We have heard from Ezekiel this amazing story of dry bones. And we are instructed to believe that God can bring miracles. He can bring life from death. He can restore the people of Israel to the glory that he wants for them. And now we also sang the song of Mary who rejoiced when she was told that a miracle would happen to her, that she would have a child, she who knew no man. Although she was betrothed to a man, she would receive this miracle. Now we will look at Romans chapter 11 as we continue our journey through Romans. And since I'm going to be covering all the verses in the whole chapter this day, briefly at least, I will not read the whole chapter, but I'll read verses one through six. And then we'll move to the preaching of God's word. Romans 11, beginning at verse one. I ask then, Has God rejected his people? By no means, for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left. and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Lord, we pray now that as we approach this concluding chapter of Paul's discussion about Israel, that we will understand it according to the way the Spirit of God inspired it to be written by the apostle. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, the context of Romans chapters 9 through 11, Paul has been answering what for him was a really big question and for many others. The question about why the Jews have not turned to Christ in large numbers. They were the most advantageous people in terms of information, in terms of advantage of culture, and all that background should have sent them to Christ. They should have trusted the Messiah. They should have been right there in front of them. But they didn't. In fact, there were very few Jews at that time who were turning to Messiah. The Gentiles, on the other hand, were believing. They were accepting Christ. But the Jews were not. So far, Paul has begun to answer the question that he is proposing here. He has told us that the purposes of God in history at that time was that God was calling only a few Jews to faith. He was allowing many to be blinded by their prejudice against Jesus and to cling to their race and culture as very poor substitutes for Jesus. On the other hand, God was calling many Gentiles to faith. The harvest was rich. They were hearing the voice of Christ in the preaching. They were responding by faith. This raised many questions on both sides. It perplexed and discouraged believing Jews, the few, and it mystified the believing Gentiles. Paul has defended, stalwartly defended, God's right to save anyone whom he chooses from among the Jews or the Gentiles in these verses, and has made it clear that it is not unjust of God to condemn those who are already condemned by their following Adam into sin. And that God owes no one anything but condemnation. So if he chooses to save some, that's his prerogative, and not to be condemned. And then in chapter 10, Paul explained the sovereignty of God in history and in salvation, and particularly discussed the role of preaching in the hearing. of the gospel. He defended his practice of preaching to the Gentiles after always first going to the Jews in every city. Now today in chapter 11, I'm going to quickly move through the first two points of my, if you see it on the outline there. I'll give a running commentary on the verses in those first two points, which is the majority, and then spend time on the third point, where Paul draws an amazing and mysterious conclusion to this whole question. First point, the present believing remnant of Israel are chosen by grace, verses one through 10. This is a repeat of Paul's argument, he now emphasizes it. So he asked the question again in verse one, has God rejected his people, the Jews? And he answers, by no means. And he gives himself as a case in point, for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. And then verse two, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. And then he cites historical cases to the same point. He says, do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. God always keeps a remnant, and the remnant is larger than you think. So Paul's conclusion then in verse five, so too at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace would no longer be grace. He's taught that many, many times and now he underlines it for us again. And back to the question, verse seven, what then if Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking, the elect, obtained it, but the rest were hardened. And then he gives some scriptural support for this idea of the elect receiving it and the others being hardened. He says, quoting the Old Testament in verse eight, as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see, ears that would not hear, down to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see. And then this phrase, and bend their backs forever. This quotation was taken from Psalm 69 of the Septuagint version where David was asking for vindication against his enemies, including Israelite brothers who were trying to kill him. This was being fulfilled in the present in sensibility and spiritual blindness of the Jews. And the apostle shows that it was long ago predicted. The phrase, and bend their backs forever, according to Paul. is not to be taken absolutely, but as a bit of hyperbole by the apostle. We know that because Paul will soon say that he anticipates the recovery, the dry bones coming together again. Unfortunately, some of the reformers, Martin Luther, the most prominent, use these words and bend their backs forever as a way to justify anti-Jewish sentiment. On the other hand, many other prominent reformers and Puritans, including John Calvin, John Knox, and Thomas Boston, constantly expressed great love for the Jews, believing firmly in the future of their national conversion based on Romans 11, verse 12, which we're coming to soon. So that's the first point, we're through it already. The second point, Gentile boasting is not in order here. Verse 11, so I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means, rather through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, much more will their full inclusion mean. How much more? Paul's comparison and contrast in that verse indicates that there will be some amazing outpouring of blessing when the Jews are brought back in. To paraphrase, if their rejection brought a huge blessing to all nations, their recovery will be a comparatively much greater blessing to the world. This in part provided many Puritans with the grounds to believe in a golden age of gospel progress and church maturity before Christ returns. Now moving on to verse 13. because he's trying to teach the Gentiles not to boast. He says, I am speaking to you Gentiles. In as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and save some of them. For if their present rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches." And then specifically about this boasting thing, verse 17. But if some of the branches were broken off and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. Don't boast. If you are, remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. Do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Note then the kindness and severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness, otherwise you too will be cut off. Verse 23, and if they do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, Gentiles, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, Jews, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? Now that's a lot to take in, lots of discussion, lots of analogy, but I hope that we can understand it. It's pretty clear if you just read it carefully. Matthew Henry, the great Matthew Henry summarizes this section by saying this. By rejecting the gospel and by their indignation at its being preached to the Gentiles, the Jews had become enemies to God. Yet they are still to be favored for the sake of their pious fathers. Though at the present they are enemies to the gospel for their hatred to the Gentiles, yet when God's time is come, and listen to that, when God's time is come, that will no longer be the case. And God's love to their fathers will be remembered. He then goes on to say, true grace seeks not to confine God's favor. Those who find mercy themselves should endeavor that through their mercy, others may obtain mercy. Not that the Jews will be restored to have their priesthood, he doesn't advocate that, and their temple and their ceremonies, an end is put to all of these, but they are to be brought to believe in Christ, the true shepherd, and become one sheepfold with the Gentiles, as Jesus said in the Gospel of John. There is simply, my friends, no room for Gentiles, or anyone for that matter, to boast about their achievement of faith and salvation, as if they were more spiritually sensitive than others. Do you think that you are a Christian because you were more spiritually sensitive than others? You had a more innate, intuitive thought of God, and it was in you? No way. This is true and right understanding of salvation that leaves every believer no boasting, no boasting. We have nothing to boast about. And Paul says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 27 through 29. But God, if you want to boast, listen to this, you can boast about this. God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. You can boast about being foolish. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. It goes about being weak. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are nothing, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. So the Jews, the Gentiles, no one should boast about their being a Christian, about being saved. No one has anything to boast about. And now we come to the third point. We're two-thirds the way through already, but we're going to spend some time on the third point. So buckle down, open your Bible, verse 15, and we begin to see the bright future. This is the mystery that he's going to reveal here, the bright future for Israel and for the whole world. Verses 15 through 36, verse 15. He continues, for if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? What a huge blessing for the Gentiles. is being described here. Since the Jews rejected Jesus, the Gentiles are in on it. It's a huge blessing, but an immeasurably greater blessing is in store. Life from the dead, he calls it, when the Jews finally come back and receive Christ their Messiah. The present hardening The present rejection of Israel is only partial and temporary, he says. He says, listen to verse 25, lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, a partial hardening. has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." When God lifts the hardening of Israel, there will be a condition described in verse 26 as the salvation of all Israel. Verse 28, as regards the gospel at the present time, he says, they are enemies for your sake. The Jews were enemies of the Christians. But that was a temporary thing and only temporary. We see some of this working its way out in the gospel preaching in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 13, verse 47 and following. The apostles are preaching and they say, for so the Lord commanded us saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Verse 48, and when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, and the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. See, Gentiles were coming in in big numbers. But then verse 50, but the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. See there was this enemy thing going on as well. But then he says, but as regards election, And this is important as regards national election. God had chosen the Jews long before. As regards election, he says, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. God still loves them. He loves them because of their forefathers, because of the promise he made, and because of his call upon them as a nation. And then he says in verse 29, this is really important, for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. or irrevocable, however you like to say it. The gifts and calling of God, the national calling of Israel as a people isn't over with, he says. It's irrevocable. The Gentiles are the great majority of the church today. I don't know if we have anybody who's Jewish, maybe one person with some Jewish heritage here. But God hasn't rejected his people, the Jews. Let me just show you that from Jeremiah. Here's what God says. This is the passage about the new covenant, by the way, the new covenant in Christ. But this is what he says about God's never rejecting his own people, the Jews. Listen, Jeremiah 31, verses 35 through 37. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night. Those are pretty permanent things, aren't they? who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever." Not going to happen, is it? Thus says the Lord, verse 37, if the heavens can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord. So when are you gonna happen? God isn't gonna reject his people. Verse one, I asked, then has God rejected his people? And the answer is no. Go on to verse 30, as we're in this third point. He's describing this, for just as you were at one time disobedient, you Gentiles, but now have been received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they may also now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience so that he might have mercy on all. Well, let's begin to put a point on it. The future of the world is bright. Romans 11, verse 26 says, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. James Montgomery Boyce says, I take this to mean that someday the nation as a whole, not necessarily every individual, will be converted to Christ and join the Christian church and be saved. J.C. Ryle published his view of this in 1867. He says, the Jews are kept separate that they may finally be saved, converted, and restored to their own land. They are reserved and preserved in order that God may show in them as on a stage to angels and men how greatly he hates sin, and how greatly he can forgive, and how greatly he can convert. Never will that be realized as it will be in that day when, quote, all Israel shall be saved. One reason this matters is that Paul made this claim to the Gentiles, lest you be wise in your own sight. There was a danger that Gentiles might think that they had replaced the Jews completely in God's plans and gloat about it. rightly understanding the historical process of how God saves Gentiles and Jews undercuts all Jewish and Gentile pride and boasting. Now someone here or someone listening on the radio might take issue with the view that I am preaching here, that the ethnic Jews are meant by the terms all Israel. So here are five reasons in support of this view. And you can read other arguments for the same position in commentaries of John Murray and John Stott and Douglas Moo and Thomas Schreiner. Here are five reasons why all Israel depicts this beautiful thing. Verse 25, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. This partial hardening most naturally refers to the people that he's talking about in the context, the Jews. And in this way, all Israel, same context, same word, has to refer to the Jews. The meaning of Israel does not change between verses 25 and 26. The hardened Israel, the nation as a whole, will be saved Israel, the nation as a whole. Number two, the reference in verse 26 to the banishing of ungodliness from Jacob fits with the ethnic view of all Israel. Verse 26, and in this way all Israel will be saved as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob. The idea that Christ comes by his spirit and his preachers to banish ungodliness from Jacob refers most naturally to the removal of the hardening referred to in verse 25. Jacob is not a natural or typical reference to the elect remnant of Israel. The hardening lasts until the full number of the Gentiles comes in. That's the climax of world missions. That's why we do missions. And then Christ lifts the veil and removes the hardening, and he banishes ungodliness from Jacob, from all Israel. Number three, the parallel between the two halves of verse 28 point to all Israel as ethnic Jews as a whole. Verse 28, as regards to the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. This first half of the verse refers to the nation as a whole. They are enemies of God. So the second half of the verse surely refers to the nation as a whole, where it says, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of the forefathers. That's national Israel. The point of this verse is to show that even though Israel now is a covenant-breaking, unbelieving nation, this is going to change. The nation that is enemies now will be converted later because the election and loving purposes of God made to their fathers. And then the fourth reason, the parallels in verse 12 point in the same direction. He says, now if there, that is the Jewish nation's trespasses mean riches for the world, salvation to the Gentiles, and if there the Jewish nation's failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean. Here their full inclusion most naturally refers to the same nation as their trespasses did and their failures. So their full inclusion refers to the salvation of all Israel as a national ethnic group. And fifthly, the same is true about the parallels in verse 15. For if there the Jewish nation's rejection means reconciliation of the world, what will there the Jewish nation's acceptance mean but life from the dead? The nation now rejected will someday be accepted. So the acceptance of the Jewish nation most naturally refers to the salvation of all Israel, the salvation of the nation as a whole someday. Well, interesting enough, I guess, if you're interested in parceling out and piecing together these things and understanding them, yes. Not everybody is. So let's just ask this question. How is this going to happen? It seems that before the second coming of Christ, there will be a great turning of ethnic Jews to Christ. Just how will this occur? It's not disclosed. But certain prophecies are very suggestive. Zechariah 12, the Lord says, I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that they will look on Me on whom they have pierced. They shall mourn over Him as one mourns for an only child. They will weep bitterly over Him as one weeps over a firstborn. They're going to mourn over the one they pierced, that we pierced, too. Isaiah 66, verse 8. Listen to this. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her children. What does that mean? It means that God can do this quickly. He can do it in a day. He can do it very quickly when he decides to do it. And then in Matthew 23, Jesus says to the hardened nation at that time, He says, I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They will someday say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's what Jesus was saying. This view was popular among the Puritans in England and the Covenanters in Scotland during the 17th century. For them, the future of the Jews had decisive significance. They believed that the scriptural evidence warranted the hope that with the calling of the Jews, referred to in Romans 11.26, that there would be this ingathering of the dispersion of Israel. Various peoples would come to Christ, and it would become an all-Israel event. And more, it appears that there would be an extensive and far-reaching blessing for the whole world. For this reason, we believe that there will be a great future of blessing, a great triumph of the gospel in history. And I have the quote of John Murray here saying the same thing, but I'm not going to take the time to read it. John Murray, who was professor at Westminster Seminary. I'm gonna move directly now to the so what. It's interesting stuff, pastor. We like it, but so what? Here it is. You should pray for what God is promising here. You should pray that the full number of the Gentiles would come into the church and that the hardening would be lifted from Israel We're taught to pray this, by the way, in our Westminster Larger Catechism. Question 191, what do we pray for in the second petition, which is thy kingdom come? And here's the answer. In the second petition, which is Thy Kingdom Come, acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, The Jews called. There it is, right in the catechism. And the fullness of the Gentiles brought in. The church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances purged from corruption. It needs to be purged from corruption, believe me. It's a very bad state right now. Countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate. and that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted, that Christ would rule in our hearts here and hasten the time of his second coming and are reigning with him forever, and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world as may best conduce to these ends. That's the answer. So you should pray for it. That's the first one. So what? Pray for it. Pray for the fullness of the Gentiles to be brought in. Pray for the hardening of the Jews to be lifted. Pray for the kingdom to come here and now in this world before Christ returns. And you should work for it too with missions to the nations and witness to Israel. We should put away all conceit and presumption over our Jewish unbelieving friends and realize that God is aiming to save them through our salvation. And so here's the third point, this third so what? My friends, you should live enviable lives, enviable lives. When people look at your life, they peer in on who you are and what you do and the way you speak and the way you conduct your family, and they look in on it, they should envy it. You should live enviable lives, lives of integrity, lives of personal holiness, lives of order and dignity and beauty. so that Jews and Gentiles, for that matter, will finally see what they are missing and ask us to teach them the gospel. You should live enviable lives. Here's a description of what happens when Christians live enviable lives in Isaiah 2. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord, that is the government of God, shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted above the hills. That's envy, you see, looking upward. And all nations shall flow to it. And many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." We need to have enviable lives so that people can say, they know something I don't know. The law of the Lord is living within them. Let us go up and ask them how to live. And give yourselves to prayer and to the great work of gathering the fullness of the Gentiles. You know, we don't have very many Jewish people in Southern Maryland. There's one small synagogue. Maybe you have some Jewish co-workers and friends, but there aren't very many relative to some other places. But you can gather the Gentiles. You can live lives that the Gentiles around you see as beautiful. with integrity and holiness and truth. And we can make them jealous, make the Jews jealous, make the Gentiles jealous of the treasures in Christ that they're missing out on. And then if they look back into their heritage, then they say, wow, I'm really missing it. Wow, my life is really a mess compared to what God said for us to have here as God's people. That's what you can do. That's the so what. Finally, and he said this many times, do not accuse God or complain against God about the fact that he governs history and does things these ways. Don't complain against God for this stuff. But praise your God and Savior. for his unfathomable wisdom. And that's where we end with in verse 33 to 36. Join with the apostle. These are the last words. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of our Lord? Who has become his counselor? Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that we have been graciously drawn to you by the spirit of God, by the ministry of the word. We can't boast about it. We didn't do it. You did it. We thank you that you've told us here that you're going to bring about a great recovery amongst the ethnic people of the Jews someday. We pray that you'll help us to live those good lives and witness and support missions, perhaps especially missions to the Jews, so that these things will come to pass and we'll have a part in it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.