Okay, Romans lecture number 24. Romans lecture number 24. We're still on Romans chapter 11. We just looked at verse 18 where Paul says that we Gentiles should not be arrogant because pride leads to disbelief and self-righteousness. Pride caused the Jews to fall and therefore Gentile Christians should not look down on the Jews. We need to remember that the root supports us. The Jews support us. We are saved through God's covenant with Abraham, which is the promise that all nations on earth will be blessed through Abraham, and that's a piece of Abraham's seed, the Messiah. Salvation of the Gentiles depends on the Jews. The Messiah was Jewish. The covenants are Jewish, including the new covenant. The prophecies come from the Jewish scriptures, and the first evangelist, the apostles, the first evangelist, who brought the gospel to the Gentiles, the first evangelists were Jews as well. So we should not be prideful or arrogant and look down on the Jews as the Jews looked down on the Gentiles and then they fell from that favored position with God. Verse 19 of Romans chapter 11. You will say then, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. I hear the branches broken off with a non-believing Jew. They were broken off the olive tree, the place of God's favor and blessing. And the branches that were grafted in were believing Gentiles. Verse 20. Quite right, they were breaking off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear. So Israel temporarily fell from God's favor due to her disbelief. Gentiles temporarily gain God's position of favor and blessing by faith in Christ. Therefore this is reason for fear, not pride. Remember, Israel fell because of her pride And therefore the Gentiles should not have pride. This is reason for fear because we should see, well if Israel was broken off because of her arrogance and pride, the same could happen to the Gentiles. Verse 21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. verse 21, the Jews lost their place of favor and they were the natural branches, they lost their place of favor temporarily during the church age, but when Christ returns they will again be restored to their place of favor, but the Jews lost their place of favor temporarily due to pride and disbelief Paul says that God does not play favorites, He will do the same to Gentiles when the church apostatizes The context here is the position of favor, not the eternal security of individual believers. A lot of people will take passages out of context here and say, look, you're a branch and you could be breaking off and lose your salvation if you enter into disbelief. That's not what's being said. The Gentiles and the Jews are spoken of collectively. The Gentile church and the Jewish assembly of the Old Testament, the Jews who believed in the Old Testament. And what is the warning here is against the church, when the church apostatizes. We see much of this in the church of Rome. denying the essential doctrine and justification by faith and there are many who believe and I do favor this position that the Church of Rome is the fulfillment of the false end-time church end-time global church spoken of in the book of Revelation chapter 17 and chapter 18 and that in the end the organized church will be headquartered in Rome and will be Christian in name only, will be a false end time church, the church will have apostatized and when that occurs then the Gentile branches are going to be broken off the tree of God's position of favor and the Jews are going to be grafted back in and Israel again will be elevated to the greatest nation on earth when Christ reigns on earth for a thousand years Verse 22, Behold then the kindness and severity of God, to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in his kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. So verse 22 says that basically, you know, we need to recognize that if we ignore God's kindness, then God becomes a tyrant. If we ignore God's sternness, then God becomes a pushover. And so we need to emphasize both. God is totally loving, and He is totally just. And so God responds with kindness to those who believe in Christ, but God responds with wrath to those who reject Christ. So we need to emphasize both God's kindness and His sternness. Verses 23 and 24. And they also, the Jews, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? And so Paul says there is hope for the Jews. God is not through with them. The church has not replaced Israel. Now many covenant theologians, many reformed scholars believe that The church has replaced Israel and what I believe the problem is they're not drawing the proper biblical distinction between a physical Jew and a spiritual Jew. I am a Gentile physically but because I accepted Christ that makes me a spiritual Jew. but the physical promises of the promised land and of being part of a nation that will be raised up to be the greatest nation on earth during the millennial kingdom those are physical promises to physical Jews who will also be spiritual Jews so you can have a Jewish believer as both a physical Jew and a spiritual Jew a Jewish person who does not believe is a physical Jew but he's not a spiritual Jew But there is hope for the Jews. God is not through with them. The church has not replaced Israel. There are separate promises given to either one. The church and Israel have different roles. So God has every intention of restoring Israel to her former place of favor and privilege. God has already accomplished the unnatural grafting in of gentile believers coming from pagan backgrounds and they accept Christ and God takes these wild uncultivated olive branches and cultivates them into the olive tree and so God will have no problem restoring the Jews to their favored position that they began with and naturally held. Conclusion here of this passage verses 11 to 24 is that when the church apostatizes God will return the Jews to their initial place of favor, their initial position of favor. The Jews will accept Christ as their Messiah and Savior and the Gentiles will be cut off from the place of favor. And so Gentile Christians are forewarned Do not cater to religious pride. It always leads to disbelief. It always leads to apostasy. It leads to a theology of salvation by works. Therefore, Gentile Christians are forewarned that we should love the Jews, because they are God's chosen people, God's chosen nation. We should pray for their salvation and seek their salvation, recognizing that when the Jews repent, Christ will return. Now look at Isaiah chapter 5, I mean Hosea, chapter 5. The Old Testament prophet Hosea, chapter 5. and verse 15, verses 15 to chapter 6, verse 3. The Lord is speaking and He says this, this is before Christ came the first time, but it's a prediction of what He would say to them after He came the first time. I will go away and return to my place. That speaks of the ascension of Christ. Until they, the Jews, acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their affliction, that's the tribulation, they will earnestly seek me. Then this is what they say, Hosea 6, verse 1. Come, let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us, but He will heal us. He has torn us, that's the tribulation, he will heal us, that's the millennial kingdom. He has wounded us, that's the tribulation, but he will bandage us. That's the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ. He will revive us after two days, he will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth. So it's saying that when the Jews turn back and accept the Lord as their Messiah first they are going to reject him so he is going to go away and return to heaven ascend back to heaven but then when they return to him after a period of tribulation he is going to return to them when they accept him as their Messiah he will return to them but it is interesting here and I don't want to get too far off track but it says he will revive us verse 2 he will revive us after two days he will raise us up on the third day the day of the Lord starts with the return of Christ bringing God's wrath on the earth but then it goes on into the millennium where we know based on Revelation chapter 20 that the day of the Lord then lasts for a thousand years and just like Peter said that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day and he's speaking with reference to the second coming of Christ there as well But it says there that He will raise us up on the third day. If that third day is the millennial kingdom, then that third day is a third period of a thousand years, which would mean that the phrase right before it, He will revive us after two days, would be two thousand years. So there are some that speculate that approximately two thousand years will transpire from the death and resurrection of Christ until the second coming of Christ which could take you to the year 2000 or it could take you to the year 2030 depending on whether you assumed 360 day years or 365 day years. Now that's speculation, we can't know for sure. All I can say is that it is possible that the Old Testament Scriptures pinpoint the generation that Christ would return in. We can't know for sure, but remember Daniel 9 verses 24-27 pinpointed the approximate time that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would come and would be executed before the temple was destroyed in 70 AD. But whatever the case, it does say that when Israel says, come let us return to the Lord, when they do return to their Messiah, then Christ will return. So when the Jews repent, that will be the final domino to fall that will usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ to the planet Earth. So now Paul spends the remainder of this chapter, verses 25 to 36, speaking about The future restoration of the nation of Israel. The future restoration of the nation of Israel. Brief introduction, though the Jews had rejected Christ, God has not rejected them. Instead, God has kept a faithful remnant. So the hardening of the Jews was partial. there were some Jews who believed. Not all Jews chose not to believe. Paul said that God would someday remove the hardening from their hearts so the hardening of the hearts of the Jews was not only partial but it was also temporary. The day would come when the hardening of the hearts would be removed and all Israel would be saved. The Jews had fallen from their place of privilege The Gentiles in the church now hold this place of privilege. When the Gentiles become proud and arrogant, they'll be removed from the place of privilege and the Jews will be restored to their place of privilege. Verses 25 to 27, Oral talks about Israel's future deliverance. Look at verses 25 to 27. For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And thus all Israel will be saved. Just as it is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Now first off in verses 25 and 27, Paul says that he wants us to be informed. He doesn't want us to be uninformed. You find him talking about that in 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14 about spiritual gifts. He doesn't want us to be uninformed. He wants us to be educated in the ways of God as far as spiritual gifts, as far as the future of Israel. and through out the scripture, God, this idea that God wants a bunch of idiots, unlearned idiots in his church is an abomination before God. The cult of anti-intellectualism is something that is just destroying so much good that could be done by the church if the church would recognize that God wants us to be informed on biblical issues and God wants us to know how to defend the faith and wants us to know more and more about his plan and his purposes that he has revealed to us through his work. Paul wants us to be informed about God's future dealings. By the way, 2 Timothy 2.15 Paul tells Timothy to be diligent, to be hard working when he studies the scripture so that he could handle accurately the Word of Truth. And God doesn't want us to be uninformed. He wants us to study the scriptures diligently. Paul wants us to be informed about God's future dealings with Israel. Paul does not want us to get prideful. He doesn't want us to be wise in our own estimation. But he wants us to know this mystery. Now the Greek word for mystery is musterion. Musterion. It means something that was hidden in the Old Testament but is revealed by God in the New Testament. And the mystery is that there is a partial hardening of Israel. It's not permanent, because it's only until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So whatever the fullness of the Gentiles means, that's when the hardening of the hearts will be removed from the Jews. And we'll talk about what the fullness of the Gentiles means in just a moment. But it's not permanent. This partial hardening of Israel, it's not... It's partial because it's not complete, a remnant is saved and it's not permanent because it's temporary until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Now the fullness of the Gentiles, what I believe this means is when the church is complete, in other words when the last Gentile convert When the last gentile convert comes to the Lord before Christ's return, then the fullness of the gentiles will have come in, the gentile church will be complete, At that point the hardening will be removed from the hearts of the Israelites and all Israel will be saved. The hardening will be removed at Christ's return and Israel's sins will be forgiven. Now I want us to take a look at some passages that deal with this. Take a look at Jeremiah chapter, well first take a look at Isaiah 59. Isaiah chapter 59 and verses 20 and 21. Isaiah 59 and verses 20 and 21. And that reads, And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, declares the Lord. And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My spirit which is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring, says the Lord, from now and forever. And so the Redeemer would come to Israel Speaking about Christ's return, the hardening of the hearts of the Israelites will be removed. Their sins will be forgiven. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 34. The old days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. So with both of them, again, no lost tribes. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them. And on their heart I will write it. So God's going to write his laws on their hearts and their consciences rather than on tablets of stone. They're going to be true Israelites, Israelites who believe, spiritual Israelites. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor, each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. We already read that passage from Hosea chapter 5 verses 15 to chapter 6 verse 3 where there the Israelites once they say come let us return to the Lord then the Lord returns to them and revives the nation of Israel Acts chapter 3 Peter is preaching to the Jews in Jerusalem on the Acts chapter 3 he's preaching to the Jews I don't think it's much later than Pentecost He and John just heal the lame beggar. And in Acts 3, verses 19-21, this is what Peter says to the Jews that are listening. Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you. whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time. So he says here that if the Jews, if enough Jews repent and their sins are forgiven, the times of refreshing will come and that Jesus will come and restore all things. So basically Peter is saying that the one criteria that has to be fulfilled for Christ to return is that the Jews need to return to Jesus and accept Him as their Messiah. Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7 that reads behold he that is Jesus behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him even so amen but every eye will see him even those who pierced him the emphasis there is on the Jews who had their Messiah crucified look at the book of Zechariah Zechariah is real in depth when it comes to the return of Christ. Many interesting things can be found there in that particular book with reference to the restoration of the Jews. Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10. And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced. and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn so the Jews return to their Messiah, they accept him and they weep for him at his return Zechariah chapter 13 verses 8 and 9. And it will come about in all the land, declares the Lord, that two parts in it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. they will call on my name and I will answer them I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is my God now this may be a reference to the Jews in the tribulation period that maybe two-thirds of them will be killed and that last one-third is going to be the The remnant that will be saved, the all Israel that will be saved will call upon the name of the Lord and then he will return to earth. It may even be possible that this might be after the tribulation. when God's wrath, when the earth is being shook by God's wrath, maybe two-thirds will die. We don't know for sure. The remnant could be the 144,000 Jews, but it's my prayer that there's going to be a lot more than that, that are going to be the remnant so that... In other words, it is possible the Antichrist might kill all except for about 450,000 Jews and with only 450,000 Jews left then from the destruction of God's wrath just before the coming of Christ when the sun is dark and the moon doesn't give us light and stars fall from the sky two-thirds of those Jews get killed and then there's only 144,000 left when Christ returns and then they accept Christ as their Savior and then Christ returns and I'm hoping that is not the scenario. I'm hoping that the 144,000 are the first fruits from among them, they're referred to as first fruits, and so I'm hoping that they're representative of a much larger group of Israelites. The tribulation period is going to be horrible, and I am just hoping it's not so devastating that there's only 144,000 Jews left to accept Christ when all the devastation is complete. Take a look at Zechariah 14 verses 1 to 5. Behold, the day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you, taken from Israel, will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, to battle Armageddon, and the city will be captured, Jerusalem will be captured, the house is plundered, the woman ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle, so Christ is going to return and defend the nation of Israel. And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, the same mountain that he gave the Olivet Discourse on in Matthew 24 when he gave many of the prophecies of the last days. And that day his people stand on the Mount of Olives which is in front of Jerusalem on the east and on the Mount of Olives. And the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. and you will flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Ezel. Yes, you will flee just as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him." Now, it's talking about a second coming of Christ, everybody agrees with that, yet Christ is referred to as the Lord my God the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him so those who reject the deity of Christ this is a very good passage to point to to give evidence for the deity of Christ but here we see again reference to Jesus returning and rescuing the nation of Israel look at the book of Joel chapter 2 verses 31 and 32 that reads the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape as the Lord has said even among the survivors whom the Lord calls so you have those in Jerusalem calling Jews calling on the name of the Lord and being saved and there are survivors and it's at a time when the sun is darkened and the moon is turned to blood and the day when the great and awesome day of the Lord comes well we can see when the sun is darkened and when the moon does not give us light if we look at Matthew 24 Matthew 24 verses 29 to 31, but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, so the same event. and then the sign says immediately after the tribulation of those days so after the tribulation period these strange occurrences in the sky occur and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other And so we look at all these passages, it gives us some added insight into that day when the fullness of the Gentiles will come in, when the church is complete, when the last Gentile convert comes to the Lord before Christ's return, and then the hardening of the hearts of the Jews will be removed, and all Israel will be saved at Christ's return, and Israel's sins will be forgiven, and Christ will stand, take a stand, and defend the nation of Israel at the battle of Armageddon. Verses 28 and 29, Paul again brings up Romans 11, Israel's present standing, it was present during the time Paul wrote, it's still in the same condition today. Verses 28 and 29, from the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies, the Jews are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Okay, so Israel's present standing, they are enemies of the gospel. They rejected Christ, and they persecuted his followers. Yet, they are beloved, pertained to God's choice for the sake of the fathers. Father Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his 12 sons, the 12 heads of the 12 tribes of Israel. Israel is still God's chosen nation, God keeps his promises. He does not change his mind. 1 Samuel 15.29 tells us that the glory of Israel is not a man that he should change his mind, that he should lie or change his mind. So even though the Israelites are enemies of the gospel, even though they oppose the gospel, we must respect them as God's chosen nation and we must pray for their salvation. Verses 30-32 verses 30 to 32 speaks of God's mercy and man's disobedience God's mercy and man's disobedience and that reads for just as you once were disobedient to God so just as the Gentiles were once disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience because of the Jews disobedience so these also now have been disobedient In order that because of the mercy shown to you, they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to all. And so it speaks of God's mercy and man's disobedience. The Gentiles were disobedient because they worshipped false gods. The Jews became disobedient because even though they were given God's Old Testament, they were given revelation from Him in the law, the Mosaic law, the Jews became disobedient when they rejected their Messiah, when they rejected Jesus Christ. And so, both Gentile and Jews, all are disobedient. All are in desperate need of God's mercy. Yet God is willing to bestow mercy on all mankind, both Gentile and Jew, because both are disobedient. Romans 3.10 tells us that all mankind have gone astray. There is none righteous, no not one. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned. and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23 says, The wages of sin is death, but the free get the God's eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. So all of us need God's mercy. We're all disobedient. We're all sinners. That's why when the apostles asked Jesus in Matthew 19, How can man be saved? Jesus said this is impositive. Matthew 19, verses 25 and 26. Jesus said this is impossible for man, but all things are possible with God. And so man must look to God for the way of salvation. But both Gentile and Jew are disobedient. For all mankind is in desperate need of God's mercy. The Greek word for mercy is Elias. Elias. And it means God sparing us the punishment we deserve. See, grace and mercy are the two opposite sides of the same coin. Grace, God gives us the eternal life, the salvation that we don't deserve. So grace is charity. Charis, we get our word charity from it. Grace, you receive something you don't deserve. Mercy, you get spared the punishment and the judgment you do deserve. So mercy, your spared punishment, grace, you're given the salvation that you don't deserve. But mercy is God sparing us the punishment that we deserve. And now the last four verses of this chapter, verses 33 through verse 36, reads as follows. Paul ends up this chapter of deep theology with a proclamation of God's greatness. He starts out teaching theology and he ends up worshiping. And good solid theology should lead us to worship. So verses 33 to 36 of Romans 11, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor? For who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. And so Paul ends by speaking of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. The Greek word for wisdom is Sophia. It means the insight into the true nature of things. The Greek word for knowledge is Gnosis. Gnosis. It means understanding. Now let me differentiate between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge An example of knowledge would be you know who won the game. The Seahawks beat the Raiders. You know who won the game. You know the Seahawks won the game. Wisdom uh... would be you know why the Seahawks won the game you know why they won the game for instance it might be that the Seahawks were playing exceptionally well they went with a with their backup quarterback who was able to hit his receivers well and the running back was running real well whereas the the other team the Raiders were on a losing streak and they were not playing well at all the morale was down they were leaving receivers wide open they were missing tackles So knowledge, you know who won the game. Wisdom, you know why they won the game. It gives you a deeper insight into the true nature of things. Knowledge is kind of outward and superficial, but wisdom just penetrates that inner, deeper insight into the true nature of things. And Paul is exalting both the wisdom, magnifying the wisdom and the knowledge of God. God's judgments, in other words, God's decisions are unsearchable. In other words, no matter where you look, you would never find it. You would never find, figure out what God's judgments or decisions would be because it's just too wise. So God just revealed it to us. And that's why I think these chapters 9, 10, 11 are not teaching five-point Calvinism. Because what kind of wisdom is that? That God just pretty much made us puppets and pulled the strings for those who believe. There are in these chapters 9, 10, and 11 a tremendously complex interplay or tremendously complex I don't even know what the word for it would be, but Paul is bringing up God's sovereignty, predestination, and human responsibility, human free will, and showing how God's wisdom and knowledge reconciles the two. Now if you take the hyper-Arminian view, where man is so free that God really isn't sovereign, or a hyper-Calvinistic view where God is sovereign to the point where man isn't really free, then it, you know, the Calvinist position, it would just be all the power would be on God's side. It would just be a power thing on God's side. The Arminian position, it's a power thing on man's side. But in neither case do I see God having inexhaustible wisdom. But if there is a reconciliation of the two, divine sovereignty and human free will, then I do see a reason why Paul would break out into praise of God for his wisdom and knowledge. But God's judgments are unsearchable. No matter where we look, we would never find it except for the fact that God decided to reveal to us. the complexity of his wise judgments. Paul says that God's ways are unfathomable, impossible to figure out. Remember Isaiah 55, in fact let me read that passage. Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9. Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours. And so God's ways are impossible for us to figure out, for he's chosen to reveal many of his ways to us, but there are still areas that go beyond our understanding. Verse 34, I'll read it again. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counsel? Again, Romans 11, verse 34. Again, no one fully comprehends God. We never exhaustively understand God. We only know what He's revealed to us of Himself. No one gives God advice. We can't fully understand him and we don't give him advice, instead we should take advice from him. Verse 35, or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again. And so verse 35, God owes no man anything. He doesn't owe us a dime. Salvation is solely by His grace. It's a free gift that can be accepted or rejected, but it's not something that man can earn. God owes us nothing. And then verse 36, the final verse of Romans chapter 11, For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. And so verse 36, from Him, That tells us that God is the source of all things. He is the creator. Genesis 1.1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So all things, all the universe is from Him. God is the source, the origin, the creator of all things. But all things, the universe is through Him. Through Him speaks of God as the sustainer of all things. Look at Colossians 1.17. Right after speaking about Jesus as the Creator, in verse 16, verse 17 says, and He, meaning Jesus, is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. So, or in other words, all things endure. So, God not only is the creator of the universe, the creator of all things, the source of all things, but all things exist through Him, continue to exist through Him. God is the sustainer of all things. And then to Him, Paul saying that God not only is the source and the sustainer of all things, but God is also the goal of all things. All things are moving towards Him. In other words, moving in accordance with His purpose to Him. God is the goal of all things. All things were created for Him. All things were created to glorify Him. Look at Ecclesiastes 12. Ecclesiastes 12. in verse 13 this is the Solomonist trying to show how vain and absurd life is if you don't how vain life is without God and then he concludes the book in verse 13 the conclusion when all has been heard is fear God and keep His commandments because this applies to every person the point here is that all things are to move towards God. God is the goal of all things. All things were created for Him. And you cannot find any meaning in life unless you submit yourself to God. It is our purpose in life to glorify God. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 verses 20 to 28. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 20 to 28. says, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ that is coming. Then comes the end when he delivers up the kingdom to God and Father, to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. So everything, the kingdom will be delivered to God the Father. Verse 25, For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet, the last enemy that will be abolished is death. For he has put all things in subjection under his feet. For when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is expected who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all. In other words, the goal of the universe, the goal of all things, is that they are moving to be put under God, under subjection to God. Even the flames of hell, where all mankind that rejected Christ will burn in hell forever, the fact that there is torment there, the fact that they are separated from God, means that, you know, even that is part of God's overall plan. The perfect world is not the present world in which we live, but this is the best way to achieve the best possible world, and that is Heaven, where those, there will be people who freely chose to spend eternity with the Lord and worship and fellowship with Him forever and ever. So in Romans 11 Paul says that God gets all the glory forever. Amen. He wants to focus on God. In conclusion Paul said in the first three chapters of Romans that all are condemned. Romans chapters 3 to 8 he said salvation comes only through faith in Christ But then in Romans 9-11 Paul says God is not through with Israel because there is now a faithful remnant. And someday all Israel will be saved and therefore we should pray for Israel's deliverance. Now after chapter 11 Paul discusses how Christians should live. Paul spent 11 chapters on right beliefs. He now spends the final 5 chapters on right living. Right living must always be based on right beliefs. So as we continue to spread the gospel, let us pray for Israel's deliverance and eagerly await our Lord's return.