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24. Romans 11: “The Fall of Old Covenant Israel
Should Humble the Church”
Golden Nursing Center in Mannington, NJ –Evening
Service on 11/12/2012
(edited December 2019)
Verse 1: “ I say then, Hath
God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed
of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”
Ancient Israel had systematically and
repeatedly failed to obey God, lost and re-lost their deed to the promised
land, and seen the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as a threat and not a
blessing. Yet through all that, even unto our day, God has reserved a clear
path to salvation for Jewish people. Not through the Law of Moses, but through
faith in Christ, the same path God now offers to the whole world.
Long before Paul wrote this letter to
the Church at Rome, the Prophet Elijah of the Old Testament gave a stinging critique
of Ancient Israel:
Verses
2-3: “ God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh
intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”
But
the Lord corrected Elijah. There WERE and still are INDIVIDUAL Jews who are
faithful to the Lord. Elijah shouldn’t have and we must not attempt to
spiritually “write off” entire groups of people like that. Don’t forget, Jesus
was very much Jewish and so was Paul (Praise God!) Listen as Paul relates what the
Lord told Elijah and tells us, as there are many Jewish believers in Jesus to
this very day:
Verses 4-5:
“ But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to
myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even
so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election
of grace.”
Now,
the Lord did seek a divorce from Ancient Israel and you can read about it in
Jeremiah chapter 3, if you’re not familiar with that. It wasn’t to destroy them,
ultimately, but to usher in through Jesus, a Son of King David, a way of
individual salvation by Grace, through Faith and not the arduous works of the law!
Thus, from the ashes of the Old Covenant came the New.
Verse
6: “ And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace
is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise
work is no more work.”
So, today’s Jews have not been written off by
God. But the Old Covenant has been set aside and abandoned.
At least, it SHOULD be abandoned and we should
not let ourselves be tempted to return to it or to legalism and works for
rewards from God.
Verses
7-11: “ What then? Israel hath not
obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the
rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit
of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;)
unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened,
that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they
stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall
salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”
Did Ancient Israel fail? Yes. Was it their rulers
who murdered Jesus? Yes, you could make that case. But, even if you aren’t
Jewish, your nation of origin has failed God also. And if you’ve ever sinned
(and I have met no one who hasn’t, including me) YOU, yourself, put Christ on
the Cross as much as Caiaphas or Judas ever did. Really think about it! Certainly,
physical Israel has fallen but so has the rest of the entire world.
Verses
12-16: “Now
if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the
riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you
Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If
by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save
some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world,
what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the
firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the
branches.”
The fall of the Old Covenant has brought
salvation to the Gentile world! But we need to pray for every individual’s
salvation today. How fitting that the nation which so directly participated in
forming the roots of the New Covenant can now, through personal faith in
Christ, come to fully benefit from the fruits of the New Covenant.
Verses
17-18: “And
if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert
grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not
the root, but the root thee.”
It is inappropriate for the Church to show
distain for ancient or modern Jews. Like Ancient Israel, we are branches in the
tree of the Kingdom of God. We are not the Root. We serve the Root. We are not
to judge the performance of the other branches.
Verses 19-22: “Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be
grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest
by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural
branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness
and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness,
if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Ancient Israel was guilty of spiritual pride and spiritual
negligence. Their errors are recorded, not to show us as superior to them, but
to help us remember NOT to repeat their mistakes.
Verses
23-25: “And
they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is
able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the
olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a
good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be
grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren,
that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in.”
Ancient Israel has not lost and the Church won.
Jesus has won! And He has won in a way so that ALL may come to Him today and
through faith, not works and rituals, receive eternal life.
If you understand that, then you won’t be as
tempted to wallow in spiritual pride.
Verses
26-32: “And
so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they
are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for
the father's sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now
obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not
believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath
concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.”
The ground at the foot of
the Cross is level ground. No one today, in or out of the Church, stands any
taller before God than others stand.
What elevates the believer
is the Mercy of the Lord. God has a plan for EVERY life. And all those
plans begin at the Cross of Christ. Hope for the Jew, and the Gentile, for EVERYBODY:
Verses 26-32: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath
known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first
given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For
of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen.”