The sermon transcript emphasizes the importance of humility and unity within the body of Christ. It encourages believers to recognize their unique roles and functions within the church and to exercise their gifts with the strength that God provides. The transcript also highlights the need to rejoice in the hope of Christ's coming and to patiently endure tribulations. It emphasizes the importance of prayer, love, and kindness towards others, even in the face of persecution. Overall, the sermon emphasizes the need for believers to have a yielded body, a separated life, and a transformed mind in order to live out the gospel message.

We continue here with the last three verses of Romans chapter 10, verse 19. The call of the Gentiles and the rejection of the gospel by the mass of the Jews should not have come as a surprise to the nation of Israel. Their own scriptures foretold exactly what would happen. For instance, in Deuteronomy 32.21, God warned that He would provoke Israel to jealousy by a non-nation, that is, the Gentiles, and anger Israel by a foolish, idolatrous people. Verse 20. In even bolder language, Isaiah quotes the Lord as being found by the Gentiles who weren't really looking for Him and being revealed to those who weren't inquiring for Him. Isaiah 65, verse 9. Verse 21. Against this picture of the Gentiles flocking to Jehovah, Isaiah portrays the Lord standing all day long with outstretched, beckoning hands to the nation of Israel and being met with disobedience and stubborn refusal. And now we come to chapter 11 in Romans, verse 1. What about the future of Israel? Is it true, as some teach, that God is through with Israel, that the church is now the Israel of God, and that the promises to Israel now apply to the church? The 11th chapter of Romans is one of the strongest refutations of that view in all the Bible. Paul's opening question means, Did God cast off His people completely? That is, has every single Israelite been cast off? The point is that although God has cast off His people, as is distinctly stated in verse 15 of this chapter, this does not mean that He has rejected all of them. Paul himself is a proof that the casting away has not been complete. After all, he was an Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin. His credentials as a Jew were impeccable. So we must understand the first part of this verse as saying, that is of verse 2, we must understand the first part of verse 2 as saying, God has not completely cast off His people which He foreknew. The situation was similar to that which existed in the time of Elijah. The mass of the nation had turned away from God to idols. Conditions were so bad that Elijah prayed against his people instead of for them. Verse 3, he complained to God that the people had silenced the voice of the prophet in death, they had destroyed the altars of the Lord, and it seemed to him that his was the only faithful voice for God that was left, and his life was in imminent danger. Verse 4, but the picture wasn't as dark and hopeless as Elijah feared. God reminded the prophet that He, God, had preserved for Himself 7,000 men who had steadfastly refused to follow the nation in veil worship. Verse 5, what was true then is true now. God never leaves Himself without a witness. He always has a faithful remnant chosen by Himself as special objects of His grace. Verse 6, God doesn't choose this remnant on the basis of their works, but by His sovereign electing grace. The two principles, grace and works, are mutually exclusive. It must be one or the other. Verse 7, the conclusion then is that the nation failed to obtain righteousness because they sought it through self-effort instead of through the finished work of Christ. The remnant chosen by God succeeded in obtaining righteousness through faith in the Lord Jesus. The nation suffered what might be called a judicial hardening. Refusal to receive the Messiah resulted in a decreased capacity and inclination to receive Him. Verse 8, this is exactly what the Old Testament predicted would happen. God abandoned them to a state of stupor in which they became insensible to spiritual realities. Because they refused to see the Lord Jesus as Messiah and Savior, now they lost the power to see Him. Because they would not hear the pleading voice of God, now they were smitten with spiritual deafness. That terrible judgment continues to the present day. Verse 9, David also anticipated the judgment of God on Israel. In Psalm 69, verses 22 and 23, as it is found in the Septuagint, David described the rejected Savior as calling on God to turn their table into a snare, a trap, a cause of stumbling, and a retribution. The table here means the sum total of the privileges and blessings which flowed through Christ. What should have been a blessing was turned into a curse. Verse 10, in the Psalm's passage just quoted, the suffering Savior also called on God to let their eyes be blinded and their bodies bent over as by toil or in old age. Or, it might be translated, that their loins be made to shake continually. Verse 11, Paul now raises another question. Did they stumble that they might fall? Here we must supply the word finally or forever. Did they stumble that they might fall and never be restored? The Apostle denies such a suggestion emphatically. God's purpose is restorative. His purpose is that as a result of their fall, salvation might come to the Gentiles, thus provoking Israel to jealousy. This jealousy is designed to bring Israel back to God eventually. Paul does not deny the fall of Israel. In fact, he admits it in this very verse. He says, by their fall, salvation has come to the Gentiles. And in the next verse he says, if their fall is the riches of the world. He doesn't deny their fall, but he vigorously opposes the idea that God is through with Israel forever. As a result of Israel's rejection of the gospel, the nation was set aside and the gospel went out to the Gentiles. In this sense, the fall of the Jews has meant riches for the world, and Israel's loss has been the Gentiles' gain. But if that is true, how much more will Israel's restoration result in rich blessing for all the world? When Israel turns to the Lord at the close of the great tribulation, she will become the channel of blessing for the nations. Verse 13. The apostle here addresses the Gentiles, and this extends from verse 13 to 24. Some think he's speaking to Gentile Christians in Rome, but the passage demands a different audience, that is, the Gentile nations as such. It will greatly assist in the understanding of this passage if we see that Paul is speaking of Israel nationally and of the Gentiles as such. He's not speaking of the church of God, otherwise we face the possibility of the church as being cut off. Verse 22. And this is absurd. Verse 13. Since Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles, it was quite natural for him to speak to them very candidly. In doing so, he was only fulfilling his ministry. Verse 14. He sought by every means to provoke to jealousy those who were his kinsmen, so that he might be used in the salvation of some of them. Notice the words, and may save some of them. He knew, and we know, that he couldn't save anyone, but the God of salvation identifies himself so closely with his servants that he permits them to speak of their doing what only he can do. Verse 15. This verse repeats the argument of verse 12 in different language. When Israel was set aside as God's chosen earthly people, the Gentiles were brought into a position of privilege with God, and thus in a figurative sense were reconciled. When Israel is restored during the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus, it will be like worldwide regeneration or resurrection. This may be illustrated in the experience of Jonah, who was a type of the nation of Israel. When Jonah was cast out of the boat during the storm, this resulted in salvation for a boatload of Gentiles. But when Jonah was restored and preached in Nineveh, it resulted in salvation for a city full of Gentiles. Verse 16. The Apostle Paul sees the principle that if the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. Here he borrows a figure from Numbers 15, verses 19 through 21, where a piece of dough was consecrated to the Lord as a heave offering. The first fruit in this case is Abraham. He was holy in the sense that he was set apart. If this was true of him, it is true of his chosen posterity. They are set apart to a position of external privilege before God. If the root, that is, Abraham, is holy or set apart, so are the branches. They occupy the place of God's chosen earthly people. It is not here a question of personal holiness, but of positional separation or dedication. Verse 17. In verses 17 through 27, Paul uses an illustration from horticulture to illustrate God's dealings with Israel and the Gentiles. In this picture, the natural branches represent Israel. The wild olive branches are the Gentiles, and the trunk of the olive tree speaks of God's line of privilege down through the centuries. What do we mean by the line of privilege? Simply this. God decided to set apart a certain people to occupy a special place of nearness to himself. They would be set apart from the rest of the world and would have special privileges. They would enjoy what we might call the favored nation status. In the different ages of history, God would have an elite inner circle. The nation of Israel was first to be in this line of privilege. They were God's ancient chosen earthly people. Because of their rejection of the Messiah, some of these branches were broken off and thus lost their position of favorite son. The Gentiles were grafted into the olive tree and became partakers with believing Jews of the root and of the fatness. The root again points back to Abraham, with whom the line of privilege began. The fatness signifies the privileges that flowed from that position of favor. Verse 18. But the Gentiles should not take a holier-than-thou attitude toward the Jews or boast of any superiority. Any such boasting overlooks the fact that they didn't originate the line of privilege. Rather, it's the line of privilege that put them where they are in a place of special favor. Verse 19. Perhaps the Gentiles might think that the Jewish branches were broken off in order that they might be grafted in. Such conceit is completely unwarranted. Verse 20. The branches were broken off because of Israel's unbelief. The Gentiles were grafted in because, as a people, they demonstrated more faith than the Jews did. Paul does not imply here that all the Gentiles had saving faith. That was not and is not true. It only means that, comparatively speaking, there was more faith among the Gentiles than among the Jews. Thus Paul said to the Jews at Rome, Be it known unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it. Notice, they will hear it. This is the only sense in which Gentiles can be said to stand by faith. But let him who stands beware lest he falls. Gentiles should not be puffed up with pride, but should maintain an attitude of reverential fear. Verse 21. If God didn't hesitate to cut off the natural branches from the line of privilege, there's no reason to believe that he would spare the wild olive branches under similar circumstances. Verse 22. So in the parable of the olive tree, we see two great contrasting facets of God's character, his goodness and his severity. His severity is manifest in the removal of Israel from the favored nation's status. His goodness is seen in his turning to the Gentiles with the gospel. But that goodness must not be taken for granted. The Gentiles, too, could be cut off if they do not maintain that relative openness which the Savior found during his earthly ministering. It must be constantly borne in mind that Paul is not speaking of the church or of individual believers. He's speaking about the Gentiles as such. Nothing can ever separate the body of Christ from the head, and nothing can separate a believer from the love of God. But the Gentile peoples can be removed from their present position of special privilege. Verse 23. And Israel's severance need not be final. If they abandon their national unbelief, there's no reason why God cannot put them back into their original place of privilege. It would not be impossible for God to do this. In fact, we learn in verse 24 that it would be a much less violent process for God to reinstate Israel as his privileged people than it was to put the Gentiles into that place. The people of Israel were the original branches in the tree of God's favor, and so they are called the natural branches. The Gentile branches came from a wild olive tree. To graft a wild olive branch into a good olive tree is an unnatural graft, or, as Paul says, it is contrary to nature. To graft natural branches into their original good olive tree is a very natural process. Verse 25. Now the apostle reveals that the future restoration of Israel is not only a possibility, it is an assured fact. What Paul now reveals is a mystery, that is, a truth hitherto unknown, a truth that could not be known by man's unaided intellect, but a truth that has now been made known. Paul sets it forth so that Gentile believers will not be wise in their own conceits, looking down their nationalistic noses at the Jews. A hardening in part has befallen Israel that has not affected all the nation, only the unbelieving segment. That hardening is temporary. It will continue only till the fullness of the Gentiles arrives. The fullness of the Gentiles refers to the time when the last member will be added to the church and when the completed body of Christ will be raptured home to heaven. The fullness of the Gentiles must be distinguished from the times of the Gentiles. The fullness of the Gentiles coincides with the rapture. The times of the Gentiles refer to the entire period when the Jews have been under Gentile domination. That period will end when Christ returns to the earth to set up his kingdom. Verse 26 When Israel's judicial hardness is removed at the time of the rapture, that does not mean that all Israel will be saved right away. Jews will be converted throughout the tribulation period, but the entire elect remnant will not be saved till Christ returns to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. When Paul says that all Israel shall be saved, we must understand that he means all believing Israel. The unbelieving portion of the nation will be destroyed at the second advent of Christ, as we read in Zechariah 13, verses 8 and 9. Only those who say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord will be spared to enter the kingdom. That is what Isaiah referred to when he spoke of the Deliverer coming out of Zion and turning ungodliness away from Jacob. Notice it is not Christ coming to Bethlehem, but is coming out of Zion, that is, his second coming. Verse 27 It is the same time referred to in Isaiah 27, verse 9 and Jeremiah 31, verses 33 and 34 when God shall take away their sins under the terms of the new covenant. Verse 28 We might summarize Israel's present status by saying first that as far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies. They bitterly and stubbornly oppose the good news of salvation by grace through faith to Gentile as well as Jew. They are enemies for your sake, that is, God treats them as enemies so that the gospel might come to the Gentiles. But that's only half the picture. As far as the election is concerned, they are beloved for the Father's sake, that is, for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Verse 29 The reason they are still beloved is that God's gifts and callings are never rescinded. God is not an Indian giver. Once he has made an unconditional promise, he never goes back on it. He gave Israel the special privileges listed in chapter 9, verses 4 and 5. He called Israel to be his earthly people, separate from the rest of the nations. Nothing can change his purposes. Verse 30 The Gentiles were originally an untamed, disobedient people, but when Israel spurned the Messiah and the gospel of salvation, God turned to the Gentiles in mercy. Verse 31 A somewhat similar sequence of events will occur in the future. Israel's disobedience will be followed by mercy when they are provoked to jealousy through the mercy shown to the Gentiles. Some teach that it is through the Gentiles showing mercy to the Jews that they will be restored, but we know that this is not so. Israel's restoration will be brought about by the second advent of the Lord Jesus. Verse 32 God has shut up both Jews and Gentiles to disobedience. In his dealings with them, he has found them all to be disobedient. He did not cause this disobedience, but declared it to be a fact. This disobedience provided scope for God to show mercy to all, both Jews and Gentiles. There's no suggestion here of universal salvation. God has shown mercy to the Gentiles and will yet show mercy to the Jews also, but this does not ensure the salvation of everyone. Here it is mercy shown along national lines. Williams says in his student's commentary in the Holy Scriptures, God having tested both the Hebrew and the Gentile nations, and both having broken down under the test, he shut them up in unbelief so that being manifestly without merit and having by demonstration forfeited all claims and all rights to divine favor, he might in the unsearchable riches of his grace have mercy upon them all. Verse 33 Now we come to the concluding doxology, which looks back over the entire letter and the divine wonders that have been unfolded. Paul has expounded the divine plan of salvation by which a just God can save ungodly sinners and still be just in doing so. He has shown how Christ's work brought more glory to God and more blessing to men than Adam lost through his sin. He has explained how grace produces holy living in a way that law could never do. He has traced the unbreakable chain of God's purpose from foreknowledge to eventual glorification. He has set forth the doctrine of sovereign election and the companion doctrine of human responsibility, and he has traced the justice and harmony of God's dispensational dealings with Israel and the nation. Now nothing could be more appropriate than to burst forth in a hymn of praise. Oh, the depth of the riches, the wisdom and the knowledge of God. The riches of God. He is rich in mercy, love, grace, faithfulness, power and goodness. The wisdom of God. His wisdom is infinite, unsearchable, incomparable and invincible. The knowledge of God. God is omniscient. He knows everything, everything possible, everything actual, all events, all creatures of the past, the present and the future. His decisions are unsearchable. They are too deep for human minds to fully understand. The ways in which he arranges creation, history, redemption and providence are beyond our limited comprehension. Verse 34. No created being can know the mind of God except to the extent that God chooses to reveal it. And even then we see through a glass darkly. No one is qualified to advise God. He doesn't need our counsel and wouldn't profit by it anyway. Verse 35. No one has ever made God obligated to him. What gift of ours would ever put the eternal in a position where he had to repay? And finally, verse 36. The Almighty is self-contained. He is the source of every good. He is the active agent in sustaining and controlling the universe. And he is the object for which everything has been created. Everything is designed to bring glory to him. Let it be so. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Chapter 12. The rest of the epistle answers the question, How should those who have been justified by grace respond in their everyday lives? Paul takes up our duties toward other believers, toward the community, toward our enemies, toward the government, and toward our weak brothers. Verse 1. Serious and devout consideration of the mercies of God, as they have been set forth in chapters 1 through 11, leads to only one conclusion. We should present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. Our bodies here stand for all our members and then, by extension, for our entire lives. Total commitment is both our reasonable service, as in the authorized version, and our spiritual worship, as in the international version. It is our reasonable service in this sense. If the Son of God has died for me, then the least I can do is live for him. Or, as C.T. Studd put it, if Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him. Isaac Watts wrote, Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life, my all. Total commitment is also our spiritual worship. As believer priests, we do not come to God with the bodies of slain animals, but with the spiritual sacrifice of yielded lives. We also offer to him our service, Romans 15-16, our praise, Hebrews 13-15, and our possessions, Hebrews 13-16. Verse 2. Secondly, Paul urges us not to be conformed to the world, or, as Philip's unforgettable translation renders it, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold. When we come to the kingdom of God, we should abandon the thought patterns and lifestyles of the world. The world, or age as used here, means the society or system man has built in order to make himself happy without God. It's a kingdom that's antagonistic to God. The God and Prince of this world is Satan. All unconverted people are his subjects. He seeks to attract and hold people through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. The world has its own politics, art, music, religion, amusements, thought patterns, and lifestyles, and it seeks to get everyone to conform to its culture and customs. It hates non-conformance by Christ and those who are his followers. Christ died to deliver us from this world. The world is crucified to us, and we are crucified to the world. It would be positive disloyalty to the Lord for believers to love the world. Anyone who loves the world is an enemy of God. Believers are not of the world any more than Christ is of the world. However, they are sent into the world to testify that its works are evil, and that salvation is available to all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus. We should not only be separated from the world, we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which means that we should think the way God thinks as revealed to us in the Bible. Then we can experience the direct guidance of God in our lives, and we will find that instead of being distasteful and hard, His will is good and acceptable and perfect. Here, then, are three keys for knowing God's will. The first is a yielded body, the second a separated life, and the third a transformed mind. Verse 3. There's nothing in the gospel that would encourage anyone to have a superiority complex, so the apostle urges us to be humble in exercising our gifts. We should not have exaggerated ideas of our own importance, neither should we be envious of others. Rather, we should realize that each one is unique, and that we all have a function to perform. We should be happy with the place God has given us in the body, and seek to exercise our gifts with all the strength that God supplies. Verse 4. The human body has many members, yet each one has a unique role to play. The health and welfare of the body depends on the proper functioning of each member. Verse 5. That is how it is in the body of Christ. There is unity, one body, diversity, we are many, and interdependency, members one of another. Any gifts we have are not for selfish use or display, but for the good of the body. No gift is self-sufficient, and none is unnecessary. When we realize all this, we are thinking soberly, as commanded in verse 3. Verse 6. Paul now gives instructions for the use of certain gifts. The list does not cover all the gifts, it is meant to be suggestive, not exhaustive. Our gifts differ according to the grace that is given to us. In other words, God's grace deals out differing gifts to different people, and God gives the necessary strength or ability to use whatever gifts we have. So we are responsible to use these God-given abilities as good stewards. Those who have the gift of prophecy should prophesy to the limit of their faith, but should not go beyond and speak what God has not given them. In the primary sense of the word, a prophet was a mouthpiece of God whose utterances were inspired. The ministry of the prophets is preserved for us in the pages of the Bible. Since the canon of Scripture is complete, we do not have prophets anymore in this primary sense. In a lesser sense, of course, a prophet today is one who speaks out for God, calling people to repent and warning of the consequences if they do not. Verse 7. Ministry is a very broad term meaning service for the Lord. It does not mean the office, duties, or functions of a clergyman, as the word is commonly used today. The person who has the gift of ministry has a servant heart. He sees opportunities to be of service and seizes them. The teacher is one who is able to explain the word of God and apply it to the hearts of his hearers. Whatever our gift is, we should give ourselves to it wholeheartedly. Verse 8. Exhortation is the gift of stirring up the saints to desist from every form of evil and to press on to new achievements for Christ in holiness and in service. Giving is the divine endowment which inclines and empowers a person to be aware of needs and to help to meet them. He should do so with liberality. The gift of ruling is almost certainly connected with the work of elders in a local church. The elder is an under-shepherd who stands out in front of the flock and leads with care and diligence. The gift of mercy is the supernatural capacity and talent of aiding those who are in distress. Those who have this gift should exercise it with cheerfulness. Of course, we should all show mercy and do it cheerfully. A Christian lady once said to me, when my mother became old and needed someone to care for her, my husband and I invited her to come and live with us. I did all I could to make her comfortable. I cooked for her, did her washing, took her out in the car, and generally cared for all her needs. But while I was going through the motions outwardly, I was unhappy inside. Subconsciously, I resented the interruption of our usual schedule. Sometimes my mother would say to me, you never smile anymore. Why don't you ever smile? You see, I was showing mercy, but I wasn't doing it with cheerfulness. Verse 9. In verses 9 through 19, the Apostle lists some characteristics that every believer should develop in his dealings with others, especially with the unconverted. Well, with Christians and with the unconverted, love should be without hypocrisy. It should not wear a mask, but be genuine, sincere, and unaffected. We should abhor all forms of evil and hold on to everything that is good. In this setting, evil probably means all attitudes and acts of unlove, malice, and hatred. Good, by contrast, means every manifestation of supernatural love. Verse 10. In our relations with those who are in the household of faith, we should demonstrate our love by tender affection, not by cool indifference or routine acceptance. We should prefer to see others honored rather than ourselves. I remember reading of a beloved servant of Christ who was in a side room with other notables before a meeting. Several had already moved onto the platform before it was his turn. When he appeared at the door, thunderous applause broke out. He quickly stepped aside and applauded so that he would not share the honor that he sincerely thought was intended for the others. Verse 11. Moffat's well-known translation of this verse is, Never let your zeal flag. Maintain the spiritual glow. Serve the Lord. Here we are reminded of the words of Jeremiah 48.10, And cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligibly. That's the way it's found in the Revised Version. Tis not for man to trifle. Life is brief, and sin is here. Our age is but the falling of a leaf, a dropping tear. We have no time to sport away the hours. All must be earnest in a world like ours. Verse 12. No matter what our present circumstances may be, we can and should rejoice in our hope, the coming of Christ, the redemption of our bodies, and our eternal glory. Tribulation is inevitable. There is peace in accepting what cannot be avoided. Patience in tribulation can often be more honoring to God than miraculous deliverance would have been. We should continue steadfastly in prayer, remembering that God sets more value on prayer and communion than on labor. A. W. Roffey says, The heavenly bridegroom is wooing a wife, not hiring a servant. Verse 13. Needy saints are everywhere, the unemployed, those who have been drained by medical bills, forgotten preachers and missionaries in obscure places, and senior citizens whose resources have dwindled. True body life means sharing with those who are in need. Phillips again translates, Never grudging a meal or a bed to those who need them. Hospitality is a lost art. Small homes and apartments are used as excuses for not receiving Christians who are passing through. Or we do not want to face the added work and inconvenience, but we forget that when we entertain God's children, it is the same as if we were entertaining the Lord himself. Our homes should be like the home in Bethany, where Jesus loved to be. Verse 14. We are called to show kindness toward our persecutors instead of trying to repay them in kind. It requires divine life to repay unkindness and injury with a courtesy. The natural response is to curse and retaliate. Verse 15. Empathy is the capacity for sharing vicariously the feelings and emotions of others. Our tendency is to be jealous when others rejoice and to pass by when they mourn. God's way is to enter into the sorrows and joys of those around us. Verse 16. To be of the same mind toward one another does not mean that we must see alike on non-essential matters. It's not so much uniformity of mind as harmony of relationships. We should avoid any trace of snobbishness and should be as outgoing toward humble, lowly folk as toward those of wealth and position. When an illustrious Christian arrived at the terminal, he was met by leaders from the assembly where he was to speak. The limousine pulled up to take him to a plush hotel. Who usually entertains the preachers here, he asked. They mentioned an elderly couple in a modest home nearby. That's where I would prefer to stay, he said. Again the apostle warns against a believer being wise in his own conceits. The realization that we have nothing that we did not receive should keep us from an inflated ego. Verse 17. Repaying evil with evil is customary procedure in the world, but it should have no place in the lives of those who have been redeemed. We should plan in advance how to act honorably in the face of abuse and injury, and beyond that in all the circumstances of life. Verse 18. Christians should not be needlessly provocative or contentious. The righteousness of God is not worked out by belligerence and wrath. We should love peace, make peace, and be at peace.