God Has Not Rejected His People

In one paragraph

This message was the closing installment of a series Pastor Eric has been working through on Romans 9-11, sometimes called God's position paper on Israel. He came back to a section he had skipped, chapter 11, and worked through its two controlling questions: has God rejected his people, and have they fallen beyond recovery? The answer to both, he argued, is an emphatic no. Pastor Eric opened by...

Read together

1. Romans 9-11 the overarching passage for the sermon series, described as God's position paper on Israel
2. Romans 10:9-10 the central point of the chiastic construction: confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and you will be saved
3. Romans 11:1 rhetorical question asking whether God has rejected his people, answered with 'may it never be'
4. Romans 11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, used as the first main section heading
5. Romans 11:2-4 the passage about Elijah pleading against Israel, and God's response that He had kept 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal
6. Romans 11:5 at the present time there is a remnant according to God's gracious choice
7. Romans 11:6 if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace
8. Romans 11:7-8 what Israel sought it did not obtain; God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not
9. Romans 11:9-10 David's words that their table would become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block
10. Romans 11:11 they did not stumble so as to fall completely; by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous
11. Romans 11:12 if their transgression is riches for the world, how much more will their fulfillment be
12. Romans 11:13-14 Paul speaking to Gentiles as apostle to the Gentiles, magnifying his ministry to move his countrymen to jealousy and save some of them
13. Romans 11:15 if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead
14. Romans 11:16 if the first piece of dough is holy the lump is also; if the root is holy the branches are too
15. Romans 11:17-18 wild olive branches grafted in among the natural branches; do not be arrogant, the root supports you
16. Romans 11:19-21 branches broken off so that Gentiles could be grafted in; they were broken off for unbelief, you stand by faith, do not be conceited but fear
17. Romans 11:22 behold the kindness and severity of God; continue in His kindness otherwise you will be cut off
18. Romans 11:23-24 if they do not continue in unbelief they will be grafted back in; God is able to graft them in again
19. Romans 11:25 the mystery that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in
20. Romans 11:26 all Israel will be saved; the deliverer comes from Zion and will remove ungodliness from Jacob
21. Romans 11:27 God's covenant with them when He takes away their sins
22. Romans 11:28 from the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake; from God's standpoint beloved for the sake of their fathers
23. Romans 11:29 the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable
24. Romans 11:30-31 Gentiles once disobedient now shown mercy because of Jewish disobedience; Jews now disobedient so that they may also be shown mercy
25. Romans 11:32 God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all; used to address the universalist heresy
26. Romans 11:33-36 closing doxology: oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; from him and through him and to him are all things

Talk about it

1. The pastor pointed to Romans 10:9-10 as the central point of the whole three-chapter construction, saying that what comes out of your mouth reflects what is in your heart. What does that idea challenge or confirm in your own life right now?
2. Elijah told God he was the only one left, and God answered that He had kept 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Have you ever felt like you were standing alone in your faith, and what did that experience teach you?
3. The pastor said the Jewish people hoarded the blessing of God rather than being the light to the nations they were called to be. In what ways might we as individual Christians or as a church do the same thing today?
4. The sermon described how Stephen Olsham's Christian friends made him angry before they eventually drew him toward Christ, and the pastor connected that to Paul's language about making Israel jealous. What does it look like in practice to live in a way that provokes that kind of jealousy?
5. The pastor said warnings like 'be careful lest you fall' are not to be skipped over even by those who hold to eternal security, and he closed by saying all good theology should lead to doxology. How do humility and hope work together in the way you actually live out your faith day to day?