Latest / Crosswalk / A Remnant by Grace — Romans 11:1–10

Transcript

A Remnant by Grace — Romans 11:1–10 · Crosswalk

0:00
Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow
0:03
Him. You're listening to Crosswalk with Pastor
0:05
Steve Winnery. Crosswalk is the radio ministry
0:08
of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities and it is our aim
0:10
to lead you to the cross through the teaching
0:12
of God's Word. And so in 1st Timothy 1 16 I referenced
0:49
this last week I didn't read it to you But he
0:51
says this but God had mercy on me so that Christ
0:54
Jesus Could use me as a prime example of his
0:57
great patience with even the worst sinners Then
1:01
others will realize that they too can believe
1:03
in him and receive eternal life. So a Jewish
1:06
man absolutely opposed to Christ, completely
1:09
blinded, and Jesus knocks him off his horse and
1:12
reveals who he is. You realize that's exactly
1:15
what he's going to do with the whole nation.
1:18
In the book of Zechariah 12, 13, and 14 is about
1:21
the second coming of Christ. And in Zechariah
1:24
chapter 12, it lets us know that Paul is saved
1:27
in exactly the same way the Jews are going to
1:29
be saved in the last days. It says, and I will
1:32
pour out on the house of David And on the inhabitants
1:36
of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication,
1:39
then they will look on me whom they pierced.
1:41
Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for
1:43
his only son and grieve for him as one grieves
1:46
for a firstborn." And you go to the passage in
1:49
Zechariah 12, it goes on talking about the grieving
1:52
process that the whole nation is going through
1:55
because they didn't recognize Jesus as Messiah
1:58
the first time. And so God has a plan for the
2:02
people of Israel. And again, Paul was saved in
2:06
exactly the same way that they were saved. I
2:09
didn't realize you were the Messiah. I didn't
2:11
realize that I was fighting against you. I didn't
2:14
realize what I was doing. And I repent. And that's
2:18
what you're going to have the nation doing. That's
2:20
reiterated in Revelation 1 -7. In that passage,
2:24
it says, behold, he is coming with clouds, and
2:28
every eye will see him. even they who pierced
2:31
him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn
2:34
because of him even as they met." And when you
2:37
look at that passage, if you look at it out of
2:39
the context of what it is quoting, Zechariah
2:42
chapter 12, it looks like that could be a judgment
2:45
passage. and that when Jesus comes back, everybody's
2:48
gonna be mourning because they didn't recognize
2:50
him, and so judgment's coming, and they're gonna
2:52
get wiped out, and they're crying over the fact
2:55
that they're gonna get wiped out. That is not
2:57
what that passage is talking about. It's talking
2:58
about a reconciliation. It's not a prophecy about
3:02
judgment. It's a prophecy about reconciliation,
3:05
and specifically to the Jews first, and also
3:09
to the Gentiles, as Paul said. Then he gives
3:12
a historical proof. So Paul is one example and
3:16
he goes on and says verse 2 God is not cast away
3:19
as people whom he foreknew or do you not know
3:22
and Let's just stop there for a second. God goes
3:25
through this whole thing He looks at the nation
3:28
of Israel back in the book of Genesis, and he
3:30
goes, these are the people that I'm going to
3:31
pick. These are the people that are going to
3:34
shepherd my word. These are the people that I'm
3:36
going to use to reach the Gentile nations. These
3:39
are the people I'm going to show my power through
3:41
and my strength through. And then at some point,
3:44
I'm just going to go, yeah, no, and move on.
3:49
Does that sound like God's planning from the
3:51
foundations of the earth? And again, that's the
3:55
point that Paul's making. God has not cast away
3:57
his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know
3:59
what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads
4:02
with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've
4:04
killed your prophets, torn down your altars,
4:06
and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But
4:09
what does the divine response say to him? I've
4:11
reserved for myself 7 ,000 men who've not bowed
4:14
the knee to Baal. And so I'm not going to go
4:17
back through the whole thing with Elijah and
4:19
the prophets, but basically Elijah shows up,
4:22
chapter 17, in Ahab's court. He's the king of
4:26
Israel at that point. And he says, it's not rain
4:28
until I say so. And he turns around and walks
4:31
out. That's all he says to the guy. And it doesn't
4:33
rain for three and a half years. And then God
4:37
lets him know that it's time. And he sets up
4:40
a contest between the prophets of Baal, 400 of
4:43
them. or excuse me, 450 of them, and 400 prophets
4:47
of Asherah. And Baal is supposed to be the storm
4:50
god. And the point of the three and a half year
4:52
of drought is your stupid storm god can't bring
4:57
rain. And I'm the guy who's stopping him. It's
5:02
not gonna rain until I say so. And then he comes
5:05
along and he goes, okay, let's do a little contest.
5:09
The Lord God versus Baal. your baby slaughtering,
5:13
butchering, false god versus the god of all the
5:17
universe. And let's see which one is the true
5:20
god. And so the god who answers by fire, and
5:24
it was a drought, clear blue skies is what you
5:29
have in that situation. And so they set up a
5:31
couple of sacrifices and the prophets of Baal
5:35
end up calling on Baal for about nine hours,
5:39
nine hours straight. Before Elijah goes enough
5:42
and he mocks them and does all kinds of things
5:44
with him But he goes enough and then he sets
5:47
up an altar and he pours water on it three different
5:50
times and Puts a trench around it to collect
5:54
the water and then he just says this simple prayer
5:57
God show them your real show them on your prophet
6:00
Fire comes down out of heaven. Most commentators
6:03
think it was lightning from a clear blue sky
6:05
comes down out of heaven, and it consumes the
6:08
sacrifice, consumes the stones. You're talking
6:12
about well over 3 ,000 degrees to do this. Consumes
6:16
the stones and licks up all the water in the
6:19
trenches. And all the people go, the Lord, He
6:21
is God! The Lord, He is God! Just hilarious.
6:24
And so Elijah thinks he's won until Jezebel Ahab's
6:28
wife gets involved. And she's the one who brought
6:31
in the false prophets, the prophets of Baal.
6:34
And she says, God, do so to me. And more also,
6:37
by this time tomorrow, you're not like one of
6:39
them. And Elijah gets depressed. And he gets
6:42
afraid. And he takes off. And he ends up down
6:45
in Sinai. And God ends up chasing him down, having
6:50
a talk with him. And in that talk, one of the
6:52
things that Elijah says to him is this, in this
6:55
passage here. Lord, they've killed your prophets,
6:58
torn down your altars, and I alone am left and
7:01
they seek my life. And basically, God says to
7:04
him, again, I've reserved for myself 7 ,000 men
7:08
who've not bowed the knee to Baal. You're not
7:10
the only game in town. I've still got 7 ,000
7:14
men. There's a whole nation in rebellion, but
7:16
there's 7 ,000 who stand with the Lord. And when
7:20
you're looking at the stories in the Bible, the
7:23
majority of people have always been in rebellion.
7:27
The majority of the people of Israel have always
7:30
been in rebellion and there has always been a
7:33
remnant. And that's the point that's being made.
7:36
Here's another point that's being made. He uses
7:38
that story specifically because of the beginning
7:41
of the nation of Israel. Israel is the northern
7:43
part of the whole nation of Israel. They were
7:46
divided up into northern part called Israel,
7:50
southern part called Judah during the reign of
7:53
Rehoboam after Solomon, right after Solomon.
7:57
His son takes over, he messes it all up, and
8:00
the north splits from the south. And as soon
8:03
as they split, this guy named Jeroboam, who was
8:05
the king, he decided, I've got a problem. And
8:09
here's what the problem was. There was a commandment
8:11
in the law that all the men of the nation of
8:14
Israel go down to Jerusalem three times a year.
8:17
We've talked about this. So they come down at
8:19
Passover, they come down at the Feast of Weeks
8:21
or Pentecost, and they come down on the Day of
8:24
Atonement and Tabernacles. And that's when they
8:26
would come down. If you're a totally separate
8:29
nation, and you've got all the men in your nation
8:32
going down to the nation that you just split
8:35
off from, you've got a political problem. And
8:39
so what he decided to do, even though God had
8:42
reached out to him saying, I will make your house
8:45
like the house of David if you'll obey me. And
8:48
what he decided to do was disobey God, and he
8:51
made up a completely new religion. Well, not
8:53
completely new. He kept priests, he kept sacrifices,
8:56
but the priests, he didn't do the Levites. And
9:00
what he did was he said, all the people of Israel
9:02
are priests. This is exactly, this is right out
9:05
of the book of Numbers. All the people of Israel
9:07
will be priests. And then he decided that we're
9:11
going to have not one place that you go to. We
9:13
got a place up in Dan, Tel Dan, where you can
9:16
come and you can make offerings up there. And
9:19
down in the south, we got another place. And
9:21
he makes it completely convenient for all the
9:23
people of the Northern Kingdom to go to these
9:26
places. And then on top of that, he said, we're
9:28
going back to calf worship. Now we're going to
9:30
worship Bessie the cow once again, just like
9:34
out of the Book of Exodus. and completely in
9:37
rebellion against God. And the point that's being
9:40
made here is you've got a nation that literally
9:44
starts off with extreme apostasy. And in the
9:51
end, when Elijah comes along, God says, I've
9:54
still got 7 ,000 men who haven't bowed the knee
9:56
to Baal. And so he uses this extreme example
10:00
to let us know that God doesn't just get rid
10:04
of these people. And that's good for you. That's
10:08
good for me. Because if God just took a whole
10:11
bunch of people who he foreknew and just tossed
10:14
them, did he foreknow you? Might he not toss
10:18
you? And again, you see the point. And verse
10:22
five, he lets us know that a remnant remains.
10:26
Even so then, at this present time, just like
10:29
back in those times, at this present time, there
10:33
is a remnant according to the election of grace.
10:36
And then he talks about the difference between
10:38
grace and works. If by grace, then it's no longer
10:40
of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
10:44
If it's of works, it's no longer grace, otherwise
10:47
work is no longer work. And so grace, what's
10:49
grace mean? Most of you guys know. What is it?
10:52
Unmerited favor. I'm getting something good that
10:55
I don't deserve. That's unmerited favor. It's
10:58
the word for gift. And so when I give a gift
11:00
to somebody, I don't expect anything in return
11:03
for it, unless I'm a punk. So don't do that.
11:08
Don't give gifts expecting people to return the
11:10
gifts Jesus talked about when you have a feast
11:13
don't just invite people who can't repay you
11:16
invite people that can't be that don't have any
11:19
ability to repay you and So it's a gift and so
11:22
gift is given because I just care about somebody
11:25
and so the reason this is stated is so that we're
11:28
so that we'll realize that salvation is a gift
11:31
given by God. It's not something I can work myself
11:35
into. And conversely, it's not something I can
11:41
work myself out of. If somebody's going to give
11:45
me a gift, I'm not working myself into the gift,
11:48
and I'm not working myself out of the gift. They're
11:51
just giving me a gift. And so it's exactly the
11:55
same thing with salvation. And again, you can't
11:58
work yourself out of it in the sense that I can
12:01
be so rotten that God is no longer interested
12:04
in me. There's not anybody on this planet that
12:07
God is not interested in. God is not willing
12:10
that any should perish, but that all should come
12:13
to repentance. And again, the Jews missed the
12:15
point. And basically they thought that they were
12:18
getting their righteousness by a caping of the
12:21
law, doing works and being owed because of the
12:26
works. And literally when God gives the law,
12:29
basically what he's doing is he's saying, here's
12:31
a bunch of commandments that you're never going
12:33
to keep, so get on your knees and come to me
12:35
for a transformed life. That's what the law does.
12:39
All it does is shows you how far you have fallen
12:43
from the standard. That's all it does. And what
12:47
it does is forces you to your knees going, God,
12:51
obviously I am not this man. And what the Jews
12:56
did was they came along and they tweaked it and
12:59
they ignored the point till they came to the
13:01
idea that they were actually obeying it. And
13:05
all they did was blind themselves to the fact
13:08
that they were in disobedience to God. And Jesus
13:11
comes along and when you're talking about, for
13:13
example, the Sermon on the Mount, this specifically.
13:16
What he's doing specifically is taking the blinders
13:19
off of the Jewish people, of the Pharisees, that
13:23
they were actually keeping the law. When Jesus
13:25
comes in the Sermon on the Mount, one of the
13:27
things that he says is, unless your righteousness
13:30
exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and
13:32
the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the
13:35
kingdom of God. And what he's talking about is
13:38
eternal life. You have to exceed the righteousness
13:40
of the scribes and the Pharisees. And the people
13:43
at that time, they'd be looking at the Pharisees,
13:46
this is the Orthodox party. These are guys who
13:48
tithe from their spice racks of all things. They're
13:52
punctilious about trying to keep the Old Testament
13:55
law. And Jesus goes through and he gives you
13:58
an exposition on the law where he goes, it's
14:00
not just don't murder. It is don't have a wrong
14:06
heart towards your brother. Be angry at him without
14:09
a cause, which is what causes murder. It's not
14:13
just don't commit adultery. It's don't lust in
14:17
a woman after your heart, because if you do,
14:19
you've committed adultery with her already. It's
14:22
not just keep your word. And so on and he goes
14:26
on he goes through and he takes specific commandments
14:29
out of the law And shows that it's a not an outward
14:32
obedience that gets it done It's an inward heart
14:35
and anybody looking at their inward heart is
14:39
going to see that they're not keeping it And
14:42
that again is the point and it drives you to
14:45
your knees. That's what jesus was doing That's
14:47
what the law was doing. And so what ends up happening
14:50
is the jews get into deeper darkness than if
14:54
they'd never known the Lord. So now they think
14:57
that they're keeping the law and they're blinded
15:00
by the fact that they think that they're righteous.
15:03
And so they are delivered into disobedience.
15:06
Turn over to verse 30 in chapter 11. It says
15:11
there, for as you, talking about the Gentiles,
15:15
and again, when you're talking about Gentiles,
15:18
these people are literally clueless until God
15:21
reveals himself. You've got a situation where
15:24
they're worshipping rocks, where they're worshipping
15:26
stones, where they're worshipping literally tree
15:29
trunks. They're carving them. but all it is rocks
15:33
and stones and tree trunks. When they're picturing
15:35
their gods, they're just big men up in heaven
15:38
doing what men do, committing adultery, having
15:41
kids out of wedlock, all this garbage that's
15:44
going on with the Greek gods, actually with all
15:47
their gods, whether they were Greek or not. And
15:50
these guys were in complete darkness. The Jews,
15:53
when they looked at these people, rightfully
15:55
saw them as filthy, immoral, and ungodly. And
16:01
they were that. The problem with the Jews is
16:04
they weren't realizing that they were in the
16:05
same position, maybe not to the same extent,
16:08
but they were in exactly the same position. And
16:11
so the reason, when God reaches out to Gentiles,
16:14
he's reaching out to people who are clueless
16:17
until the Lord reveals himself. The Jews were
16:20
given the law, they tweak it, they trash it,
16:22
they end up in worse disobedience than the Gentiles
16:25
because they should have known better. and God
16:28
delivers them into disobedience so he can have
16:32
mercy on them. Look at verse 30 again. For as
16:35
you were once disobedient to God, you were, all
16:38
of you were, before you knew the Lord, as you
16:42
were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained
16:45
mercy through their disobedience, even so, these
16:50
also have now been disobedient, that through
16:54
the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy.
16:58
And so basically what Paul is saying here is
17:01
that he's just switched places between Jews and
17:04
Gentiles. And so the Jews were supposed to be
17:06
the people of God following the Lord and having
17:09
a right heart with them. And the Gentiles are
17:12
a bunch of people who are clueless and in disobedience
17:15
to God. And the Gentiles come into a relationship
17:18
with God so they can become like the Jews. And
17:20
now what God's done is he's flipped it around.
17:22
And now the Jews are in disobedience and you
17:24
got a bunch of Gentiles who are actually following
17:27
God. It's same -o in that situation. God's just
17:33
flipped the narrative in this whole thing, flipped
17:36
the names basically. And you know what? Again,
17:39
God delivers them into disobedience specifically
17:43
so he can have mercy on them, just like he did
17:46
with us, had mercy on us. So do they deserve
17:49
the rejection of God? And the answer to that
17:51
is yeah. Do they deserve the judgment of God?
17:55
And the answer to that is yeah. They deserve
17:59
the judgment of God. Does everybody in this room
18:02
deserve the judgment of God? Yeah And so we're
18:07
all bozos in the same boat And so Paul's point
18:10
is salvation is by grace and it's not by works
18:13
and with some people they try to take grace and
18:16
works and make them the same thing and I used
18:20
to work for contractors I was a subcontractor
18:23
used to work for contractors and I would get
18:26
paid by them at the end of the week or at the
18:28
end of a job. And so I'd go walking up to my
18:31
boss, for example, when I'm working for a contractor
18:34
and he would pass out paychecks and when he gave
18:37
me mine, I would say thank you. And I didn't
18:39
have to because I worked for it. And what we
18:43
did was we made an agreement that I'm going to
18:45
do so much and I'm going to work for so many
18:48
hours and you're going to pay me so much in an
18:50
hour and you owe it to me. That's my pay. And
18:54
if you don't give it to me, then I can go to
18:57
court. and I can have the courts dock your pay
19:01
so that I get paid if the courts worked. But
19:04
that's what I could do. It's owed, it's not given,
19:08
and so you owe me pay up. When you're going through
19:10
the Bible, there are three terms that are used
19:12
for God's relationship with mankind. One of them
19:15
is justice, and that's where I get what I deserve.
19:17
I never pray for justice, because if I prayed
19:21
for justice, what I would get is Steve as a smoking
19:25
grease spot on the sidewalk someplace. That would
19:28
be justice for the things that I have done. And
19:32
so I don't want justice. I pray for mercy. Here's
19:35
what mercy is. Steve, I don't want to talk to
19:38
you. I don't want to hang with you. I don't want
19:43
to have any kind of relationship with you, but
19:45
I'm not going to kill you. That's mercy, right?
19:50
And then there's grace. And in grace, not only
19:53
do I get mercy, he's not going to make me a smoking
19:56
grease spot. I get a good relationship with God.
20:00
He makes me part of his family. He calls me his
20:03
son. He calls me his child. He calls me his bride.
20:08
That kind of flips me out, but he calls me his
20:10
bride. And we have this relationship with God
20:14
that's good because of God's grace towards us.
20:18
And so what do you want? You want justice? Justice
20:22
is the Jews should be wiped out. We should be
20:25
wiped out too. You want mercy? That's just, you
20:28
don't get wiped out. You just get to continue
20:31
your existence. Or would you like grace? And
20:34
what God wants to do is give grace. Works are
20:37
not grace. And so Jews, again, the Jews don't
20:41
deserve it. They didn't earn it, but God wants
20:43
to give it just like he did with you and just
20:47
like he did with me. And again, that's the...
20:50
final point that he's making in that passage.
20:52
It goes on in this passage and talks about the
20:55
fact that their rejection has hardened them to
20:58
the things of God. If you look down in verse
21:02
seven, it says, what then? Israel has not obtained
21:06
what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it,
21:08
and the rest were blinded. And then he gives
21:11
a couple of passages where he talks about what's
21:14
going on here. And in the first one, it's in
21:18
verse eight there, he says, just as it is written,
21:22
God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that
21:24
they should not see and ears that they should
21:26
not hear to this very day. And so what he's doing
21:29
is taking a couple of passages, one's out of
21:32
Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 10, and the other
21:35
one's out of Deuteronomy 29 verses two through
21:38
four. And in the passage in 29, 10, it says,
21:41
God has poured out the spirit of deep sleep on
21:46
these people. And in Deuteronomy 29, two through
21:49
four, it's up on the screen, it says, Moses called
21:51
all Israel and said to them, you've seen all
21:54
that the Lord did before your eyes in the land
21:56
of Egypt, to Pharaoh, to all his servants, to
21:58
all his land, the great trials which your eyes
22:01
have seen, the signs, those great wonders, yet
22:03
the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive
22:06
and eyes to see and ears to hear to this very
22:09
day. And he's talking to a group of people who
22:12
are 40 years into it. Basically, what he's doing
22:17
is he's going land of Egypt guys The reason we're
22:20
here is because God delivered us from the land
22:22
of Egypt comes to Pharaoh says let my people
22:24
go Pharaoh says no we do that ten times with
22:28
various plagues that are coming down on them
22:30
miraculous plagues Coming down on these guys
22:33
and then finally Pharaoh goes yes go get out
22:36
but then he changes his mind and Chases after
22:39
the people of Israel they end up with their backside
22:42
to the Red Sea and the army of Pharaoh coming
22:46
down on them, and God takes the Shekinah, the
22:50
glory of God, and there's a pillar of fire that's
22:54
in between them and the people of Israel. On
22:56
the Egyptian side, it's a wall of darkness. On
23:00
the Israeli side, it's a pillar of fire. He leaves
23:03
it there all night while he dries up the Red
23:06
Sea, makes two walls of water. And then the next
23:10
day, He tells the people of Israel to go through
23:13
it, and so they go through it, and once the people
23:16
of Israel are through it and they're on the other
23:19
side, he lifts the pillar of fire and the Egyptians,
23:23
like really smart people, go into the Red Sea.
23:28
And it's like their commanders go, chase them
23:29
down, go and get them. What about these walls
23:32
of water on either side of us? What are we going
23:34
to do about that? And you saw the movie, right?
23:37
So the water comes down, crushes them and chariots
23:41
go everywhere and that kind of thing and there's
23:42
a deliverance there. And then they get on the
23:44
other side and God does one miracle after another.
23:47
Every time they're thirsty, God busts open rocks
23:50
and water comes out. Every time they're hungry,
23:53
they get hungry, God brings them bread from heaven.
23:56
Every morning they get up and there's a miracle
23:59
on the ground and these people are being for
24:01
the whole 40 years. You've been listening to
24:05
Crosswalk with Pastor Steve Winnery. Crosswalk
24:08
is the radio ministry of Calvary Chapel Tri -Cities
24:10
in Kennewick, Washington. If you're wanting to
24:12
know more about what it means to follow Christ,
24:15
then please contact our church office by phone
24:17
at 509 -736 -2086. You can also look us up online
24:22
at calvary -tricities .org. Calvary Chapel Tri
24:26
-Cities is offering two in -person training courses
24:29
for those seeking to serve in missions or ministry.
24:32
The School of Missions starts with 12 weeks of
24:35
classroom -style learning and local outreach
24:37
in the Tri -Cities, Washington, followed by a
24:39
10 -week cross -cultural mission outreach. The
24:42
School of Ministry, this course is 18 weeks of
24:44
in -person learning environment, followed by
24:46
a four -week mission trip. Find out more at calvarytrainingcenternw
24:51
.com.