The Remnant According to Grace - Romans Chapter 11 - Sermon Transcript | Elder Jonathan Moseley | Pastor Fair Haven Primitive Baptist Church | Tifton, GA

The sermon, rooted in Romans 11, affirms that God has not permanently rejected Israel, despite the widespread unbelief among the Jewish people, because His sovereign choice—based on grace, not human merit—has always preserved a remnant. Through the lens of Old Testament figures like Elijah and prophetic texts, it emphasizes that God’s election is not determined by lineage but by His foreknowledge and unearned favor, which extends to both Jews and Gentiles. The current rejection of Christ by most Jews is not final but serves a divine purpose: the salvation of the Gentiles, which in turn provokes Israel to jealousy and emulation, ultimately leading to a future restoration of national Israel. The passage concludes with a profound meditation on God’s incomprehensible wisdom and glory, reminding believers that all things originate from Him, flow through Him, and belong to Him, calling for humility, awe, and worship in response to His eternal, unsearchable ways.

Title: The Remnant According to Grace - Romans 11

Speaker: Elder Jonathan Moseley

Series: Romans Series

Date: November 2, 2025

Bible: Romans 11

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[Sermon Transcript]

I'm praying this morning that the Lord will bless us, and I do need him this morning just as much as you do. So let's go to the Lord together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this little body of believers. Thank you for the opportunity to come into your house and to sing praises to your name. Lord, I pray that you would be glorified and honored. Lord, I pray that you would help us to take what we've learned over this week, Lord, and continue to apply it that we can sing together and sing praises to your name. Father, your name is worthy of our best. We thank you for the opportunity to come and to sit here amongst your saints and Lord, to hear your word. I pray that you would bless me to be able to clearly articulate it. May everything I say be true and accurate and from your word and glorify you. Father, I pray that you'd be with each one who's here and everyone who couldn't be here for whatever reason. Lord, I pray that you would draw them close to you, help them feel your presence in just a powerful way today, Lord. I pray that you would use each one in your kingdom, Father. I know that we need your mercy, we need your grace, and we need your peace. And so I pray that you would pour it out in abundance today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

All right, Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Remember the past three chapters, 9, 10, and 11, are all talking about the same topic. And it's kind of this kind of elephant in the room, you know, for all through the Old Testament, since Abraham's day, the Jews have been set apart as God's special people. And yet, when the one who was told would come, the Christ, the Messiah, Jesus, the bulk of them are not on board. They're not following. They don't believe that he's real. They think he's a charlatan. And so the question is trying to answer that of why? Why? And so that's where we get to 11 and 1. It says, I say then, hath God cast away his people? Now, I'm not gonna ask you to turn to it. I'm just gonna read to you from Jeremiah 31 and 37. This is just one verse, just listen carefully.

Thus saith the Lord, if the heaven above can be measured, So if you can get a tape and you can go from not just this cloud to that cloud, but from that side of the universe to that side of the universe, if you can measure that, And if the foundation of the earth can be searched out beneath, if you can go down so far to see how is the world, you know, what is it, what is the structure all the way down to the foundations, what supports it, you can do that. Now, we can't even dig down a mine below, what, a couple miles at this point? I think they've gone five or six miles. We've never gone through the Earth's crust, much less deep. If you can measure the universe and you can, you know, dig down to search out the foundations of the earth, if you can do those things, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all they have done, saith the Lord."

So, there's this promise that God is not going to cast off all the seed of Israel until something impossible happens. So, the big picture take of that is, will He cast away all the seed of Israel? No. And so what Paul here is writing in 11.1 is, has something gone wrong? Has he cast away his people when he said clearly that he wouldn't, okay? The answer, God forbid, means no. That's like the strongest no you can have, right? God forbid, don't even say that, because that would be implying that God had lied before, okay? So don't say that. He says, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Alright, so have you ever heard when you're trying to, in logic, you're trying to establish that somebody's rule is wrong? Well, one way to do that is only find one exception. Okay? So if the rule that you're concerned around is God has cast away all his people, and Paul says, hello, I'm a Jew, so there's at least one, so your rule has to be wrong because there is an exception, all right? So he says, I'm an Israelite. So no, he has not cast away all his people.

Verse two says, God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew, all right, to know in advance. Now we know back from Romans nine, that not all of the natural descendants of Abraham were included within the nation that became known as Israel. We know that not all the descendants of Abraham Isaac, Abraham's son, were included within the nation of Israel, and so God had taught already that he was making choices. He was making a distinction about who was his people and who were not, and that's in the natural sense. Within that, we know that within the natural nation of Israel, those descendants of Jacob, we know that not all of them are of Israel, and that concept is the spiritual family of God, right? It's already been established. And so, which ones are in the family? Those that He foreknew, and that goes back to Romans chapter 8. God knew a people, and He loved them from the time that He chose them. He loved them. He foreknew them. He predestinated them to what? To be conformed to the image of His Son. Something that hadn't been made yet, that he knew would be marred and their image of God would be distorted, he determined in advance it would be restored and better than the original. It would be conformed to the image of his son. So he determined that in advance. That particular thing, that they would be conformed to the image of his son, those are the same ones that he calls, justifies, and glorifies, right?

So within the natural nation of Israel, descendants of Jacob, Jews, there are those that he foreknew, okay? He has not cast them off, okay?

An illustration from that is what we spent a good amount of time looking at back in the days of Elijah, So that's what he's going to quote here. He says, What ye not? What? Means no. Don't you know something? Know ye not what the scripture saith of Elias or Elijah? How he, Elijah, made intercession to God against Israel. I mean, Elijah was, look, they're terrible. They're awful. They've dug down your altars. They've killed your prophets. I'm the only one that's left. That wasn't a pep talk for Israel. It's, Lord, what are we doing here? They seek my life. And this is when Elijah is gone all the way back, he's fled back to Mount Horeb, and he's there and God is speaking to him.

Well, what does God answer? What saith the answer of God unto him? And he's quoting 1 Kings 19, 14 was the question, 19 here that's quoted is verse 18. God says, I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. We know that the vast majority of Israel at this point had bowed the image to Baal, right? 7,000 is not a large number, right? When they came in and conquered, they only had 600,000 men in their army, and I know the nation split, and there's been growth, constriction, but 7,000 is a relatively small number, which means the bulk of the population there at that time had bowed the need to bail. God's saying, but look at your perspective there, Elijah. You think there's one. I'm saying it's 7,000 times bigger than what you think, okay? He had a people that God had reserved to himself.

So that happened a long time ago. God had been reserving to himself a people out of that nation of the Jews. So Paul's using that as an illustration. So, even so then at this present time, so just like then, even though the majority of Israel was in rebellion against God, at that time God had his people reserved, right? Even so there is a remnant according to the election of grace. So he's carrying it forward to the time he's writing.

Now, at the time of the Jews, do the majority of the Jews follow Jesus, believe that he's a Christ when Paul's writing this? No. Do they today? No. But within that natural nation, these descendants, genetic descendants of Jacob, there have been then and there are now a remnant that God has preserved for himself, the ones that he foreknew,

Well, what's the difference? It's according to the election of grace. Election just means choice. Who made the choice? God. Right. That's the kicker. That's really what separates us from many other groups. As many other groups say, man made some choice. We understand that this choice took place before God said, let there be light. So he gets all the credit. He gets all the glory. So if you love the Lord today, if you know that He's real, if you have a desire to please Him, that's because He chose you. He gave you that desire. So you can't say there's anything about me that makes me worthy of being loved. It's He just loved you. He knew what we were and He has changed us and given us a new heart and desire to love Him.

Well, it's the same thing amongst this natural pool of individuals, amongst the Jews. There are those that he foreknew, and the difference between the two responses is the ones that he foreknew, those are the ones that he chose. Why did he choose them? It says, of grace. Okay, grace, unearned favor, unearned, all right?

If you go and work at Subway, at the end on Friday, I'll give you a little slip of paper, it won't be much, but you will have something that hopefully you've earned, right? Your wages, right? If they don't pay you, you're gonna be really upset. The manager, hey, you owe me, I've done this work, you owe me this, this is, there's a debt, you owe it to me. That's not grace, right? That's wages, I've done something, I've earned something, now you gotta give it to me in response, right? That is a works-based system.

And if by grace, then it is no more works. We have two completely incompatible systems. If something is on by grace, completely unearned, freely given, it cannot then also be earned. They don't mix. A does not equal B. If A does not equal B, then B does not equal A. It can't be. A can never be B, and B can never be A. Too much math there. They don't work together. If you have grace, but you add in some element of works, it ceases to be grace. It's fundamental definition of what it is is marred and changed so that it's distorted and becomes what it wasn't. And the same thing with works. If you say, well, it's about works, but it's also freely given, then it can't be works anymore. So you cannot blend these two.

I don't know if this is a good illustration, but there's different kinds of free. You're driving down the side of the road, yard sale's over, and they put that sign out there. What does it say? Free! Now, do they mean free if you have a one-year subscription and you prepay $200 and as long as you check these boxes and we won't come take it back from you? No! That means get this thing out of my yard! I want it gone! It's free! Right? As opposed to, we're watching a football game and in the commercial there's a cruise and this guy's walking around and he says, look! It's got free drinks. Now, obviously there's a lot of issues going on there. I'm saying, wow, free drinks. Well, how do you get those free drinks? You buy a ticket to be on said boat. And what do you think they're going to bill them to the price of that ticket? More than you could possibly drink because they're not going to lose money on you, right? Is it really free? No, right? The advertising, there's all sorts of free with the fine print and the gotchas, right? It ain't really free, right? That's the same thing.

Grace is really free. Not a free, like an advertising with a free but, right? It's not, here's the other terms and conditions, right? It's free. It's free, right? Grace is free. All right, so an election according to grace. as opposed to works. All right, so that's what it says. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. If you've got something that blends these two together in name, then you have broken both definitions. It doesn't work.

Okay, so why are some of the Jews elected, chosen? by grace. It was God's sovereign choice. The same thing among all humanity. Can we understand that? Not really. Why would he, I mean, y'all don't know how bad I am, right? We all do a pretty good job of putting up the fronts that we are and where we came from and yet he still chose you, loves you, and changes you. It's for His glory. It's His choice. But it's not because you or I earned it. So I am not teaching any of y'all how to earn your way to heaven. You can't do it. And that's not what Scripture teaches. So the same principle is true among all of humanity, and it's true here amongst the Jews.

So what then? All right, so what's the takeaway? What's the natural consequence? Verse 7, Israel as a whole, as the race, as the nation, Israel as a whole hath not obtained that which he seeked for. Well, what was he seeking for? Go back to chapter 10, and we'll start in verse 2. because he's describing the Jews and how much he cares about them. I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. What are they seeking for? They're seeking for righteousness. What's the manner that they're seeking it for? It's by establishing their own self-righteousness. This is every workspace salvation thing, is that if I just do fill in the blank, then I will be righteous in God's eyes. None of those systems work. Why? Do they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge?

Well, the Apostle Paul used to have a real zeal for God. This is how he described himself in Acts 22, as he's standing on the steps outside of the castle, as he's being rescued from the mob that wanted to beat the tar out of him and try to kill him. He's talking to his brethren. He says, I had a zeal for God, toward God, as you do this day. He had that zeal. What changed him where he went from trying to establish his own self-righteousness to Christ being the end of his righteousness? It was that road to Damascus where God came and got him, opened his eyes, called him, gave him the ability, because he had heard about Jesus, y'all. It's not that Paul had never heard the gospel. He knew more about it than he probably wanted to, and he wanted to stamp it out. But God changed him. He then went from dead in trespasses and sins, with a hatred towards it, to now, oh, This is real. Jesus is real. Jesus is talking to me. What do you want me to do, Lord? All right, so he had a zeal for God, but it was not a zeal of one who was serving God with spiritual eyes opened, right? That's a blindness.

So Israel had been seeking for that, seeking for their righteousness, but they haven't attained it. Why? Because they're still trying to seek it based on their own works, as opposed to seeking it through faith, which is based on Christ's work. But the election hath obtained it. Jew and Gentile, those chosen of God, have attained it, and the rest were blinded. So that election there is referring to within the Jews, within that Jewish population. They have obtained it. Obtained what? Righteousness, right? This is the righteousness of faith, right? God's given you the ability to believe. You've heard who Christ is, and now you know that Christ is the end of the law for you. It's not on my works, it's on Christ. Righteousness, you realize it's yours. You've obtained it.

Whereas those who haven't been given that ability to believe, those who are outside of that choice, they don't. They've been blinded to it. Now, is this blinding some mistake? No, it's not. There's twofold here. Some of the Jews that are blinded are elect, and it was revealed to them later in their life. Some of the differences between the cross and about 50 days later at Pentecost. Some of them are like Esau. They were not chosen, and so they will remain blinded, where they cannot see, even though they've got a lot of head knowledge about the Old Testament. You've got some of the brightest religious minds amongst the Jews who should have been able to put A plus B plus C together as, oh, Christ, but they were not permitted to.

And you say, well, how couldn't they understand it? How often did the disciples not understand? Jesus is talking to them as plainly as anybody, and it wasn't until later the Holy Spirit reveals it to them, and they're like, oh, that's what He meant. Yeah. All right, so, Israel hath not attained that which we seek, that's righteousness, but the election, those within Israel, right, not all of Israel is Israel, so we're talking about the spiritual family within, right, the Jews within, the elect Jews have obtained it, the rest are blinded.

" And again, this blindness was told in advance. Verse 8 says, "'According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, ears that they should not hear, unto this day.'" He's quoting, I believe that's Isaiah 29 and 10. So Isaiah You know, 750 some odd years before Jesus is on the scene, he's saying that there will be a response to Jesus where amongst His natural people, the Jews, there will be some who cannot see and do not make the connection about Him.

Now, even before that, in David's day, he's quoting Psalm 69 and 22 and 23, David saith, Let their table be made a snare. A snare is a trap. A table 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 always.

" All right, so it was anticipated that there would be a different response to Jesus, to the Christ coming on the scene, than when God had sent leaders in the past, right? You're going through the period of the judges, they're in rebellion, God raises up a judge, what happens to the bulk of the Jews? They listened, they believed him, they followed him, they repented, right? And then the enemy was cast off, right? Time of the kings. You had good kings and you had bad kings, right? And ones that are trying to be obedient, generally they came after a bad king and they had to do some reforming. They had to clear out some things, reinstitute some things. The people were following them. Same thing when God sent a prophet. Many times, they would listen, they would hear, they would follow, and you'd have this revival where the bulk are being obedient now, whereas they were disobedient, and there's going to be a few exceptions.

As opposed to with the Christ coming, what was anticipated is that the bulk wouldn't, and there would be some exceptions that would. Does that make sense? So God said this well in advance, that this would be the response to Christ coming amongst His people. So we're trying to figure out why. Why? So verse 11 says, I say then, so Paul's talking, have they stumbled that they should fall? All right, stumbling. Is the purpose of this, right, because Jesus was described as being a stumbling stone, right? What happens to us when you trip out there on a rock, right? You get back up, right? We're not talking about you're just completely wiped out. What's the point? Is it so they can stay down for forever? Is that the point? And the answer is no. Have they stumbled that they should fall, that they should not arise again? The answer is no, God forbid. Is that the end of it? No. But rather, through their fall, through that stumble, salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. Okay? Who's the them? The Jews, right?

When Paul would go into a town and he would start teaching, where did he start? Synagogue. Well, who populates a synagogue? Jews, right? So the ones who knew of Jehovah, knew of the Old Testament, he would start there and he would teach. And then, more often than not, some of them would believe, some of them wouldn't, and then he'd start going out broader and teaching the Gentiles. And often there'd be a response among the unbelieving Jews that they would get angry. specifically the word envious was applied and that's when harm would start to follow Paul because he had been jailed he had been beaten he had been stoned I mean I'm just and so that that pattern of it tended to be the Jews who didn't believe that what are you saying that were really the harshest towards him The Romans, when he came around, they were just confused. They're like, why is people so mad about this? He's just talking about their traditions and their language. It's not like he's murdering anybody. We don't understand why everyone's so mad. They were confused.

But the Jews had a real problem. They were very envious of it. That's not what we're talking about here to provoke them to jealousy. Okay, so envy and jealousy can have a very negative connotation, negative meaning. There's also a positive meaning because that provoking to jealousy is the exact same words were used in verse 14, which means provoke to emulation. What's emulation? It means to following my pattern. Paul had a passion for his fellow brothers and sisters of the Jewish nations. He wanted them to see the truth. Could he change any of their hearts? No. Did he still want them to be changed? Yes. He didn't know who God chose. He can declare the gospel and the rest is in the Lord's hands, but he would like them to know. He would like them to be followers. If there's anything he could do to provoke them to emulation, that means to excite them to following the path that he's on.

And so the big picture here in verse 11 is saying, why did the Jews as a whole not follow Christ? It's because they were going to stumble and the gospel was going to be sent out to the rest of the world, to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews, which is very different than the Old Testament pattern. God sent, for the most part, his prophets to his people. There's a few notable exceptions, like Jonah. He went to a Gentile city, and he was really bent out of shape that God showed mercy to those people. He wanted to see some fireworks. But for the most part, the judges, they were for the people of Israel, the kings were for the people of Israel, the prophets were for the people of Israel, just them, and the rest of the world was just kind of eh. Now does that mean there weren't other children of God elsewhere? Doesn't mean that, right? Job. Job wasn't a Jew. And he was worshiping God, worshiping Jehovah. Melchizedek, he wasn't a Jew. He's worshiping Melchizedek. Ruth wasn't a Jew. You've got all these different examples where we're seeing, when we look closely, that God's people are broader than just the Jews, but as far as who was the audience for these messages, the special kingdom was that natural nation of Israel. And that's changing.

Let's go, oh, let's see if I can find my reference. I think it's in Matthew. Matthew 21, that's what I want. Matthew 21. Let's start reading in verse 42. Jesus is talking to some Pharisees, Religious leaders, he's given a really stern parable about some property managers that have been left in charge of a vineyard, and when it came time to render the fruits under the owner of the vineyard, they didn't. And then when he sent servants, they mistreated them, and finally he sends his heir and they kill him. And so he says in verse 42, did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner. If you're doing construction, the way to make sure things were square and going the right direction is you would choose a cornerstone. It would be just right and you would build your walls off of that. He says the builders looked at a particular stone and said, nah, not that one. We'll look for something else. It says, "...that one which they rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." So, we don't want you in the house at all. And God says, no, this is the keystone. This is the starter. This is the one that everything builds from. Who are we talking about? Yeah, He's talking about Himself. He's talking about Jesus as the Christ. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. So, Jesus is quoting Scripture to them.

Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. We're talking about the kingdom of God. The visible kingdom of God is no longer limited to the natural nation of Israel. It is now given to his entire family, which we know as the church, right? His bride. It's being taken from just the Jews and given to the church, the entire spiritual family of God. That includes Gentiles and that includes Jews, okay? Broader, but not just limited to that natural nation by itself. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken." That sounds like a stumbling, right? Where you hear of this stone, you trip over it, you're broken. Well, can you in good faith and conscience, whatever, understand who Christ is and still think that you are whole, that you can do it, that your works are enough, right? Can you and your pride be good enough when you are confronted with the reality of who Christ is and who you are? No, right? And so He has a humbling to us of where we see what we are, we see what He is, and it will break you in a good sense, all right?

whoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." So you have two different reactions amongst stumbling over something, where you get up and your shins are bruised, you've learned something, you now know he's the head of the corner, versus one that never occurs and we're at the end and the final judgment and there is a grinding powder where this one is the authority he is the judge and we see it that's the different imagery there and so that's kind of what we're dealing with here in Romans

let's go back to it Romans 11 is that you know is this this fall permanent no but there's a purpose rather the fall is coming to the Gentiles for salvation all right but rather through their fall, all right, so the bulk rejection by the nation of Jews. Salvation's coming to the Gentiles, right? The gospel goes out unto the Gentiles. We see that the kingdom is given. It's broader for to provoke them to jealousy.

Again, that's to provoke them to emulation. At some point, there is going to be an emulation among the Jews, however you want to describe that, a revival of something. We're getting into forward-looking verses yet. This has not happened yet. We have to be very careful when we're looking at forward-looking verses.

When I mean forward-looking, I mean things that haven't happened in the future. It is much easier and safer to discuss things that have already occurred, in particular where Scripture has already said, this is what happened. This is what I meant, right? So we've got to have some lack of pride or hubris or whatever and delicacy. But we're just talking about something that hasn't happened yet, right? So we're looking forward.

So, to provoke them to jealousy. So we're talking about a good thing in the future. Okay? Are you with me?

Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, so amongst the rejection there by the Jews and the gospel goings out, is that a net benefit to the rest of the world, to the Gentiles? Yeah, that was good.

Okay, but if that was kind of a negative thing for them and a good for everybody, and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles, so we're saying the same thing in a different language, how much more their fullness?

If the humbling of the Jews as a people was so good, can you imagine how cool it would be if suddenly the bulk of the Jews that exist in this world suddenly recognize, oh, the Messiah has come, that he is Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God, and he's coming back. Do y'all think that would be exciting?

That would be, I mean, because they have gone from being the inside of the kingdom throughout the Old Testament to where are they now? Kind of on the outside. Very much on the outside. Because the core that Jesus is, the Christ, isn't there.

And so, this rejection was foretold, and we're still living in a couple thousand years later, but there's also something that's foretold of that it's not gonna be permanent. that there will be some shift.

Now, can you and I cause that shift? If we just raised the money and we sent out the memos and we had, this, what is change? This is a heart change, right? What did Elijah say to those people as they had seen, Lord, he is God, right? He told them that the Lord was about to turn their hearts, right? Who is the changer of hearts in all circumstances? Only God, right? That's his prerogative, that's his ability.

Now, so how much more of their fullness? That's going to be so great. That's going to be so cool. That's something to look forward to, okay?

Now, he's saying, I speak to you Gentiles. All right, who's my audience here? I'm talking to the Gentiles in Rome. Has Paul ever made it to Rome yet? No. Do you know when he gets there, who's he going to talk to first? Jews. He's going to have them all over to his house. Why can't he go to their house? He's in house arrest. He can't go, but he can have them. And they come, and they listen to him talk all day, and do you know what the response is? Some believed, and some didn't. Right? So, that hadn't even happened yet, but it's the same pattern, all right? So he's talking to the Gentiles there. Rome says, for as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. How many apostles of the Gentiles are there? One, right? The apostle of the Gentiles. No pressure, right? Gentiles, that includes every nation outside of the Jews. So Paul, he had a charge, he had a way. You talk about the care of the churches. It was, oh, I've been wanting to come to Rome, but I haven't been able to yet. But it wasn't for a lack of working, right? All right. I magnify my office. I exalt my office, right? I am doing what I'm supposed to do by teaching and preaching the Gentiles. That's a good thing. However, he still has a heart and desire and care for his natural brethren. If by any means I may provoke to emulation, excite to jealousy, them which are of my flesh, natural Jews, and might save some of them.

Now, is he talking about delivering them from hell into heaven? No, he doesn't have that ability, and if you think that, you've ignored the previous ten chapters. But, if he is able to tell them, and God has done that work in their heart, because he has foreknown them, he's elected them, and he calls them, and then they're delivered, because to save also means to deliver, delivered from the ignorance, right? Of hearing, now here's the truth, and they believe, what a joy! That's what he would like! Understandably so, right? The same kind of grief we have when we see a family member who is in just complete rebellion against God. We would like it to be different for them. We can't change their hearts, right? We continue to stand fast when given opportunity to speak truth, speak truth, speak it in love. But that's God's domain, but it doesn't mean you don't desire it, okay?

All right, if by any means I may provoke them to immolation, them which are of my flesh, and might save some of them. Four, if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world. Again, we're talking about, all right, so the Jews, right, the kingdom's been taken from them as a whole. They reject Jesus as the Christ as a whole. And that's been this restoration for the rest of the world, right? We're talking about the God's people spread throughout all kingdoms, nations, and tongue, where the gospel goes out broadly saying, the kingdom's yours. Why are people pressing into it because it's urgent? Because this is great. If that's the case, where there's a diminishing and then you see the benefit broader, what about the receiving them again, right? If you have that revival where Every Jew you know is suddenly on fire for Jesus. Wouldn't that be the illustration, life from the dead? That would be like a resurrection. Any of y'all ever seen a literal resurrection? I haven't either. But when that day comes, it's gonna be like you've seen a resurrection. And let's be honest, when we are born, we're born dead in trespasses and sins, and to have our heart changed is described as being a resurrection within us, right? And so to see that occurring, seeing the effects of that across a whole swath of people, that's pretty cool, right? That's a good thing. All right?

For if the firstfruits be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, so are the branches. All right, the firstfruits of Israel, you go all the way back to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, right? Were these men described as men of faith? Yeah! All right? And so, God's not done, right? The lump, you know, the remainder. Does that mean that every Jew who has existed since Abraham is an elect member of the child of God? No. You'll be ignoring chapters 9 and 10 if you come to that conclusion. But this sure looks like to me that at some point God is going to have a massive revival among His people, the natural nation of Jews, where they are turned in hearts in large numbers. That's really cool. I don't know any other way to read these passages.

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches.

Okay, we've got some horticultural stuff going on. All right, I have never taken two different trees, cut off a limb over here, cut off a limb over here, and tried to basically stick the other one on and have it grow. That's called grafting, right? When farmers, orchard, what's an orchard owner? Arborist. Arborist. When they have a plant that's doing good things, they want more of those things, right? You cultivate certain breeds and varieties and things, and so you have cultivated plants that have better characteristics, according to the person doing it, than those you just found out in the wild, right? That's going to be our illustration here.

So you've got some volunteer pecan trees out in the field, right? No one planted them. Guess what? They don't produce very much. versus one that's been grown in a nursery, that's been cared for, it's got just all the right, you know, stuff that goes into it, that's our illustration. Taking a wild tree versus a cultivated tree, and what we're gonna use as the illustration is that the branches, we're talking about people, right? On the cultivated tree, that would be the nation of Israel, and the branch would be the individual Jews, right? And over here, the wild tree hasn't been cultivated, that's the Gentiles. That's you and me, right? And the root and the trunk representing the kingdom of heaven. God's visible kingdom here on earth.

He says he took off some of the branches, right? We're talking about the unbelieving Jews. He's taken them and removed them. The kingdom is taken from you. And then some of these wild ones who weren't seeking God, weren't seeking his righteousness, he's taken and he has grafted them in, right? And they're gonna grow, why? He's the Creator and He can make it grow, right? But even in natural sense, we can see that God gives the ability for that to happen. And so, that's our word picture. We've got to understand the word picture.

Now let's look at the words. If some of the branches be broken off, all right? So from that good cultivated tree, some of the branches, we're talking about the unbelieving Jews, and thou, being a wild olive tree, that thing that grows on its own, doesn't really produce good fruit, you've been taken and grafted in amongst them, that cultivated, we're talking about the kingdom of God, and with them partakest of the root and the fatness of the olive tree.

All right, the one that's grafted in, he's a branch. Is he, you know, producing the sap? Is he getting the water and the nutrients? Oh, that comes from farther below. He's receiving the benefit of it, all right? Did you create the kingdom of heaven? No, but as he's pulled you into it, you're receiving the benefit of it. boasts not against the branches. All right. You're not to look at other people and say, I am better than you. OK, that's not our job. All right. Whether we're talking about within the church or we're talking about those that are outside of it. Right. You don't know who the Lord's people are because the Lord got a hold before the Lord got a hold of you. You look just as sorry as the sorriest person out there, whether you want to admit it or not. OK.

But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. So this is, why don't you boast? Because the root is supporting you. God, the Christ, the head, all of that, the head of the church is Christ, that's a different word picture. But here the root, what sustains the kingdom? It's Christ. That branch from David, the offshoot that grows, it supports you, you don't support it.

Thou will say then, the branches were broken off that I may be grafted in." All right, well this is Gentiles in general looking down at Jews and saying, well, your time is done, right? And there has been animosity and hatred amongst Christians, or at least nominal Christians, towards Jews for generations, right? And making them a scapegoat and hatred, calling them Christ killers and things. This is dealing with that. that we don't need to be up on a high horse and saying that we're better than you, all right?

Why were those branches removed? Verse 20, well, because of unbelief, they were broken off. And now standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but feared. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee, okay? what will be an illustration for this. Well, does that make sense? Right? Why were these Gentiles brought in? It's because they had faith. They were given faith. That was the ability. That was the link into the kingdom. But if the faith isn't real, if it wasn't really given by God, they're not going to stick around. And 1 John really alludes to this in stark terms.

1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2. Little children, it is the last time. Oh, are we living in the last time? Yeah, this was written like 2,000 years ago. We're in the last time. We're in the last age. My little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists. When was this written? Like 2,000 years ago. Well, what is an Antichrist? Well, that's a big question. Look at that. whereby we know that it is the last time, the last hour, the last season. How do we know it's the last season? Because there's many antichrists presently within.

Verse 19, who are we talking about? They went out from us. But they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us. But they went out, that they might make manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lies of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist. that denieth the Father and the Son."

Now, these passages have been taken and distorted. Well, so-and-so left our church. They were never among us. They're heathens. We're not talking about that. We're not talking about people who get into some vile sin. This is not about writing people off as not children of God for mistakes or differences of opinion. The illustration here is, how do we know that we're at the end times? It says, there are those amongst us who are standing contrary to Christ and denying that Jesus is the Son of God, denying that He is the Christ. So this is really stark to go from, I am saying I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, to now I am an active enemy denouncing, saying He's not the Christ. Do we see the range being discussed here?

Could you see how a Gentile in Rome who is so excited about being in the kingdom for all the wrong reasons, right? We had Simon who wanted to know some things that the Apostle did so he could turn it into some money, right? Hey, I see that whoever you lay hands on gets the Holy Spirit. Let me give you some money so I could have that power too. And they said, whoa, your heart's not right in all this. We see that, you know, that wrath still abides upon you.

A Gentile who is looking down at the Jews, and yet later, they go away and they go back and worship Diana, or Zeus, or whatever, and Jesus isn't the Christ, right? Does that mean they're still part of the camp? No, right? So that's what I think we're describing here.

Behold the goodness and severity of God. It's like, you haven't just checked this box, because that would be a work, that would be something you're doing, and now you can just act any old way, right? God spared not the natural branches, the Jews, take heed, lest he spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God. On them that fell, right, the unbelieving Jews, severity, but towards thee, Gentiles who weren't even seeking them, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness. Otherwise, thou shalt also be cut off.

And they also, listen to this, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. Now that's true on an individual basis. We're talking about a Jew, right? Were there Jews who were excited that Jesus was being crucified? Yeah, there were a bunch. Were there some of those same individuals at Pentecost who were like, Oh, yeah, where the Lord put men and brethren, what must we do to be saved, right? That's kind of a workspace thing for like, oh, no, because we know what we've done, right? Their eyes had been opened, why? Because they were gods and because he called them to him.

So they didn't remain and abide in a belief because he called them to him, gave them the ability to believe. Can he do that at a large scale amongst the remaining descendants of Abraham? Yeah, and it sure looks like he will. And that's pretty cool. He is able, he is able, it means he has the power. God has the power to graft them in again.

When people start talking about the values, laws that America's based on, what do they always have to say? It's based on Judeo-Christian values, right? Because there's still a separation between those two terms. But how cool is it gonna be when, to be a Jew, synonymous with being a Christian.

Okay, so, for if thou were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, alright, so we're talking to Gentiles, talking about where you came from, and were grafted in contrary to nature into a good olive tree. How many wild pecan trees, branches, jump off the tree, go over to a cultivated one, and stitch themselves on? Zero. Zero. None. Right? That's contrary to nature. The new birth is contrary to your nature. It gives you a new nature. You were on the outside, He has brought inside, made you whole and without blame within His family. That's by Him. All right? How much more shall these...

So if He's able to do that, you who are wild and on the outside, and He's able to make you on the inside and whole and fit within this kingdom, How much easier, in a sense, is it to take one who is from that cultivated tree to begin with and regraft them in? He has that power. How much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

So that's an extended word picture. Go back and reread that and make sure that all kind of makes sense, because I know I'm going through it kind of fast. I really want to finish 11 so we can get 12. We got lunch, all right.

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery. All right, there's something you need to know. There's a mystery. A mystery means there was something that has been secret for a long time, and God has now revealed it, and so you now have the ability to know. What is it? Well, if you don't know it, there's a warning, lest you should be wise in your own conceits. All right, does that sound like a good thing? wise in your own, all right, you get kind of puffed up in your own head and how good you are at, that's not a good thing, right? Not to be wise in your own conceits, that the blindness, in part, is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

God has a lot of reasons for what he does. He's just told you, one, how long would this blindness upon Israel as a whole, right, the predominant, you know, the bulk of the Jews who don't believe, why will that, and how long will that abide? Until the fullness of the Gentiles will come in. When will that be? I don't know. Doesn't say. There's similar language in Luke. Let's look at that really quick. It's the only parallel I can find. Luke 21 and 24. Again, this context is forward-looking verses. 21, 24, Our immediate context is we're looking at the destruction of Israel that happens in 70 AD. That's our immediate context.

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and you can go all the way back up to 21 to get this whole pattern, but just for the sake of time, 24. They shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

All right, so you've got the fullness of the Gentiles become in, and the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. When exactly will those occur? Yeah, I don't know. One implies that the times of the Gentiles is gonna come to an end, and the other is there's gonna be a time when the completeness of the Gentiles will become, well, what are you talking about completeness? We're probably talking about the entire family of God of the Gentiles have been brought in.

So it sounds like we're talking about something that happens to the end end, okay? Can I get much more precise than that? No, right? And that's okay. I've gotta admit that to you. I can't answer every burning question and curiosity you may have, right? We've got a limited amount of information that God's given us, and we've gotta stay within that, because when we get broader, we're just guessing, and guesses aren't good authority, right? Not for basing decisions on, right?

We want to look at the text. We want to look closely. We want to see what patterns we can find. Sometimes there's just very limited information. And guess what? When Christ returns and we're all looking back and we're reading the Scripture again, we'll have these moments like, oh! That's what you meant! And we can do that now as we're reading the Old Testament and we're seeing what Christ did and what He's fulfilled. You can go back and read the Old Testament and be like, hey, I know what that means now! So, something to look forward to.

Alright. So, all Israel shall be saved. Okay, don't lift this verse out of context. What Israel are we talking about? Are we saying every natural descendant of Jacob shall be in heaven? No, because then you'd be ignoring chapters 9, 10, and half of 11. Every elect child of God who happens to be a genetic descendant of Jacob shall be saved, right? It's the same way with Jew and Gentile. There's no difference. And so that Israel, Jew and Gentile, right? That real definition for Israel. We're not talking about the narrow definition of just the descendants of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, but we're talking about the entire family of God.

So when you got that confusing passage over there back in Chapter 9, which says, Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. We're making a distinction between natural genetics and the spiritual family of God, right? Genetically, I'm not a Jew, right? I'm not a descendant of Abraham, as far as I know. Whereas, I'm confident that based on the ability He's given me to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He's been raised from the dead, I couldn't do that. And you couldn't do that unless He has already called you to Him, and He's only gonna call you to Him if He foreknew you and predestinated you and determined that you would be with Him in glory conformed to the image of His Son.

So it's all one big picture. So is any of God's children gonna be lost? No. Isn't that comforting? It's not your job to save anybody. It's not my job to save anybody. Right? I gotta set a good example for y'all, and I gotta teach you, but it's not my responsibility to keep you out of hell. If it was, I'd have got some gray hair already. I would be, that is a terrible load for someone to try and operate under, but that's not what scripture teaches. That was Christ's burden, and he bore it, and he accomplished it. So when he said it's finished, I believe him that he has accomplished what he set out to do.

So all Israel shall be saved. as it is written, so we're gonna quote a couple passages here. Let's see, Isaiah 59, 20 and 21. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them. Again, this is Isaiah. talking about there's gonna be a turning within Jacob, right? Two names, Jacob and Israel, talking about Jews, right? Jacob's not a real positive name. That really kind of hinted at Jacob's rebellion. He was a slippery fellow, like he's trying to get the birthright coming out of the birth canal. He was the heel grabber, that's what Jacob means, right? And then later, you know, kind of, instead of just giving his brother a bowl of soup, what does he do? Sure, I'll get it, only if you sell me your extra third of dad's stuff. Right? Because firstborn, you get two portions of dad's stuff. So you divide it in three. He gets 66, I get 33. That extra 33 percent, I will sell you this bowl of soup if you will go ahead and write that over to me. I mean, you look like you're hungry. In fact, you're saying you're about to starve to death. Our children use that expression, about to starve to death. Well, Esau said, well, what good is that 33 percent going to do if I'm dead? What kind of a brother does that? a sheister, right?

Well, here you've got that name used for describing a deliverer, a savior coming and turning them away from ungodliness. And so this is another language pointing towards the end where God is going to bring back amongst the natural Jews, His people, there will be this restoration.

when I shall take away their sins." All right, and you can get that from Jeremiah 31 about language about His new covenant, this new heart, and they have this desire to serve Him. All right? Where are we right now? As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes." There are some people who were Jews right then, kind of like Paul was at one point, who were real fierce enemies of the gospel. They didn't like the good news of Jesus Christ. It wasn't good news to them. They hated it.

but as touching the election amongst that people, which you don't know who they are, amongst the Jews, they're the family of God and they're elected and beloved for the Father's sakes, right? So how do you treat people? How do you interact with people, right? It's not getting up on your high horse, well, y'all had your chance, he's done with you, right? You continue to operate in humility and recognize the reason you're there is the same way that they could be there, you just don't know to whom he's chosen or when that will take effect, right? For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, right? So those that he chose before the foundation of the world, he's never going to say, I'm done with you, right? You're not mine anymore. They continue to be his. All right.

for as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief." All right, so that was before, right? The Gentiles weren't following God. The Jews didn't obey God, and now this mercy has come unto the Gentiles. We've got that pattern we talked about. "...even so these also have now not believed, that through Your mercy, they may also obtain mercy." That's talking about that provoking, provoking to emulation, that looking forward to one day when they will all be working in the same direction.

For God hath included them all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all. Gentiles as a whole, where do they start from? Unbelief, right? And Jews at this point, where do they start from? unbelief. And so among his family, he is gonna have mercy upon all the same way. It's not because either can claim that they're better, right? And Paul had dealt with that earlier, right? Is the Jew better than the Gentile? No, what's the answer? All sinners, right? All sinners. And then he's just gonna praise. And we're gonna end with this. Listen to this.

O depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God, you and I can't understand how deep the riches of God's wisdom and knowledge go, right? Y'all remember watching The Hobbit? What's the dragon laying on it? Pile of riches, pile of gold, right? Eventually, if they dug down far enough, they'd find the bottom of that cave floor, right? Well, the illustration here is like, just imagine God's wealth and knowledge is this pile of gold that you can't get to the bottom of. And we're talking about that here in his massive, eternal scale of how he has delivered his people and how it continues to show up here in time and what it'll look like in the end. It's bigger than you and I can handle! we're seeing pieces of it. The part that he's revealed, his riches of his wisdom and knowledge, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. How he accomplishes it, what he knows, what he designs, all of this is beyond us.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Alright? You ever looked at a teenager and you know what they're thinking? And you go ahead and get on to them before they do it? My stepmom did that to me. So frustrating. She'd warn my dad, you better get on to Jonathan, he's about to do something. I hadn't even thought of it yet, but I probably would have. No one can be like that with God. You cannot know his mind. You've never given him advice, right? Who has been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, right? You're trying to set your kids off, you give them some things to get them started, right? That's a good thing, right? Who did that for God? Nobody, right? He's original, he had no beginning. Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. Who's gonna say, hey God, you owe me. Remember that fiber I loaned you, you gotta give it back. Nobody, right? He's unique. For of him, and through him, And to him are all things. What's the origin of all things? Of him. Anything that's accomplished, anything that's done, right? Did you just breathe? Congratulations, that was a gift, right? Through him, who does it all belong to? Him, right? Possession, to him. Of him, through him, to him are all things. To whom? be glory forever and ever."

This is the climax here of these first 11 chapters of looking at the glory of God and His righteousness that's on display in the gospel, how He is changing people, both Jew and Gentile, what He's going to do, some little bit glimpse in the future. And how it's not of their works, it's how he's had this thing going since, woo, before he flipped the light switch. And he's gonna be sustaining it and maintaining it and bringing his people in at just the right time until he says, and we're done. And then you'll have this grand climax and woo, then you're done. And you've got a new heaven and a new earth where no wickedness, you get to see this scope.

You're like, Brother Jonathan, why have you taken 15 weeks to go through 11 chapters? Because look at the scope! and I didn't suggest any of it to him, nor did you, nor can we give advice to him on how we could do it better, or say, hey, you owe me. Of him, through him, to him are all things, and who deserves every bit of glory? He does. That's what we're trying to do this morning.

Is this a challenge to work systematically through verse by verse through scripture. Yes, that's a good thing, okay? It forces us to deal with the individual words that God has given us, right? And we get to see what has he chosen to record for his people so that we can know more about him.

Do you remember what Paul's prayer was for the Ephesians? That they would know more about God. know more of Him, that their eyes would be opened, that they would know more about the hope of His calling, know more about what He has in store and His riches, and know more about the power that He's already used and demonstrated both on the cross and in your life and what's yet remaining. I mean, it's like before, during, after, the whole thing, you need to know more about Him.

Does your ignorance change His work? No, but do you get to clap hardy if you know, I know this part, this is good! I know what's coming, yes, right? You ever go to a play and you go, oh, this is one of my favorite parts, it's coming, right? You get to kind of see little bits, right? But he has got the whole thing.

This is the God we serve, right? Your view of him is too small, all right? Your understanding of God is too small. and your view of yourself is too big. Reverse the two. Let's be small before the Lord and lift Him up in all that we do.

Thank y'all for your great attention. I look forward to your questions.