God’s Election of Israel By Grace

Transcript

GR 2247
7/19/2020
God’s Election of Israel By Grace
Romans 11:1-10
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Romans chapter 11. There are no more important chapters for understanding God’s program for Israel in the New Testament than Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11. And there Paul is putting God’s work with the nation Israel in the context of the coming of Christ, His rejection, the establishing of the Church. Where does this leave the nation Israel? These are crucial questions. I’ve mentioned some recent writings that have come out. This is not new, but they continue to come out, by evangelical scholars explaining why the coming of Christ changed God’s program for Israel. In one of the more recent writings they are saying that there is no longer a plan for Israel to have the land. The Old Testament prophesied a land possession for Israel. But these modern writers say that has been cancelled because of the coming of Christ. That has a spiritual fulfillment. In all these variations take place.

There’s still a place for the nation Israel as a nation, as they are joined with the Church to make one people of God. But there’s no longer a physical land included in that promise for Israel, as they chop things up and redo them. The coming of Christ does not change anything in the promises of God as given in the Old Testament, elaborated in the covenants, beginning with the Abrahamic covenant. God is true to His word as He has given it. What has been changed in the revelation that had been revealed up to that point is that Israel has been put under the judgment of God. And for the time period we are living in, from Acts chapter 2 down until it climaxes with the Rapture, God’s work of salvation, His saving grace focuses in the Gentile world. Part of Israel’s judgment is that God is no longer focusing His work of salvation in the Jews. He is now dealing with the Gentiles.

We get into that in chapter 11, but these chapters make clear that this is consistent with what was revealed in the Old Testament. But further revelation gives further clarity and further understanding, but it does not change prior revelation. That’s so important. As soon as you read someone who says, oh the coming of Christ changes what was understood in the promises of God to Israel, like the land. No, you can’t change that! So many passages make that clear. Covenants have been established. Now you can’t go back and change the provisions, which Paul is showing with the repeated quoting of Old Testament, beginning in chapter 9.

He quotes from the Old Testament showing that God’s sovereign choice of Israel was a selective choosing based on His election, His choice, showing mercy. It never did include every physical descendant of Abraham. It always was narrowed down to the selective choice of God. And as you just scan your bibles as I keep reminding you, you can see the numerous quotations from the Old Testament that He supports this with. He’s not saying things have changed. He’s showing this is consistent with the revelation that was given. But Israel did not realize that their persistent rebellion and refusal to believe would have such drastic impact. This was their repeated problem. If you don’t repent of your rebellion, place your faith in Me, the Assyrians are going to come, and they did. They carried away the northern ten tribes. The southern kingdom didn’t learn their lesson. They persisted in unbelief and rebellion. Babylon came and carried away the southern tribes. Then you have Medo Persia come and their impact, and Israel back to the land. Then you have the Greeks come. Then you have the Romans come.

Israel through it all, as a nation, and we’re going to get to this in chapter 11, the distinction between individual election and national election. Important to understand that distinction, but this is consistent. In chapter 9, God is working according to His sovereign choice. And in chapter 10 we realized if God has sovereignly chosen, what about Israel? What’s the problem? Israel’s problem is their unbelief. And it’s an unbelief compounded by the fact that they know the truth. The oracles of God were given to Israel. They had the word of God. They had the promises of God. It was just they finally came. It’s like Israel coming up to the promised land and now you can go in. Except their rebellion and unbelief closed the door. That whole generation is going to die and not go into the land. Oh, well, no, we changed our mind again. No! You can’t change your mind. That doesn’t change God’s promises for the nation, but it brought judgment.

That’s where we are in the church age, what Paul is dealing with. In chapter 10 Israel’s problem is they continue in stubborn unbelief. You have to be exposed to the truth to believe. Israel’s problem isn’t they haven’t heard. Look at verse 18 of chapter 10, where we looked at last time. “But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have...” Israel’s problem is not that they have not heard the truth. And then you see the repeated quotes from the Old Testament concluding with verse 21, “But as for Israel…” Showing that even in the prophecies from Isaiah, you have the Gentiles who were not the focus of God’s work, responding to God’s revelation. Verse 21, “But as for Israel He says, ‘All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’” So, finally God says, that’s it! That doesn’t mean He’s done with Israel. He can’t because He’s made irrevocable promises, irrevocable covenants and all the details of those covenants. Hebrews talks about this. You can’t change it once it’s been established and God established it and is totally responsible for the fulfillment of it. And He even took an oath to show that this is binding, but it will be done His way.

Chapter 11 opens, and again you have the question, will this repeated disobedience, refusal to believe and obey, result in Israel’s rejection? How does chapter 11 begin? “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?” And that question is phrased in a way that requires the answer, “…May it never be!” All day long God has persistently, down through Israel’s history, stretched out His hands, to welcome Israel, to call them back. They have persisted to be a disobedient, obstinate people. Well, I say then, have we come to the breaking point that God is done with Israel? “…God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” King James translated it, “God forbid!” But the word “God” does not appear in that. They might translate it, “Let it not be!” or something like that. But the idea of that expression is that’s not a possibility. Such a thought is inconceivable because if God rejected His people then all the promises and all the covenants, we just nullified.

I don’t think bible-believing people who say that God is done with Israel or won’t fulfill His promises given, don’t seriously consider that is an attack on the character of God. Remember the Abrahamic covenant when it was cut? Which is what the Hebrew expression means, to ‘cut a covenant’ when you walk through the divided pieces of the sacrifice. Abraham is asleep but God passed through there. Showing what? He takes full, complete, total responsibility for the fulfillment of that covenant. So, the failure of that covenant can’t be connected to the failure of Israel because God says I’m totally responsible. Just like if you entered into that kind of agreement and say I take full responsibility for the fulfillment of all the provisions of this agreement. No exceptions. No clauses. That’s what God did. Where does the audacity come from to say now “well, God changed it?” For example, these now today saying that God took the land out of that and made it a spiritual fulfillment. In Christ we have the fulfillment of the land, whatever that means as they explain it. “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” That means Israel and all that God has promised to Israel, it is not a possibility that He would reject them. And Paul will use himself as an example.

Come back to 1 Samuel. We’re not going to run through all of these, but a couple of passages in the Old Testament, two or three. 1 Samuel 12, and we could go back to the beginning with the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis but we’ve done that a number of times and we may do it before we’re done with chapter 11 again, if the way I’m thinking works out. Verse 22 of 1 Samuel 12, “For the Lord will not abandon His people…” Why? “…on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.” That’s it! God has put His name on the line. He will not abandon His people on account of His great name. But that should not encourage Israel to continue in sin because the judgment of God can be severe. The pain that has come on Israel, look at them and the history of Israel. The discipline God has brought on them and look at them today. And the worse of the worst is yet to come when the nation is going to be reduced, as we shall see shortly, to a very small remnant that will be core that will enable the nation then to blossom when the kingdom is established. You can’t win in the battle against God. God will fulfill His promises. So there on account of His great name.

Come to Psalm 94. It troubles me greatly when I read men, as far as I can tell, who believe the Bible to be the word of God, but in their hermeneutics, their principles of interpreting, they begin to do this maneuvering to somehow take away what God says cannot be taken away from Israel. Now that doesn’t mean I’m all out for Israel today. I think Israel is under the judgment of God, and their immediate future is very bleak, but they cannot be annihilated. I don’t think there is any hope at all for a broad salvation of the Jews in these days. Some of us were talking after last week. That won’t even help in the Tribulation because all the believing Jews will be raptured with the church before the Tribulation begins. So, they’ll start at zero regardless of how many Jews there are. Look at Psalm 94, verse 14. “For the Lord will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance.” So we can’t go in and take the pieces of this covenant and say, well that was literal, God did say walk on the land, everywhere your feet walk, but now it’s been transferred into a non-literal, spiritual truth that has nothing to do with the physical land on which Abraham’s feet walked. Wait a minute! Who am I to inject myself into the covenant God established with Israel and then to pull pieces out? To me this is very serious business.

You might as well stop at Jeremiah 31. To pick up God’s promises, we’ll have to break into it. Look at verse 35. “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, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name.” You hear and I hear on the news, somebody talking about when Mother Nature does something. They have no clue. The sovereign God controls nature. “‘If this fixed order departs from before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘If the heavens above can be measured and the foundation of the earth stretched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done…’” The point is, Israel is mine and I will do all that is necessary to bring them to their knees until they acknowledge that, claim Me as their God, call for Me and My salvation. These are promises. How else could God says this? Then I begin to wonder, these men claiming to be bible-believers who believe in the inspiration of scripture and yet we begin to adjust it. And these adjustments, as we were talking about in Jude, begin to have broader ramifications. Some men who have made these adjustments, keep moving out with them. And soon they have adjusted other areas of their theology. If the eternal promises of God to Israel don’t have to be taken literally, neither do the eternal promises of God regarding an eternal hell have to be taken literally. And so, some of those get abandoned over the years. Then soon this. So, this is where we are.

Come back to Romans chapter 11. “I say then, God has not rejected His people has He?” And you can’t do some maneuvering as though His people now, there’s “one people of God.” Anytime you read that expression you ought to see flashing lights going off. “One people of God,” because what the writing with that are saying, the church and Israel have merged. We don’t want to recognize the distinction now. Oh, Israel may have an identity as Israel but that’s within the context of the church, so there’s “one people of God.” Paul has just come out of verse 21 of chapter 10, “But as for Israel He says…” He’s been talking about them when he says in verse 1, “…God has not rejected His people, has He?” We are talking about Israel. “May it never be!” That’s an impossibility. And Paul is an example that God hasn’t totally cut Jews off from salvation. Paul says, “…For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” Now He has brought judgment on them just like He did with the Assyrians. Just like He did with the Babylonians. But while they were even in foreign lands, they did not cease to be God’s people. They were God’s people under discipline. It’s not so hard. You discipline your children, or you should, and you discipline sometimes severely with longer term consequences, but that doesn’t mean they are no longer your children. Your purpose in discipline is to bring them back where they should be. This is what God does with Israel.

Paul is an example. Even during this time when Israel was under judgment, He was still saving some Jews. Paul is an example. That’s an example that should make you clear. “…God has not rejected His people, has He?” These are the people He foreknew. We talked about this word earlier. It doesn’t mean He looked ahead and saw who would believe, so He chose them. We’re going to cover that as we move down through these verses, if I hurry up. Foreknow means to foreordain, to choose. God just doesn’t look ahead and see what’s going to happen and then make His decisions based on that. That would mean He’s not in charge. He’s just an observer with a little more knowledge than we have. Like you have more knowledge of what’s going to happen tomorrow than your four-year-old. You have a good idea, unless something intervenes, that this will take place tomorrow. And you sort of know from what’s happened and the way things are going, what will take place tomorrow. There is a whole realm of those who claim to be evangelicals who claim this is how God operates. The openness of God, they’ve carried that foreknowledge to its ultimate step. God doesn’t know the future. He only knows what could be known and since you haven’t made up your mind yet, He doesn’t know what you’ll do. I mean, what kind of God is this?

“For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” I am through and through. God foreknew His people. Who are those people? We need to go to the Old Testament again. Deuteronomy 7. Now he’s going to have a people, Gentiles, but we’re talking about Israel now. This is where context is important. Chapters 9, 10, and 11 are to explain how Israel fits into the work of God in salvation, in what we call the church age. Deuteronomy chapter 7, look at verse 6. God is speaking to Israel obviously, part of the Mosaic Law. “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession (note this) out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

One chosen people, one chosen nation. It’s not the United States of America. It’s not any other nation. It is the nation Israel. Come over to chapter 14 and we could multiply verses and that could take all evening. But look at chapter 14, verse 2, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God...” Holiness at the root means set apart from sin for God. “…and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” The uniqueness of Israel. Amos chapter 3, verse 2, “You only have I chosen among all the families (nations) of the earth…” They are a unique nation. Now that doesn’t mean everybody ought to be supportive of Israel today. In one sense we are. We recognize they are special to God even when they are under judgment, but I realize Israel is not going to blossom today. Israel will not be successful in the long term, if I can put it. I mean they are back in their land, and we support Israel. We support Israel, in one sense yes. If Jews were being persecuted, we would want to protect them. But the reality of it is, Israel is under judgment.

Remember when they went to Babylon? I used that example. Jeremiah told them they’d been exiled from the land. You are to settle down in Babylon. Build houses, support the Babylonian government, and accept that you’re under the judgment of God. This is part of it. You’re not going home for some time. So, we recognize that balance. They are still the only nation God ever chose for Himself. They are special of all the nations on the earth. They are the pupil of His eye as the prophets tell us, but they are under judgment. I recognize that, and in a sense, I honor that, and I still respect them. Sometimes I listen to evangelicals being interviewed, and it’s like we’re here to enable Israel to enjoy all that God promised in the Old Testament. It can’t happen. They have rejected their Messiah. They are under judgment. They have not been discarded. They are being disciplined. They are the people of God.

Come back to Romans chapter 11. Here this is going to show again, that this is consistent. Israel has not been rejected by God, but they are disciplined by God. He is still saving Jews, I’m one. “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” He chose them. He was the initiator, not Israel. Beginning with Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldeans in a family that was idol worshippers. God reached down and drew Abraham (Abram then). Drew Abraham to Himself. “Or do you not know…” There’s one of those expressions like we use with our kids, don’t you know any better? Don’t you know what you were told? Twice. This is something obviously you know, and it should be shaping your thinking. “Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’” Lord, I’m the only one left!

This is after Elijah is left alone, which is in 1 Kings chapter 19. We won’t go back there. If I go back there, we’ll get mired down there. But he’s killed the prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. God is serious. Elijah takes all of them out and slaughters them. That’s what Elijah did. That wasn’t nice. Should have evangelized them. Then Jezebel says, you know what you did to all my prophets? I’m going to do that to you. Suddenly Elijah’s confidence withers and he takes off on the run. So, this is where this conversation comes from. The Lord approaches him. What are you doing hiding out here Elijah? Lord, You know what’s happened. They’ve killed Your prophets. Torn down Your altars. I’m alone left. I mean he killed the prophets of Baal! But Jezebel was wiping out any believing prophets in Israel. It doesn’t seem He’s turned the course because it hasn’t had any impact on Jezebel and her husband, Ahab. I’m the only one left in all of Israel. Lord it’s only me.

What does God say in verse 4, and this is the point. “But what is the divine response to him? (God says) ‘I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’” It’s not just you Elijah, there are 7,000 men like you that are still faithful to Me and haven’t been swept up. Well, that’s a lot more than one. But let me tell you, that’s a pretty small group in a nation that probably number in the millions. If the numbers in the early chapters, where there were 2 million, we expect this is a small fraction of what the number was. But it’s a lot more than one. What’s the point? The point is, God will not allow Israel to totally apostatize. Now this is where we get into national election and individual election. We’ll elaborate as we move a little further along. But the nation is being rejected by God, as they are being put under discipline. Not rejected finally, but they’re punished by Him. But even then, there is a remnant that He keeps faithful to Himself, 7,000 at this point. What’s Paul’s point in verse 5, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time…” As I write at this point in church history, churches have been in existence maybe 30 years, rounded off. “…a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”

There’s that word, a remnant, which becomes key. A small number. Just like there was in the days of Elijah. You can see the nation dissolving in unbelief. To Elijah, as a believing prophet with the opposition so broad and so deep toward his ministry, he had the sense that he was the only one left in Israel who is a true believer. God says, no. I have a remnant, that way of looking at Israel, a remnant. God will preserve a number of Jews. That will become key in the tribulation. Because when you get to the end of that seven years, Satan will be the most successful he has ever been in wiping out the nation. But he won’t have been successful. There will be a remnant that will represent the nation. So, there is even at the present time, a remnant according to the election of grace. Literally, as you have it in the margin. Here, we’re back to election. We’re back in chapter 9, with how did Israel come to be special before God? God chose them and He didn’t choose every physical descendent of Abraham. He chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And I love Jacob and I hate Esau. It was God’s sovereign choosing.

And here, there’s a remnant, there always will be. There is a remnant, there are Jews who are believers today. Some Jewish ministries led by believing Jews who have been converted. But they are a small number. If you measure the church today, the church worldwide, how many would that be? I don’t have any idea right now. I didn’t attempt to find modern statistics of it. But the Jewish number would be small. But there is a remnant. A remnant is a reminder that God is not done with Israel. Because when the church is raptured and that remnant goes as part of the church, then God will focus again on the 70th week of Daniel. We’ve got to get that last period of time in. Seven years. Then there will be two prophets that will be raised up in Jerusalem. The gospel will be proclaimed. Persecution will breakout.

It will take almost seven years to finally bring Israel to its knees. Then they realize, we’re about to be wiped out, we are on the point of extinction. The remnant is holed up in Jerusalem and then they call out to the Lord to intervene. Finally, Israel is broken, and they come to believe. So, here it’s an election of grace. Now God just preserves a remnant and that remnant is part of the church. But it’s a sign and a reminder, God is not done with the Jews. He’s not done with the Jews! There’s a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. Note verse 6, and what this means, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” It’s not so difficult. What is grace? Grace is undeserved favor, merit, something you can’t earn. It’s similar to mercy in that sense. You say, I deserve mercy. Well, if you deserve it, it’s not mercy. What you’re really saying, if you want mercy is, I don’t deserve it. Grace is unmerited, undeserved.

It was an election of grace, verse 5, why? Because God was choosing from among sinful, fallen human beings. So, as we were back in chapter 9, it shouldn’t be hard to understand why God hated Esau. He was a hell deserving sinner, in obstinate rebellion against God. Why wasn’t Jacob the same thing? Because God, in His sovereignty, chose Jacob for Himself. He didn’t have to, but He could. But He had to do it in a way that was consistent with being a righteous God. He provided a provision and Jacob becomes His, with his descendants. But a reminder, if it is by grace, so we talk these things, but somewhere along the line, maybe our emotions take over. And when you talk about God electing someone, we say, well, wait a minute, I don’t think that’s fair. I think maybe He did it by His foreknowledge. Or I think it’s open and it is based on people’s choice. Well, then grace is no longer grace. If all God did was look ahead in time to see who would believe, then don’t say He chose them based on grace. He chose them based on their action. It’s based on what they did. The election of grace, it’s based on what God did. The foundation of this, and we talked about this in chapter 9, remember God is dealing with sinful human beings.

In Psalm 51, David said he was born in sin. Verse 5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity…” And then the next line says what? “…and in sin my mother conceived me.” Of course, I was born a sinner. I was conceived a sinner. From the moment that life was passed on, it went back to Adam. That little embryo, it was corrupted with sin. It would not be born. We say, look at that baby, so innocent. God says, look at that baby, so sinful. It was conceived in sin, was corrupted. I don’t want to get into the salvation of infants and that. But we want to maintain a biblical perspective here. God is not dealing with innocent people. Adam and Eve were the only ones sinless. They weren’t confirmed in that condition and they rebelled. But everybody else has been born in sin. So, we don’t talk about whether that would be fair, it’s not right. Problem is, we have now a concept of biblical teaching on sin. When the church abandons that, then we’re out here on our emotions. Then we become like the dreamers we talk about in Jude. Well, let’s work this out, what kind of love would it be that God chose some and didn’t choose others? What kind of love is it that God would love hell deserving sinners? That’s the issue!

There’s no biblical problem with God condemning people. He condemned every single angel who sinned on one occasion and never provided a savior for them. You say He’s not a loving God toward the angels? It’s an election of grace. If it’s by grace, it’s no longer based on works, otherwise grace is not longer grace. So, we have to resolve it. Now, I mentioned, and let me just clarify. There’s a double election when you talk about the nation Israel. God chose the nation as a nation. So, in that sense, everyone who is part of the nation that God chose, is part of that elect nation. But then there is an election of the individuals within that nation. That is an election to salvation. Now, ultimately the election of the nation will result in the salvation of the nation. But you can’t confuse that. God elected the nation Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the nation that would belong to Him. Then He chose individual Jews within that nation based on His grace, to come to salvation.

You have the election of the nation and of the individual. You don’t want to confuse it. This is where the Jews got confused. Well, I’m a Jew, I have the law, so as long as I keep the law, I’m in, I’m good. No! There has to be the individual personal salvation. That’s what will happen at the end of the tribulation when the nation as a nation and the bulk of Jews who have survived to that point, there is a mass turning. Not necessarily everyone because there is a sifting judgement of the Jews as well as the Gentiles at the end of the tribulation. But there is a national salvation. So, keep those distinct. We understand now what grace is. We understand why God hasn’t rejected His people, His choice of the nation and then His choice of individuals, and His saving individual Jews, those He hasn’t totally rejected.

Let’s face it, Israel gets benefits that other nations never do. There have been people born in parts of the world that never read a bible. Never had a missionary come. Never had someone bring the gospel to them and they died in that darkness. People say, Oh, God wouldn’t send them, this is Roman Catholic doctrine. Protestants have it too. I was reading in the Roman Catholic catechism, well, God makes provision for those who never heard, because He knows that if they would have heard, they would have believed. Now, we’re trying to help God out of a dilemma that we have created, that He supposedly can’t deal with. God doesn’t have to save anyone. He didn’t have to send His Son to this earth to die for human beings. He could have treated us like angels. They sinned, they’re going to hell, period. That’s it, there’s no salvation message for angels.

Alright, back to verse 7, “What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened...” Here we get into these expressions again, that we think God is hardening the heart. We’re back to what He did with Pharaoh. Now He’s already dealt with some of this. Come back to chapter 9. This expression, “What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it…” Come back to verse 30 of chapter 9, “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness…” thinking it’s by their works that they could become righteous, “…did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone...” And they shouldn’t have, because their own Scriptures say, “‘…He who believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” Put to shame. So, we’re back to those points again. We’re building on them.

Chapter 10, verse 3, “For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” They didn’t know because they refused to believe and rejected, so they weren’t in the believing line of Jews. There were some of those who welcomed the Messiah when He came but it didn’t happen on a national level. It happened on an individual level. Jesus was born to a believing Jewish woman, Mary. Then you have John the Baptist’s father Zacharias. There were believing Jews, but the Jews’ unbelief and stubborn disobedience toward God culminated, and so that’s what you’re talking about.

Now we come to chapter 11, verse 7. Israel was seeking righteousness, but they didn’t obtain it. Those who were chosen obtained it. You see God’s sovereignty to reach out. He says Israel as a nation and the bulk of Israel is now under judgment. I withdraw My grace, saving grace for them. But there is an election going on, but now it’s going to primarily be Gentiles that experience the blessing of salvation. You realize this discerning choice runs through the Old Testament. By and large the prophets of the Old Testament were not sent to the pagan nations to do evangelism. My Hebrew professor used to get a smile on his face about those who found missionary work in the Old Testament. He’d say, it’s not there. And it’s not. Jonah went to Nineveh but that had a special plan for Israel. We can’t go on that sidetrack but that was because Israel wanted to delay punishment for the nation. So that their sin would ripen to the point that the Assyrians would come and conquer them, but it wasn’t the time. It was a delay of God’s judgment on the nation Israel.

What did he send them in to Canaan for? He gave them four hundred years. Your people will be in bondage four hundred years in Egypt. During that four hundred years I’ll send people to evangelize Canaan. No! I’ll let the sin of Canaan ripen to the point I’m ready to destroy every man, woman, and child in judgment. No missionary outreach. Joshua’s going to march in there. What do you do? Well evangelize them. Those who don’t believe, kill. No! You go in and kill every man, woman, and child. That’s God’s discerning choice. Sinners are responsible for their sin. He’s not required to save anyone. Those who were chosen obtained it. The rest were hardened. This is mentioned back in chapter 9, verse 18, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” He uses a different word there, but the point is the same. They are hardened. They have ripened to the point of judgment.

When you persist in your unbelief, in your rebellion, you are hardened. We are a savor of life to life and death to death when we bring the truth. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen when I share the truth with somebody. I’m praying for their salvation and trying to impress on them if I have repeated contact, the importance of placing your faith in Christ. I was on the phone this week with a person that I have contact with by phone. You have to get this settled now. Your opportunity is going by. You must recognize your sin and place your faith in Christ. It’s too important to delay. You may not have tomorrow. In his condition he may not. This is what we have, but there is a hardening that goes on. It’s in God’s hands. I leave it there.

What about my kids? What about my grandkids? What about my parents? What about family members? I trust that the God of all the earth will do right. It’s in Your hands Lord, not mine. I’m glad it’s there. I’m glad their salvation doesn’t depend on me. But I have a responsibility to carry them the gospel because they will never have opportunity to believe if I don’t carry it. And it has been entrusted with me and put me in contact with them. Then that at least is reason for me to believe and to think that He wants them to hear the gospel from me because perhaps He’s going to use that gospel to save them. So, I just want to fulfill my responsibility and pray. Paul is praying to God for Israel and their salvation, but he knows it won’t happen unless God sovereignly, in His time, draws them.

So, the hardening goes on. One Greek commentator, William Barclay, says the verb translated harden here, we can get a better understanding of the meaning. “This word is a medical word. It means a callous. It was specially used for the callous which forms around the fracture when a bone is broken. The hard bone formation which helps to mend the break, when a callous grows in any part of the body that part loses feeling. It becomes insensitive. The minds of the mass of the people have become insensitive. They can no longer hear and feel the appeal of God.” Interesting that he would write that. To my knowledge, reading his biography, he never did come to believe. Amazing he could write that stuff.

So, when God is working in hardening, He is exposing, like He did Pharaoh, but He’s not acting to move him to believe. He’s leaving it in Pharaoh’s hands and Pharaoh as all of us have sinned, if left to our own choices would choose to continue in sin. Even with the fullest light we can persist. I never know when it’s done. I’ve shared with people and they say, well you know, that was shared with me when I was a young person, and now I’m an old person. Yeah, I say and maybe God brought me into your life to share that with you. To remind you of what you heard when you were a younger person. So, I don’t give up on people. Paul hasn’t given up on salvation for Jews. I’m praying for their salvation, Paul says. But he’s also going to tell us about their destiny. We want to be careful that we keep a balance.

Back in Romans chapter 11. The hardening occurred because Israel is exposed again and again and again and again to the truth and they keep saying “no, no, no.” And then God closes the door and says alright, then I’m withdrawing My saving grace from the nation as a nation. In grace He saves individual Jews but by and large that nation has lost its opportunity in this day. But God is not done with them. They will get an opportunity in a unique way in the days ahead. And Paul quotes from the Old Testament beginning with verse 8. You can see then verses 8, 9, and 10 are quotes from the Old Testament, primarily from Psalms. “…just as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.’ And David says, ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them.’” Even their King David says they deserve to be rejected and put under judgment. They deserve for God to punish them and close their opportunities. “‘Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever.’”

A godly Jew like David used to write scripture, had such a heart for God, could recognize this is what sinners deserve. The nation that I love, people that I serve as king, they deserve God’s punishment. Does that mean He wanted it, He delighted in that sense? No. He was burdened for them. It’s like Paul, yeah, they deserve it, but it still grieves me that it happens. It’s like with your children when they are punished for doing wrong. It hurts you to see it but at the same time you know it’s necessary and it’s what they deserve. So, their Old Testament scriptures, this is not new. It doesn’t mean a change in the plan of God. It never crossed David’s mind that he’ll be done with Israel forever because he writes some great passages regarding their future. And the confidence he has that God will fulfill the covenant he’s entered with David and His descendants; this is where it’s all going.

This is consistent with Old Testament scripture. We’re in that time when their eyes are darkened to see not. They’re a stumbling block, a snare, a trap, they’ve stumbled over Christ. But this is consistent. That doesn’t mean Paul is happy about it in that sense. It doesn’t matter that I shared the gospel with someone, then they die in rejection, and they die and I’m happy they’re going to hell. No! You’re still saddened by that. You would have loved to see them believe. You’re grieved they don’t. That’s what Paul says, I would go to hell if I could to save Israel. He knows he can’t do that, and he knows they deserve it, but it still grieves him. And that is the balance that we carry even as we carry the gospel to people; but he’s concerned about the nation here.

So even though we see application all along the way to us, we ought not to lose sight that what he’s talking about is Israel’s condition. This is where Israel is. We realize Israel was chosen by God. Chapter 9 primarily talked about election, but the reason Israel is not benefiting from what God has done in choosing them as a nation, is they won’t believe. Then chapter 11 reminds us that even though they persist as we said in chapter 10, verse 21 “All the day long (God has reached out His hands) I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” He has not rejected them with a final, firm rejection. And what is happening is consistent with what their Old Testament scripture said. So, you see further revelation gives clarity. The Old Testament didn’t make clear, but it talked about Gentile salvation, how Gentiles’ participation in the kingdom of the Messiah, but it didn’t give clarity. It didn’t reveal anything about the Church period. So, when it talked about Gentile salvation the Jews didn’t understand.

You know we will be put on a sidetrack. We won’t be replaced but God will focus His saving work on the Gentiles. That’s where he’s going when we get down through chapter 11. Understand this. Then he’ll say, you Gentiles understand, Israel got rejected because of unbelief, persistent disobedience. Be careful! Don’t develop the kind of attitude Israel had. You will experience God’s rejection. God is consistent. So, we leave it there. We will pick up because he has the same kind of question he’ll start with. That rhetorical question in verse 11, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be!” Israel stumbled but they didn’t go down for the count. That’s what he’s going to elaborate on, and then he will unfold in verse 25 something that had not been revealed in the Old Testament, a mystery. I’m going to give you some new material that will help you put this all together and understand it more clearly. And we won’t get to that until September but we are on our way.

Let’s have a word of prayer and then I want to address an issue that came in on a question since we do have a little bit of time. Thank You Lord, for Your word, its riches. We are encouraged and blessed even as we study. You’re dealing with the nation Israel. We’re not pleased about their persistent, stubborn rebellion, unbelief. But Lord we are encouraged and blessed to know that You haven’t given up on them. Your sovereign grace is grace. It’s mercy and it’s shown to the undeserving. And You honor Your word. You keep Your promises. You keep Your covenants. Israel has a future and it will be glorious. Lord that gives us hope and it challenges us and reminds us we must be faithful. We must be obedient. We are Your people in this day, the Church. And the pressures of the world, the things we face, are never an excuse for us being disobedient to You, for us failing in our faith because You are our sovereign God. We trust You. So we want to learn these lessons for ourselves as well as appreciate what You’re doing with Israel. Thank You for this day. Bless the remainder of our time. In Christ’s name, amen.

I mentioned something was circulating on the internet. I don’t get on to check. I have no social media accounts or don’t know how to get there. I tried getting on YouTube once. I have an app there, but I get on there and I don’t go anywhere, so I gave up on that too. But someone passed on that there are things circulating on the internet that maybe would be worthy of addressing. It has to do with the King James Bible. It was given to me today. They downloaded something that’s being circulated. The King James Version on one side, the New International Version on the other. This debate over King James Version and so on, there’s two levels that goes on. One, I would say maybe a scholarly level. It goes on over the issue of manuscripts and what are the best manuscripts, the best family of manuscripts. How do we handle translating from manuscripts into other languages, the basic best manuscripts we have. There is a place for those discussions and debates. Much of what goes on with the King James Version gets carried into what I would call maybe the emotional level. Like here, they want to show you how many verses have been left out of modern translations that were in the King James Bible. And the New International Version is the one they are talking about here. It was started, published by Zondervan originally. Now it’s owned by Harper Collins. So that’s a secular publisher. This is what’s happened to Christian publishers to a large extent. One of the major Christian publishers, when I was in school, the man who owned that, wanted to be sure it stayed a Christian publisher. So he sold it at a highly discounted price to Christians he thought would keep it a Christian publisher. Those people who bought it turned around and sold it at a great profit to a secular publisher. But that’s not new. Let me recommend a couple books I brought with me. I’m going on vacation. I’m making my stack to read. You know this is not new. We get a multiplicity of translations. This is not new. There was debate over the King James Bible. There were lawsuits. Let me just read you about King James. We already had English translations and this particular book I picked up at Sound Words some time ago, “A Visual History of the English Bible.” It’s very nice, it’s nicely done, has a lot of pictures, photographs of manuscripts and things like that. But he’s talking about the history and he notes, “The King James Bible didn’t primarily base itself on the Hebrew and Greek text, but it was based on previous English bibles.” In fact, it was one of the requirements of the king and so on that one English, former English translation, be the basis of the translation and then they helped do it better. We have a new translation updating of the New American Standard Bible, I understand that is coming out in a year. I’ve grown weary of the multiplicity of translations. They primarily are for the benefit of publishers to make more money. I don’t know if I should be saying that, but that’s my view of it. Not mine only, but John Frame, the reformed theologian makes that observation. But that was true of the King James Bible. It was all battling over money. The printing monopoly for the King James Bible was held by a royal approved family, the Barkers, for many years. The printing license for the 1611 edition went to Robert Barker, and he gives the history of this family. “The reader will not be surprised that with the successful printing business, lawsuits played a big part in the production of the King James Version. Robert Barker paid thirty-five hundred pounds sterling to be able to begin printing the bible in 1611.” Then he took on partners to help with the burden of it and then in 1615 the court ordered him to give a portion of the patent to some others and he gives the names here. So, years of litigation and the lawsuits, we think these are new. This is in the early 1600’s. Then in 1618 Barker sued the other ones, Norton, for a portion of the office he had lost earlier and the next few years the lawsuits favored one man and then the other. After years of fighting they joined forces, then one of these partners got imprisoned for bribery in 1630 and now the other partner was free to have it all to himself. But all the years of lawsuits, he went heavily into debt. They got printing versions of it. They had the Wicked Bible. Are you familiar with the Wicked Bible? It was published in 1631. They made a mistake printing the Ten Commandments. Instead of saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” they printed that bible and it said, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” So it was called the Wicked Bible. All out of these bibles, Erasmus when he had his, he rushed it to publication because the Spanish were coming out with their own edition and he wanted to get it published first. So he got it out to the printer first and then he had to go back in later editions and correct it. All these things so I say that, nothing new when it comes to versions of the bible. I was listening to this on the internet, talking about the update of the New American Standard. And the New American Standard has been revised from the 1960’s version of the New International and then we have the 1995 edition, which was you got to go back to the 1901 American Standard Version which I used when I was in seminary because that was what they used. You have all these versions coming out. How many English bibles do we have now? But there’s a debate with all those who don’t agree with the King James Version. That’s what they’re doing with the New International; are wrong because they leave out verses. That’s being done on an emotional level. Who said that version is the standard? You have to deal with the text that are behind it. What Greek text were used for that translation? Why were they selected? And you realize there were battles going on over that and what would be allowed and what wouldn’t. And you have the king who was not a godly man himself, King James, making decisions here. There were scholars involved but they were broken down, and appointed the best scholars he could find to do these, and then the best scholars for these and then the best scholars for this portion. Then they came together and put it all together. And that was the beginning of using, not just an individual like Tyndale or Wycliff to do their own translation, but you had a conglomerate. Now we have it today. I would be careful getting on the internet. Seeing things like this and you say, oh all of a sudden I can’t trust my translation. It’s different than the King James. The King James is the standard. Those are the King James only people. I have a whole shelf of books that are just writing to defend the King James; that is the only translation, the manuscripts are the best. But I have another shelf of books for the other side. A lot of those books were given to me by King James people who attended here and I appreciate their generosity. I would say, if you’re really interested in it, don’t go to the internet. Go to the bookstore. One that would help, How to Choose a Bible Translation. This is by Robert Thomas who is now with the Lord, a couple years ago I guess. But in How to Choose a Bible Translation, he just gives you basic information on the Bible. He was involved with translating the New American Standard Bible. He did the concordance for the New American Standard Bible. So he’s going to be biased, but he’ll show you, and this is easy read, large print, and he has comparisons between the different manuscripts. The Alexandrian and the Byzantium manuscript line and it gets into those. So, you may not be interested in all of that. One of those that I think you’ll enjoy reading, is sort of a, I don’t know if I should say, a fun read, because all of us have different books we like to read. But this is a relatively easy read. Randall Price, he’s been here, spoken here. He did Searching for the Original Bible, who wrote it and why. Is it reliable, has the text changed over time? You know, we ought to be aware of it. We say we believe the bible but we ought to have some idea of about it so these are books that are available in Sound Words. From God to Us by Norman Geisler, William Nix. There was an original version of this. We have that in Sound Words and we have the updated version too, I checked in there. The King James Version Debate, this is by D. A. Carson. I don’t agree with Carson in all of his views on translation and gender neutral translations and so on, but on this, this was done in 1979 so it’s older. But he just does a defense of the Byzantium text type and then he’ll go on the different thesis. Those are some that are relatively easy. Then we have smaller booklets available. Just want to be careful. Usually those who get locked into the King James Version issues get locked down on that. I don’t want you to go there. I’m concerned about that they’re going to update the New American Standard. I get concerned if they’re going to do a gender-neutral version. You know King James or New American Standard, we’ll stay with that. King James did too, used the word “man” in the generic sense. Like we have “mankind”. God made man in His image, male and female. Obviously “man” there covers male and female. I think there’s a theological reason for that. It shows the priority of man as male and so man becomes the overarching title when you’re including man and woman. They’re probably going to change Anthropos, Greek for man, to say “man and woman” so it doesn’t offend women who think they might be left out. Those kind of changes I don’t agree with, but it’s not maybe major. But they keep selling it. I listened to this discussion, we’re coming out with this new translation. Oh, it’s going to help people understand their bible in a way they’ve never understood it before. We’re going to translate Yahweh as Yahweh. That’s the name of God. Think how wonderful it will be when everybody knows that God’s real name is Yahweh. I’ve mentioned this before, but not once in the New Testament do the writers use the Hebrew Yahweh. You know what they use? The Greek translation, we have it as Lord. Now if it was so important, why doesn’t Jesus come to earth and during His life on earth say, My Father’s name is Yahweh. But He never does. Paul never writes talking about Yahweh. Even when he quotes the Old Testament he uses the Greek translation. He called Him Kurios, Lord. So, now 6000 times we’ll have Yahweh. Think of how that will help people. They’re going to say what does Yahweh mean? Well, it means Lord, and shows His sovereignty. I’m not against it, but pretty soon you may say, why don’t we just say, that everybody who wants to know the bible has to learn Hebrew and Greek and a little bit of Aramaic. So we’re going to peddle, sell something, like this is the best thing from spiced bread. I think when you put the bible into a language that has never been translated into before that is something exciting. People now have the bible that you can go buy. I stopped at the top ten English translations. I don’t know how many there are but you can get on the internet and you can go check. What are the top ten selling English translations and they’ll list them by sales numbers for recent years. We have a multiplicity. The problem isn’t that we don’t have good translations. I could preach from the King James Bible. I did here for years. I didn’t change any doctrines because no doctrines are changed, everybody admits that. No doctrines are changed no matter what minor changes there are. I think the problem we have with all of our English bibles is people aren’t studying them seriously. I could preach from the New International Version. It wouldn’t be my favorite, but I’d just make the corrections I think are necessary like I did the King James Bible. Well fine. But we just keep producing them, not because there’s anything wrong with the one we have. But its sales have sort of tailed off and you have new ones, so we better get an updated one so people will come back and say, oh I’ve got to buy a new one. And I’ll have to say, you know what, I didn’t change to the New American Standard Bible. You know when I changed? When I met a man who worked for the publisher at that time, Creation House. He said I can get you them by the case at cost. I said, well that will help people. If everybody’s going to change from the King James. I do like you to use the same one I use so when I point to a word, if you’re using a different translation, you say oh, I can’t find that particular word. So it’s easier. And almost everyone says if you want a serious translation, for serious bible study, use the New American Standard Bible. My view is, what other kind of study of the bible is there but serious study? So you use the serious one.

Alright. We better have a word of prayer and rescue the kids, no rescue the workers, the kids are fine. Let’s pray. Thank You Lord, for the day. Thank You for the blessing of being in Your word. We commit the week before to You. We pray for every worker and Lord, every child. May the Spirit be at work in those young lives. Lord, to impress upon them, build into their young minds truths that You will use in their young lives. But Lord, over the period of their life to draw them to salvation in Christ. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.