Israel's Condition Explained - Part 1
Romans 11:11-24 · Roger Henderson · May 13, 2007
Romans (2005-07), No. 82
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492602637721

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well, let's go ahead then, and we have, there's actually a fair amount to do this morning. We actually have to, we're going to kind of review last week a little bit with the remnant, and then we're going to go ahead and cover verses 11 through 15 in chapter 11.

So let's, let's have a word of prayer then. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. We thank you for your word. We thank you that we can study it. And you've given it your spirit to guide us into the truth, Father. Thank you for our time. In Christ's name. Amen.

Well, if you were here last week or you happened to listen to the tape from last week, there were lots of questions about the remnant, the remnant of Israel. And actually, I hadn't been aware, but Vern pointed out to me during the week that there was a paper that he had put out. I'm not sure exactly. It's not actually a date on this, but I think it was this year, I think, possibly. That kind of, I think, actually helps part of the discussion that we had last time. I think part of the discussion that we had was, what is Paul addressing in verses 1 through 6? And we're going to go through that in a second.

But part of the confusion, I think, was the fact that there always has and always will be a physical remnant for Israel. And Vernon goes over that and offers some verses that talk about the physical remnant. And then the spiritual remnant is what I think Paul is addressing in these verses. And I think they have to be distinguished. There's always going to be a physical remnant. But the spiritual remnant is addressed by Paul here. We're going to go through these verses. So with that in mind, and go through this. This is really quite good. Hopefully we answered some of the questions that were asked last week.

So basically, in kind of going back to the first six verses here, Paul says, I say then, God has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be. For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew.

I kind of packaged the first verse and then the A part of verse 2, and I kind of offered a little explanation, if you will. Paul is basically identifying himself. He is an Israelite. In fact, he's an Israelite of Israelites. His lineage is impeccable. And he's living proof that God has not rejected his people. Paul also, as we know, is also a believer in the Church Age.

And that's part of where the difficulty comes. Your head gets hurt in here after a while. So, and then the other point is that the believers in the church age, there's no distinction. If a person of Jewish origin is saved in the church age, he's part of the church, both Jew and Gentile. So there is, in a sense, the remnant goes hidden, if you will. I mean, God is still saving his people via the church, but there's a physical remnant that goes on, but the spiritual remnant is identical you know, Jew and Gentile are alike.

And that was part of the confusion. There was a lot of questions that kind of went around that. We went around that several loops, several times in different directions. And I was I'll go back and listen to the tape. I just didn't have time and or the, you know, on the web. So hopefully that's going to help.

And then Paul also offers as we go to the actually in Galatians, it talks about it points out in Galatians 26 through 28, how there's no difference between. Let's just read that. If you turn to Galatians chapter 3, starting in verse 26, it says, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. So the point is, it's faith in Christ Jesus that makes you a son of God. For you all were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to a promise. So Abraham's promise is effective to Jew and Gentile alike, ones who are saved.

But there is a distinction between the physical nation of Israel, God's carrying that on, and people are being saved out of that. So that's part of the distinction that Paul's making. He identifies himself as being saved of Jewish heritage, but he's truly saved.

So basically in this section, Paul goes back and he says, or do you not know what the scriptures say in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel. Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left and they are seeking my life. But what is the divine response to him? I have kept for myself, actually, it looks like I cut 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Paul. So basically here, Paul's recounting, and this is history basically, about Elijah's time.

And this is a remnant, a believing remnant, but of course these wouldn't be part of the church. And they're looking forward to the cross, as Abraham did and others did, But this is a remnant that were true to God, that believed the God of the Old Testament, and they look forward to the Messiah coming. So they're saved, but not part of the church. So first Paul talks about himself as an Israelite, a remnant, being saved, and he's part of the church.

Then he goes back and says there's a remnant historically. And then he goes on here in verses 5 and 6, and he says, in the same way then, there's also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's grace's choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. So in this section, Paul says that there's a remnant of the present time.

Actually, I hadn't quite looked at that one last week. The word for time there is this kairos. It's not Kronos, which is like your watch, Kronos time. It's talking about a fixed time period. And boy, I thought that kind of helped a bit. He's saying there's a remnant in this fixed time period. And the remnant that is being saved is being saved into the church.

A remnant in Paul's day could not be separate from the church, since there's Jew and Gentile being saved. And I kind of thought of Apollos. And if you look at, in fact, even prior to Apollos, like John the Baptist, his whole ministry, He was awakening Israel for the coming Messiah. So they exercised some belief, but until they believed in Christ, they weren't saved a part of the church. So there were people, as we see in the gospel accounts, that were godly Jews that were looking toward what God had planned. And John the Baptist was part of that ministry.

You think of Anna and Simeon, thank you. They were on that line, too. So hopefully, that's the first six verses. I kind of put it in three chunks. And hopefully, that addresses some of the questions. I think that some things are being said. There is a continuing line, a physical line of Israel. And there's a spiritual Israel. And we have to distinguish between those two.

Any more questions or thoughts on that? And you're allowed to ask more questions. OK. All right. OK. Well, if that's the case, then we'll just we'll move on to the verses for today. OK. Can I get someone to read these verses? Maybe I'll pick on Bonnie, since she's close. You can read them from the overhead if you want.

I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be. But by their transgression, salvation hath come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now, if their transgression is richest for the world, and their failure is richest for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch, then, as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them, for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

So this section kind of, in a way, carries on Paul's great desire for his people and also shows a great blessing. And this is the incredible thing with God. He's able to take disobedience or stumbling by Israel and turn it into great blessing for the world and for the Gentiles. And we're going to see that he makes some wonderful statements in here. We're going to go through each piece by piece.

Okay, so the first verse in verse 11, I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be. So this is one of these statements, we've seen this several times. to use a phraseology in a structure that demands a negative response. He says, they surely, let me expand a little bit, did not stumble so as to fall. May it never be.

He's pointing out that the stumbling was reversible. They stumbled, but God has a plan that stumbling is not a final situation. Stumble so as not as to fall. Some of the words here kind of show that. The stumble is the cause to stumble. It's the idea that you might, you know, you think with kids, one kid tripping another, puts his foot out and his brother or sister falls over and whacks them. Cause to stumble.

You know, Israel caused their own... they stumbled. And so the question is, what did Israel... I had that phrase right. How did Israel stumble? Excuse me. How did Israel stumble? What did they stumble over? And if you've been here in the past, we've covered that. This is sort of a review. What did they stumble? What was the stumbling event or stumbling... If I say much more, I'll give it away. You guys all know this too. They didn't exercise faith. That's certainly part of it. Let's look at Romans. We've been here before. Can I get someone to read in Romans, let's see here, let's start actually in verse 30, Romans 9, 30-33. Yeah, 9, starting in verse 30-33.

Who shall say then that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they saw it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at the stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, my name is Zion, a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.

And whosoever believeth on him shall not perish in it. Right, right. So they stumbled over the Lord Jesus Christ. They stumbled over the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not have this man rule over us. Many Jews are very vehement about Christ. This man will not rule over us. They challenge Him constantly. I mean, that's really, I always think about during that time, their pride was just, even though they had all of this information in the Old Testament, they just, their own pride couldn't let them live without the law. Exactly.

And they kind of looked at, well, if this man comes, our whole system's going to fall, our whole legal counting every jot and tittle of the law is all going to fall apart and we're not going to be the guys that are dealing out the directions. And that seems to be part of it too. So that they stumbled over Christ. That was the thing that Israel stumbled over. That's good. So the contrast here is with this word fall. They stumbled so as not to fall. And the idea is to fall morally or spiritually.

And there's a verse that we can look at here, too, in 1 Corinthians 10. Hank, can I have someone read verses 6 through 8? Now, these things happen as is usual for us. do not crave evil things, as they also craved, and do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, that evil sat down, and evil drank, and stood up and played. Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell. Well, you know, if you go back and look at numbers there, where this is referring to, it talks about the fact that they took up Baal worship.

They went the opposite direction. God says this, they went the other direction. And so they fell. In this case, God took their lives. He physically took their lives. So the contrast here, that Israel stumbled so as not to fall. This is not irrevocable. It can be reversed. By God's grace, it will be reversed. And that's in a future time, but God's going to, he has not forgotten Israel and he's going to, he's going to save Israel. Go ahead, Bob.

Roger, a good verse, I think, to summarize the entire unsaved universe is 1 Corinthians 1.23, and it deals with that conceptually, that we preach Christ crucified under the Jews, a stumbling block. Excellent. And under the Gentiles, cool weakness. Excellent. You kind of remember that, the Jews stumbling. I know that's not right. It is. Well, you're always sharing with us. And I have the same.

We both work in where your academic current credentials or something. You might come into the job. They look at that first and then think, well, whether I'll, you know, be your friend, so to speak. You know, if you know what degrees do you have, what you know. And that's a stumbling block.

That's what the Gentile nations, the Jews, they stumbled over Christ, whereas the Gentiles, it's all about wisdom and knowledge and all that kind of stuff. And as Margaret was saying, it's all based on human pride, is it not? Because the Jew is proud about his or her tradition, right? Right. They're pleasing God by their own self-righteousness, whereas the Gentiles' pride is in their own perception of what really truth is all about.

Right, and I can figure that out, and I can know that, and you can't tell me that otherwise. I'm an independent entity, and I can think and move, and that was exactly me before I was saved. Exactly that position. Go ahead. Like the Messianic Jew movement. where they're just holding on so much to the Jewish tradition, and they set themselves apart. They want to be set apart from other Christians. I know. And where do all these verses fit into them? You know, neither Jew, nor Gentile, nor Greek, nor... That's their pride. They still want their... Exactly. ...to be set apart. I know it is sad to see that movement.

Here you have Jews that are saved, but what happens is, it's sort of like what we find here. You're saved by grace through faith, and then you want to go back under the law again. Well, the Christian law. Now you can't do that, and you can't do that, and it's all... And the Jews kind of do a similar thing. They go back and pull Mosaic traditions back in, and they're going to have a different body of believers. And the Lord says, no, that's not what it's about at all. So we both, you know, both Jew and Gentile err in different ways. But I've been taught things and I was knee high. Jews will have a second chance. Oh, absolutely. That's exactly what these verses are going to tell you. In fact, we're going to see that very much so, that God is so gracious that he's going to save Israel. That's his plan and purpose. So then the last statement here is that the stumbling by Israel will not be permanent.

So then we go to the second part of the verse. But by their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. And we've seen this idea of jealousy has come up before. I think Bob covered some of those verses before. But it's going to come back again. And it's jealousy in a good sense. So I kind of cut this into pieces and tried to do like subject, verb.

The has come is kind of an implied verb here. Salvation has come. It's come to the Gentiles. And it's come by the transgression of the Israelites. And this transgression is the idea of a falling beside. And actually, let's look at that Galatians passage. It's a falling beside from uprightness and truth. And in Galatians, I'll go ahead and read this one.

Galatians 6 verse 1 says, Brethren, if any man is caught in a trespass, and that's our word, transgression, trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, lest you be tempted. So it was a trespass, a transgression. They didn't exorcise. God presented the person of Christ, and he told them it was by faith, and they didn't want that.

And it says the last modify here is to make them jealous. So salvation has come to the Gentiles by the transgressions of Israel to make them jealous. And this make jealous is this idea to provoke to jealousy. And it's actually, we've looked at it a little bit before, it's jealousy, it's to stir up desire. It's not jealousy in the sense of, you know, like we think of jealousy. You might be jealous of someone's having a car or some possession. It's not that kind of jealousy. It's to motivate them, to get them to, you know, to wake them up. Say, hey, don't you see?

It's interesting, I don't know whether you follow, I listen to talk radio more than I probably should. I read this last week about, I listen to Dennis Prager sometimes. He's an interesting gentleman. He comes and speaks, and his conservative views I like. He's interesting in his theology. He's a Jew, but he likes Christians, and he understands to some level what Christians are talking about. But he still kind of clings on to his Jewish view of the world or whatever, but it's just interesting.

He was asked, I think Bonnie told me, someone asked him, well, I'm not sure how much. You tell everybody, I'm sorry I'm messing up here if I tell it. She was Jewish and she wanted to become more orthodox and she wanted to know how, for example, kosher certain companies were better than others and she didn't quite know which one she should stick to and how many of the laws and how much Jewishness did she need to please God. And didn't Dennis say, well I know what the Christians or whatever, but I want to know how much faith.

And the Lord told us how much faith it was. It's that little mustard seed. That's how much faith it is. It's interesting. I love scripture because you see that the world plays out what scripture tells us. It plays it out. And you get to look at it and say, wow, yes, how much faith. That's, you know, Lord. So it is interesting. It is very interesting. So this stirring up is that God is a good thing.

And actually, let's see, did we read 10 and 19? I guess we didn't. Let's look at that just for a second. I'll get off track here. In verse 19, it says, but I say, surely, you know, this is talking about, let's just go back here a little bit. It says, let's go back to 17. So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the words of Christ.

But I say, surely, have they never heard? Have they? Indeed, they have. Their voice has gone out into all the earth and all their words to the ends of the world. But I say, surely, Israel did not know, did they? At the first Moses said, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation without understanding will I anger you. So God desired to stir up Israel by the Gentiles.

It's kind of hard to see that. It doesn't seem like there's too many I guess part of it is having contact with Jewish folks. That's part of it. I don't see a lot of that. It's not that they kind of ignore. I don't know. I guess I don't have a personal view on that.

Maybe it is, though. Maybe they do. Well, Scripture says that God is doing that. You know, you do run into these people who are Jewish, and it's really interesting because they want to ask us questions. Because, but I don't even know if they know why they want to ask us the questions. I mean, you know, it's like something that's in there, and they'll say, well, what about this? And it's like they have this innate desire to know, but they don't even realize, I don't know how to describe it. You see that. You really do see that. They have this desire to know what it is about God, but they, It's almost like they don't realize it's in there. It's a subconscious thing. I don't know how to describe it.

Yeah. Yes. I'm Bob. I was just going to add to what Margaret's saying. My reaction with a lot of Jewish people in the academic community, I've found a more intense interest in why I believe what I believe I do. And by the way, that's that's it. That's neat. Let's pray for the last day. That's neat. Margaret's right. The Jew is more interesting. Not necessarily seeking as much, maybe, but at least more interesting. So that's interesting. Well, that's that's neat. That's neat.

Yeah. They don't even realize they until they realize that we're Christians. Right. And then they have. It's like pretty soon they have these questions. Right. They really do want to know. Right. Yeah. That's neat. I mean, just briefly, we had a dinner with a Jewish man and his wife, a very prominent academic, internationally recognized person in Boston before Christmas, and I'm heading back to Boston actually to do a CME course there in a couple of weeks, and he's now invited me to his home for dinner that evening. So it's somebody I don't know really that well, but I found it because his wife was intensely interested. Wow, yeah, that's just the most, I mean, praise the Lord. Cool. Anyway, but that's one of many, many examples. Yeah, that's neat. God's written something, something there. It is. No, right. Well, that's great. That's great. Okay.

So now verse 12, now if their transgression is riches, if their transgressions is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fulfillment be? A little bit, yeah, I found it when you first read that, a little bit, it reads a little bit hard, but when you start looking at it a little bit and kind of try to break it down, the first kind of clause there is their transgression, And is is sort of an implied verb. Their transgression is riches for the world. And this transgression is, I think we had that, that's the same word we had from before, falling beside, from uprightness to truth. And then their failure is riches for the Gentiles. So kind of two statements here, and this is a failure is a decrease, denotes a loss. So it's interesting, he mentions two things about Israel, their transgressions and their failure, both wind up being blessings for the rest of the world, basically.

Riches for the world and riches for Gentiles. Transgression is just basically a rejection of Christ. He's amplifying. He started up earlier, the stumbling. They stumble sometimes, they fall. So the transgression is right. It's not a permanent separation from God. In fact, actually, do I have a verse? Actually, we had a verse before. That was a verse back on transgressions.

Yeah, that was the Galatians 6.1 passage.

So, riches here is spiritual riches. Possessed by God and actually in Romans chapter 2. Let's look at that for a second And Romans chapter 2 verse 4 says Do you or do you think lightly of the riches and kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads to repentance? So just incredible. God is able to take the transgressions, the stumbling of Israel, and provide it as blessing and riches for the world and for the Gentiles.

It seems like this statement is kind of tacked on at the end. How much more will their fulfillment be? So the question is, and fulfillment is the idea to that which has been completed. So what do you think this fulfillment is referring to? And it's possible there's more than one, I know. And looking at it, studying it a little bit, it seemed like it was, one was probably the most obvious thing. When the promises are completed for the Jews.

Okay. That's kind of, that's exactly where I was headed to. I mean, you think, well, it's, you know, right now they, they're in a stumbled state. They're, you know, they're not, the Jews, quote, are not making, A few are being saved out, but the majority of Jews are still rejecting Christ.

So the fulfillment when Christ returns. And so I think in the Millennial Kingdom, I was kind of thinking about the fact that, just thinking about the wonderful things in terms of the nation of Israel. Christ will have David's throne in Jerusalem. All the promises that they heard in the Old Testament will all be fulfilled in Christ. The kingdom will be set up, nations will be coming to Israel to say, wow, you know God.

Incredible. The tables are so turned around. So Roger, what's your perception of that time? I think the scripture indicates that the law will be written in their hearts, right? Is that a response by active faith or is that God's resurrection and all Israel will be saved? Well Bob, you're going to be teaching that verse. Isn't that a good... I couldn't. I couldn't. I was thinking that I said always will be saying, which I think is which is a wonder, which is a tremendous verse.

But, you know, there's some may slightly difference of opinion on how that will be accomplished. And, you know, who's all involved in that? Well, it seems like that, you know, The law being written in the heart, you're back to grace, the church age has ended, right? And now you're in a different dispensation, if you want to call it that.

And God's operating with... Well, we think there will be sin in the millennia. Exactly. Satan is bound, right? But sin is still there. But the nation now is kind of... in a sense, quote-unquote, legally bound, because the law has been written in the hearts of... Is that the law of Christ, then?

Is that... I mean, it must be, but yet... Anyway, I'll have to... I haven't... I have not studied it out, so I'm not... I actually was more truthful when I said... Go ahead. One thing about the fulfillment of that millennial kingdom is that it also says that they will not be teaching another person. That's a good point. Yeah, no man. Yeah, that's good. Right. Bob's gonna have a tough assignment. Sure. Okay. There are lots of Jews out there who have zero faith. Absolutely. And they're not included in this? Or are they included in this? I believe when it says this phrase here, how much more will their fulfillment be? And I agree.

So at this point in time, Paul's writing of this, right? There are some Jews that are part of the church. Paul's one of them. and there are vast company of other Jews that are not part of the church. Well, not when Paul was writing, that was my point earlier, much earlier on, and your head gets a little bit, you know. Okay. heritage tradition, they have zero faith. They claim Israel as their homeland, but they have no relationship with God at all.

And when we were talking several weeks back, we made a distinction between All Israel is not Israel. And that's the same thing that came up here in these first six verses in 11, is that Paul kind of goes through and he says, well, I'm an Israelite and I was saved, saved by God's grace, and I'm part of the body of believers, the church, which is composed of Jew and Gentile. So from Paul's day, from Pentecost until the rapture, every Jew that is saved is part of the church. Right, but there is this physical remnant of Jew that goes on, and we see it today, and they are devout, very devout, but they are not saved. But there are some who are not devout at all.

I've simplified this in my own thinking by saying there are three kinds of Jews. There's the Orthodox Jew who's very, very traditional in every aspect of the Jewish faith. There's secondly, the Jew who claims the land and the holidays, right? That's most of the Jews, I think, in this country. Then there's a third that could care less about anything. They're atheists. I mean, basically, they come out of the Jewish race, but there's no other claims. I mean, they basically have denied. I mean, that's oversimplification.

Well, you almost could put that in Christianity, too. Because a lot of people say they're Christians, right? I go to church, I go to Mass, I do this and that, but have they trusted Christ as their Savior? Many times you don't know. So there is that remnant of Israel, unsaved, but devout, undevout, whatever, but they're still outside outside of God. They're not part of the body of Christ.

But when the Millennial Kingdom starts, then we have this whole new ballgame, a whole new regime, right? Well, the players are right. The church is gone. I love Hal's chart. You've got the two people groups left. You've got the Gentiles, the unsaved Gentiles, and the unsaved Jews. But right before that, God miraculously has 144,000 evangelists, and a tremendous number are saved going into the Millennial Kingdom. In fact, it says all the living Jews are saved that go into the Millennial Kingdom.

But see, that's the thing. The Jews, but it doesn't distinguish. It just says Jews. And so I really think that when it's talking about Israel, it's all the Jewish race. They are the chosen people, even if they don't believe. alive. Yeah, I mean, yeah, when they talked about because it doesn't distinguish between right about Jews, right, and not develop. Yeah, it just says Jews.

Yeah. It's quite unbelievers. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, They don't believe anything. They think the whole Old Testament is a fairy tale.

Yes. No, I agree. I agree. They don't believe any of it. But they're still Jews. Right. But that verse does not distinguish. No. We are devout Jews and these are just Jews by race. The verse above will cover all Israel will be saved. It's not going to help. It doesn't distinguish. The same thing can be said about Christians Christian meaning, I'm not a Jew, I'm not a Muslim. Right, exactly. Exactly. You're right. And that's exactly right.

We call ourselves a Christian nation. We were in England for five years and they consider themselves a Christian nation too, which is really interesting. They have less... The English consider them a Christian nation, but boy, it's pretty dark. Exactly, exactly. It's pretty sad. It's pretty sad.

But what was wonderful, I was saved in England. So I mean, for me, it was a wonderful place. So, so that's one of the things. So even among all that darkness, there is still, you know, so anyway, some good questions. And Bob's, I guess, all straight. No, I just pulled his leg here. But actually, the Holy Spirit is right. But actually, that's a real important thing.

Some people, when it says, all Israel will be saved, you have to say, well, what does that mean? And Vernon actually has offered his take on that. And there are various different opinions. But going into the Millennial Kingdom, as Jim has pointed out, there will only be believers.

Go ahead. I always get concerned. Okay, you take Downs Prager, who is a believing Jew. Well, be careful. Believing in what? Believing that he's a Jew. Okay, believing he's a Jew. So he dies before Christ returns. He's not around for the month. Is he still saved?

And that's where there's some difference of opinion. Some people believe when it says all Israel will be saved, it's retroactive. You have a hard time finding a lot of scripture that says that's the case. In fact, I don't know if you can find any scripture that says that's the case. Although we have the Old Testament saints. That's true. That's true. But they had faith. Exactly. You know, does a person in today who has faith in tradition or in whatever is that that's not faith and faith in the Messiah, coming Messiah.

So this whole section seems to be the context of Romans 9, 10 and 11. We started out in 9 and 10 talking about how the Jews stumbled over their own self righteousness, and that they couldn't they couldn't accept God's righteousness. And so a righteous Jew now has to be saved because that's the only way to attain God's righteousness. Because if they're still following their own laws, that's still their own self-righteousness.

It doesn't accept Christ. And so that's what Baldwin's talking about. He comes over several different ways, seven approaches. We better move on here. OK, so now he's going to make a short little interlude here. He's going to say, but I'm speaking to you who are Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles. And then actually, the last part of this verse really fits better with 14. In fact, actually, it kind of explains all packed together with 14. So I'm just going to cover the, so who's Paul addressing here? And there are a couple of possibilities.

Gentiles in general, is this all the Gentiles out there as his time, or was he talking to Gentile believers? I don't know whether it's... I don't know. I would say Gentile believers, because Gentile can, a Gentile unbeliever can be used to move the Jews of Galilee. Okay, that's it. And there's some different opinions here. Some think, well, he would have said brethren, possibly, if that was the case. No, I don't know. I wasn't sure that I think there's a couple of possibilities. I'm not sure we can.

He says, I'm an apostle of the Gentiles. And there's some wonderful verses. For this I was appointed as a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying. As a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth. And then the one in Acts is talking about Paul and Barnabas. And this is a perfect case.

They went to the Jews, spoke out boldly and said, it is necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. So God was faithful to his people. Since you repudiated it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles." So God was reluctant to do this. This wasn't His plan. His plan was not to have Israel stumble, but they did. And He brought blessing in spite of that.

So now this, I magnify my ministry, really fits better with the first part of 14, or with all of 14. I magnify my ministry if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. So once again, Paul's heart, here he is again. It sounds a little boastful maybe at the beginning, but I think in the context, I magnify my ministry. And it looks like it's kind of conditional, but this is what's called a first-class condition, since or assumed to be true. I magnify my ministry, and we'll explain that in just a second. sense or in view of the fact that I might move to jealousy this stirring up my countrymen, stirring up my fellow countrymen, and save some of them. He wants them saved. And we know that from the previous two chapters. And magnify is this word, doxa is a root, to magnify, to extol, to praise. I don't think Paul is boasting here.

God is being glorified as Paul's fellow countrymen are moved or stirred up and are saved. So he's saying that that ministry is a glorious ministry. And he says it's my ministry, but we might say that it's our ministry here at Holly Hills to show people their identification with Christ. And that's a glorious ministry. So I don't think he's bragging here. He's just saying that's a wonderful thing when people are saved. Okay. Okay.

For if their rejection is reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? So I kind of flip this around. What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Actually, let's just kind of hold that thought. Let's go to the second one here. I probably should have it the other way.

If their rejection is reconciliation from the world, And both these phrases sort of have like a conditional, and you think, well, is that if? Is there any conditional aspect to that? And there's really not. Both these are the first class conditioning again. So it's really the rejection of Israel resulted in the reconciliation of millions of people in this world.

And their acceptance, and we're going to cover that. Let's look at the word acceptance here. It's either receiving, to receive something. And you could read that, their acceptance will be life from the dead. And the rejection is a cast away. So I thought Weiss did a pretty good job here. It says, for in view of the fact, so that's that positive if condition, for in view of the fact that the repudiation or rejection results in the world's reconciliation, what will the receiving of them result if not life from the dead? So I think, once again, it's pointing to the fact of Israel being saved, the first part of that. when the 144,000 evangelists are out there, many will receive life from the dead.

Okay, and then I had one last chart, and this is a summary that Hal did back in 78, two years ago, pretty incredible. I was amazed, this is a personal thing, I've known Hal for a long time, and Hal had mentioned this before, he said, incredible. A lot of stuff I did, I look back and it wasn't all that bad. I mean, it's sort of like, you know, you kind of think, well, I just, which, you know, I don't know, it's just kind of interesting. So it's really cool. I thought this is still very, very appropriate and very wonderful.

Israel is being provoked to jealousy by the Gentiles. Israel has stumbled, but has not fallen irrevocably. Through Israel, the sin of unbelief, sin of unbelief, salvation has come to the Gentiles and provoked Israel to jealousy, and great riches and blessings to all nations when Israel is saved. I don't know when Margaret was mentioning that. Curiosity or something. Maybe it's jealousy. I don't know. That could be. It doesn't seem like it. It could be. But it's like a subconscious thing.

In fact, even this one scientist, and he even said, she has always been, and he used the word jealous, actually, she's always been jealous of people who had a strong faith. Interesting. that when we were having this conversation, and she kept asking questions. And he said, you know, she's always been jealous of someone with a strong faith. Interesting. Interesting.

Yeah. Well, I think there's sort of a, you know, you know, within yourself, I mean, sometimes people are putting on an outward persona for whatever reason. But you know, deep down, do you have that? Do you have that? Sure. Have you been assured? Are you assured of where you stand with God?

I was just going to reflect for a moment on how much the grace of the Lord has shown us by showing us the Old Testament example of belief by legality and self-righteousness. It takes us a long time to learn the old man and the belief in self, doesn't it?

It does. And Israel has done us Gentile believers a great favor, have they not? Absolutely. Just think, if God had developed this whole scenario in a different way, would our salvation be as lively? No. Or it could be if he decided it to come. But I mean the issue is, Think of the Bible being the Lord's Old Testament, right? They're given as an example.

I think it's the Greek word tupos, an example for us to not go that direction. Okay, well let's close in prayer then. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. Thanks for your word. We thank you for our time this day. In Christ's name, Amen.