Trinity Church, 1589 Hwy 174, Edisto Island, SC 29438
12th Sunday After Pentecost, August 23, 2020

Romans 11:25-36 Sermon Notes - With Thanks to John Stott
Intro - What about the Jewish people? Will they saved?
Context - Avoid Arrogance and Conceit

Romans 11:18 - Do not be arrogant
Romans 11:25 - Lest you be wise in your own conceits,

Romans 11:29 - For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Irrevocable - no regret, no changing his mind.

Romans 11:1 - I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!
So how does St. Paul explain this apparent contradiction?

Three major reasons why God has not rejected the Jewish People:

The Past - A Remnant - vs. 1-10

Romans 11:1-5 - I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli'jah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 "Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have demolished thy altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." 4 But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al." 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Jewish People who are Believers - a remnant.

The Present - A Reconciliation - vs. 11-22

Romans 11:13-15 - Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

The Olive Tree is Jewish People who are Believers. And the branches of unbelieving Jews have been broken off. And we as wild olive shoots, that is Gentile Believers, have been grafted in.

Romans 11:17-18 - But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast (be arrogant) over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.

The Future - A Restoration - vs. 23-36

“Mystery” is not understood as something concealed but rather something that must be, and has now been, revealed.

Romans 11: 25,26 - Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, 26 and so all Israel will be saved

“All Israel” will be saved is a reference to all without distinction, not all without exception.

Revelation 7:9,10 - After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Story of Professor John Lennox

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.