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Last week we discussed the lesson of Christian liberty and the importance of unity as we looked into Paul’s teaching found in Roman’s chapter 14.
It is no accident that I choose to preach this sermon immediately following that one.
The chapters and topic we will be looking at today have been, and still are, some of the most controversial and hotly debated passages in all of scripture.
There are excellent scholars and devout Christians who have and continue to see and interpret these chapters very differently.
Each side makes a good and defensible argument for their position.
I know this because while at OCC I wrote my major research thesis over these chapters.
I’m telling you this because I want to be honest with you.
I want you to know that others, even in our own brotherhood, interpret these passages differently than I do.
That is OK.
Even after spending several hundred hours researching, studding, meditating on, and praying over these verses, I recognize that any conclusion I may come to must be done so with great humility.
With that said, I do not believe that these chapters are impossible to understand.
Paul didn’t set out to confuse the church.
The purpose of Scripture is to reveal God’s way’s and message, not to conceal it.
Therefore, we should not let the fear of differing opinions rob us from the opportunity to finding God’s heart in the midst of these chapters.
And I believe that there is a powerful benefit in studding these chapters.
On the same note, we ought not to let the presence of differing opinions ruin the fellowship that we have with others in the family of faith with whom we disagree.
In fact no matter how these verses are interpreted all students of the Bible can agree upon Paul’s main point.
That God willing and able to save, and he has been actively doing so from the very beginning, and he will continue to do so until the very end.
By now you are probably wondering what Chapters I am talking about, and what the controversy is all about.
Today’s message is over Romans Chapters 9-11.
In these chapters Paul discusses his grief over the many Jews who rejected Jesus.
He then addresses the issue of the church as it relates to Israel and God’s promises in the Old Testament.
What makes these passages so controversial is the scope and impact of its content.
For instance is the church just a “great parenthesis” or “plan B?” Does God’s acceptance of the church equal is rejection of Israel?
And what does Paul mean in 11:26 when he writes “and so all Israel will be saved?”
What are at stake are the character of God, as well as the validity and the nature of the church.
For instance, if the Church is just plan B then does that mean that his first plan failed?
And if his first plan failed then what assurance do we have that the church won’t fail either?
Or if God’s acceptance of the Church amounts to a rejection of Israel, then does that mean that God went back on his promises to Israel?
And if God goes back on his word what assurance can we have that he will be faithful to save his Church?
For two millennia now skeptics and believers alike have wrestled with these issues.
I mean haven’t you ever wondered what tie is between the Old Testament and the New Testament; Between God’s system of law and his era of grace?
Are they two separate programs or is there a continuity of theme and purpose that insuperably link the two together?
If they are two separate programs than who are the people of God: The Jews or the Christians?
If the Jews are than why did Jesus and his disciples try to evangelize them?
Even more if the Jews were already in with God why did Jesus say that no one can get to God except through faith in him?
If the Christians are the people of God than why does the Old Testament refer to the Jews as God’s people?
If there is continuity between the OT and the NT then how can their apparent differences be reconciled?
These were the questions of seekers in Paul’s day, and they are the questions of many honest seekers today as well.
They need to be answered.
This is why Paul wrote chapters 9-11 in his letter to the Roman Church.
The first key to understanding these passages is that there are two Israels.
I.
The two Israels
Paul makes this clear when he writes: Don’t suppose for a moment, though, that God’s Word has malfunctioned in some way or other.
The problem goes back a long way.
From the outset, *not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit*./
Romans 9:6 (The Message, emphasis added)/
 
In this verse Paul makes apparent two key points.
The first is that God neither went back on his word, nor did his plan fail.
He explains how by making his second point: that there is a difference between Israelites of the flesh (or ethnic Israel), and Israelites of the Spirit (or Spiritual Israel.)
In Paul’s mind, seeing this difference was the solution to understanding all the issues discussed in these chapters.
Because of this I felt that it would be appropriate to take a look at the identity and purposes of the two Israels.
First lets take a look at Ethnic Israel
a.       Ethnic Israel
Who is Ethic Israel?
Paul describes them when he writes:
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, *those of my own race, the people of **Israel*.
/Romans 9:3-4/a (/NIV, emphasis added/)
            Ethnic Israel is made up of those who were part of Paul’s race.
In other words they are the Jewish peoples.
Notice how devastated Paul was that most Ethnic Israelites had rejected Jesus and were thus cut off from his grace.
He was willing to trade his salvation for theirs.
But salvation is not a thing that can be traded or bartered; it can only be accepted or rejected.
Paul, a Jew, accepted it while many other Jews had rejected it.
Paul and other Jews like him who trusted in Jesus for their salvation will be saved.
Any Jewish person who rejected Jesus will not be saved.
In other words Paul’s despair over his unbelieving brethren shows that salvation is not a characteristic of Ethnic Israel.
So what are the characteristics of Ethnic Israel?
Well the first is that it is Exclusive to the children of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob.
Exclusive to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
They all have common ancestry, this is what made them a race.
This is a very special race of people to be sure.
They were a race chosen by God and given many promises and blessings.
These are the physical descendants of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And this is what God said to Abraham right after God tested him and almost let Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac:
The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear— God ’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you!
And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches!
And your descendants will defeat their enemies.
All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”/
Genesis 22:15-18/
And Later to Isaac God repeated the promise he had made to his father Abraham.
That very night God appeared to him and said, I am the God of Abraham your father; don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.
I’ll bless you and make your children flourish because of Abraham my servant /Genesis 26:24 (The Message)/
And after he had received the blessing from his father Isaac, God repeated the blessing to Jacob (Whom God later renamed Israel.)
Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God , the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.
I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants.
Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south.
All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants /Genesis 28:13-14(The Message)/
            If you look at the blessings God gave the Patriarchs you will notice that basically they received 3 promises.
i.
Received 3 promises
The first promise it that they would receive land.
1.
That they would receive land.
God fulfilled this promise when he gave the Israelites the Palestinian landscape from the time of the conquest under Joshua about 1500 BC till they were captured by Babylonians in 586 BC.
In Deuteronomy 8:25-31God told them that they could keep the land forever if they would only stay faithful to him and to his law, but if they didn’t stay faithful then they would have to give the land back.
The people agreed to this condition.
Kings, Chronicles, and the prophets all record a history in which the Israelites continually rejected God and his law.
He sent them prophets and plagues and other punishments to help get them back, but eventually in 586 BC he took the land back, just as he promised he would do in Deuteronomy.
The second Promise they received was that their offspring would be numerous.
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