Published: December 22, 2024 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Romans - Part 61 | Scripture: Romans 11:25-29
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:20
11 we're working our way through this three chapter thesis that Paul gives us here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we'll be looking at verses 25 through 2 9 I'd like to ask Abe if he
0:32
would pray for the ministry of the word after I read this passage Romans 11 beginning in verse 25 for I do not want you Brethren to be
0:43
uninformed of this mystery lest you be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until
0:53
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
1:05
from Jacob and this is my Covenant with them when I take away their sins from the standpoint of the Gospel they are enemies for your sake but from
1:17
the standpoint of God's election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers for the gifts and the calling of God are
1:27
irrevocable let us pray
2:06
much of modern evangelism is based on a faulty conception both of the nature of man as created and the nature of man as
2:16
Fallen it is widely believed in the Contemporary Evangelical Church that the essential characteristic in man that constitutes him the image of God is his
2:30
rational power his ability to reason now the Armenian evangelism that is prevalent in our day also assumes that man having been
2:41
created by God is himself a spiritual creature and in that of course they are correct putting these two things together however is where things go
2:54
arai you have now a a creature whose primary characterist istic of of if we call it Divinity or chist godlikeness is
3:04
his reason who is himself a spiritual person or creature who is seeking after God well then the solution is
3:15
reason that if we convince someone of the rightness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we convince someone of the reality of their sin and need of
3:26
Salvation then we can bridge that Gap between the desire of the spiritual creature man and his rational Powers who can come which can come to understand
3:37
the gospel and of course coming to that understanding he will believe he already seeks after the spiritual he needs only to be convinced
3:48
of the true way which is Jesus Christ this is also led to a a rather new version of an old curriculum called
4:02
apologetics which is not saying I'm sorry but rather giving a defense for our faith and our belief now that's been done by all religions one of the earliest apologists in the Christian
4:14
church was a fellow by the name of Justin Martyr in the 2 century and so apologetics has been around a long time but in the modern era apologetics is
4:24
bent more on presenting the unbeliever with evidence that demands a verdict if I give you such overwhelming proof of the deity of Jesus Christ of the Virgin
4:36
birth and and foremost of the Resurrection how can you not believe and so modern evangelists is built around these kind of um these
4:48
tactics if I can convince The Sinner of the deity of Christ and of the Resurrection if I can show the scientific rationality for example of
5:01
creation and if I can persuade the unbeliever The Sinner that all his deepest longings will be fulfilled through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ how can he not
5:18
believe the problem is more often than not he doesn't believe no matter what ammunition we use against no matter how we persuade and convince and conjo and harass
5:31
he doesn't he doesn't believe and and yet that is something that we continue to do now we're talking about ignorant
5:43
Gentiles we're talking about people who who have not had a millennia of relationship with the Creator God what about the
5:53
about the Jews when the Lord says to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37 son of man can these bones live this was not merely a an academic
6:07
question because Israel in the Exile was well and truly dead she had lost the land and the temple and The Presence of Jehovah had
6:19
departed from above the altar she was now in a Strange Land again returning to bondage as they W as she was in Egypt
6:30
and so the image of the dry bones is is truly an apt image of Israel in its in her judgment and the question can these
6:43
bones live Ezekiel responds oh Lord you know Ezekiel doesn't respond Lord let me reason with them let me convince them of
6:54
their sin and of their need for repentance let me preach at them surely that will bring about the resurrection of these Dry Bones he simply says oh
7:06
Lord You Lord You Know by that time there had been generations of Disobedience and idolatry in Israel of shepherds fleecing rather than feeding the flock of God of bitter
7:18
grapes in the vineyard rather than the Vintage that the Lord had expected judgment Exile death was it because the Jews lacked
7:31
information were they just especially stupid people who could not understand what the Lord had been doing in their midst and telling them through the law and through the prophets and through the
7:43
writings well Paul doesn't seem to think so early in this section in chapter nine he says of the Jews to whom belong the adoption as sons and the glory and the
7:54
covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises they certainly did not lack for the
8:05
information that supposedly brings a rational man to an understanding of his situation before God and through that repentance and Faith according to Modern
8:17
Evangelistic teaching even God reasons with them in Isaiah chapter 1 come now let us reason together says the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they will
8:28
be as white as snow though they are red like Crimson they will be like wool Jesus himself the Israel's Messiah came speaking as no man had ever spoken
8:41
before with the authority of God he instructed them as to the Advent of the kingdom of heaven and so all Israel was convinced
8:52
by Jesus and came flocking to him right no actually at his crucifixion one disciple is recorded as being there the
9:02
rest had rest had scattered so much for persuasion so much for information reason and persuasion have often established man's guilt
9:14
before God but they have never saved a soul I don't know it's done all that much anymore but there was a time when
9:25
just about every football game behind the goal post you would see somebody holding up a placard that said John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and that is
9:37
supposedly the epitome of the gospel and done with the knowledge that 50,000 people are going to run home and open their Bibles to John 316 after the game
9:47
actually John 3:3 would have been a better verse unless a man be born again he will not see the Kingdom of Heaven he will not see it later he will
10:00
not enter it but I I want to focus on that first part he will not see it this is the true nature of Fallen man this is what our evangelism needs to be
10:12
built on because that is the truth about those to whom we are preaching that is the truth about those that we are trying to bring to an understanding they cannot
10:23
see and therefore they cannot understand and reason is not the essential characteristic of the amodi and even if it were it has been so
10:35
horribly corrupted by sin that it is in a state of utter blindness death in transgression in
10:50
sin it is evident in Romans 91011 that the majority of Israel were not persuaded they were not persuaded by Jesus during his Earthly Ministry they have not been persued Ed by Paul keep in
11:00
mind Romans is one of his later letters he's already well known to the Jews and much of what we read in the book of Acts has already taken place the enmity the
11:12
persecution the trials that have come against him primarily from his fellow countrymen they are not persuaded so might the Gentile Believers
11:25
congratulate themselves for their more perceptive minds and more receptive Hearts Paul writes here lest you be wise
11:36
in your own estimation literally lest you be puffed up in your own eyes Paul says I'm going to let you in on a
11:48
secret and he uses a word that that he is uh almost unique in using mystery Mysterion he uses it 21
11:58
times in his letters and here he says but I do not want you Brethren to be uninformed of this mystery lest you be puffed up in your own eyes conceited in
12:11
your own your own estimation in other words we need to understand this as Gentiles or we are liable to Pride as we look upon the
12:22
unbelieving Jews and say they didn't get it but I did Paul says no now let me let you in on a mystery let me let you in on a secret so that you
12:33
don't fall into that trap of conceit now this is not a mystery like Sherlock Holmes would solve or poo it's not a situation where given the
12:46
right analysis of the available Clues the mystery can be solved given the use of our reason and our deductive skills we can solve the
12:58
mystery that Paul is speaking of here excuse me it's not that type of mystery in fact in the day that's not how the word was used the word was used
13:10
rather in Jewish apocalyptic literature to give a secret element of God's plan that has been hidden from
13:22
Human understanding but has now been revealed in other words this is a clue that it's not available now it's there but it's not
13:35
capable of discernment by uned reason in fact reason would probably take it in a different direction and so God gives a revelation
13:48
that's the key to how Paul uses the word mystery in fact in one of his letters he says according to the mystery that has been revealed to me mystery requires
13:59
Revelation not Revelation not reason so Paul says I am going to let you in on this mystery the key here is it's something
14:10
that is going to be revealed and not something that you're going to figure out by your reason but what is the mystery well this is a key
14:21
passage in the teaching of dispensationalism and the interpretation that is provided by that particular
14:31
soteriological and eschatological school is that the mystery is the church age the time of the Gentiles in which we
14:52
live when God turns from Israel and focuses only on the Gentiles well this is one of the problems with taking any passage out of
15:03
context and in Romans 9:10 and 11 what we're dealing with in this particular passage is one of the more difficult ones and yet one of the ones most commonly taken out of
15:17
context Paul has already said early in this chapter verse one I say then God has not rejected his people has he and
15:28
then his class response may it never be you see that ought to put away forever the
15:38
dispensationalist idea that God has rejected Israel even for a time even for 2,000 years and
15:49
counting Paul says may it never be he he's not rejected his people so that can't be the mystery because that would mean that God is unfaithful to his
16:07
promises verse 25 must not be rested from its place in Romans 9:10 and 11 rather the mystery is that through Israel's large scale rejection the Gospel of Jesus Christ will go to the
16:20
Nations now that doesn't sound like a mystery to us anymore we've had 2,000 years of the Gospel going to the Gentiles and so from the distance of two
16:31
Millennia we just don't see the mystery anymore but this was an astounding revealed secret to the Jews of Paul's day as it was to Paul
16:42
himself not that Gentiles could be saved that wasn't the problem but rather that Gentiles would not be brought into the kingdom through
16:55
Israel but rather in spite of Israel and as a result of Israel's casting away this is the mystery that God had
17:06
planned all along this is the revelation of the key to what God is doing any Gentile be could become a proelite could attach himself to Israel
17:19
through circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic law that was never a problem it was widely thought among the Jews that what Sal ation does come to
17:30
the Gentiles will come as the Gentiles come to Jehovah through Israel in other words becoming Jews first Paul says let me let you in on a
17:44
secret they've got direct access through Jesus Christ by grace through faith now this humbles the
17:54
Gentile by the recognition that he was not of the chosen people Gentiles are humbled by Paul in that he calls them unnatural
18:06
branches that's a bit of an insult okay I mean we're all a bit proud of our nationality and Paul says no you're just a bunch of wild branches you you were never intended to
18:18
Bear the fruit of God's Vineyard but by his grace and mercy having chosen you from before the foundation of the world he has taken your wildness your unnaturalness and
18:30
he's made it work as the perfect infallible husbandman The Gardener of the vineyard he has grafted you into the one trunk
18:41
and now the life of God through Jesus Christ flows from that trunk into your life but don't boast you were never more than a wild unnatural
18:52
branch and so the Gentile is humbled by this reality but so is the Jew the Jew is humbled by the recognition that Gentile salvation will not be by way of
19:05
Jewish ethnicity but rather in spite of it this was the tripping point over which they stumbled and that was the thought that
19:16
being Jewish was What mattered and any that would come to Jehovah the one true God could do so but could only do so by
19:27
first becoming Jewish Paul's like no that's that's what I thought that's not what God thought and this is the mystery that
19:37
Paul reveals in the gospel and for us it is the mystery that we now take to the world and this should be what informs our evangelism there is no distinction
19:51
there's neither Jew nor Gentile slave nor free male nor female all of the social distinctions that prevailed in Paul's day and still Prevail today mean
20:02
nothing there's nothing you must become first before becoming a child of God but rather as an unnatural and as a wild Branch by grace through faith he grafts
20:14
you in to the one true vine the one Olive Tree this is what Paul understood from the Old Testament prophecies earlier he says in chapter 10 I will make you
20:27
jealous by that which which is not a nation by a nation without understanding I will make you angry and he says I was found by those who sought me not I became manifest to
20:40
those who did not ask for me it's there it's kind of like a mystery story that after you read the conclusion after you
20:51
re read the solution the well-written mystery story I should say you can you can go back oh yeah I I see
21:02
that now and Paul as he went back through the Old Testament saw it page after page after page it's like Jesus with the two men on
21:12
the road to Emmas starting with Moses and the prophets he showed them and walked them through all the scriptures teaching them what must happen to the Messiah that he might enter into his
21:23
glory it's there but without the Revelation not the reason but the revelation of God and I would say the revelation of God through
21:34
regeneration we can't see it we can't understand it after which we see it quite clearly and I'm sure many of you have
21:45
wondered as you read the Old Testament as you read the prophecies as you read the the the um the Imperial Imperial dynasties of Daniel and you and you
21:55
realize well the Messiah must come during that fourth Reign which was Rome and and you know here here's this prophecy and that prophecy and all these prophecies and you wonder how do they
22:09
not see well Paul says a partial hardening has come upon them people don't see unless God opens their eyes people's hearts cannot
22:21
believe unless God gives them a new heart that's the essence of the meaning you must be born again because otherwise you are still perceiving you are still seeing you are
22:33
still understanding with the same Fallen nature that renders you hard and blind even though it's as bright as the Sun at
22:43
noon day so we see what they cannot see and I know that that's very frustrating when you're trying to reason with a family member we trying to show them or or even in in a science class when you're trying
22:54
to teach children the fallacy of of evolution my class was watching a video the last day of fall semester earth
23:05
science a very good documentary on the on the blue planet on water on the planet and and it was very interesting and of course the the video was quite fascinating all the different places
23:17
that the camera people went in one place they were talking we're up in Iceland and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and they were talking about the vents that are allowing methane gas to bubble out of
23:28
the core of the earth and they had of course the video of the bubbling some scientists think this is where life came from they just say these things so I interjected to the class that's just
23:40
stupid I said keep in mind that the Earth passing gas does not bring life okay the things that people say and you're like no how can you not
23:51
see but we need to understand they can't see and there's no measure of persuasion no measure of of creation science nothing of that that may bolster our
24:02
faith but it will never save a single soul they must be born again they must have their eyes open by the Holy Spirit then they will
24:14
see and so that's what Paul is teaching here and he says three things two phrases and a word that cause most of the difficulty with this passage he says
24:26
first of all a partial Harden has happened to Israel so that the fullness of the Gentiles may come
24:37
in thus will all Israel be saved again here you have dispensational eschatology in a
24:53
nutshell first Israel rejects his Messiah and is thereby rejected second Gentiles come in during the church age third Israel is then saved during the Millennium when the church is removed
25:05
via the Rapture and I'm sure you've all heard that scenario and this is one of the key verses that is used to justify that sequential
25:15
that sequential chronology whereby God turns away from the Jews his people turns in grace to the Gentiles during the church age then
25:26
takes the church out of the way and returns with salvation To His People Israel it's very neat it's very orderly it makes great charts but it's completely
25:42
wrong the three provocative phrases or words in this short statement fullness of the Gentiles and all Israel those those are two that commentators just spilled tons of ink trying to explain
25:54
what frankly I think is rather obvious but then one word one word in 26 thus thus all Israel will be
26:07
saved well the first one fullness of the Gentiles and that's a familiar word you've probably heard it in Thursday night classes or from the uh Pulpit or you've read it in a commentary it's a
26:18
Greek word Greek word ploma and the word means fullness it means each and every one okay it's it's the sum total of all that
26:29
is intended to be in the group so all and every from every tongue tribe and Nation chosen by God from before the foundation of the earth that
26:40
would constitute the ploma of the Gentiles there will all be saved now some commentators have commented that they don't see here a fixed
26:52
total I don't get it how can you know that you've achieved the fullness if you don't know the number Paul tells us that this is a faithful statement concerning God that the Lord
27:04
knows those who are his there is a set number of us Gentiles of us wild unnatural branches that God intends to graft in to the Olive Tree I
27:16
think that's fairly clear from statements like this we don't know when that will be we certainly don't know who those Gentiles those Gentiles are our primary concern of course should
27:27
be whether we are one or whether we are still the wild unnatural branch in Rebellion against Rebellion against God and during this life we have the
27:38
opportunity to opportunity to repent and to receive the grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ by which God the holy spirit will not only regenerate our hearts but graft us into
27:51
that one living tree though we are unnatural and wild so the ploma of the Gentiles each and every one all Israel that's another one that
28:01
people just really fret over what does Israel mean when Paul says Israel what do you mean don't you don't you mean all spiritual Israel all true Israel and
28:12
many people take this to mean basically just all the church will be saved but that's not how Paul has used the word Israel in this
28:22
section Israel does not somehow get mutated into Christians in general Israel Remains the ethnic descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and Paul has
28:35
already informed us in Romans 9 that not all Israel is Israel and I think with the understanding here I mean what he's talking about is why hasn't Israel
28:47
believed so I think given the context the only way we can interpret all Israel is that every elect member of the physical descendants of Abraham's
28:59
family will be grafted back in that everyone who can trace their Heritage as well as their faith to
29:10
Father Abraham will constitute all Israel so you have the fullness of the Gentiles you have all Israel I think put
29:21
them together you have the elect of God you have those chosen from the foundation of the world to receive the Great ious and merciful salvation of our God God knows the number of those two
29:33
groups that have been made one in Jesus Christ it's not one group in the church and one group in Israel but rather natural and unnatural branches grafted
29:45
into one trunk Jesus Christ and so all Israel and the fullness of the Gentiles we'll be brought in we'll be saved and
29:55
so the key here then in understanding what Paul PA teaching is that little particle in verse 26 translated The New American Standard thus that is not a
30:12
translation the word is a common one in the New Testament common in in Greek and it never has a chronological or sequential meaning the word means in this manner or
30:24
in this in this way and unfortunately the translations in the English that have rendered it thus have given it a causitive purpose or
30:36
chronology and the dispensationalist reads that and says okay here's what happens Israel has been rejected now God's dealing with the Gentiles and there's this group of Gentiles that
30:47
God's going to save now he hasn't elected them but none theel he knows how many he wants okay he has he doesn't know which ones he wants but he has a number when he gets that number he done
30:58
no more Gentiles get in all right maybe there's just certain space up there for us or on the trunk okay can't fit anymore sorry no that's that's ridiculous he knows both how many and
31:11
who because he knows those who are his these are the sheep that have been given outside the fold that have been given to the great Shepherd by the father of
31:22
which he will lose none but raise them up on the last day so that's what's going on now now according to the dispensationalist when when that's all done and when the fullness of the Gentiles are committ the
31:33
Rapture happens and we get all those unnatural Pagan Gentiles out of the way so that God can now deal again with his people Israel okay
31:44
Israel okay um that all hinges on the incorrect interpretation of one word what the word means is in the same manner all Israel will be saved and the
31:58
question isn't question isn't when but by what Manner what is Paul talking about here is he actually saying that God has rejected Israel for 2,000 years when he
32:10
has just said may it never be when he's already taught us that God always every generation has a remnant of his people Israel and he has not forsaken them how
32:22
can we come up with the theory that says he does no does no Paul is saying and and this is where dispensation really is self-destructive
32:33
he says in the same manner okay if you come up with a different scheme of salvation for different periods of time or different peoples of the human race you way off
32:47
base because it is by faith that the righteous shall walk and that is true for the Jew is for the Gentile and so as he talks about Gentiles being grafted in
32:57
in and he's just said hey hey Gentiles you know if those Jews do not remain in their unbelief they they're the natural branches how much easier it will be for
33:09
God to pick them back up and put them back in but it's the grafting in of Gentile and Jewish believing branches that's the manner that Paul is talking
33:21
about here in the same manner that he has graciously grafted you in he will regraft the believing Jew generation
33:32
after generation after generation I I used to think that this did mean this passage here I did used to think that what this
33:43
means is that there will be a time of of of massive returning of Jews to their Messiah Jesus now that may still happen but the more I study this passage I
33:55
realize it's not a defensible position from the from the passage what we rather have is what we've seen for 2,000 years and that God
34:05
is grafting in unnatural Gentile branches and regrafting Jewish believing branches in this manner both the fullness of the Gentiles
34:17
will come in and all Israel will be saved it is not through reason it is not through persuasion
34:28
through persuasion but rather it is through the power of the gardener of the vineyard to perform his will and it is happening at the same time you see there can be no thought
34:41
here of a separate path to Salvation Paul maintains that there are two different types of branches this is one of the mysteries of Paul's
34:51
writings he never dispenses with the identity of Israel he never dispenses with the identity of a Jew as being different than a
35:03
gentile but he never treats that as a significant difference in the means and the availability of salvation for either one he doesn't set up two different
35:14
trees he doesn't set up two different paths he simply says that in Christ the two have been brought together you who were once a far off strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel without hope and
35:26
without God in the world he has brought you near and he himself is our peace bringing the two men into one there's still two men there's still two
35:38
branches but there's only one tree and so we cannot come up with different means or Paths of Salvation without being contrary to scripture and I think even
35:50
heretical but there can also be no thought of God rejecting Israel forever verse 29 this this is something that all believers should take great comfort in
36:01
the gifts and the blessing of God are literally without literally without repentance God has promised that he would save the children of Abraham that
36:13
he would fulfill his Covenant with Abraham but he has also promised that through the Seed of Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed he has promised that he will be faithful to
36:25
those in Israel who believe he has promised that those of us Gentiles who have come to him in faith through Jesus Christ will be raised up on the last
36:42
day one commentator succinctly puts the whole section he says God's word has not failed it cannot fail and it will not fail let us pray father all glory be to
36:56
you and we we thank you for revealing your mystery to the Apostle Paul and through him to us and we thank you that it was your intention from eternity
37:10
past to bring unnatural and wild branches into the Olive Tree by grace through faith you have grafted us into the one
37:21
root Jesus Christ father we do pray that your word would go out with power that it would be preached with truth that it would bring
37:34
conviction and repentance to both Jew and Gentile and that as time goes on your purpose would never fail as we know and will not but we do ask that we might
37:45
see in our day a Revival both of Jew and Gentile we might see Gentile branches and natural
37:56
Jewish branches coming to an understanding coming to Salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ father we pray that you would do this for your glory for the
38:08
exaltation of Jesus Christ himself for the building up of your church the bride of Christ we ask this in Jesus name
38:18
amen please stand for the benediction from the letter of Jude now to him who is a B to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in
38:30
the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only God our savior savior through Jesus Christ Our Lord be glory Majesty dominion and Authority
38:42
before all time and now and forever amen