Romans 11 is a great chapter. Obviously, the whole Book of Romans is packed with so much important doctrine and it's just a really heavy book when it comes to just how much information you get out of each chapter. This is a chapter that people often misunderstand, misconstrue, in so many different ways. I feel like it's profitable tonight to just go through this chapter verse by verse and see what it actually says and get the true doctrine from Romans 11, not what people have taken little parts of it and taken them out of context and construed this chapter to mean. Let's just start at the beginning here. This is going to be more like a Wednesday night Bible study, but in 11:1, it says, "I say then hath God cast away His people? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, 'Lord, they have killed thy prophets and digged down thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life.' But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace."
Now just starting with these first 5 verses, here's how a lot of people will misunderstand this Scripture. They'll read verse 1 where it says, "Has God cast away His people? God forbid," and then just pretty much stop there. Of course, He didn't cast away His people. Of course, Israel is still the God's chosen people. They're not getting the full teaching of these 5 verses because these verses make it very clear that God only has not cast away His people in the sense that there is a remnant, that is a believing remnant according to the election of grace. What is that grace talking about? That grace is talking about the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men. That's talking about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, salvation by grace through faith. That's why it says in verse 6, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then is it no more grace? Otherwise, work is no more work."
What's He talking about there? Salvation is not by work, it's not by karma, if you were here this morning. That's what it means. It's not of works. It's by grace through faith lest any man should boast. Now what this chapter is saying here is that God did not cast away all of His people. Why? Because He's saying that He, Himself, is an Israelite. If God had just completely cast away all Israelites, then that would include Paul because Paul said, "Well, I'm an Israelite. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin." He's saying that in the Old Testament, it was said that there were 7000 men at the time that Elijah preached that had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. He's saying just as in Elijah's day, there were 7000 that were the believing, righteous remnant that had not bowed the knee to Baal. He's saying even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. What's he saying? He's saying that when he's writing the Book of Romans, back in the first century AD, there were Israelites who believed in Jesus.
That's pretty easy to see, isn't it? Because we see John the Baptist and Jesus Christ preaching and multitudes were saved, multitudes were baptized, but as a whole, the nation rejected Jesus. As a whole, they did not receive Him. The Bible says He came unto His own and His own received Him not, talking about coming to the House of Israel. They didn't receive Him. He said, "But as many as received Him, the ones that did receive Him, to them gave ye power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name who were born not of blood." This isn't just oh, it's in my blood. I'm just a certain nationality. He said no, they were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God, born of God. The Bible is saying here that God hasn't cast away His people because there are some saved Israelites who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's speaking 2000 years ago in the first century and saying, "Look, I'm one of them. I'm part of that righteous remnant."
Is this Scripture that we just read teaching hey, unbelieving, Christ-rejecting Israel is still God's people? Is that what it's teaching?
Congregation: No.
No way, of course not. Because flip back just a few pages to Romans 9. Look at Romans 9:6 because a lot of people will say, "Oh, God can't break His promise to Israel." He didn't because if you go back and carefully read those promises, they all have a little disclaimer, like if you keep My commandments, if you abide in My covenant. Then when he says, "Oh, it'll be easier for the sun to stop shining and it'd be easier for the moon than for God to reject all the House of Israel." He's saying, "I'm not going to reject all of them." He didn't say, "I'm not going to reject any of them." As long as you're born an Israelite, you're just accepted in the beloved. Wrong, because you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
He says here in Romans 9:6, "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect." It's not that God's word doesn't stand or that God broke a promise to Israel. It says, "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children." As is written He said, "But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Flip over to Romans 11. It's not the physical descendants of Abraham that automatically get a pass, but rather, it is those who are the believing remnant according to the election of grace. Look, if you're not part of that believing remnant, if you're not part of that election of grace as an Israelite, you've been cast away. You've been broken off, he's going to talk about later in this passage, with the branches broken off. No longer Israel in God's sight, no longer God's people, no longer the chosen of the Lord.
Let's keep reading. Verse 7, "What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded." Now according to this passage, who is the election? He said it was the election according to grace, so when he says the election hath what does he mean there? The saved, people who are saved, people who believe in Jesus by grace through faith. He's saying they're God's people, they're still saved as an Israelite, but the ones who don't believe in Jesus, they're blinded. They're not part of that group. He says that they've been blinded.
Now let's keep reading about that because that's an interesting thing about Israel being blinded. It says in verse 8, "According as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David saith let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back alway." Let me ask you this. Does it sound like David is blessing Israel in that passage?
Congregation: No.
Isn't that what they say, you have to just bless Israel no matter what and God will bless those who bless them and curse those who ... No matter what they do, no matter what they believe, is that what David's doing in this passage?
Congregation: No.
When he's saying, "Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back alway. Let their table be made a snare." That is a curse, not a blessing. Why? Because he's referring to those who are evil among them. You see, when Jesus Christ ... Flip back to John 12. Let's compare Scripture with Scripture here. We'll come back to Romans 11. We're going to go through verse by verse and leave no stone unturned tonight. Go back to John 12 because Jesus, you got to remember, was dealing with some very hard-hearted religious Jews, when He came to this earth, known as the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Those were the 2 groups that opposed Jesus the most. The ones that were the priests and of the kindred of the high priest were the Sadducees. Then there were the rabbis who were the Pharisees. If you remember, they both had false doctrine. They were both false religions and Jesus, when He preached unto the common man, He was able to get a lot of people saved amongst the publicans and the harlots and the sinners.
The Pharisees were very hard-hearted and they didn't want to hear the truth. The Sadducees rejected His doctrine. He was rejected of the chief priests, of the rulers of those type of people. He told them repeatedly that they were done because there were times when they said things to Him, like when they said that He was casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. What did He say? You've blasphemed the Holy Ghost. He said, "You have blasphemed the Holy Ghost and you have no forgiveness in this world, neither in the world to come." He's telling them you're done. You've gone too far. You've pushed it. Now look what it says in 12:37. It's talking about these hard-hearted people amongst the Jews, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It says in verse 37, "But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believe not on Him, that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake 'Lord, who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?'" Verse 39 is key. Don't miss it. "Therefore, they could not believe because that Esaias said again he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them."
Don't get uncomfortable with the word of God here. Embrace the truth of what's being taught here. A lot of times, we go to the Bible with a preconceived idea. We don't want to accept what it says. Let's accept it for what it says. It says here that there was a certain group of people who no matter what they saw, no matter what they heard, could not believe in Jesus because God had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. That's what the Bible says. Now a lot of people will misconstrue this and say, "Well God chooses who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell." I don't believe that for one second. I know that's called Calvinism. I don't believe in it. It's fool. I don't have a Calvinist bone in my body, but what the Bible is teaching here is that people can get to a point where it's too late for them. It's not that God just decides to just send certain people to Hell and they have no choice about it.
I believe that Jesus Christ, I think the Bible's crystal clear, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for every single person. The Bible says He tasted death for every man. The Bible says He's the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe and that He died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus died for everybody. Listen, I believe that everybody has a chance to be saved. Everybody has the opportunity to be saved because the Bible says that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. He said, "Let him that heareth come." He said, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Whosoever will means whosoever wants to. It's up to you to decide whether or not you're going to believe on Jesus Christ when you hear the word of God, whether you're going to receive the word of God with all gladness or whether you're going to harden your heart and reject it.
People like Pharaoh in the Old Testament, the Bible tells us that Pharaoh hardened his heart, but then as we read that story, it starts to change and say God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It's not that God just chose to harden Pharaoh's heart and he had no chance. No, first he made his own choice where he chose to reject the word of the Lord and harden his heart. Then it got to a point where God hardened his heart. It's not the Pharisees and the Sadducees had no chance to be saved. He preached the word of God unto them. He pleaded with them to be saved. We could go back a few pages and see Jesus pleading with people to be saved. You could go back, for example, to John 7 and you can see Jesus Christ standing up in verse 37. There's so many places in the book of John where Jesus is pleading with them to be saved. He says, "Look, if you don't believe on My word, at least believe for the miracles' sake." All the times that He says, "You will not come to Me that you might have life." "Search the Scriptures, for in them, you think you have eternal life and they be they which testify of Me." He's pleading with them to be saved. Chapter after chapter after chapter.
Before we get to chapter 12, they have chance after chance after chance. In chapter 7, look at the urgency. When He cries out in verse 37 in the last day, that great day of the feast. Here's a feast, people are there. It's the last day. They're all going to be going home. This is Jesus' last chance to reach them. He stands up and He cries. What does it mean to cry? It means He's yelling. He cries out with urgency. He says, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water." We could show all the places in the book of John where Jesus is pleading with people to be saved. It's not these people didn't have a chance, but they got to a point where they went too far, where they said, "You're casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." Where they hardened their heart and they rejected everything that they heard and everything that they saw. It got to a point where God, like He did to Pharaoh, hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes. It's not that they never could've been saved, but they got to a point where they became reprobate, where they became blinded and hard-hearted.
Let's go back to Romans 11. You see, God will save anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus by faith. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you shall confess with thy mouth to Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved." People do a get point where they get so hardened where they can't believe. They cannot believe any longer. That's with the status that we see of those people in John 12 that Jesus telling it. Now think about that in regards to Romans 11. He's talking about the Jews who rejected Christ. Now look, did all the Jews reject Christ? No, because there were a lot of people who believed on Him. They were the righteous remnant. What is remnant? Remnant just means remainder. Remnant, remaining, it's just the people that are left when everybody turns away from the Lord, there are always some people who are still left.
No matter how wicked our nation gets, there are always going to be some people that are still righteous. Any nation, every single nation, has people in it that believe on the Lord and that follow the Bible. Every nation. No matter how wicked that nation gets, there's always a remnant, okay. Amongst Israel, there's always been a remnant. There always will be a remnant, but it's a very small remnant. Think about it. In the days of Elijah, how many people do you think were in Israel? A lot. Well over a million people, millions of people. How many are now bowing the knee to Baal? 7000. That's a pretty small percentage. That's a pretty small remnant. Today, it's a pretty small remnant, as well, amongst Israelites.
What does the Bible say here in verse 8, really at the end of verse 7, he says the rest were blinded. Those who are of Israel, but not of the election, those that are not saved. A lot of them are blinded. He says, "God has given them the spirit of slumber," in verse 8, "Eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David saith," and when it says unto this day, it's referring to when the book's being written, obviously. It says, "David saith let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense out of them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back alway." Why would he not curse the Pharisees and the Sadducees who rejected the Lord Jesus.
Look what it says in verse 11, "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid. But rather, through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? For I speak unto you Gentiles in as much as I'm the apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify mine office, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are of My flesh and might save some of them." Let's talk about what this is saying here. First of all, in verse 11, God is telling us that there is actually some good that is going to come from the fact that most of the Israelites rejected the Lord Jesus. You see, a lot of times, man will intend something unto evil and then God will turn it and use it for His good.
Think about when Joseph's brethren sold him into Egypt. That was a horrible thing to do. That's a wicked thing. It wasn't the right thing to do. They treated him terribly, beat him up, threw him in a pit, sold him into slavery, lied to his dad and told him he was dead, so that was a wicked thing. You know what? The fact that Joseph went down into Egypt actually ended up helping everybody. Joseph told them, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, to save much people alive as it is this day." God can take sinful actions of human beings and He can turn it around and still use it for His glory. Some of the sinful things that Samson did in Judges, God was still able to use it for His glory. It doesn't mean God wants us to sin. God can accomplish His will without us going out and sinning, but even if we do go out and do things that are wrong, sometimes God can still work things out and use them for His honor and glory, thank God. His will can sometimes allow good things to happen even when we make mistakes and so forth, doesn't condone of our sin.
What we see here is that the fact that the Israelites rejected the Lord Jesus actually led to the gospel going more to the Gentiles because basically, the Apostles are saying to the Jews in the Book of Acts, for example, Paul said, "From henceforth, I'm going to the Gentiles because they're rejecting it." The fact that they were persecuted by the Jews caused them to be scattered abroad everywhere and preaching the gospel. It brought more salvation unto the Gentiles and more Gentiles heard the gospel as a result. Paul is looking on the bright side, as it were, and saying hey, it's not just that they fell and it's just a terrible ... He says look, at least they fell so that more people amongst the Gentiles could hear the gospel. That's the silver lining. Then he says in verse 12, "Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?" He's saying wouldn't it be so much greater now if now the Israelites would accept Jesus? That'd be great, he's saying. That'd be even better if they would now believe on Jesus and be saved.
Now he says, "I speak unto you Gentiles," verse 13, "In as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office." What he's saying there when he says, "I magnify mine office," is he's saying I don't feel like it's a lame job to be the apostle unto the Gentiles. I think it's great to preach unto the Gentiles. I think it's a privilege to be an Apostle unto the Gentiles and bring them the gospel. He says this, "If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are of my flesh and might save some of them." What is he saying? He's saying that hopefully, the Jews will see the Gentiles getting saved and that will lead them to get saved also, to be provoked unto jealousy and say, "Hey, wait a minute. That's our God that you guys are all worshiping and getting excited about in that Old Testament that you're studying. That's supposed to be for us."
Then hopefully, that would cause them to see the Gentiles' good example and follow it and follow suit and be saved and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "I want to provoke them to emulation." Emulation means to imitate someone or to copy someone. He's saying I wanted them to do the same thing they see the Gentiles doing, starting churches, preaching the gospel, and so on and so forth. He says, "And might save some of them." He's saying, "You know what my goal is? I want to get a whole bunch of Gentiles saved, start all these Gentile churches and then hopefully, that would provoke the Israelites to jealousy so that I can get them all saved." Is that what he said? No. He said, "So that I might save some of them." He's saying, "Look, I just want to get some of them saved. I'm hoping that some of them will be saved."
Let's keep reading. It said in verse 15, "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead. For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy and if the root be holy, so are the branches." He's saying look, wouldn't it be great, he's speaking hypothetically, saying wouldn't it be great if the Jews would get saved, if Israel would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Everybody see that? It's just hey, wouldn't that be great, wouldn't that be even better than the current situation? He says in verse 17, "And if some of the wild branches be broken off and thou," oh, I'm sorry, "If some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild olive tree were graffed in among them and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then the branches were broken off that I might be graffed in well." What does well mean?
Congregation: Good.
That's right, yeah, well, you're speaking well. You're right about that. What's he saying? He's saying that the olive tree represents God's people, okay. What he's saying is that a whole bunch of the Israelites rejected the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, so they're broken off from the ... They're no longer God's people. That's what it means when it said they're broken off. They're no longer part of the tree. They're removed. Then he says the wild branches were graffed in. Okay. We would use the modern word grafted in, okay. In the King James, it's spelled different. It says graffed in. It's grafted today. This is when they take branches from one tree and actually install them onto the trunk of a different tree. It's really amazing thing. You'd think that it wouldn't even be possible, but it is possible and they do that. He's saying that the Gentiles are like a wild branch that was installed against nature into the olive tree because naturally speaking, it would've made sense that Israel would've been that holy nation and peculiar people that he planned them to be. They would've been a godly generation of priests and kings and that they would've been a light to the Gentiles.
That didn't happen, so he had to break off those branches and then he graffed in the Gentiles instead. That's why he said in Matthew 21, "The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Okay. He graffed in the Gentiles. He's saying that the Gentiles could say, "Well, yeah. I mean, God broke them off so that we could be installed." He says that is true, that that is what happened. Okay. Let's keep reading. "Well because of unbelief, they were broken off and thou standest by faith." What's he saying? The criteria for being a part of the olive tree doesn't have anything to do with your ethnicity. It doesn't have anything to do with your genealogy or your DNA. Here's what it has to do with, faith or unbelief. That's what it has to do with. The nation that didn't have the faith was broken off. Those tribes are broken off. Then the people who did have the faith, the people who did receive Jesus, they're graffed in. It's all based on whether or not you believe in Christ whether or not you're part of this group.
He says, "Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest He also spare not thee." Now a lot of people will take this and twist it and say, oh, you can lose your salvation. They'll try to apply this to individual salvation. First of all, we should always base our doctrine on the clearest Scripture, not on parables and illustrations. We have a lot of clear Scripture that teaches that you cannot lose your salvation because the Bible clearly says, "I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." He said, "Verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on Him that send me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." He said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son should not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
He said, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned," watch this, "But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed." Does it say oh, he used to believe and then quit believing? No. It says because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He never did believe. That's why Jesus will say to the unsaved one day, "Depart from me. I never knew you." He didn't say, "I used to know you." He said, "Depart from me. I never knew you." The Bible says we're sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption. It's a whole sermon in and of itself to show that we cannot lose our salvation, that once we are saved, we are always saved. All God's people said ...
Congregation: Amen.
Amen to that, that we're saved eternally. This is talking about nations and groups of people. When he's talking about branches being broken off, think of branches of a family tree. We're talking about groups of people, nations. It's a parable. It's figurative. It's saying look, here's a tree. Not every individual represents a branch. That'd be a lot of branches on that tree. We picture this tree, it's just millions of branches and then millions are being broken off, millions being ... No. What he's picturing here is okay, here's a tree that represents God's people and it's like the 12 Tribes of Israel. You see branches being broken off and you see different groups that are different nationalities and people of all different stripes and red and yellow, black and white being graffed in as God's people. He's saying, basically, that if a nation turns from the Lord, that He's going to turn from them as a nation. There are nations who, in the past, used to have great Christian populations within them that have now turned away from the Lord Jesus Christ and those branches have been broken off.
You think of a place like Mongolia, would come to mind. Mongolia is a place where today, the vast majority of people are Buddhists, today, in Mongolia, the vast majority. In the past, that was not so. There used to be great populations of Christians in Mongolia. There used to be a more diverse population of religions there. There are many other places in the world that we could look to that used to have great, Bible-believing populations that have turned away. Look at Europe. Europe used to have a lot of gospel-preaching, Bible-believing Christians. Now, you go to places and you can hardly even find a church that's preaching the truth in a lot of places in Europe today. I had a friend that lived in King James' hometown in Scotland. Literally the hometown of King James himself and no church in the entire town used the King James Bible and they're in King James' hometown. What does that show you?
Anyway, Romans 11 here is talking about branches being broken off or graffed in based on faith. Who is the chosen people of God? It's not based on ethnicity. It's based on belief. He says in verse number 23, and this is a key verse that a lot of people miss, it says in verse 23, "And they also," everybody say the next word with me.
Congregation: If.
If. Now does that say this is for sure going to happen? That's how it's preached all over America and if I have a nickel for every email or every time somebody told me, "Well, Romans 11 says that they're all going to turn to Christ again. All the Jews are all going to turn to Christ. All Israel's coming back. They're all going to get saved." If I had a nickel. They're missing this word here, if. Is salvation available unto them?
Congregation: Yeah, of course.
Yeah, of course, because the Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He says here, hypothetically, he says they also if. He didn't say when and it's for sure going to happen, yes, sir. We're going to go through the whole passage. He says if, "If they abide not still in unbelief shall be graffed in, for God is able to graff them in again." God's able to graff them in if they believe, they'll be graffed in. What happens if they don't believe? Then they're not going to be graffed in. Isn't this pretty simple? Yet people today would look at people that are in unbelief and say they're part of that olive tree. They're God's people. No, they're not. They're broken off. They'll say, "No, you don't get it. We're graffed into them, but it's still them." No, no, no. They're broken off and then we're graffed in. You know who's connected to that tree right now? Believers. It's Christian.
See, when Jesus said Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, that nation is made up of all believers. It's a peculiar people, a holy nation of believers in Christ whether they be Jew or Gentile. When we say replacement or people use the term replacement theology, we're not saying that the Gentiles replaced the Jews. Here's what we're saying. Believers replaced the Jews. Believers are both Jews and Gentiles. 99% Gentiles, 1% Jews, but still, there's a mixture there. We're not saying oh, no, we're fellow heirs with the Jews and the Gentiles who believe in Jesus and no one who believes in Jesus is part of the club. I don't know who doesn't believe in Jesus. Excuse me. Everyone who believes in Jesus is part of the club. If you don't believe in Jesus, you're not part of the group. You're not God's people. Here's what's so weird. People have this cognitive dissonance today, in 2015, in Baptist churches where they'll literally say, "Oh, well, I know the Jews are going to Hell, but they're God's people." Why would God send His people to Hell? That doesn't make sense if they're His people.
I thought the Lord knoweth Him that are His. Everybody listen. "The Lord knoweth them that are His and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." If the Lord knoweth them that are His, how could He say to the people that are His, "People depart from me. I never knew you." Stop and think about that. Does everybody get that? How can you say, "Well, those are His people." The Lord knoweth them that are His, so how is He going to say to those same people, "Depart from me. I never knew you," because guess what? They're not saved and they're not God's people. It's that simple. No one who is unsaved is God's people in the New Testament, period. If you're saved, you're God's people. I don't care what nationality you are. I don't care. Honestly, nationality and so-called race means nothing in the eyes of God. It's meaningless. Okay. He's made all nations of the earth of one blood and it's faith in Christ that sets us apart as His people.
Now what does the Bible say here? If they believe, they'll be graffed in. God's able to graff them in. It's up to them, though, to decide whether they're going to receive Christ. Of course, they're not doing that today, in 2015. The vast majority are not. "For is thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature," meaning the Gentiles, "And were graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches be graffed into their own olive tree?" A lot of people just read verse 24 by itself and say, "See, they're going to be graffed into their own olive tree." No, he just finished saying if. This is what could happen. This is possible, if they believe. That's what people are missing when they take verse 24 out of context from verse 23. 23 is the key to understanding 24, believe it or not. It goes 22, 23, 24 all right. That's how you have to read the Bible. That's why they're numbered, folks. It's to help you not lose your place and jump around. Okay. By the way, we're reading it in order tonight. Have you noticed? Did I skip any verses between 1 and 24? I hope not. I think I'm reading every verse and expounding it according to sound doctrine.
Verse 25, "For I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceits that blindness, in part, is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." Now at the beginning of that verse, when he talks about not being wise in your own conceit, he's saying don't be proud or glorify your nationality. That's what he's saying there because a lot of people would take this and say, "Yeah, you know, we're not these, uh, Jews, you know. We're the Gentiles, yeah," and be proud of ... He's saying it doesn't matter. If you're saved, it's by God's grace. Let him that glory glorieth in the Lord and not be wise in your own conceit or be puffed up and boasting against the natural branches. No, the desire should be for people to be saved. He's saying you're not standing because of your own merit or your own goodness. You're standing by faith and you're there by grace. You don't deserve to be there. In fact, you were brought in from the wild olive tree of the Gentiles.
Now look at the end of verse 25 because this is very important. We've got to go over this. He says that, "Blindness in part," why does he say in part? Because there is a remnant according to the election of grace. It's not a full blindness because every Israelite's not blinded. There are many that are saved. There are many who've not bowed the knee to Baal. There are many who believe in Jesus. Even though it's a small minority, there is that remnant. He says, "Blindness in part has happened unto the Gentiles until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." There is a time frame, everybody pay attention, there is a time frame when blindness in part will no longer be happening to Israel. He says that that time frame is when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Right now, blindness in part has happened unto Israel. We look at Israel today after the flesh, the so-called after the flesh Israel and what do we see? A lot of blindness, rejecting of Jesus, a misunderstanding of their own Old Testament that they don't understand and don't believe.
He says that that blindness in part is going to be there until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, meaning that there's a future time when it will no longer be so. Okay. We're going to talk about when that is because the Bible tells us when that is. Let's keep reading first of all. It says, "And so." Now and so is connecting to what we just ... The word and, right? It's a conjunction. It's connecting to what we just said. He's saying, "Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved." Wouldn't it be fair to say that all Israel shall be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles is come in? Because he's saying, "Blindness in part has happened unto the Jews, unto Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer." Who's the deliverer?
Congregation: Jesus.
Jesus. "And shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is My covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes," and on and on. Let's not go too much further until we define when is fullness of the Gentiles going to be come in? Keep your finger in Romans 11. Flip back to Luke 21. The answers are in the Bible. Compare Scripture with Scripture. Luke 21. Luke 21:24, this is prophetic. This is in the Olivet Discourse. Obviously, there's a shadow fulfillment of this in AD 70, but there's still a future fulfillment of this to come. Those who are what's called preterist would say, "Oh, this already all happened." Wait a minute, in 70 AD, the trumpet did not sound. Jesus Christ did not come in the clouds and gather the elect from the 4 winds of Heaven. That hasn't happened yet. To say that everything in the Olivet Discourse has happened is silly. Look at Luke 21:24. It says, "They shall fall by the edge of the sword." Okay. Talking about Jerusalem because in verse 20, it says, "When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies." Okay.
Look at verse 24, "They shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations," pay attention to this next phrase, "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Don't we have another reference to the same thing that we had in Romans 11? Romans 11 said until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. In Luke 21, he said until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled Jerusalem will be trodden down. Go to Revelation 11. Let's see when that happens. Revelation 11. "Jerusalem shall be trodden underfoot until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." "Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in." Let's look at the Scripture here in Revelation 11. It says in verse number 1, "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod and the angel stood saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them which worship therein.' But the court, which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy city shall they tread underfoot 40 and 2 months. And I will give power unto my 2 witnesses and they shall prophesy 1200 and threescore days clothed in sackcloth.
Now the Bible is saying here that the treading underfoot of Jerusalem will take place starting at the abomination of desolation, okay, up until the end of that 70th week. This is the second half of that week where the 2 witnesses are prophesying and where it's trodden underfoot. Stop and think about this. What happens at the end of the week? We have the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, where Jesus Christ sets up His Kingdom on this earth. If the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled at the end of Daniel's 70th week, okay, as we see here. If you get the timing in Revelation, you see clearly that Jerusalem is trodden underfoot. That's at the abomination of desolation and that it's trodden underfoot for 40 and 2 months, which is 3-1/2 years, until that's when the fullness of the Gentiles will come in according to Luke 21:24. When is it that all Israel shall be saved? When is it that there will no longer be blindness in part upon Israel? This is when Jesus Christ is setting up His Millennial Kingdom, if you get the time frame according to prophecy.
Now go back to Romans 11 and see if that's compatible with Romans 11. Look what it says in Romans 11 because there are so many people who try to spin this into something that it's not, okay. This is what the Bible's actually teaching. It says in verse number 26, "And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written. There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." When is it that all Israel is going to be saved? It's when Jesus sets up His Millennial Kingdom on this earth. That's why it says it's going to be Jesus that comes out of Sion and turns away ungodliness from Jacob. Now what's the next verse say? It says, "For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins." Now what a lot of people will try to spin this as, okay, they'll basically say ... If you would flip over to Matthew 19, Matthew 19. A lot of people will try to spin this as when Jesus Christ comes back to set up His Millennial Kingdom, at that time, all the Israelites are just going to get saved. Basically, all these unsaved Jews are all, when He comes, they're going to see Him coming and they're all going to be like, "Why did we reject You all this time? Where have You been all our lives?" Then they're going to believe on Him.
Now here's why this is false for many reasons. Number 1, there's no record of that in the Book of Revelation at all. Revelation is our primary source for studying Bible prophecy. When we study the Book of Revelation, you don't see anything like that. There's nothing like that. Where is this mass conversion of ... See, they have to go back to some cryptic Scripture from the Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament and try to take Old Testament prophecies and try to bring them forward. Stuff that was talking about the first coming of Christ, like when it says they shall look on Him whom they pierce and everything. Stuff that's already been fulfilled. You can prove that it's already been fulfilled because it says when they look on Him whom they've pierced, it talks about the house of Nathan apart and the house of David apart and the house of Shimei apart and the house of Levi apart. The Israelites have no tribes today. We asked every rabbi, "Do you guys know what tribe you are?" "Nope." "Do you have any tribes?" "No."
They're not part of tribes, so how could they all break out into their tribe? No, at the time of Christ, those tribes did exist, Judah, Benjamin, because Shimei is talking about Benjamin because Shimei was a chief Benjamite in the Old Testament, if you remember the story. David of the tribe of Judah, you got the Levites. See, that Southern Kingdom of Judah was mainly made up of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Those were the 3 main tribes. Yeah, there were stragglers who came down from the Northern Kingdom in the days of Hezekiah, but primarily, that Southern Kingdom of Judah was made up of Benjamin, Judah, and Levi. That's why Paul said, "I'm an Israelite. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin." He was of one of the tribes that had retained its integrity. What happened to the 10 tribes? They mixed with the Samaritans and became polluted and mixed in. You know what? Christ did not consider them Jews or Israelites because what did Jesus Christ say about the Samaritans? He said, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Did He consider the Samaritans of the house of Israel? No because they'd been so mixed in and polluted, He didn't consider them. The word Jew literally comes from not the tribe of Judah, but the Kingdom of Judah, which consisted, primarily, of 3 tribes, Benjamin, Judah, and Levi. Those are the main tribes that it consisted of. They had no tribes, so to take these Scriptures from Zechariah that are talking about the house of David and the house of Shimei and the house of Levi breaking out into groups, no, those groups no longer exist. That was fulfilled at the first coming of Christ. Get out of Zechariah and get in the Book of Revelation where you belong in the New Testament and guess what you're not going to find? Any of the teachings about oh, yeah, mass conversion of Israelites. No, here's what the Bible says. This is very important. Look at Matthew 19:28. "And Jesus said to them, 'Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration," what's another word for the regeneration?
Congregation: Resurrection.
Resurrection. Regeneration means you're being brought back to life. He says, "In the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel." Now look. The answer is so easy. It's so simple. It's as clear and as plain as the nose on your face. Can you see it my friend? It's right here in Scripture. It's not that all of the Christ-rejecting, Christ-hating Jews over in Israel are all just suddenly going to see Jesus and say, "Oh, we believe now." "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them and if they hear not them, neither will they be persuaded the One rose from the dead." Why are we supposed to believe that they're going to reject the word of God, reject missionaries, reject preaching, reject the word of God, I know it, and then they're just going to see Him and just oh, just see and believe. That's what they said to Him when He was on the cross. "Come down from the cross that we may see and believe."
He said, "The Jews require a sign," and He said, "There shall no sign be given unto this wicked and adulterous generation. The sign of the prophet Jonah," He said, "3 days and 3 nights when the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth." That is the sign that they need to believe in, not the sign of Jesus coming in the clouds. It's the sign of His death, burial, and resurrection. It's the gospel that's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It's not Jesus coming on a white horse that's the power of God unto salvation. Wrong. That is a false doctrine. You get saved through the word of God and through believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That is the sign that is given unto them. He said the Greeks require wisdom. The Jews look after a sign. We preach Christ crucified. It's a stumbling block to the Jews, it's foolishness unto the Greeks, but on us, which are saved, it's the power of God. That's the true story, my friend.
Look what it says. Look, the answer's right here, Matthew 19:24. You looking at it? Everybody look at it. Let's read it again. Or I'm sorry, 19:28. "And Jesus said to them, 'Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed Me in the regeneration," think about that, "In the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging," who, "The 12 Tribes of Israel." Hey, everybody, guess who all those Israelites, all those saved Israelites are? They're resurrected from the dead. Is everybody listening? People think how can God fulfill all these promises to Israel that they're going to come back to the land and that He's going to reunite the 12 tribes? He's going to take the stick of Ephraim and the stick of Judah and He's going to join them into one. Wait, how is He going to fulfill all that? He's not done with Israel, my friend. Look, He's done with Christ-rejecting people. Let me tell you something. Here's how He's going to reunite them all in the land and fulfill all His promises. Everybody listening? They're all coming back from the dead. It's called the regeneration. It's called the resurrection and guess when it happens? Before the millennium.
When is it that all Israel shall be saved? At the start of the millennium, when Jesus sits on the throne of His glory. Who are the 12 disciples going to be judging? The 12 Tribes of Israel. Guess what? Those people over in the Middle East today are not 12 tribes. They're just a mass of Jews who have no genealogy and don't even know what tribe they are and think that they're related to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'm sure they are, loosely, just like I am and you are and everybody is. The bottom line is, they are not of Reuben. Show me the tribe of Reuben today. Show me the tribe of Gad. Show me the tribe of Zebulun. You can't. Here's the thing about it. They'll go to Revelation where he lists off the 144,000 and say it's 144,000 Jews. No, it's of 12 tribes that no longer exist. It's the regeneration. It's the Resurrection. Look, does everybody here believe, who here believes that the Rapture, which includes the dead in Christ rising first, the Resurrection, the regeneration, who here believes that the Resurrection takes place before the millennium? Of course. Of course, the Resurrection takes place before the millennium.
If it takes place before the millennium, let me ask you this? How many saved Israelites do you think have ever lived in the history of mankind? We're talking the whole history of them in Egypt, in bondage worshiping the Lord, the whole history of them in the Book of Judges for 400 years. The whole history of them being ruled by David and Saul and Solomon and be ruled by all the different kings and all through history all the way up through the time of Christ. We're talking about millions of people. Guess what? Those people are going to come back in the Resurrection. We're all coming back. Every believer who's ever lived is going to be resurrected. The Bible says we're going to inherit the earth. Guess what part of the earth they're going to inherit? The saved Israelites from throughout history are going to be resurrected and they're going to inherit the Promised Land. Think about it. Guess who's going to rule over those 12 tribes? The 12 disciples and they're going to sit on 12 thrones and they're going to rule over the 12 Tribes of Israel.
It's not that all the Polish people in Israel today are all going to get saved. There's so many problems with that theologically. Number 1, saying they're all going to get saved. That's false because salvation's a personal choice. Oh, God's just going to make them all get saved. No, God doesn't make people get saved. He gives a choice. It's free will. That's the number one problem. Then other people say He's going to kill 2/3 of them and 1/3 of them are going to get saved. What? God just foreordains this exact number that just happens to by their own free will want to get saved, an exact certain number, 1/3. No, wrong, false. Again, that's twisting Scripture from Zechariah that has nothing to do with what we're talking about, just taking some obscure verse from Zechariah, taking that out of context. We can go through Zechariah and prove that those verses don't apply, easily. The thing is, we see here that there's going to be a resurrection of the dead, a regeneration, so yeah, all Israel shall be saved. That's pretty obvious, when God, basically, wipes out everybody at Armageddon, wipes out all the wicked at Armageddon that are there. He's not going to kill everybody in the whole world, but He's going to wipe out everybody that's at Armageddon there.
They're going to be wiped out and He comes with the armies of Heaven following Him on white horses and the meek shall inherit the earth. The Israelites of all the ages that are literally of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Simeon, Old Testament saints of old will inherit the Promised Land and they will be reunited as 12 tribes and there will be 12 thrones and the disciples will sit on them judging the 12 tribes of Israel. That's the true story. You don't have to make up this doctrine about how all these Jews who hate Jesus are just magically going to get saved. They're going to get saved because God's going to put them through stuff in the tribulation and put them through ... That's not how you get saved. You get saved because you believe. You get saved by hearing the word of God and not by seeing a sign. The Jews require a sign. "And there shall no sign be given to them but the sign of the prophet Jonah." He said that's your sign. You want a sign? It's the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
"Come down from the cross that we may see and believe." That's the mentality today. You know who's going to show them stuff that they can believe in? The antichrist. He's going to make fire come down from Heaven. Look, remember in the days of Elijah, Elijah called down fire from Heaven and they're like, "The Lord, He's the God. The Lord, He's the God." These are the same idiots who were worshiping Baal 5 minutes ago. When Elijah stood up and said, "How long halt ye between 2 opinions? If the Lord be God, then worship Him and if it's Baal, then worship him. How long halt ye between 2 opinions?" They're just silent. Ooh, but now we saw fire come down. Ooh. Look, that's not faith. Faith is when you hear the word of God and believe it. You know who's going to make fire come down from Heaven? Read Revelation 13. The antichrist is going to make fire come down. They're going to be just like in the days of Elijah saying oh, this is God. This is the true God. We've seen and believe. No. Faith cometh by hearing that which is not, that which is. It's that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Okay.
Anyway, let's finish up in Romans 11 because I'm out of time. He says, "This is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." God loves them for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here's the thing. God loving you doesn't make you saved and it doesn't make you God's chosen people. It doesn't make you blessed because you know what? God loves a lot of unsaved people. Think about it. Does God only love saved people? I think He loves all kinds of unsaved people. The fact that they're beloved doesn't make them elect, it doesn't make them God's people, and it doesn't make them saved. It doesn't get them to Heaven, it doesn't get them anything. It just gets them love and you know what that love gets them is that if we love people, we're going to give them the gospel and try to win them to Christ.
He said, "They are beloved for the fathers' sakes, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." God's calling on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were elect, they were chosen, and God has never repented of that choice. He never said to them, "Every person who is ever descended from you will be My people no matter what." There are all kinds of criteria that they had to live up to to be God's people, another sermon in and of itself. It says here, "Even so," I'm sorry, verse 30, "For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all." Does that mean that all are going to be saved? No, it's saying that it's available to all. When He says that He may have mercy to all, it's available to all, but they have to believe. That's the criteria.
"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 had known the mind of the Lord or who hath been His counselor or hath has first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen." I hope that helps you with that chapter because it's a chapter that people will just take and pick and choose from. We just read every word of it and I did not wrest and Scripture or twist any Scripture. I just expounded it to you to the best of my ability based on what is actually written and comparing it to other Scriptures just to get the timeline of when is it that all Israel will be saved. It's at the beginning of the millennium when Jesus comes out of Zion and sits on that throne and sets up the Kingdom.
What did He say in Matthew was going to happen? He's going to set up 12 thrones judging the 12 Tribes of Israel. Once you understand that the Resurrection has taken place before that, it makes perfect sense that Israel's not going to be an ... Look, does anybody think Israel is going to be an ungodly place during the millennium with Jesus ruling and reigning there with a rod of iron and with all the resurrected Israelites who've ever lived living there? Look, when Peter, James, and John are running the government over there, do you think it's going to be a wicked place?
Congregation: No.
No, God's going to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. All Israel shall be saved. The sin will be gone over there. Okay. Does that mean that you're just going to have this mass throng of Ashkenazis standing over there looking at Jesus come in the clouds and all of a sudden, they're just like, "Changed my mind, want to get saved." No, that's not what the Bible teaches. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for Your word, Lord, and this is a chapter that's the meat of the word. It's the strong meat of the word. It's the deep things of God, so Father, I hope that it was made understandable to your people tonight, Lord. I tried to make it so simple that even a theologian could understand. Lord, I pray that these things would sink down into our ears and that we would have sound doctrine in these last days. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
