Romans 11

Romans 11:1

As evidenced by the number of lottery tickets sold each day, there’s a growing fascination in our culture with gambling. The one thing you do not have to gamble on is God’s promise to you. The Lord doesn’t say to us, “Take a chance. Come unto Me and maybe you’ll hit the jackpot.” No, He promises you and me that if we come to Him, we will find rest in our souls, peace in our hearts, and purpose for our lives. That’s no gamble. That is certainty. And that is why the apostle Paul wrapped up chapter 8 of Romans with the fabulous promise that all things are working together for good to them that love God. Gang, if you love God at all, everything coming down, everything going on is working together for good. That’s not hyperbole. It’s reality. If the situation you’re going through, the struggles with which you’re wrestling, or the pressure surrounding you seem to indicate otherwise, Romans 9-11 is for you, because in this important insert, Paul uses the nation Israel as an illustration that God is faithful even when His people are fickle. You can go to the bank on that. You can count on Him. No matter what your situation is, no matter what you’re going through, God will be faithful to you. How can I be sure? Look at God’s relationship with Israel… In chapter 9, Paul points to God’s past dealings with Israel and highlights the sovereignty of God. In chapter 10, he deals with God’s present dealings with Israel, based upon equity. Whether Jew or Gentle, all are invited to be saved. Here in chapter 11, we come to God’s future dealings with Israel, which show His integrity. That is, God made certain promises to the nation of Israel, which He will fulfill. For even though they’ve blown it badly, God has promised to see Israel through on the basis of His own integrity and faithfulness. The same is true for us. He who has begun a good work in us shall complete it (Php_1:6). That’s His promise. And in it I rest. Students of prophecy, this verse should be noted in your Bible, because many people teach that God is finished with Israel. “The church is now the recipient of the blessings that were promised to Israel and forfeited by Israel when she rejected Jesus Christ,” they contend. Why do they teach this? They do so in order to make their case that the church will go through the Tribulation. You see, the post-Tribulation theological viewpoint makes the church synonymous with Israel, since to explain the fact that, although 144,000 Jews are seen in the Tribulation period, the church is never mentioned. Thus, those who embrace a post-Tribulation viewpoint, always teach that God is through with Israel. Yet Romans 11 deals a deathblow to this mentality, as Paul asks, “Has God cast away His people? God forbid. No way.” And then he points to Exhibit B: himself. “God isn’t through with the Israelites. Look at me. I’m saved,” said Paul. The point Paul makes here is not the fact that he’s saved, but the way he was saved. Persecuting the church, coming against Christianity, in an audible and tangible encounter with Jesus Christ, Paul’s eyes were opened (Acts 9). So, too, at a time when persecution will be coming down on Israel, when Jerusalem will be surrounded and about to be annihilated in the Tribulation period, what will happen? Suddenly, the Lord will appear, and, like Paul, Israel will realize they erred greatly and will turn to Him and be saved (Zechariah 13). You see, Paul was simply a shadow of what will happen to the entire nation prophetically. Paul points to himself and says, “Is God through with Israel? Consider me and my conversion as an illustration of what will happen eventually.”

Romans 11:2

“Look not only at my life personally,” said Paul, “but check out history. Remember Elijah?” After his great victory in taking on four hundred prophets of Baal and calling down fire from heaven, Elijah caved in when Jezebel threatened him. Running for his life, he hid in a cave, depressed. “What are you doing here?” asked God (see 1Ki_19:13). By the way, what are you doing in the cave of depression today? “Well, all of the Christians in my community are carnal. All of the Christians at my church are shallow. I alone serve God,” we say all too often. “You think you’re so spiritual and everyone else is so carnal? Look down in the valley below you. There are seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal,” God said to Elijah (see 1Ki_19:18). Paul goes on to use Elijah’s story… How would you like to have Elijah for a pastor? People say, “Give us a man of passion and power. Give us a man who can pray down fire from heaven. Give us Elijah.” But look how Elijah prayed. He made intercession to God against Israel. Yet even this man to whom James points as an example of one who prevailed in prayer, an example of one who knew how to pray, didn’t influence God in this case at all. Sometimes you may have someone curse you, pray against you, or come down on you. But their curses and prayers don’t move God. If God be for us, who can be against us? (Rom_8:31). Elijah was unable to pray successfully against the people of Israel, for God had made promises to Israel that still needed to be kept. He had a remnant in Israel Elijah didn’t know about. Next time you, like Elijah, pray God will get someone, remember that there are things about him you don’t know. There are qualities in her you are just too blind to see. God sees people in a whole different light than we do. Yes, He’s aware of their failings and frailtiesbut He also sees what He’s doing, and the work that has already taken place in their lives. We miss it. We judge people by what we think they should be. God looks at them and sees what they would have been without Him.

Romans 11:4

Just as there was a remnant in Elijah’s day, so, too, Paul says, there will always be a remnant in Israel. There always has been, presently is, and always will be a believing minority in Israel. And the believing minority in Israel is wonderfully radical for Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:6

The remnant does not refer to Jewish believers who keep the law. No, the remnant is made up of those who are saved by grace. Now, what’s true in Israel is true for you and me as well. If we’re saved by grace, let us continue to walk in grace alone. If I start mixing works into the equation, saying, “Lord, I anticipate Your blessing on my life or this church or my family because of how hard I’m working,” I will be rewarded on that basis. I am convinced that the Lord is looking for people, families, and churches He can bless who will truly say and believe, “It is only by God’s grace that we’ve been blessed. It is not because of our powerful prayer, our diligent devotions, or our endless energy. It’s simply, purely, solely grace.”

Romans 11:7

Only the elected ones, the believers, have obtained true spirituality. The rest are blinded. Yes, there is a believing minority in Israel today. But there is also a blinded majority. You can show them verses in black and white concerning the prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ. But they’ll just look at you and smile pleasantly. I recall, during our first trips to Israel, thinking, Our guides are so close to getting saved. Next year, we’ll really get them. But the next year came, and they were still listening and smiling pleasantly. They’re really getting close now, I thought. Wait till the next trip. Then eventually I began to see the truth of the Bible. “You’re right, Lord,” I concluded at last. “The majority are blind.”

Romans 11:8

Is it mean-spirited of God to blind people? No, God only blinds those who want to be blind. You see, God’s goodness is so completely irresistible that, were He not to blind their eyes, people who didn’t want to know Him or walk with Him would have no other choice. Thus, God would violate man’s free will. So, in His love and wisdom, God says to humanity, “If you don’t want to see Me, you won’t.” That is why you can witness until you’re blue in the face to someone who’s not calledonly to realize he just doesn’t get it. “Well, then,” you say, “we should only witness to the elect.” Right! But who are they? I’m not sureso I just talk to everyone I possibly can. I am slowly learning, however, that I need to invest my energy and time where the harvest is ripe rather than spin my wheels hour after day after month after year with people who are blinded.

Romans 11:9

“If you could just see how Jewish people worship on Shabbatthe lighting of the candles, the wearing of the shawls, the ceremonial cleansingit gives me goose bumps,” some say. Perhapsbut it’s all a snare because their trust in their tradition and ritual keeps them from coming to Jesus Christ in the only way any man can come: by faith.

Romans 11:12

After pointing out the lost condition of the blinded majority, Paul asks if they’ve stumbled in such a way that their fall is permanent. Have they been shoved down never to stand up? Have they been snared by their ritualism, caught up in their traditions and ceremonies in a way that will never allow them to stand as a nation? “Absolutely not,” Paul answers. “Rather, their fall opened the doors for God to work among the Gentiles, which, in turn, makes the Jews jealous of the simplicity of our salvation.” I’ll never forget Al Matucci. As a sophomore on the Del Mar High School football team, he was my line coach, the one who put us through the dreaded “meat grinder"a drill in which you move down a line of eight guys by hitting them with your head. I can recall Russ LeBlanc coming up from the freshman squad to play with us. He went through the meat grinder one day, and you should have heard Matucci. He loved the guy. “Courson,” he barked, “look at LeBlanc. Look how he’s doing the grinder.” Matucci yelled at me, got in my face, put his cleats on my helmet, pushed me into the ground and told me how wonderful Russ was.

It made me mad. It provoked me to jealousy so much so that only a couple of days ago, when I met a fellow whose last name was LeBlanc, I could feel the blood rush to my head. Matucci knew what he was doing and got more out of me because he provoked me to jealousy. And that’s what the Lord did. He provoked His people to jealousy by blessing the Gentiles. He hasn’t written them off; He hasn’t cast them away. Quite the contrary, He said, “What can I do to reach My people? I know. I’ll bless the Gentiles.” If the world’s been blessed because of the Jews stumbling, how much more will the world be blessed when they stand in belief and submission to Jesus Christ. This will happen in the kingdom age when Jesus comes back to rescue the people of Israel in the face of destruction at the end of the Tribulation.

Romans 11:13

“I’m talking to you Gentiles,” Paul says, “not only to explain God’s grace to you, but to exploit God’s grace through youthat is, to provoke my countrymen, the Jews, to jealousy.”

Romans 11:15

As seen in the original text, the “casting away” spoken of here is temporaryfor when the Jews come into the kingdom, there will be life where there once was death.

Romans 11:16

The reference here is to Numbers 15, where the Israelites were instructed to bring the firstfruit, the first portion of even their dough, and give it to the Lord, thereby sanctifying the remainder. I suggest this as an irrevocable, valuable principle for you, for me, and congregationally: Give the firstfruit of your dough, and the whole lump will be sanctified. The firstfruit is the Lord’s. The first tenth is the Lord’s. The tithe is the Lord’s. If I don’t tithe, it’s not that I am not giving, but rather that I am stealing from God (Mal_3:8). Ever wonder why you bring home wages, yet it seems as though you have holes in your pockets? Ever wonder why you’re not being blessed or stabilized? Perhaps it is because you have built your own house, but have neglected God’s (Hag_1:9). And I remind those who cry, “Legalism!” that the tithe was instituted before the law (Gen_14:20). Because the people of Israel understood that the firstfruit would sanctify the whole lump, Paul used the analogy to refer to the nation itself, saying, that because Israel’s “firstfruit"consisting of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobwas sanctified, the entire nation would one day be sanctified as well. Does that mean, as some suggest, that every Jew will be saved because they’re linked to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? No. Every person must stand before the Lord and give an account of what they did personally with Jesus Christ. But as a nation, because the firstfruit was sanctified, then the whole nation will be blessed in totality. The promises will be fulfilled.

Romans 11:17

The tree provides three symbols of Israel: (1) The vine speaks of the spiritual privileges of Israel (Isaiah 5; Matthew 21); (2) the fig tree speaks of the national privileges of Israel (Matthew 24); and (3) the olive tree speaks of the religious privileges of Israel (Hosea 14). The vine speaks of Israel up to the time of Jesus Christ. The fig tree speaks of Israel from the crucifixion of Christ to the present. The olive tree speaks of Israel in the millennial period. As Gentiles, we were grafted into the olive tree. But because we “partake of its fatness” solely by God’s grace, we have no room to boast, or look down upon the Jew.

Romans 11:19

“Learn a lesson from the Jew,” Paul says to the Gentile. “Realize that, although you were grafted in by God’s grace, you can be cut off if you refuse to respond to His grace.” In John 15, Jesus said, “If the branch abides not in Me, it is cut off and cast into the fire and burned.” It is a strong warning with which I do not wish to tamper. How we need to understand both the goodness and the severity of God.

Romans 11:23

God has a plan for Israel. Although they are “cut off” presently, He is in the grafting mode.

Romans 11:24

As Gentiles, we came from a wild treeyet God put us in the tree of faith. How much more, then, shall the true olive branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

Romans 11:25

When will the fullness of the Gentiles come? In Luke 21, Jesus said Jerusalem would be trodden down until the “times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled. In 1967 Jerusalem was recaptured by Israel. Thus, I believe the “times of the Gentiles” were fulfilled in 1967. We are simply in overtime right now, due to God’s goodness and patience. If you got saved after 1967, aren’t you glad He took us into overtime? The times of the Gentiles (Luke 21) deals with the recovering of Jerusalem. But the fullness of the Gentiles is a different issue. What is the fullness of the Gentiles? It’s when the full number of Gentiles are saved. In other words, there is a Gentile somewhere on the earth who is the last one to be saved. When that person acknowledges Jesus Christ as Savior, the fullness of the Gentiles will be complete, and at that moment, we’ll be raptured. So if you’re not yet savedget saved. You could do us all a great favor because you might be the last one! The Lord will wait until all one hundred are in the flock. He’ll leave the ninety-nine and search out the one, and when that last one is brought into the fold, the fullness of the Gentiles concludes and up we go. The times of the Gentiles deals with Jerusalem; the fullness of the Gentiles deals with the last individual coming into the fold and accepting Jesus Christwhich will usher in the Rapture and the completion of the Gentile Age.

Romans 11:26

Who is “the election”? When people read Matthew 24, they say, “In the Tribulation God calls the elect from every corner of the earth. Therefore, the church must be in the Tribulation.” Wrong. Israel is also called the elect (Isa_45:4). The election of God deals both with the church and with the nation of Israel. So in Matthew 24, when God says He’s going to bring the elect from all corners, it means He’s going to gather His people, the Jewish nation together.

Romans 11:29

Why will God gather Israel? Because His calling is sure. He didn’t change His mind about Israel. Nor does He change His mind about you. Even if we are faithless, He remains faithful because He cannot deny His nature (2Ti_2:13). God’s Unchanging Call A Topical Study of Rom_11:29 On a fall day in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, a man was on an afternoon hike several miles from where he parked his vehicle. The temperature dropped precipitously as ominous clouds began to form. Realizing a storm was approaching, the man headed back to where he left his car. But on the way, he was caught in a whiteout. The hours passed as he wandered in circlesunable to see even two feet ahead of him. He felt his energy giving out and a deadly lethargy creeping in, yet he knew that if he listened to his body and sat down to rest, he would never get up again.

After wandering around a few more minutes, however, he finally gave in and decided to rest, knowing he would soon die. But as he sat down, he felt something next to him. He brushed away the snow and found the body of someone who, like him, had been caught in the storm. He felt for a pulse, and finding there was still life flowing through the body, he stood up, and with super-human strength hoisted the body to his shoulders and began to walk. After a mere one hundred feet, he came face to door with a cabin. A cabin was only one hundred feet away from where the hiker was ready to give up. He didn’t see it because of the blizzard, but once he attempted to save someone else and started moving, the cabin materialized before him. Inside, there was a fire in the fireplace and a man cooking dinner. Both of the travelers were warmed, fed, and saved. Perhaps you feel like giving up, as though you want to sit down and die. The key for you is to look for someone who is worse off than you in order that you may give out the gifts God has given you. “I agree,” some may say, “but you don’t know where I’ve been. Certainly, the call to share in ministry is no longer on my life. I’ve sinned so badly that surely any gifts the Lord may have given me have been taken from me.” The Problem of Sinfulness Are you more iniquitous than Samson? You know the story. He fell in love with a lady who had honey lips and a poison heart. “Oh, please, Sammy,” she said, “tell me the secret of your strength.” “Well, babe, I’ll tell you,” Samson answered, “if you put bowstrings of raw leather around me, I’d be as weak as any other man.” So when Samson fell asleep on her lap, Delilah tied him up with leather strings and called for the Philistines, then yelled, “Samson! Wake up! The Philistines are here!” Samson stood up, snapped the bowstrings off, and did the Philistines in. When the dust settled, Delilah looked at Samson and said, “You lied to me.” “Forgive me,” apologized Samson. “I’ll tell you what: Put new green ropes around me, and I’ll be like any other individual.” When Samson fell asleep again, Delilah did just that. “Sammy! The Philistines are here again,” she said. Just as he did before, Samson woke up, popped the ropes off as if they were threads, and took on the Philistines. “You lied to me,” sobbed Delilah. “Okay, Okay,” said Samson, “If you weave my hair, (watch out, Samson, you’re getting a little close now), I’ll be like any other man.” He fell asleep, and you know the story. He woke up and his hair was woven. “Samson, the Philistines are upon you,” said Delilah. He woke up, did them in, and trashed Delilah’s loom. You gotta wonder about Samson. What’s the deal? Could anyone be that dense? Could anyone be that dumb? But Delilah continued to cry day after day, until finally he said, “Okay, I’ll tell you the secret of my strength. If you cut my hair, I’ll be like any other man.” He fell asleep once more and she sheared his hair. “Samson! The Philistines are here,” she cried. And Jdg_16:20 tells what happened next in one of the saddest verses in Scripture: “And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the Lord was departed from him.” Samson took on the Philistines, but this time they did him in. They blinded him by poking out his eyes, bound him in brass, and made him grind grain round and round like an ox. The question cannot help but arise: Was Samson really that stupid? I suggest that Samson knew he was going to get a haircut when he told Delilah his secret. As a Nazarite, Samson was absolutely forbidden to drink wine, touch dead bodies, or cut his hair (Numbers 6). Yet Samson had taken of wine at the Philistine parties and nothing happened (Jdg_14:10). He had touched the dead body of a lion in which there was honey, and, again, nothing happened (Jdg_14:9). Thus, I suggest to you that what Samson was really thinking was, Well, I’ve already drunk wine; I’ve already touched a dead body. Nothing’s going to happen to me if I cut my hair. Samson thought he was an exceptionbut he wasn’t. And neither are you. Maybe you haven’t yet felt the repercussion of your rebellion, but know this: If you continue down that road, you’ll find some real trouble. Today is the day for you to stop trying the mercy and testing the patience of God. Back to Samson. His hair began to grow (Jdg_16:22). And when he was brought into the temple of Dagon, he prayed, “Lord, use me one more time.” After requesting his captors to stand him between two supporting pillars, Samson stretched out his arms, pushed, and literally brought the house downliterally. Three thousand people in the balconies crashed to their deaths, and Scripture records he killed more enemies of Israel in his death than he did in his life (Jdg_16:30). Truly, the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Maybe you feel your experience has been somewhat “hairy.” Know this: If, like Samson, you’re willing to die to self and say, “Lord, use me. I’m tired of living for myself, focused on myself, concerned about myself. Just use me"you, too, will bring the house down because the callings and giftings of God are without repentance. The Problem of Rebelliousness “I agree that the Lord could use a sinful person like Samsonfor then His grace and mercy are seen all the more clearly,” you say. “But me? I have already failed in what He has asked of me. How could He ask me again?” “Go to Nineveh,” God said. Instead, Jonah went to Tarshishthe exact opposite direction. En route, a storm arose and, you know the story. He was swallowed by a great fish. Jonah was in a tight spot so dark he couldn’t see the hand in front of his face. No doubt entwined with seaweed and sweating from the internal body temperature of the great fish, it is no wonder Jonah felt like he was in hell (Jonah 2). Maybe you feel that way. Perhaps God called you to do something for Him. He gifted and equipped you to carry out a specific task for the kingdom, but like Jonah, you chose to go in the opposite direction. And now you find yourself saying, “I don’t know where I’m going. Nothing’s happening. I can’t think straight. No wonder the Lord has given up on me.” Listen. The Lord didn’t give up on Jonah. All the time Jonah thought he was going nowhere, in the dark, feeling cramped, getting hotthe whale was moving in the right direction. Why? Because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. And once Jonah said, “I’m sorry,” the whale regurgitated him on to the beach. His hair must have been bleached from the gastric juices. His clothes must have been tattered. He must have looked like an albino. But at last he was in Ninevehright where God wanted him all along. He walked into the city, smelling like the digestive tract of a whale, saying, “Repent. In forty days judgment will come.” The Ninevites saw him, smelled him, and couldn’t believe what they heard about him. Yet, Scripture records that the entire city repented. The greatest revival in world history came by way of a man who previously thought he was going nowhere because of his rebellion. So, too, even though you feel like you don’t deserve itGod’s not through with you because the calling and gifting of God are without repentance. He doesn’t take them back. The Problem of Cowardice “I don’t know Him,” swore Peter. Why? Because a little girl said to him, “I think I recognize you. Aren’t you one of His followers?"(see Mat_26:71). “I can’t continue on in ministry,” Peter said. “I know Jesus is alivebut I’ve been such a coward. I’ve failed miserably. I’m going back to fishing” (see Joh_21:3). So it was, that after fishing all night with his buddies, he heard a voice calling, “Caught anything, children?” “Nothing,” he yelled back. It’s true. When you feel like you’ve failed so badly that you just have to go back to fishingback to the old places, back to the old gang, back to the old stuffyou’ll always come up empty-handed. “Put your net on the right side of the boat,” called the voice from the shore. And when Peter and the others did, they pulled in such a haul, it almost sank their boat. “It’s the Lord!” they said at last. And when they reached the shore, what did they find? Fish roasting on the fire. You see, the very thing Peter went to sea to find was in the hand of Jesus all along. “Do you love Me?” He asked Peter three times (Joh_21:15-17). He didn’t say, “Peter, if you love Me, you’re on probation. Prove yourself for three more yearsand if you do well, we might allow you to hang out with us again.” No, He said, “Peter, if you even like Me, then feed My sheep, and tend my lambs. Go back to where you were before you went on this fishing trip. Get going again.” And that’s what the Lord says to you who have felt as though you’ve chickened out in cowardice, to you who have dabbled in sinfulness, to you who have fled in rebelliousness. “Get going again. Feed My flock. Do what you were doing before your excursion into sin. Get back to it once again.” Gang, only the Lord shows that kind of grace. People don’t. Churches often won’t. But Jesus does. “Follow Me,” He says, “because My gifts and callings are without repentance.” Get going and you’ll find satisfaction in your heart, fulfillment in your life, and reward for eternity. Don’t waste any more time. Your hair is growing. The whale is moving. The fish aren’t biting. So get going!

Romans 11:30

The best thing you can do when you go to Israel is to love Jesus Christ. Worship Him, and let the Jews see your glorious liberty in the way you’re free from your sin. Sin is the big problem for the Jews. They light their candles. They keep Shabbat. They cleanse themselves. But they still sin. They know the Bible. They know the Old Testament says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Lev_17:11). But there’s no shedding of blood in Israel today because there’s no temple. Consequently, it causes a great deal of consternation within the Jew. But our celebrating the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the mercy of God upon us will perhaps provoke them to be part of the remnant at this time.

Romans 11:32

Here, Paul’s theology turns into a doxology, as he just begins to worship. God is so good. Who can figure out His ways? Truly, they are unsearchable. I like what J. B. Phillips said when he said, “If God was small enough to figure out, He wouldn’t be big enough to worship.” When I was a freshman at Biola University, about ten of us guys spent almost all of one night in Phil Bishop’s room, pondering the question of whether God can make a rock so big He can’t lift it? Back and forth we went, wondering and debating by the hour, our faith growing a little bit weaker with each volley. The next Sunday, I went to Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, and Pastor Chuck was talking about unprofitable questions. He stopped and said, “For example, some people ask, “Can God make a rock so big He can’t lift it?” Oh, boy, I thought. Here comes the answer. But, “That’s a stupid question,” was Chuck’s only reply. It was. You see, there are things we’ll never figure outelection vs. free will, sovereignty vs. responsibility. And although we could spend hours reading and studying, pondering and arguing, some things we’ll never reconcile because our brains are too small. Forget trying to figure it all out. Just marvel at the goodness God has shown you! Who has been His counselor? I have. “Well, Lord,” I pray, “don’t forget…” and, “by the way…“as if I know what’s best for this country, or for this church, or for me personally. Sometimes, I’m amazed at the audacity of my prayers. Prayer is coming to God not to get our will done in heaven, but to get heaven’s will done on earth. Prayer is saying, “Lord, what do You want to do in my life, in this church, in our family? What do You want to do?”

Romans 11:35

Not only is God greater than our understandingHe’s greater than our giving. You can’t outgive God in time, money, love, or any other commodity. He’ll never “owe you one.”

Romans 11:36

And so we close this section, knowing that God has proven Himself to the Jews. He chose them sovereignly, deals with them equitably, and promises He will not give up on them eternally. Generations before ours studied this section of Romans and thought, We hear what you say, Paulbut where is Israel today? We’re so blessed because we don’t have to say, “Someday, Israel is going to come together.” No, we can say, “We’ve already seen it happen, Lord. Therefore, we know that things are going to come together for us as well. You’ve promised they would, and we trust in You.”