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(upbeat music) - Welcome to our look at Romans chapter 11 and daily drive time
devotions. We're looking together at verses 22 to 32 today. This is a chapter,
Romans 11, that started out talking about the broad sweep of God's plan in human
history, and it's ending up focusing on the very personal issue of our pride.

Remember, yesterday we talked about the fact that pride can be set aside by
remembering that the root supports you, you depend on God, and remembering that
others were broken off for their unbelief. It's not as though any nation, any
group of people has some spiritual privilege before God. We all are privileged
to know him, but none of us are especially privileged.

To deal with pride, there's a third thing you must remember, and it's in verse
22. You have to remember the kindness and the sternness of God. Verses 22 to 24,
consider therefore the kindness and the sternness of God.

Sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in
his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in
unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and
contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more
readily would these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
He talks here about remembering kindness and sternness. To remember only one is
only half the truth.

All stern is a God who accepts no one, but all kindness is a God who accepts
anyone, no matter what they do. Remember both, and you realize what it takes to
have faith in him. Sternness shows me the need of faith, but kindness shows me
the possibility of faith.

Now I know even as I say this, we hate the word sternness. It reminds us of all
the bad pictures anyone has ever had of God. The picture of this teacher with
the ruler ready to whack your hand at the slightest wrong, a God who's just
waiting to throw a lightning bolt.

I looked up some other translations of this verse besides the NIV that we're
looking at, to see if there was maybe a different sounding word that would be
maybe even a little softer. One translation translated this very strict. Another
translated it severe.

I thought I'd look at the message and see what it had to say. The message
paraphrased said ruthless severity. Okay, this is obviously a strong word.

God is kind, and if you accept that kindness, you need not fear, but depend on
yourself. Live a life apart from that kindness, and you cannot expect God to
slide on his holiness. He will not.

He's very clear about that. Remember, the kindness of God and the sternness of
God. When you balance those out, it keeps you from pride.

And Paul says, here's another thing to remember in verses 25 and 26 to keep you
from pride. Remember, God's going to graft them in again. Verse 25, he says, I do
not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers.

And here he's getting to the point of God's work in history. I don't want you to
be ignorant so that you might be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening
in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in.

And so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come from
Zion, from Israel, and he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. Jacob is
another name for Israel.

Verse 27, and this is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.
Paul is saying in these verses, the story is not over yet. God is not finished.

Zechariah 12. 10 in the Old Testament says, and I will pour out on the house of
David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and
they will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as
one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a
firstborn son. The one they have pierced, that's Jesus.

This is a picture of Israel turning to Jesus. And the Lord tells us in these
verses exactly how this will happen. He says, number one, Israel has experienced
a hardening in part.

They've turned away for a time. Number two, that is until the full number of
Gentiles has come in. The full number.

That's all that God has called, obviously, but more to that in just a moment.
And he says, number three, when that happens, then all Israel will be saved.
Now, all Israel saved.

Israel obviously is a nation. Again, he's talking not about every individual
here. He's talking about the nation.

He's not talking about the past here. He's talking about what's going to happen at
that present time. Everyone will still have a choice.

F. F. Bruce has said about this phrase, all Israel.

All Israel is a recurring expression in Jewish literature where it need not mean
every Jew without single exception, but Israel as a whole. So he says, as a
whole, the Jewish people are going to come to faith in Christ. It's great news.

And he says, that will happen when the full number of Gentiles comes in. Now,
what does that mean, the full number comes in? I gotta honestly tell you, I have
no idea.

I have some ideas, but I have no idea of exactly what this means 'cause God
doesn't tell us. I do know that it means that God needs to bring in a number of
Gentiles, and that's the key to his next step in the plan. I don't understand
what that number is.

I don't understand exactly when that number will be reached. I don't understand
God's plan, but I trust it. I don't know, by the way, why he allowed his people,
Israel, to be disobedient for so long before sending Jesus into the world.

And I don't know, by the way, why there are a certain number of Gentiles who
have to come in before his people will again respond. I don't understand all of
that work, but I do trust it. When he says all Israel, I do know, he's talking
about his sweeping trust in God amongst God's chosen people.

Now, many try to tie these verses to Revelation and Daniel and say that all this
will happen at the time of the second coming, and that may be true, but Paul has
no footnote here saying, please see Daniel, or this is about the second coming.
This will happen when God wants it to happen. And the absolute fact is this,
there will be a great outpouring of faith amongst the Jewish people.

It is both within the power of God to restore Israel, and it is within the
purpose of God to restore Israel. So what about right now? What about while we
wait for this, this all Israel to be saved to happen?

Well, right now, Paul says the honest truth is the Jewish people are both the
enemies of God, and they are deeply loved by God. Verses 28 to 32. As far as the
gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account, but as far as election is
concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his
call are irrevocable.

Just as you who are at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a
result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order
that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you, for God
has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on all of them.
And when he talks about enemies on your account, he means God's enemies. He's
not talking about personal enemies or animosity here.

He's talking about God's enemies. Why? Because God is trying to reach the world
with the good news, and anyone who stands in the way of that because of his or
her own inner conflict has set themselves up as an enemy of God.

Not our enemies. He says there's going to be a great faith that emerges amongst the
Jewish people. If that's to be true, where is that faith going to come from?

It's not going to come from a Gentile treating a Jew as an enemy. It's going to come
from someone who has enough love to share. How are they going to hear without a
preacher?

So don't act as if the Jewish people are rejected, and there's nothing you can
do to change that. Don't act as if you, if you're not a Jewish man or woman, are
in some special category. We all need the good news.

And he says they will receive mercy. Not automatically. That's not some
automatic thing that happens.

This is going to be willingly, because they put faith in Jesus Christ. That's the
only way to receive God's mercy. The most anti-Semitic action I could think of
would be to not offer the greatest gift, God's love, through Jesus to the Jewish
people.

Now who knows? Your sharing of faith with a Jewish friend, a Jewish neighbor,
might be one of the great things that God uses to trigger this great outpouring
of faith. And who knows if you are a Jewish man or woman, your acceptance of
faith in Jesus Christ might be one of the things that God uses to trigger this
great outpouring of faith amongst your people.

Look at verse 32 closely, because it gives some great insight into God's plan.
God has bound all men over to disobedience so that all may have mercy. Why would
God allow the hearts of his chosen people to become hardened?

So that, he's saying in these verses, they would clearly see their need. You
see, it's human nature. I think we all see this.

We have to think we are close enough to God to make it into heaven. And God is
saying here, I want all to see, both Jew and Gentile, that we are far away from
him. We are in deepest need of a Messiah.

And when so he says, the way I've worked in human history is to show all that
they are bound over to disobedience, that they're in need of me. That means
we're all in the same boat and that boat is sinking. That boat, if the boat's
sinking, you shouldn't worry that maybe your half is a little bit more
underwater than the other person's half.

We're all in the same boat and the boat is sinking. It's because of our
disobedience. And we all have the same need, need for faith in Jesus Christ.

And unless you realize how rebellious your heart is, there is no chance for you
to receive mercy. And so God works in human history to make all of us aware of
our basic, our inherent rebellion against him. Well, what is the thing that
keeps any individual, any nation from receiving the mercy of God?

It's always a self-righteous, a self-confident attitude. I don't need help. I
can handle this myself.

I'm able to handle all the problems of life on my own. I don't really need God.
It's good to know he's there for other people, but I don't need him.

Any individual or any nation with that attitude cuts themselves off from
receiving the mercy of God. And without mercy, there's no way that he can ever
fulfill his plan for our lives. There's no way for us to have a relationship
with him.

This is about mercy. If I'm going to drop my pride, I've got to focus on God's
mercy. So let's focus on it right now in a few minutes in prayer.

Just say to him, God, thank you for your mercy, your incredible mercy. I am
grateful that you have forgiven me and shown me your mercy, or that you will
forgive me and show me your mercy if I'll only ask right now. God, because of
your mercy, I have so many things I do not deserve.

So I pray that in your mercy, I would quit trying to deserve the life that
you've given me, that instead I would enjoy it and I would share it. Release me
from the burden of trying to deserve what cannot be deserved and help me to
enjoy the grace, the joy of receiving a gift that's greater than any other.
Thank you, God.

Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy. In your name I pray, amen. Tomorrow we'll end
our look at Romans chapter 11.

We'll look together at some great verses, verses 33 to 36.