The sermon by Scott Brown explores Romans chapter 11, addressing the question of whether God has rejected the Jews. It emphasizes that God's rejection of the Jews is neither total nor final, as evidenced by the presence of a remnant chosen by grace. The metaphor of the olive tree illustrates the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, with Gentiles being grafted in due to Jewish unbelief. The sermon also highlights the eventual salvation of all Israel after the 'fullness of the Gentiles' is achieved. It condemns anti-Semitism, urging believers to appreciate the continuity of God's plan for both Jews and Gentiles throughout history. Paul's teachings are discussed as part of a broader redemptive history, underlining the need for humility and the acknowledgment of God's sovereignty and grace in salvation.

Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 11, find the first verse, and hang on, we'll be reading the entire chapter. This is inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey word of God. Romans 11.1. I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not.

For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel saying, Lord They have killed your prophets and torn down your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life But what does the divine response? Say to him I Have reserved for myself seven thousand men who've not bowed the knee to Baal.

Even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no longer grace But if it is of works it is no longer grace. Otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day.

And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their back always. I say then have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the Apostle to the Gentiles I magnify my ministry if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them For if they're being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead. For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, branches were broken off that I may be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty but fear for if God did not spare the natural branches He may not spare you either Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on Those who fell severity, but toward you goodness if you continue in his goodness otherwise you will be cut off you also will be cut off and they also if they do not continue in unbelief will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery, Lest you should be wise in your own opinion That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and So all Israel will be saved as it is written the deliverer will come out of Zion and he will turn away on godliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Concerning the gospel, They are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet now have obtained mercy through their disobedience. Even so, these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become his counselor, or who has first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray.

Father help us to understand these marvelous things that are here in this passage that describe your boundless grace and your great wisdom as you've got your governing all of history and all people Lord Help us to worship you as you are with all of your wisdom today. Amen Be seated, please So this this really very thrilling chapter unveils God's plan for the Jews, particularly, and the Gentiles. Now it's controversial as well. I want to acknowledge that. I won't be answering every single one of your questions I think I've you know I've preached on this passage you know many years ago I'm preaching on it again and I'm not confident I have the perfect understanding of every single thing about Israel But if you get beyond the controversies, there are so many things that are crystal clear in this passage.

And it reveals God's plan. He is going to save sinners across all the ages. This is a disclosure of redemptive history from Genesis to Revelation. And there are three sections. The first 10 verses make it very clear that the rejection of the Jews is not a total rejection.

The next section in 11 through 32 starts with I say, and the answer is no. And this Section makes it clear that the rejection of the Jews is not final and that the salvation of many is certain and then thirdly The last section this beautiful soaring song of praise to God for his wisdom in 33 to 35. So the context here is the condition of the Jews. They rejected Christ, they became enemies of the cross of Christ They waged war against the disciples of Jesus Christ. They killed the Apostles They hated the Apostle Paul they tried to kill him many times and he was harried from city to city and so what?

Has the purpose of God failed with the Jews? So that's the question right there. And Paul is answering the question, has God rejected an obstinate people? I think that's perhaps one of the most important things that we can see in this passage. There are obstinate people.

What does God do with obstinate people? And he's unveiling God's plan. It is a mystery as it says in this passage until now. A mystery in this context is something that wasn't clearly known but is now known. You see the same thing in Ephesians chapter five where it's disclosed for the first time that marriage is a picture of Christ in the church.

That was revealed in that passage. It wasn't revealed before that. So we have the same thing here. And you have the heart of God and what God is doing from Genesis to Revelation. And When I was considering all these things, I was thinking about one of my favorite books on the integrity and the authority and the inerrancy and the sufficiency of the word of God.

It's a book by Lewis Gowson called God Breathes. Some of you who are my interns read this book. And Gowson describes scripture as if there were many instruments being played. And he paints God as this skillful musician, and he's producing a long score from beginning to end. He takes up turns with a funeral flute.

He has the shepherd's pipe. He has the Mary Fife, a trumpet to summon you to battle. He's talking about just the diversity of God's plan throughout the ages. And he moves from eternity past as if he's on a piano. And he's playing on this gigantic eternal piano that has the story of redemption from the beginning to the very end.

And he describes it as if this creator is embracing this range of keys, you know, going over all the centuries. And he puts his left hand on Enoch, the seventh from Adam, I'm quoting, and his right hand on John, the humble and sublime prisoner of Patmos You see then he says it was sometimes the simplicity of John sometimes the impassioned elliptical rousing and logical energy of magnificent and David's lyrical poetry. It was the simple and majestic narratives of Moses or the royal wisdom of Solomon. It was Peter, it was Isaiah, it was Matthew, it was John, It was Moses and I think that's what Paul is doing. He's he's weaving together the plan of salvation Gowson says in fact there are lessons for all conditions It brings up the scene of the lowly and the great It reveals equally both the love of God and miseries and it addresses itself to children and shepherds and herdsmen.

And it reveals the character of God. It speaks to kings and to scribes. And he's pouring forth travels and proverbs and revelations and often the depths of the heart, sacred hymns, councils, rules of life, solutions of conscience, judgments of God, sacred hymns, predictions of future events. This is the Bible. And what God has done in this passage is to really show as God moves across the keys, he's moving from the Old Testament into the New Testament to eternity future and eternity past.

And you'll see this in the passage, it's just really remarkable. And he's talking about God's process with the Jews, God's process with the Gentiles across the centuries. And it's so important that we understand the big picture of this. You might not have all the controversies figured out at this passage, but that's what this passage is about. It's about God's moving in history, God's control, God's sovereign hand over history and over your life and my life.

So it's a beautiful passage. It really is thrilling. You know last week we encountered the words, how will they hear without a preacher? This should be tremendous encouragement for us to preach to the Jews and everybody else because both are implied here. And the language of redemption is on almost every verse.

This beautiful language is here as if they're the keys of the piano of redemption. Verse two, not castaways, verse two, for knowledge verse 4 God Reserving a remnant verse 5 election of grace all of grace verse 6 blinded verse 7 Spirit of stupor verse 8 eyes that cannot see ears that cannot hear verse 8 eyes darkened people stumbled verse 11, salvation to the Gentiles verse 11, riches for the Gentiles verse 12, reconciling the world verse 15, life from the dead verse 15, a holy lump of leaven verse 16, a wild olive tree verse 17 and grafted in in the same verse and one of my favorite phrases in this entire chapter partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Wow. Maybe I should just give a sermon on that. And then you have the branches broken off.

You have unbelief in verse 20. You have the goodness of God in 22, the severity of God in 22, you have a deliverer that will come out of Zion in verse 26, you have a God who turns people away from ungodliness in verse 26. In verse 27, you have a covenant. In verse 27 you have sins taken away. In verse 28 you have enemies and beloved in the same verse.

In verse 29 you have the perpetuity of God's promises. The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Is it irrevocable or irrevocable? I've said it both ways all my life. Well, you know, however you say it, I say it.

So you have this remarkable, thrilling unveiling of God's plan for the Jews and the Gentiles as well. And there are no castaways. There's an election of grace. Everything is of grace. So, God is gonna save many more.

Are you one of them? Maybe there's one here who hasn't been saved yet. Are you one of those that's going to be saved? Is God putting his hand on you? Do you need mercy?

Are you a candidate for the love of God? Well, again, this passage is, as I have mentioned many times, it's a theodicy. It's a defense of the actions of God in salvation. And chapters nine, 10, and 11 are this argument for God's justice and wisdom, ending in this soaring song of praise at the end of the chapter. And let's just review the theodicy.

Why did Israel fall? Chapter 9, election. What was Israel's fault? Chapter 10, unbelief. In other words, there was personal responsibility.

And then, chapter 11, Israel's history. So that's the landscape of this passage of scripture. And now, just a little comment here. If you're discouraged about the state of the world, the worldliness of the church, the rolling effects of sin in the world, just recognize no matter how bad it might seem, the purposes of God are certain. They are secure.

They are already one. Remember when we were in Revelation? What's the theme of Revelation? Jesus Christ wins. And that's what we find here.

Okay, let's jump into the text. Verses 1 through 10, we're going to walk through this text. I hope you have your Bible open. I'm going to approach this a little bit differently. We're just gonna roll through phrase by phrase in this long, long, sir passage.

There might be a long sermon. So we encounter first in verses one through 10, The rejection of the Jews is not total. The theme of verses 1 through 10 is that five-letter word grace. It's the grace of God. Verse 1, I say then has God cast away his people?

Certainly not. He's quoting Psalm 94 verse 14 of first Samuel 12 22 and it's so here you have you find God he's going across the keys of redemptive history it's all one heart of God to bring many sons to glory. 1st Samuel 1222, for the Lord will not forsake his people. That's what he's talking about. And then Paul gives four examples that God has not rejected the Jews.

Example number one, Paul himself. I'm a Jew, I wasn't rejected, I wasn't a cast away. For I also am a Israelite, the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. That's example number one, that God has not cast the Jews aside example number two for knowledge God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew or forechose or for loved you can say it any one of those three ways and the promises of Israel remain valid to the end and and here And we find of course the church enjoys all the benefits of the blessings of Abraham. They have been fulfilled.

All the families of the earth shall be blessed, both Jews and Gentiles. There is also in this passage very clearly there is spiritual Israel and there's ethnic Israel. I believe this passage actually speaks to both. Not just one, there are many that contend he's only talking about spiritual Israel. Others he's only talking about physical Israel.

I think that he rolls, I think he weaves through the narrative both information about both of them. The church is the continuation of God's people. I don't believe the church is a replacement for Israel. I don't believe in what people call replacement theology that God's done with the Jews and the church has now replaced it. I think there's continuity And there's a lot to say about that, the return of the Jews to the land in 1948, how the Jews have survived pogroms and exterminations and deportations for 2, 000 years.

And yet, how did it happen that they became a nation-state I don't believe that's ever happened before something is going on we don't know exactly what it is except what we find here verse 6 the Word of God stands but it's not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel. So that really implies you have ethnic Israel and you have spiritual Israel. And he's making this distinction between the two. Yet I think the passage is, it clearly speaks to both ethnic Israel and spiritual Israel. You might not agree with that, but here's the deal.

This passage is about really bigger stuff than that. It's about God's redemptive plan. Verse seven, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham, but in Isaac all your seed shall be called. He's talking about what the New Testament speaks about. Excuse me, Galatians 3, 9 explains who is the seed of Abraham.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed. That's clear. And heirs according to the promise. Genesis 12 22 makes it very clear. I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you. Paul affirms this in verse eight. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, I'm so sorry. I'll leave soon. No, I won't.

Verse 8, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah will have a son. He's quoting Psalm 69 there. And then he gives the third example Elijah Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel saying Lord They have killed your prophets and torn down your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life But what does the divine response say to him?

Yeah, I have reserved for myself 7, 000 men who've not bowed the knee to Baal. In other words, God has not rejected his people. Elijah thought God had rejected everybody but him. Not true. There were 7, 000 that God had reserved.

Regardless of unfaithfulness, God will have his people. You might think that there are no more Christians in the earth, not true. The fourth example is that by God's grace there's a remnant, verse five. Even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no longer of works. A friend of mine gave a sermon on this text and the whole sermon was about grace.

Not a bad idea, actually. Nothing will stop God's plan to change hearts. That's what this phrase, the election of grace means. There's Drano in here? So you have four examples that God has not rejected Israel in just the first few verses.

And then in verses seven and eight you find that there is a stupor that Israel possessed. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Now this is, the blindness is not just something that's happened to Israel, it happens to the Gentiles as well. 1st Corinthians 3 makes it very clear that the devil has blinded the eyes of the unbeliever.

Same thing has happened to many of the Jews. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them, let their eyes be darkened that they do not see and bow down their back always. So this blindness is the state of not all the Jews but many of the Jews. So the theme of 1 through 10 is God's grace alone and that and has God rejected all Israelites?

No, it's not a total rejection. But then in the next section he turns to the question is the rejection of the Jews final? So it's not total, wrote 1 through 10, and neither is it final. So he's answering, did all Israel fall? Verse 11, I say, had they stumbled that they should fall?

Certainly not. But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. For now if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. And then the Apostle is talking really about his ministry to the Gentiles to make the Jews jealous. And remember What I'm pretty confident he's talking about, why would God do such a thing?

Why would God want to make the Jews jealous to drive them to Jesus Christ? Here's how it works. A Gentile is converted. And when people are converted, you can hardly wipe the smile off their face because they've been forgiven. And their religion is no longer a dead religion.

They're no longer just going through the motions. They're no longer just doing this stuff. They want to walk with God. They love God. They are filled with the spirit of love and joy and peace and patience.

And the Jews who are dead, who are just going through the motions, who don't have much heart for it, they see that and they say, wow. On the one hand they might say these people are ridiculous because that's what happens a lot of times when somebody's saved and they get really happy people say oh brother you know I wish he'd settled down so the Jews were to be made jealous. I don't know why that alarm was set. Someone made a mistake. Someone stole my phone.

This is a terrible sermon. Oh my. Verse 13, for I speak to you Gentiles inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them, that's Paul's objective to save some, for if they're being cast away as reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy.

And if the root is holy, so are the branches. Very interesting. Paul gives two illustrations. One bread, one out of bread, a lump of leaven, okay, leaven bread, and a tree. Leaven and a tree, that's the illustration.

You know, the Bible is so expressive, gives so many graphic illustrations to help us understand. The lump of leaven is the promise made to Abraham and his descendants, and like leaven, that promise permeates the entire existence of the people and it expands that's this illustration of leaven the lump of leaven and it's a holy lump and then you have the olive tree he makes the same point he shifts the image to the olive tree and he says you know the root also was holy, set apart for blessings and they And there's fruit bearing. So the leaven will expand and the root will bear, the root of the tree will cause the bearing of fruit. And, but then Paul, He sort of chastises the Gentiles here and he says don't boast. Don't boast.

You think you're so hot. You know, no. Don't be high-minded. Don't be proud. You were grafted in.

You were grafted in. And verse 17, if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them become became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, pause, The root and fatness of the olive tree. Just hang on that for a second. This is the blessing of God that falls down upon his people. It's very beautiful.

The root and the fatness of the olive tree. He says, verse 18, do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. The Gentiles shouldn't be so proud. They should recognize that their faith has come from a rich heritage of God's grace working from the beginning of time and what God has said to the Jews in the Old Testament is this root it's a it's a it's a root that bears fruit so he's saying don't don't be too proud of your New Testament Christianity, okay, because the root supports you.

And then, you know, this whole idea of the olive tree is a beautiful image to chase down in the scriptures. I wish we had olive trees around here to see the illustrations. The Carrington's got a front row seat of that when they were in Turkey. It's very beautiful. David says in Psalm 52 8, but I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.

I trust in the mercy of God forever. Like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever. Like a green olive tree in the house of God. It's a picture of the church and believers who've been saved by grace.

Hosea 14.6, his branches shall spread, his beauty shall be like an olive tree and his fragrance like Lebanon those who dwell under his shadow shall return They shall be revived like grain and grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. This is a picture of the blessing of God toward his people. It's like a lump of leaven that grows, expands, and permeates every part of the bread. And the kingdom of God is also like a tree.

And there are so many places we could go, he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, and shall bear fruit in his season. His leaf shall not wither." Now it's very interesting in verse 19 you have this idea of being grafted in but will you say then branches were broken off that I may be grafted in? Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off. And you stand by faith.

Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either." So he's talking about the way a good farmer who has an olive grove, that he grafts in good branches. The olive trees can become unproductive in different places so the farmer goes into areas where the sap is running and grafts in another branch so that it will grow. But what does God do? This is, He grafts in wild branches.

He grafts in these wild people. These people, they're wild. They're going their own way. They're running away from God. And he grabs them.

And he takes them and he grafts them in to a productive olive tree. They were dying and they were grafted in. Conversion is the grafting in of wild branches into a good olive tree. Don't ever be put off with wild people. There's hope for all wild people.

Don't think you can't talk to them. I'm not going to ask a raise of hands. How many of you were wild? All of you who were unbelievers were wild. Some were wilder than others, right?

But those that are grafted into the good olive tree, they partake of the root and the fatness of the good olive tree. They have union with Jesus Christ. Verse 22 he says, therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severity but toward you goodness if you continue in his goodness Otherwise you will also be cut off. That verse is disturbing but here's what it means. If you're not really a believer you'll you're not gonna grow there.

You're gonna be cut off. You might be be thought of as a believer. You might go to church but if you don't bear fruit you will be cut off. He's really just saying, there are those who are true Christians and those who identify with Christianity. And those who only identify with Christianity will be cut off.

They will appear to be part of the olive tree. Verse 23, and they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted in to their own olive tree? Now the natural branches, Israel, those who are saved will be saved later, will be grafted back into their own olive tree. That's the way I take it.

The natural descendants of Abraham will become spiritual descendants grafted in to a live olive tree. They will become Christians. Charles Simeon says, what compassion should we feel for the Jewish nation? How earnestly should we labor for the conversion of the Jews? I'll just make a quick comment here.

There's sort of a rising wave of anti-Semitism all over the world And this is one of the most anti-Semitic texts in the Bible right here because God, he has compassion on his people. The Jews have wreaked havoc in the world in the entertainment industry, in the pornography industry, in the banking industry. They have waged war against the church just like they did in the first century. But don't let that deceive you. This wave of anti-Semitism is so harmful.

You know, the church, you know, became a reproach to the Jews. And the Jews still hate the church but that doesn't mean that the church should hate the Jews. Not when you have Romans 11. You know these olive trees they live for hundreds of years. It's interesting, what I understand is that you can graft different species of olive branches into the same tree, and you can have three or four or five different species of olives coming out of the same tree.

It's very interesting. Verse 25 to 32, the certainty of the restoration of the Jews and their inclusion into the church. For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery and mystery is something that was just being revealed lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So the blindness will continue until God finishes his work with the Gentiles. The fullness of the Gentiles.

What does that mean? It means that there's a certain number of the Gentiles that will come to faith and then and Then something will change with the Jews. That's why that's how I take this There God is saving a Particular number he's waiting He's not judging the world because he's waiting for all the number to be gathered in and And that's why we're still here today is because God has patience on mankind and he wants his children to spread out throughout the world and evangelize the world and bring in the harvest until the full number of the Gentiles. Verse 26, when all the Gentiles are saved and so all Israel will be saved as it is written. Something will happen with the Jews when all the Gentiles are brought into the number.

You know the song, Oh Lord I want to be in that number when the saints go marching in Well all Israel shall be saved. That's the phrase. That's a trip cord for every theologian And everybody here reads it. What does all Mean someone once said all means all and that's all all means. Okay?

But does all mean all in the Bible? Well, there are several hundred incidences of this word in the Bible and they don't all mean all. Okay? So you have to decide what all means. Is it all the Jews from the beginning?

If you believe in the Millennium, is it the Jews who are alive in the Millennium? Is it... It's been taken in many ways, okay? I'll give you four ways it's been taken all of the elect both Jews and Gentiles all of the elect both Jews and Gentiles and it refers to ethnic Israel second way it's taken for the elect within Israel. The third way is all ethnic Israelites exhaustively who are alive at the second coming of Christ.

And then fourth, the nation of Israel as a whole but not every single individual who is part of that nation. So there you go now you can decide what your view is And you have this partial hardening that has come upon Israel. It will be lifted and then will occur the salvation of the full number, I believe, of elect Jews at that time. Yeah. All does not always mean absolutely all.

Yeah, like, here's just, I'm just gonna give you a couple examples. In Matthew 3 verse 5, it says that all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to see the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Do you think all, you think every single person? No. No, there's no way.

Matthew 2-3, when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. All doesn't always mean 100% so you have to decide that. I don't think it means 100% I think there's a remnant. It does not mean absolutely all but it's limited to the elect which is consistent with the rest of Scripture. I believe what this means is that there will be a massive ingathering at the end of the age.

I don't know what it looks like exactly but God's chosen people, Israel will not continue forever in their unbelief. There's hope and they will not all continue in unbelief. The Old Testament scriptures, I think, make this very clear, Isaiah 59, 20 particularly and what was read earlier in the service. Here's a definitive statement I wanna make about my view. God will continue to work with the Jews, just like he did with Paul.

By the way, in the last 50 years, there have been more Jews come into the kingdom of God than I think anytime beforehand. It actually started in the late 60s and I saw it happening all over where I was living. Many many Jews were being saved in Southern California And there is a kind of ingathering, I don't know if it's this final ingathering. Now here's another thing, if you wanna focus on Jewish evangelism, you don't need to focus on Israel. There are more Jews in the United States than there are in Israel.

And, you know, I read that, you know, in 1939 there were 16 million Jews in the world, and half of them were in the United States, and half of them were in Poland. And then during the Holocaust, six million of them were exterminated. And so after that, the population center for Jews moved to the United States and then in 1948 into the nation of Israel. So now 80% of the Jews in the world are either here in the United States or they are in Israel. That's the situation that we have now.

It's very interesting that you have so many Jews in the United States where there's more gospel preaching than any other place in the world. It's very interesting. What does that mean? Well, you should be encouraged. He's quoting, again, In the Word of God, you're going all over the Bible to prove its integrity.

He's quoting Isaiah 59-20, Psalm 147, and Isaiah 53-6 when he's proving this. And here's a right attitude toward the Jews. Look at verse 28. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. That's the right attitude toward the Jews.

You know, this anti-Semitic movement is a bad movement in the church. Some of it I think is just a reaction against the worship of Israel, but the truth is this passage really speaks to it. And it's that God's blessings flow throughout history to all people, even the Jews. And that's why we have verse 29 to teach us that. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

In other words, the blessings will not be withdrawn. The gifts, the promises, the ordinances, the wisdom of God, the Word of God, these are evergreen in the world. And then the callings of God, God is calling his people. Remember in the previous section, God is holding out his hands in chapter 10 and he's saying, here I am, here I am. God is always holding out his hands and his calling to his people do not stop and yet they are without repentance.

Verse 30, For as you were once disobedient to God, yet now have obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed to them, committed them to all disobedience, that he may have mercy on all did you read that in verse 32 he's committed them all to disobedience Well we already know that all doesn't mean all because Paul is an example, Elijah is an example, foreknowledge is an example, and people are being saved all throughout this era. So all doesn't mean all in this text. What should be our attitude? 9.1, in the very beginning of this section in chapter 9, the Apostles' attitude should be ours toward the Jews.

I tell you the truth in Christ I am not lying, my conscience also bearing witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart for I wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my countrymen according to the flesh who are Israelites." Paul's heart was broken. Chapter 9 verse 1. Chapter 10 verse 1 he repeats it. Brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear with them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

The error of the Jews is that they sought a righteousness by works, not a righteousness that is by faith in Jesus Christ. They weren't seeking the grace of God. They were seeking their own spiritual greatness, and that's the problem. This whole idea of rejecting the holy lump and rejecting the root, it happens every Sunday in churches where people remain hardened toward the gospel and they're willing to trade real spiritual life for their own deadness and their own trying to look good by being known as a Christian even though they aren't And they were baptized and they keep taking the Lord's Supper and every time they take the Lord's Supper they know they're not Christians. And then the crescendo of the passage where it's all going, verses 33 to 36.

Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. He's talking about this massive piano and all the keys across all the years of history. How unsearchable are his judgments in his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. All this to say is that God will save his people. He needs preachers.

How will they hear without a preacher? And God is orchestrating redemptive history. Frankly, the whole history of the world is the story of the church, of the rescue of the bride of Christ. And God is working his hands back and forth over the keys of everlasting life because salvation is by grace. And for the Jews there will be an end gathering sometime at the end of the age.

But the biggest question is, do you adore the Lord Jesus Christ, the root and fatness of His goodness? And has He saved you? And is he calling you he's bringing his children to be partakers of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, and you need to know whether you have it. That's the most important question. And if you have it, I'm sure you know it, and you're so thankful for the grace of God as he held out his hands, and you saw him.

He opened your eyes you were not blind and he grafted you in to the olive tree and now you're like a green tree in the household of your God. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord we thank you, thank you for your marvelous plan across all the ages, for your mercies towards sinners, toward your help, toward the weak, Lord, your promises to all of us who know you and your call to those who don't, Lord, your tender voice calling out of darkness into your marvelous light. Lord I pray that you would so encourage your children today. Help them to rest in your love and for those who do not know you that you would You would shake them out of their stupor and their blindness even today.

Amen.