Word by Mail

ROM 233 - God Has Not Rejected Israel - Rom 11:1-12
 
Last msg we finished a 3 part series
on Salvation & Sharing your faith
 
If you didn’t hear all 3 msgs - I'd encourage you to get them -
titles: How to be Saved & Ambassadors for Christ 1 & 2
 
Today we move back to our V-by-V study of Rom - into Ch 11
 
But the end of Ch 10 is actually like an Exclamation point
on our last 3 Msg's - & it's the lead in to our text today in Ch 11
 
So we're going to back up - & wrap up - to catch up
 
Let's Pray
 
 
We were focused on Rom 10:14-15 in our last Msg's
but Vs's 16-17 are the Exclamation Point for that text
 
Reading from the NLT
Rom 10:16-17 - NLT
16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
 
Faith comes by hearing - that is -
hearing the Good News about Christ
 
& that's WHY we've got to tell the Story - because their Faith
comes by HEARING the Good News about Jesus Christ - AMEN?
But not everyone welcomes the Good News - Do They ?
That's what V.16 says
 
& now - from V.18-21 - Paul is going to again kinda LAMENT
for the Nation of Israel
 
because of their REJECTION of the Good News
 
Again - reading from the NLT
Rom 10:18-21 - NLT
18 But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.”19 But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, “I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.” (that's us)
 
20 And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying, “I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.” (that's us again)21 But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”
 
Notice God's POSITION (He has Open Arms)
Notice the THEIR CHOICE (to be Disobedient & Rebellious)
 
Now - that sets up Ch 11
because even tho Paul's Lamenting here for Israel
 
as Ch 11 starts - it's almost like Paul thinks to himself
wait a minute - God is GOOD - & His Promises to Israel STAND
 
 
& it's like Paul says Wait a Minute"
1) God is NOT done with Israel
2) God's Promises to Israel have NOT expired
3) God is bringing Great GOOD out of Israel's Rebellion
 
Guys - Israel is the ROOT - The TREE
& We are the wild branches - "Grafted In"
 
So Paul begins this POSITIVE LOOK at Israel
even in the midst of their unbelief as a nation
 
Rom 11:1 - ESV
1 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.
 
This By no means! again - is VERY STRONG
has God rejected His people - Absolutely Not
 
& as Proof of that - he says - "Hey, I'm an Israelite, & God hasn’t rejected me - so obviously He hasn’t rejected us, as a whole "
Do you see that?
 
 
There's a story about Queen Victoria
who once asked her Prime Minister about the Bible
 
She said to him "show me one thing that absolutely proves
the Bible is undeniably true"
 
Her Prime Minister responded " The Jews Madame, the Jews"
 
If you will simply study the history of Israel - Unbiased-ly
 
You will have to agree - Israel (as a people) - are a Miraculous, Supernatural PROOF - that God is REAL, & the Bible is TRUE
 
There are even some Evangelical Churches
that believe God has replaced Israel - with the Church
 
that is Absolutely Unbiblical, & Totally Contrary to God's nature
 
Because (as we've already said)
If God can’t be trusted to keep his promise to Israel
then he can’t be trusted to keep His promise to you & me
 
BUT, He CAN be trusted to keep His promises
both to ISRAEL & to US
 
& Israel's history absolutely, miraculously, proves that
 
Guys - it is Satan that is driving the ANTI-ISRAEL Bandwagon
& he would love for you & I to jump on board
 
 
I want to thank Skip Heitzig for what I'm about to share with you re: the History of the Nation of Israel
 
Let's just think about it for a minute
 
God calls Israel the Apple of His eye - & He's made an Unconditional, One-sided covenant with them
 
Now - Whatever God loves - Satan hates
 
 
& because Satan is at war with God
he is at war - with the people God has Unconditionally CHOSEN
 
& if Satan can succeed in Wiping out Israel
then not only is he wiping out something God loves
 
but He can also call God a Liar
Because God would've failed to keep his promises to Israel
 
& so - because of that - No race of people have survived
anything near what the Jews have survived
 
What other race of people have been conquered & dispersed
not once by multiple times
only to be restored again as a nation
 
or what race of people have had 6 Million massacred in a holocaust
& then been miraculously restored as a people - & as a nation
in just 3 short years
 
even the Hebrew language
was completely eliminated from use in the word
& then miraculously restored to use for Israel (which was prophesied)
 
36 major wars have been fought in Jerusalem
The city has been reduced to ashes 11 times
 
& yet it stands today
as the center of attention of the entire world
& it always will be
 
TODAY - there are over 5 ½ million Jews in Israel
but surrounding them are over 100 million people
who, for the most part - would love to see the Jews Annihilated
Not every one of those people - but the vast majority feel that way
& their religion certainly does
 
in fact, the majority of the "religious" in the Middle East
firmly believe that their God has commanded them
to Annihilate the Jews
 
Just think for a moment - if we had people on ALL our borders
20 times more people than in America
 
MOST of which wanting nothing more
than to Annihilate America - as a nation, & as a people
 
THAT is what Israel lives with, every day.
 
I promise you - the ONLY way ISRAEL Exists today
is because of what ROM 11:2 says
 
Rom 11:2 - ESV
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew . . .
 
 
We are going to Israel in FEB of 2009
& I would really, really like you to come with us
& see the Miracles of God - in ISRAEL - - FLYERS AT W-B-M
 
But today - Let me just review a BIT of Jewish history for you
 
to see just how TRUE it is
that God has NEVER Turned His back on Israel
 
 
We have to start in GEN 3:15
because that's where Satan's HATE for Israel started
 
in Gen 3:15 - speaking prophetically of Jesus Christ . . .
 
God told Satan - I will put Enmity (hostility) between YOUR SEED
& the SEED of the Woman
 
You will bruise his HEEL, but He will CRUSH YOUR HEAD
 
& I think Satan figured out pretty fast
if he could Wipe Out the Line of this 'Promised Seed"
 
Then maybe he could dodge this
HEAD-CRUSHING promise from God
 
& so Satan went right to work
 
his 1st attempt was probably getting Cain to Kill Abel
Because Abel was found Righteous before God
 
But Seth was born to take Abel's place
 
So Satan corrupted the ENTIRE world
 
so much so that God would have to destroy the entire world
maybe including the Promised seed
 
But Righteous Noah & his family were saved
& they continued the promised line
 
From Noah to Moses - Satan tried over & over
to "take out" the Patriarch's - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
 
Then, in Exodus the Pharaoh gives a command
KILL every male Hebrew child that is born - drown them in the river
 
Do you think Pharaoh just came up with that crazy idea himself?
NO WAY - but MOSES was saved.
 
Then King Saul tries to kill David for 10 yrs,
seemingly for no reason
 
except that Satan knew
the Promised Seed would come thru David's Throne
 
In the book of Esther - while the Jews were in exile
 
a guy named Haman gets this idea
that ALL the Jews should be killed - annihilated
 
& God uses Esther to (again) save His people
 
History is FULL of strange attempts
to DESTROY the Jewish people, for no good reason
 
Is there a chance that we are witnessing (in Israel)
a great spiritual battle that Satan is actually waging against God
 
by unceasingly trying to destroy God's Chosen people?
 
In 2Chron Ch 22 - is an incredible story
of a Queen mother named ATHALIAH
 
Who decides to murder EVERY person
in the royal family of the house of Judah
 
not any of the other 12 tribes - JUST JUDAH
from which Satan knew the Messiah had to come
& this woman kills every member of the Royal line
except one little baby named JOASH who God hid thru it all
 
& from this one hidden boy
the Linage of the Tribe of Judah continued
 
On wed night we've been studying the overthrow of the Jews
by the Babylonians - the Persians - & then the Greeks
 
& near the end of that time Antiachus Epiphines
tried very hard to Kill every single Jew
 
& he placed a Pagan Sacrifice on the altar in Jerusalem
Until the Maccabeans overthrew that Genocide
 
from which comes - the Jewish festival of Hannakah
 
 
What about at the beginning of the NT
 
One of the 1st things we read is King HEROD Commanding to
"Go KILL Every Male Jewish child born in the last 2 years" -
 
Now, Herod was crazy
but I think he had a little help with that idea
 
Then of course the big showdown
was when Satan & Jesus met in the wilderness
 
where Satan threw everything he could at Jesus Himself
 
But Satan didn’t stop there . . .
 
 
& he certainly did not stop at the Crucifixion
WHY ? - BECAUSE OF the Resurrection
 
In fact - his attack escalated after the Resurrection
 
in 70 AD - the Romans tried hard to eliminate the Jews
killing hundreds of thousands
 
& deporting 1.3 Mil Jews around the world
so that they would cease to be a "people"
 
In the 300's Judaism was outlawed
& the Jews were dispersed from Jerusalem AGAIN
 
In 600's the rise of Islam
became a constant threat of Annihilation to the Jews
 
SADLY - the Christian Crusades of the 11th century
had as one of its primary goals - the Annihilation of the Jews
 
in 1300's the Black Plague in Europe was blamed on the Jews
 
During the same period the church
& the Spanish inquisition greatly persecuted the Jews
 
in 1492 (same yr as Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue)
800,00 Jews were forced into the sea, where most of them died
 
& then in the 1940's - the holocaust began
where 6 Million Jews ended up being slaughtered
 
& many would have thought that Satan had finally WON
 
 
But then - in one of the greatest Miracles of Jewish History
 
in 1945 the Jews were liberated from the concentration camps
& just 3 short yrs later in 1948 . . .
 
Israel became a state again - rising literally - from the ashes
 
& then - Within 24 hours of becoming a state
5 surrounding countries ALL attacked Israel at the same time
 
The battle lasted 15 months - & Israel WON
 
defeating 5 counties at the same time
24 hours after becoming a recognized state
 
In 1967 the surrounding countries
gathered again to Annihilate Israel
 
This time it only took 6 days
& Israel's enemies were subdued again
 
In 1973 the Surrounding countries
attacked Israel on their Holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur
 
which again, was a mistake, & Israel won (again)
 
Since 1973 - again & again the Islamic world
rises up to Annihilate Israel
 
for one reason alone - BECAUSE THEY ARE JEWS
 
In fact Iraq has now promised to wipe out Israel - as soon as
the rest of the world helps them finish their Nuclear bomb
 
 
& for the majority of the people
in EVERY Country surrounding Israel
 
IRAQ is their great hope
for the final Annihilation of the Jews forever
 
But - will IRAQ succeed in Totally Annihilating Israel ?
Absolutely not !
 
How can we know that ??
Because God's Prophetic Plan for Israel - IS NOT FINISHED
 
PLEASE - Read EZE Ch's 36 & 37
read them carefully - out of the NLT if you have it
 
I Promise you - GOD IS NOT FINISHED WITH ISRAEL !!
 
God's promises are still in effect for Israel
& they will remain in effect - right up to the End of the Age
 
& If God is THAT Faithful to His people ISRAEL
 
then we can absolutely count on Him
to be THAT faithful to US - AMEN?
 
If you can - please - consider coming to Israel with us in FEB 2009
FLYERS AT W-B-M TABLE
 
 
 
Guys - MANY TIMES - Satan has been CLOSE
to Annihilating the Jewish People
 
But he CANNOT - Because God HAS NOT Rejected
His people whom He Foreknew
 
There has always been - & there is now
a remnant of believing Jews
 
& Paul is going to remind us of that as we continue (finally)
 
Rom 11:2(again)-3 - ESV
2 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?3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
 
Elijah was the great Prophet who took on the Prophets of BAAL
on Mt Carmel - & WON Decidedly
 
But then - after running 20 miles
& being scared by a woman named Jezebel
 
He thought he was all alone - The last Faithful Prophet of Israel
 
But God says - NO ELIJAH - that is not true
 
Rom 11:4-5 - ESV
4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
 
 
God says to Elijah
“I have kept for myself seven thousand faithful men"
 
But Elijah didn’t even know about these Faithful men
 
they weren't part of any Group or Sect
they didn’t have a special Title or Mtg place
 
Apparently - They were known only to God
 
Because they must've been 7,000 individuals
Otherwise Elijah would have known about them
So - Notice TWO things:
1) God had insured a Remnant of the Faithful within Israel
2) God has them individually numbered (which is very cool)
 
& then Paul says in V. 5 - So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
 
In Fact - Paul is part of that Remnant - as he implied back in V.1
 
Chosen By God's Grace, & THRU their FAITH, Just like us !!
& NOT by their Works
 
 
Now - Paul takes a Quick Break here
to add a little "Footnote" about Grace & Works
 
 
Rom 11:6 - ESV  
 
Rom 11:6 - ESV
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
 
This is a simple statement - that just says
 
What we have from God is by Grace
& so it Can’t be by WORKS
or then it would no longer be GRACE - Right?
 
then - V.7 continues this 'Footnote' about GRACE & WORKS
 
Paul's going to say - Israel didn’t find favor with God - by their works
Those who HAD FAITH did - but the rest were hardened
 
Rom 11:7 - ESV
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. (being right with God) The elect obtained it (by faith), but the rest were hardened,
 
Remember back in Rom 10:21 - we read - NLT
21 But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”
 
God opened his arms to them - but they were rebellious
& now - God has given them - Exactly what they wanted
 
Rom 11:8 - ESV
8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
 
 
Sometimes - God's Judgment is to give us
EXACTLY what we ask for
 
Israel Didn’t WANT to See or Hear about God's Grace
& His plan of Salvation
 
& so God gave them EXACTLY what they wanted
 
Paul continues to explain this in Vs' 9-10
 
Rom 11:9-10 - ESV
9 And David says, “Let their table (of blessing) become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”
 
This is a Quote from Psa 69 - & Paul is saying Israel's BLESSINGS have actually become a Trap & a Stumbling Block
 
Maybe because they thought they could do NO WRONG
 
But REMEMBER - We're talking about God bringing GOOD
even in Israel's unbelief - right?
 
Rom 11:11 - ESV
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall (meaning fall completely)? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
 
 
Let's read that from the NLT - Rom 11:11 - NLT  
 
 
Rom 11:11 - NLT
11 Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles (that’s the good that God brought out of it). But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.
 
Israel's REJECTION - Actually opened the door to the entire world
for Salvation - Now THAT is some serious GOOD
 
When the Jews Rejected the Gospel - God sent it to the Gentiles
 
But God has promised
that Israel's Rejection - is NOT PERMANENT
 
Rom 11:11 again - NLT
11 Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! (Paul's 10th, & last time to use this phrase)
 
They have stumbled - & because of that -
 
YOU & I can be Grafted into God's Promises
for which we should THANK ISRAEL
 
Now - if Salvation came to the World
when Israel Rejected the Gospel . . .
 
How much greater a Blessing will we all share
when Israel DOES finally accept God's Plan of Salvation . . . ??
 
 
WAIT A MINUTE . . . That is Exactly what the next Vs says
 
Rom 11:12 - NLT
12 Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.
 
Guys - When God Called Abraham in GEN CH 12 - God told him
"in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed"
 
& God is doing that - & He WILL do that
 
& God WILL Restore ISRAEL - -
He has Promised to do it - & HE WILL
 
In fact Israel plays a CENTRAL ROLE
in the Last Days - & in the Return of Christ
 
PLEASE - LET'S JUST LEARN TWO THINGS TODAY . . .
 
God will NEVER break His Covenant Promise with ISRAEL
God will NEVER break His Covenant Promise with YOU
 
Because there is NO ONE LIKE OUR GOD !!!
 
Let's Pray