Goodness of God
Notes
Transcript
Making the Bible all fit together to tell God’s story
Palm Sunday
13 they took palm branches and went out to meet Him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One —the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:
15 Fear no more, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.
See the response of the Pharisees
Pharisees:
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Pharisees
The Pharisees are consistently depicted in the Gospels as Jesus’ antagonists. It is commonly held that the Pharisees represented mainstream Judaism
19 Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look—the world has gone after Him!”
Romans 11.
Bible Project Video (Cliff Hanger)
25 So that you will not be conceited, brothers, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery: A partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
Romans 11 has screamed humility throughout the entire passage. He has said do not be arrogant, but be afraid. Here scripture says so that you will not be conceited.
The chapter cries out for a posture of humility. I would encourage that this same humility should be present as we approach the text today.
(Humility of previous generations to learn from one another) Technology is great but it can also be a downfall in believing that we have all we need to know on our cell phones.
Be a learner. Long to learn from others. Learn from those you think are smarter than you and learn from those you think are not as smart as you.
Adam, Jonathan, Cameron and myself are walking through an online class/study on preaching. The number one thing the guys repeat is that what intimidates us the most is preaching and teaching to a room that has people smarter than us in it.
I encourage you today to seek to learn as we keep walking through this passage.
This partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of Gentiles has come in. God’s multi ethnic family coming in. We have seen this hardening in previous verses. Jews have a hardening so that Gentiles come in and Gentiles are saved so that Jews will come in. The Lord is using the very worst that Humans can do to bring about SALVATION!
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob.
27 And this will be My covenant with them when I take away their sins.
Here is the cliff hanger: All Israel will be saved. Who? and How?
We will address that here in just a moment but before we do that Let’s look at the end of this verse. The Liberator or maybe your version of scripture might use this word DELIVERER
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
In 1 Thessalonians 1:10
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
The closets word to this word deliver in 1 Thessalonians is the word Deliverer in Romans 11:26
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
Paul describes how all Israel will be saved in Romans 11. He says The Deliverer will come and 1 Thessalonians tells us who this Deliverer is.
Who is the Deliverer?
JESUS
JESUS
How will all Israel be Saved?
Jesus
What is the way Israel is saved?
Jesus that is Placing their faith in Jesus
This whole section Romans 9-11 reaches the climax in Romans 10:9
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
I emphasize this point because their are some that take Romans 11:26 to mean that there are two ways to salvation. One is faith in Jesus and the other is All Israel will be saved regardless of their faith in Jesus. With this I disagree! Some have even said we should not try to share the good news of Jesus with Jews because they will be saved in the end.
In the previous verses, Paul writes of one Olive tree in which both Jews and Gentiles belong and branches being broken off of that Olive tree and some being grafted back in to this olive tree. There are not multiple Olive trees. There is One Olive tree and The whole of the Old Testament and the whole of the New Testament points to Jesus for Salvation. He is the promised Messiah and we are Saved through faith in Him.
Now I think we can look at possible ways too look at the beginning of Romans 11:26 in light of this fact.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob.
27 And this will be My covenant with them when I take away their sins.
I present to you three ways of understanding these words (Underline all Israel will be saved)
1.) “all Israel” to refer to the true spiritual Israel including Jews and Gentiles
I tend to lean this direction based on the context of this section of Romans 9-11. I looked at the word some throughout this text in previous verses. I don’t think the word some contradicts the word all in these passages.
I also understand the grafting in and the regrafting in if you will for those Jews who were broken off. God has the power to graft them in again.
2.) “all Israel” to refer to the remnant of believing ethnic Israel that is being saved all along through faith in Christ.
Remnant:a small remaining quantity of something.
3.)”all Israel” to refer to a great and stupendous national conversion of Israel some day
This is hard for me to figure out but man wouldn’t this be amazing. This view is a great Spiritual awakening in Israel. This is Jews coming to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I like this view. I want this view to happen.
One thing this view does for us is that it shares the heart of God that all might be saved.
v.27
God is faithful to His covenant and Jews are placing their faith in Jesus and more Jews will continue to place their faith in Jesus. This is a sign of God’s covenant with them.
Also God’s salvation is CERTAIN! Those who place their faith in Jesus are saved. God’s salvation is Certain!
28 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs,
29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
This just reiterates what was said before twice. Is Israel lost? Can anymore be saved. NO They are enemies for your advantage but regarding election they are loved because of the patriarchs.
God’s salvation is Certain!
30 As you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience,
31 so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also now may receive mercy.
Mercy:
Specifically it designates that quality in God by which he faithfully keeps his promises and maintains his covenant relationship with his chosen people despite their unworthiness and unfaithfulness
30 As you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience,
31 so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also now may receive mercy.
Paul is making the same point here as he did in vv. 11-15. Israel’s rejection means salvation formally being offered to the other nations. The acceptance and salvation of the nations (God’s kindness) is meant to lead Israel to repentance. Romans 2:4.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?
35 Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid?
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Love this section of praise from Paul!
Paul works to lay out the plan of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles. We see the goodness of God in this plan then he says v. 33-36
When Israel’s God does what He intended to do then He will be recognized as God.
Conclusion:
This section of Romans tells of the heart of our Father. Father God longs for Salvation for both the Jew and the Gentile. He is working this out through Salvation of both. He is using all things for His Glory.
This is my opinion is a great message leading up to Easter. God desires all come to know Him. So what can we do about this? We can invite a neighbor, friend or co worker to come and learn more about who God is and His goodness. We can not only invite them but we can tell them about all that God is doing.