Join us as we delve into the intricate narrative of God’s salvation encompassing the whole house of Israel, drawing parallels with the salvation extended to the world. We explore the concept of the remnant as a representation of hope and examine the promise of salvation that extends beyond the chosen people, enveloping the entire world in the benevolence of God’s grace. This episode encourages us to re-evaluate our own journeys of faith as Paul reminds us of the unyielding mercy and faithfulness of God.
So we come to chapter 9 of Romans, and this is an extremely important and insightful passage of Scripture. It’s, in a sense, a separate section in that it is talking about the destiny of Israel. Yet it’s not separated from the whole book. That’s very important to realize. Paul is basing his conclusions of what will happen to Israel based upon what he has previously said about the salvation that Christ has brought, the kingdom that he has brought. As in Adam, all die, as he says in 2 Corinthians, so in Christ, even so in Christ also, everyone shall be made alive. But he starts with a very disturbing kind of mood. I tell you the truth. I tell the truth in Christ. I’m not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, of whom also are the fathers, and from whom according to the flesh Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. Well, you know, you’re not going to get the full impact of this concern of Paul until you realize some of the background that he’s coming from. For Paul, salvation is not a human choice of deciding for God, giving your heart to Christ, being converted, going to the front and surrendering your heart to Jesus. For Paul, and it’s not just for Paul, it’s the truth, salvation is initiated by God. People come to Christ because God the Father has drawn them. Jesus makes that very clear. And Paul makes it very clear, and other passages make it very clear too, that faith is a gift from God. It doesn’t come from human beings. And so when Paul says he’s very concerned about Israel… He’s really saying, I don’t know why God hasn’t saved them yet. God has saved and is saving the world, and he’s working with the Gentiles. So why hasn’t he got to Israel yet? Because, of course, so few Jews had accepted Christ. So that is the background that we need to read these verses in. So let’s read them again. I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises, of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen. So you see Paul’s concern. I mean, it’s ironic that the Jewish people, that Israel, who brought the Messiah to the world and who prophesied that the Messiah would come to the world, missed him, isn’t it? It’s a terrible, terrible irony. They who, above all beyond, or the, let’s see, how shall I say it, they who alone, of all the nations of the world, prophesied the arrival of the Messiah, the Savior of the world. They even stated the year that he would come. They stated the place that he would be born at. They stated how he would die for the salvation of the world. And yet when Jesus arrived, the Israelites missed him. And then the salvation continued as it went to the Gentiles through the apostles. And so that they should, those chosen people of God should miss the very Messiah that they were designed in the world to represent is a terrible sorrow for Paul. But then, you see, he comes with this verse, “‘But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect.'” That’s verse 6. Now, we are about to launch on a couple of chapters that are really riveting. They are very, very awakening. They’re very revealing. Paul is going to deal with the whole issue of the destiny of Israel. Now, many Christians have the idea that God rejected Israel and so then gave the message of the gospel and the salvation to the Gentiles instead. He passed over Israel and gave the message to the Gentiles. Now that is not biblical, it is not correct. It is true that God passed over Israel in the sense of giving the commission to the Gentiles to take the message of salvation throughout the world, and yet these two chapters, chapters 9, well 3, 9, 10, and 11, are going to show us that God has in no way rejected Israel, because Israel is a type of how God operates with all the world. I’ve said that before, and I’ll demonstrate it as we go through the book, as we go through these chapters. Israel was to bring the Messiah that Jesus would die for the sins of Israel. And yet, that Messiah was to die for the sins of the world also, wasn’t he? Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. In the book of Zechariah, Jesus is declared, or it is declared, that God would remove the sins of the land in one day. Well, of course, that’s a reference, a prophecy to Jesus’ crucifixion. For in one day, he took away the sins of the land of Israel by his death. But John, in 1 verse 29, says, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And so you see that what God is doing for Israel, he will do for the world. Well, what will he do for Israel? Is God going to save only a remnant? That’s what many people think. But not according to the book of Ezekiel, as I’ve pointed out several times now. Israel committed some of the most unbelievable sins, the worst of all being the sacrifice of their little children, babies, to the gods of Molech and Baal. They did this because they thought that that would be the way they would escape devastation and catastrophe by the invasion of other nations. They wanted to be like the other nations. God said it will never be. What you desire in your heart shall never be because you are my special people. And he states in chapter 16 that there will be an atonement made for all Israel, the whole house of Israel, for all the sins that they have committed, for everything they have done. And they will never open their mouths again for the shame that comes upon them for all that they have done. That’s chapter 16, the last three or four verses. And then he states that he will raise all Israel from the dead, the whole house of Israel, the ten tribes and the two tribes in Judah. He will raise the whole house of Israel. How amazing after all of their sins. He says that he allowed these sins to take place in order to devastate them. that they might know that I am the Lord. And you and I know what that means. We have often been shocked by our own ability to be sinful, and our own ability to be so addicted to crazy things we do the most bizarre things that we could never believe we would do in our sanity. But we do, and God allows it to shock us. Not that shocking will save us, but that shocking will bring us to our knees and to lead us to say, Oh God, please help me. And that is precisely what God does, because he says in the book of Ezekiel, I am for you, my people. And so you see, all that God does for Israel, no matter how deep and profound their sins, he’s going to do an atonement for them, and he’s going to forgive them for all that they have ever done, and he’s going to raise the whole house of Israel from the dead. That’s Ezekiel 37. All of that is what he will do for the world. And so Israel is not passed over. and God chooses the Gentiles instead. Israel is not plan A that failed, so God has to move to plan B. You will find, we will find, as we study this book, these three chapters, 9, 10, and 11, and I urge you to read them ahead of time, that God is going to save the whole house of Israel, not simply a remnant, but all. By the way, a remnant in Scripture, do you know what it is? A remnant is not the few that are saved while the rest are lost. Yes, it is that, but it’s more. A remnant is a representation of all who are lost, that they may represent them and give them faith that they will be saved. Put it another way, A remnant is representational of the whole lump. That’s what Paul is going to tell us. And so, you see, when God saves a remnant and keeps a remnant alive, it means that he’s going to rescue and save the whole nation because the remnant is kept alive to represent them. Now, having said all this as sort of background, think of how it applies to you. You and I are Gentiles, we’re believers, but we weren’t always believers, were we? We were out there in the world. We were people who had backslidden, perhaps, or we had never known God. And the thought may come to us, are we sure that we can be saved based upon the fact that we have fallen and sinned so many times and backslidden and gone away from God and forgotten Him? Will we be saved? And the good news is that the gospel is revealed through Israel, that as God saves Israel, he saves the whole world. As God saves the whole of Israel, he saves the whole world. He will ultimately bring all to faith for everyone. This book, these three chapters are going to reveal that everyone has been elected and that that election is going to carry through right into the judgment. And so what you do is go before God and say, Ah, dear God, how good are you. How merciful and how faithful. When I have been unfaithful and forgotten you, you have never forgotten me. You have remembered me in your Son, Jesus, who has drawn me to himself. And about $850 to $900 for a month’s programs. 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