautics. It's one of those missiles that are going up into the air.
If the power were to cut off, it simply means that the missile would come right down because the law of gravity would bring it crashing to the earth. But because of the power, the thrust, that in that missile is breaking all the laws of gravity, and it's going right through the sky, it's going right through the belt that surrounds this planet. It's breaking the laws of gravity. We use the illustration of an airplane. And it's bringing that airplane to its mighty power against the lead, the runway. Right there and then, the moment it begins to lift off the runway, you see the power of aeronautics overcoming the power of gravity.
And then it maintains its level and levels off. And when the pilot cuts down on the power, then that plane begins to lose altitude and starts swimming down. Now the only way a Christian can overcome SIG, the only way a Christian can overcome this wicked ungodly world is by the power of the Spirit of God that God has given him. You and I have a nature just like gravity. We have a nature that poses down, that poses down. And the only way we can overcome the pose and power of gravity or of sin is by a greater power.
And that greater power is in the Holy Spirit. It's in Christ. And thus we can rise like that plane and get at those, those elements that would hold us down. And then you maintain our elevation. And you start neglecting meeting your Bible. You start neglecting prayer, private prayer. And neglect attending meetings. And listening to the word of God. And you're shutting off the throttle of that plane. And the plane begins to lose altitude. and will start coming down. The Christian and God has given the Christian the power that enables him to rise above this present world and this evil nature within and maintain a heavenly attitude and stay there.
But you have to be very careful that you begin to come down and lose attitude and become like then to go down to the pit, not losing your salvation, but losing fellowship. and nearness to God. And so the Apostle takes that subject up in chapter six of Romans chapter seven and chapter eight. Then again he speaks in chapter seven and seven. Is the law sin because it cannot save me? God forbid. Why the law points you to Christ who will save me. The laws our true master bring up will point us to Christ. And then the seventh time you'll find us in chapter, those in these times, in chapter nine and verse fourteen.
Is God unfair in election? God forbid. There it is again. He has a right to choose. He is sovereign. Is the law bad? There is one I missed in chapter seven and verse thirteen. Is the law bad because it endorses or condemns me? No. The law is not bad because it condemns me. It's not the fault of the cabinet maker that you have in a good piece of furniture. The fault lies in the material he's used. And then in verse, in verse one of chapter eleven where we were reading, or verse eleven, I don't think it is, or in verse one that's right.
Has God cast away all his people? God forbade. God has reserved a rent. And finally, the tenth time is in the same chapter. Is Israel's fall fatal? Final? God forbid. Because through the saving of the Gentiles, all Israel eventually, and the world will reflect. And so there you have the ten times those two words are mentioned. God forbid. Certainly not. And if you make a study of them, I think you will open your eyes to these truths in the Book of Romans. Now get into the remnant. God has always had a remnant.
A remnant means those who seek it. For instance, you take the case of Noah and his family. They escape the values that block them. They are just eight of them. They block that is too dark. They escape the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Take the seven thousand referred to in this passage in Elijah's day that hath not thousand needs abate. God has his witness. There is God's length. And you also think of the spiritual Israel within natural Israel, or national Israel.
There are not all Israelites who are of Israel, but in either shall I see be called and in that line with God is referring to Christ, God has a remnant, the few. He had those in Israel who escaped idolatry, and they were God's remnant. In Isaiah's time, we read in the very first chapter of Isaiah, a very small remnant, says Isaiah. And during the captivity, You have Jews like Daniel, Ezekiel, Shavak, Meshach, Abednego, Esther, Mordecai. Here you have God's little remnant. After seventy years in captivity, about fifty thousand returned to Jerusalem.
There again you have God's remnant. And at the time of Christ you had Zechariah and Elizabeth, then John the Baptist, and you have Mary, you have Joseph, you have Anna, and you have Sibyth and there was a handful, just the rent. And Christ speaking to his own, he says, Fear not, little lot. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the king. And during this present day, God has his rent. That is, God's people are in the minority. They're not in the majority. where two or three were gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Two and Gentile alike, and in vast settlement of the day, God still has those now looked upon as in the church. For today there's either two or Gentile, bond or faith, one in Christ Jesus, but they're in the minority. And as the days are getting darker, I think we're in the days of the remnant testimony, God's people are becoming fewer and fewer. And things are today reaching the point when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith upon this? The lack of real love and loyalty among God.
And here we have the, when the tribulation is crossed, there will be a remnant, there will be a remnant of thousand out of every child. what we want to be interested in today, not the Jewish remnant. It's ourselves as the remnant who are seeking to carry out all of God's precious work. You take, for instance, the case that you have in silence written in Revelation, the Church, the Reformation. What did he say? You have a few names in silence just for you.
And out of that great reformation, of course there were thousands to perfect. But just by comparison with those who did not perfect and turned from Rome, millions turned from Rome to get away from the bondage, the political bondage and religious oppression of Rome, they left it and they became Protestants in name only, in name only. They protested the tyranny of Rome. and they were not really born-again believers, many of us. And that's why in many cases the result of that great tribulation, great reformation, pale because there was so much chast and very little weak.
And therefore you have the beginning of the denominationalism. The denominationalism came out of Rome and denominationalism going back to Rome. And the ecumenical movement is evidence of that. God has his remnant today. And here you have a little strip, a few names and stars. The name is Philadelphia. I believe we're in the age of Philadelphia still, in a sense. And he says concerning then, you have kept my word and not denied my name. God still has those who have kept this word and thought will bear.
and they haven't denied his name or compassion, God still has strength. And when you come to Laodicea, just before the rapture, it's reduced down to the interdiction. Behold, I stand at the door of the knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and instruct with him and be with him. Here is Christ on the outside of the prophetic church. and he's asking all modest fellowship to open the hidden and enjoy fellowship and communion with him and so these are the remnant days in which we are now living so it's up to you and me to see that we may maintain a flourishing remnant testimony as much as God enables us in these closing concluding days so you have the first ten verses of this chapter dealing with the remnant And now the result of Israel being cast off in verses eleven to twenty-four.
What does it mean? When God cast off Israel, what effect did it have on the rest of the world? A blessed effect. Because salvation and blessing has come to the Gentiles. Israel's loss has meant the enrichment of the world. For God then turned to the Gentiles, as Paul said in the last chapter of the Acts, When he said to those children of Rome, lo, I turn to the Gentile. And he did. And he has taken out of them our people for his name. And so the casting off of Israel has been the blessing of the world.
And Paul mentions the reason why he said that it might provoke Israel jealous. He tells you that in verse eleven. That's what his aim and goal is in verse eleven. I say then have they stumbled that they should all God forbid. But rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them through jealousy. Well I think we mentioned last Sunday the amazing fact that only within the last year the government in Jerusalem has given a decree that the New Testament is to be taught in all schools and universities.
And that's the first time such a thing like that has happened in twenty-five hundred years. And especially since the day of Jesus Christ, of course, they didn't have the New Testament prior to that. But here we have this amazing move, and the essence of God's word, Jacob went, and I really believe because of their studying of the New Testament, even though they may study from the standpoint of history, it's going to mean the movement of the Spirit of God in that nation. And they'll come to the discovery of this one who has been such a blessing to the Gentile nations down the century who are really and truly the Messiah, and it'll go forth.
They'll get it to challenge. And that's the argument, I think, the Apostle Paul is taking up very force of legalism. Their final restoration will be a revival, and I do believe this too will be a revival for the world. My, if the Jews were to get saved by the thousands, just think of what that would mean. I think it would awaken a lot of Gentiles. Thousands of Gentiles would be awake. If thousands of Jews were to come to know Christ. There's no one can stir your heart any better or more than a converted Jew.
He has an insight into the Scriptures, and when he gets his eyes open, he has a love for Christ, such a few Gentiles, and he's willing to pay any price. He's just burning with zeal to talk about his Messiah. How wonderful it would be if thousands and thousands of Jews were to become Christians, born against Christians. what a blessing in turn that would mean for the Gentile nation. The Apostle Paul warns the Gentiles in this passage, verses eleven to twenty-four, and he uses the olive tree as an illustration. Israel was a good olive tree, the Gentiles were a wild olive tree.
Of course, some of the branches, the good branches were cut off, and he says these Gentiles were wild by nature. You were grafted in.