The Miracle and Mystery of God and His Grace

Father, we confess before you that often we aren't honest with you in our prayers.

And Father, we confess that for many of us, when John was reading Romans 11, we were bored.

And we didn't think it was very interesting.

And Father, we confess that to you.

We confess that sometimes that's how your word strikes us.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently but deeply and powerfully move in our lives.

Father, help us to get over ourselves.

Help us, Father, to have hearts and minds and wills that are hungry for your word,

that are willing to pursue and just sit and think about your word.

Father, help us.

May your Holy Spirit so move and work within us that we might understand that you are wise,

that you speak what we need to know,

and that most of all, not only most of all, Father, but not only are you wise, but you are good.

And you sent your Son to be our Savior.

Father, draw us to yourself.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, here's the problem with the Romans 11 text.

There's several problems.

The first problem is that probably a lot of us, maybe, you know, maybe I'm just far more wicked than everybody here,

but, you know, for a lot of us that text seemed to go on and on and on.

Talked about olive trees and shoots and Israel, and you're thinking to yourself, when you think about it at all,

what on earth is going on with this text?

Before I became a Christian, my problem in becoming a Christian wasn't tempted towards atheism or something like that.

Nicky Gumbel expressed it very well.

I found Christianity boring and irrelevant.

And if you're a non-Christian here this morning, you might think Romans 11 is a test case in a text which is boring and irrelevant.

But it actually, it's very, very interesting.

It's a difficult text.

It's a funny text.

And it's a text which doesn't sort of immediately scream out,

immediately scream out to us postmodern Canadians in Ottawa in 2016.

But actually, if you caught two of the big, bolder, elephant-in-the-room questions in the text,

you'd realize that it's actually touching upon something that is very deeply relevant.

I don't know if you heard it.

It was in verse 1 and verse 11.

There's these two big, bolder questions, like a big rock, big elephant-in-the-room question.

The first question is verse 1.

I ask then, has God rejected his people?

Does God reject people?

And then the second one is in verse 11.

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

And this is this idea that somehow people stumble.

And the idea of fall is a very, very good word.

In the original language, the idea is that you fall and you keep falling and you keep falling and you keep falling and you keep falling and there's no turnaround.

Like it's a falling that leaves you completely crushed.

Those are actually very profound spiritual questions.

And whether we think about it very much.

You know, I know several people.

In fact, there's probably people here in this congregation.

It might be too painful for you to share it over coffee.

But I know that there are people in this church who haven't spoken to their parents in years.

Parents are still alive.

They have phones, internet, all that.

But they haven't spoken to their parents in years.

I know of several people who've lived in the home with their parents.

And in both the two cases that immediately come to my mind, they were both young women.

And in each case, they would live in the house with their father for years.

And for at least two or three years, not say a single word to their father while living in the same house with them.

And just to make it a little bit even more personal, you might notice that I don't refer to my parents very often.

I, in fact, have only talked to my parents, I think, twice in seven years.

Now, you know, in all of these cases, if you got into it, there's, you know, there's different things.

And maybe in some cases, it's because parents have done profound things of abuse and have been unrepentant.

And it's hard to talk to people who've abused you and been unrepentant.

And for others, maybe it's a type of a hardness and an arrogance in heart.

The parents might not or the other person might not or it's a friend that you've cut off.

And it might be that there's a bit of an arrogance and a hardness in you.

But in fact, it's a very common human experience.

And so the question, whether we're consciously aware of this or not, is, is God like this?

Is God like this?

Does God come to a point with human beings, or not just human beings in general, but maybe human beings in general,

but particular people where that's it, sick and tired of this, not talking, not having anything to do with them ever again, ever, ever, ever again?

Happens to human beings?

Is God like that?

Now, when you realize that that's actually the question that the text is addressing, you realize that, whoa, one moment, okay,

they might seem to answer it in an odd way that doesn't just sort of jump out at me with, like, you know, flashing lights.

But it's actually a pretty good question.

So it's really helpful if you have Bibles, if you open them to Romans 11.

And we're going to begin, in fact, we're going to, Andrew, if you could put up the first, the Romans 11 text.

You can find your Romans 11 in your Bible.

But there's going to be a couple of times, I'm going to sort of cheat.

I'm not saying this to stop us from talking.

I'm not saying, okay, now you see 33 or 36.

There's nothing else we have to talk about.

You know, get, you know, repent and just, you know, shut up and, you know, get on with God.

But this is how everything is going to come to an end.

And if, in fact, part of the fundamental question before us, an existential question, is, is God like this?

It's just really important to see where the whole argument of Romans 1 to 11 is going to come to rest.

And if you get nothing else out of this service, we're going to read this verse together about four or five or six times.

If you get nothing else out of the service but getting this a little tiny bit in your head, then this is really good.

So let's, let's, could you say this with me out loud?

Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.

For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?

Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever.

Amen.

So I'm not saying that just so we can say, okay, George, that's the end of the question.

We don't have to discuss it.

No, no, no, no, no.

You know, the details are important.

But it's, it's, it's a good bit of a pause here just to take a minute to think about how different God is.

And we're going to see that we haven't even begun to really understand how different God is until we look into this text.

How counterintuitive God often acts towards us because he's wiser than us.

So, so let's look at the beginning of chapter 11, verse 1.

And it goes like this.

I ask then, has God rejected his people?

By no means.

For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

Now just pause here for a second.

And if you're guests here this morning, you'll notice, actually all of you, even if you come here pretty well, you know, it's Romans chapter 11.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

And, and the way the book, you know, Paul didn't just sit down and write a whole pile of quotes.

If you, you know, I'm turning my Bible here, like he began writing over here and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he wrote and then he comes to chapter 11.

So it's obviously sort of a bit of a flow.

And, and part of the flow of it is that he's been really trying to talk about how God does everything, that, that God works so that we come to the point where we recognize that unless God does something for us, we're really stuck.

Occasionally I let bad words slip just by accident because it's how I talk when I'm not up in the, in church.

And then Andrew will say something.

And I think the last time I let something slip, he deleted it.

So there's no internet record.

But I almost said something there, which maybe wouldn't be completely polite.

But, you know, so anyway, so he goes through the fact that, you know, Paul is trying to argue that unless we come to this point where we realize unless God does something, we're really stuck because we're helpless.

And then he talks about how Jesus and what Jesus does on the cross.

And he gives the first few things in chapter four and five primarily about the things that Jesus takes away from us so we can be made right with God.

And then chapter six, the things that Jesus gives us so that we're made right with God.

And then in chapter seven, he, he, he acknowledges the fact that human beings are divided and have contradictory selves and that we're sort of all messed up and confused.

And then in Romans eight, he's sort of coming to a bit of a crescendo and, and he says, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And then he, he goes on and he has this ringing thing.

In fact, I'll just read it to you right now.

It says ringing, ringing thing at the end of Romans chapter eight.

He says, um, uh, where does it start here?

What shall we say?

Verse 31.

What shall we say then to those, to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.

How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God select those whom God has called and made right with himself?

It is God who justifies who is to condemn.

Who's going to condemn us?

Christ Jesus.

No, he is the one who died more than that.

Who was raised?

Who is at the right hand of God?

Who is indeed interceding for us?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written.

Then he quotes from the Bible to show that God knows that even after we have become his children,

bad things will still happen to us.

For your sake, we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No.

And in Greek, it would be like bolded, emphatic.

In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

And God's God people say amen.

Exactly right.

But in the way that the Romans is written, Paul knows that there's going to be some skeptic in the congregation.

There always is.

Actually, often it's me, but that's a separate story.

Who puts up their little hand and says,

that all sounds really nice, but what about the Jews?

Like, what about all that Old Testament stuff we've been reading every week?

And that doesn't seem to have worked out very well for them, does it?

And so in chapter 9 and 10, he's really dealing with this question.

Like, before Jesus, does God, in fact, keep his word?

And in chapter 9 and 10,

and so it comes now, here we are in verse 11,

as part of Paul's long answering of this question,

is Romans 8 actually true?

And so now he comes to this point, this existential point,

where we have to wonder, because it's just part of our very, very nature.

Even when we deny God,

often what we're doing is we're denying God who is a version of ourselves.

And even when we believe in God,

often we're not really believing in the God who is there,

we're believing in a God who is a version of ourselves.

I mean, it's a deeply seated human problem.

It's a human problem for Christians as well.

And so in chapter 11, verse 1, he asks,

has God rejected his people?

Is God like the young woman

who lives in a house with her father for three years,

and even though the father will attempt conversation,

she will act like he is the table or the chair,

and who talks to tables and chairs,

or listens to them?

As a side, if you think your table's talking to you,

and you're listening,

you need help.

You need help.

We don't talk to tables or listen to them.

So is God like that?

Has he rejected us so totally?

Absolutely.

And, you know, some of us might say,

oh yeah, you know, we've been over that.

But, you know,

the Baptist church I grew up in,

and I'm not picking on Baptist churches,

you know, it would often happen

that a couple,

their marriage would quietly come to an end.

And even though it was a church that preached grace,

the fact of the matter is,

is that for many Christians,

it's their spiritual and emotional performance

that makes them think they're right with God.

And so their marriage would come to an end,

and both the husband and the wife

would stop attending the church.

Because their performance

hasn't matched the standards of the church,

and there's a feeling that God has rejected them.

And therefore, they don't belong with other,

those Christians.

It's a deep question.

So see how he answers it.

It's going to be a little bit in odd language,

because you see,

the way we work in our culture,

we'd want to try to,

I'd maybe want to say,

well, let's look at Bob.

Here's Bob's life.

Or let's look at Sally,

and this is their life.

But no, no.

He actually, he goes back to the Bible,

because he realizes that, you know,

human experiences,

it can be hard to know what goes on in human lives.

So let's see God's actual written record

of how he deals with Israel.

And so here it is.

I ask then, has God rejected his people?

By no means.

No.

No.

Absolutely not.

So he's going to basically give two reasons

why God hasn't rejected his people.

First, he's going to say,

I'm exhibit A,

in terms of evidence.

Verse 2.

No, just the end of verse 1.

For I myself am an Israelite,

a descendant of Abraham,

a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people,

whom he foreknew.

Then he gives exhibit B.

He goes back to the story

in the Old Testament about Elijah,

when it looked as if

every single person in Israel

had fallen into idolatry and paganism,

and completely rejected the Lord.

I think it's Numbers 14.

Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah,

how he appeals to God against Israel?

Lord, they have killed your prophets.

They have demolished your altars,

and I alone am left,

and they seek my life.

But what is God's reply to Elijah?

I have kept for myself 7,000 men

who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

So too, at the present time,

there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Now just pause here for a second.

I'm going to put a point up in a moment,

but this is going to be really important.

What's going to be constantly emphasized

in this entire text

is the reality of God's grace.

The surprising nature of God's grace.

The unstoppable nature of God's grace.

The irrevocable character of God's grace.

What's constantly going to be emphasized in this

is that grace is a mystery

because we don't actually really understand

who God is,

and we keep wanting to try to make God

look like ourselves,

and we know that we lack grace,

that we have hard hearts against certain people.

We have grace towards those we love,

but not very much grace towards certain people.

I'll try to show that to you later on in the sermon.

And he's going to try to show you

that all grace is a miracle,

and that every human being who receives God's grace,

there's a miracle in their lives.

And so right here when he says

there's a remnant chosen by grace,

this is going to be really important.

It's going to get deep in.

And the rest of the imagery in the book of Romans 11

is trying to emphasize this aspect of grace.

Grace to become a Christian,

grace to stay a Christian,

grace to be glorified with the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

and the new heaven and the new earth,

to live in all eternity with him.

In verse 6,

but if it is by grace,

it is no longer on the basis of works.

Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

Just to pause,

you see,

those people in the Baptist churches

that I grew up in,

they sort of believed,

like us,

that grace makes you a Christian,

but after that it's your performance.

And Paul is going to say

that we need to be gripped

by the gospel of grace

to understand that it's always grace,

all the time,

that we become a Christian by grace,

we stay a Christian by grace,

we die a Christian by grace,

and grace means grace,

that it's not my performance.

It never is my performance.

Absolutely never.

In verse 7,

what then?

Israel failed to obtain

what it was seeking.

In other words,

it was seeking to be right with God,

but it was seeking it not by grace,

but by its accomplishments.

It fell into all sorts of errors.

The elect obtained it,

that is,

those whom God has called,

but the rest were hardened.

As it is written,

God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.

And David says,

let their table become a snare

and a trap,

a stumbling block

and a retribution for them.

Let their eyes be darkened

so that they cannot see

and bend their backs forever.

Now,

just before we go on,

we're going to keep sort of

trying to get this part of it

sort of in our minds.

Andrew,

if you could put the first point up,

please.

God hardens those,

God hardens those

who harden themselves,

but even then,

God's grace through Jesus Messiah

can always be the final word about me.

I don't always remember to do it,

but I always try to put my points as me

so that if you're writing them down,

if there's something you want to think about later on,

it's saying me.

You know,

you're saying it about yourself.

That God hardens those

who harden themselves,

but even then,

God's grace through Jesus Messiah

can always be the final word about me.

I don't say it will always be

the final word about me

because some people persist in unbelief

right to the grave.

But what this text is going to say

is that for no human being

does being closed to God

and rejecting God

have to be the final word about you.

That it does not matter

if you're sitting here this morning

and you've been divorced

and married and divorced seven times.

It doesn't matter

if you've done unbelievably horrible things.

It doesn't matter at all

what your sexual orientation is.

It doesn't matter anything

about your heritage or your background.

It doesn't matter how successful

or how much of a failure you've been.

that there is always the chance

to receive God's grace

and that from that time

of receiving God's grace,

God's grace will be

that final word about you

until you appear to God face to face.

And that's what Paul

is going to try to emphasize here,

that even when God judges,

grace is present.

You see, hardness doesn't necessarily mean

that we have lots of anxiety.

It just means closeness in a sense.

I don't know how many of you

have ever had this misfortune

of when you go to a wedding

or something like that

or you go to a funeral reception,

you end up having to sit down

and you sit down beside people around you

and you know,

you're feeling a little bit of chatty mood

and you're, you know,

we're Canadians,

we should chat at things.

So you ask the person beside you a question

and they give you a grunt for an answer.

Try another question, grunt.

Another question, grunt.

Another question, grunt.

You're thinking, gosh,

normally four questions are like enough

to get at least some type

of a conversation going

and every question there's a grunt.

They're just completely closed.

That's fundamentally what hardness means.

And you'll see here

that in these texts

it looked very daunting

that actually what God does

is he allows people

to have what they want.

Look at,

he gave them a spirit of stupor.

In other words,

that they're not interested.

That they're sort of closed.

Eyes that would not see,

they don't want to see.

Ears that do not,

ears that would not hear,

they don't want to hear.

You know,

but then even when it says

a snare and a trap,

a stumbling back and a red,

you know,

eyes darken and all that.

And, you know,

and then it asks in verse 11,

so I ask,

did they stumble in order

that they might fall by no means?

And just before we get

in terms of the surprising way

that God, you know,

puts it,

is that

stumbling is sometimes

a way to find things.

I mean, you know,

just after the winter solstice,

I have to wake up

at six o'clock in the morning.

I don't always manage it

quite that early,

but six o'clock,

it's still dark.

I don't want to wake up my wife

who's sleeping beside me.

And sometimes the way

I find something in my room

is by stumbling over it.

I mean,

some of us have PhDs

in what we've learned

by falling over it.

You know?

In other words,

some of us,

doesn't matter where

we formerly went to university,

our real university

is the School of Hard Knocks.

And we have PhDs

from the School of Hard Knocks.

And sometimes,

Hard Knocks

is the only way

we find anything or learn.

You see,

so even in this,

and then when it says here,

verse 11,

so I asked,

did they stumble

in order that they might fall?

And as I said earlier,

in the Greek,

it's that they fall irrevocably,

that they fall

and never return up.

And this is really

an important question

because,

you see,

this,

if we're honest with ourselves,

many of us wish this

for certain people.

And so,

therefore,

at the back of our minds,

whether we consciously

express it or not,

we worry that God's like this.

How many people

were hoping

that Harper would lose,

that he would fall,

and that he would fall

in such a way

that he would never rise?

How many people

are hoping

that Trump will fall?

And that when he falls,

he will fall

and be revealed

as a complete

and utter buffoon

and he'll be mocked

and he will never rise again.

How many people

hope that Trudeau

will have that happen to him?

Or Hillary Clinton?

How many people hope that?

And if I haven't picked

one of your four things,

because really,

you think,

you don't follow politics at all,

you have no idea

who I even talked about,

there's something else

in your sphere of influence.

Maybe you're a foodie

who doesn't follow politics.

And for you,

it's people who eat at McDonald's.

I don't know.

You know,

you hope that they get sick

and they fall

and they just keep

going down, down.

You know,

it's a human thing, folks.

And if we're honest,

there are people

that we think that of.

I've told this before,

but you know,

I came out of the counterculture.

I was like a neo-Marxist,

I was very left-wing.

And I remember,

I really,

and I was really

into protest music.

And when I heard

that Bob Dylan

became a Christian,

I thought,

yes,

Bob Dylan

became a Christian.

When I heard

that Charles Colson,

who was the right-hand man

for Richard Nixon,

that right-wing president,

I said,

that dirty rat,

he didn't become

a Christian.

He's just trying

to get out

of being punished.

And I would have just said

I was being prophetic,

not revealing

my hard,

unfeeling heart.

Colson obviously

became a Christian,

by the way.

So Paul's asking

this really,

really tough question.

And once again,

it all goes to

how we view God.

Do we believe this

about God?

Like,

let's just sort of,

you know,

keep going.

Because part of the problem

is,

remember a few weeks ago

we looked at how

God reveals himself

that he's the potter

and we are the clay,

and the fact of the matter

is that human beings

believe that we're the potter

and God is the clay.

And we both love that

and we're terrified by it.

If we're honest with ourselves,

if we think about it.

We love it

because we can form God

the way we want.

We're terrified

because God ends up

being exactly like us.

Verse 11.

So I asked,

did they,

so remember,

so the point here

in all of this stuff

is that what Paul

is trying to say

is the reality of grace,

the constancy of grace,

the fact that

it's never the case.

God is not like you and me.

Thanks be to God.

He does not look at St. Clair.

He does not look

at any single person

in this room.

He doesn't look at Trump,

Harper,

Trudeau,

or Clinton

and say,

I hope these guys

fall in such a way

that they just fall

and fall and fall

and there is no bottom

to that hole.

God is never like that.

Up until our final breath,

his hope is

that we will turn to him

and receive his grace

and be made right with God.

Verse 11 again.

So I asked,

did they stumble

in order that they might

fall and fall and fall

and fall?

By no means.

And this is now

the surprising thing.

Rather,

through their trespass,

salvation has come

to the pagans

so as to make Israel jealous.

I'm going to explain

this in a moment.

Now,

if their trespass

means riches

for the world,

that means,

and here the world

means all the people

groups on the planet.

And if their failure

means riches

for the pagans,

he's basically

just reiterating it

to bring in the emphasis,

how much more

will their full inclusion mean?

Now I am speaking

to you pagans

inasmuch then

as I am an apostle

to the pagans.

I magnify my ministry

in order that somehow

to make my fellow Jews

jealous

and thus save some of them.

Remember,

the opening question

is has God rejected

his Jewish people?

For if their rejection,

that's not that

they've been rejected

by God,

but their rejection

of God,

okay?

They've rejected God.

If their rejection

means the reconciliation

of the world,

what will their acceptance

mean but life

from the dead?

If the dough offered

as first fruits

is holy,

so is the whole lump.

And if the root is holy,

so are the branches.

Now we just sort of

want to pause here

for a tiny,

tiny,

tiny bit of a

second

because there's going

to be a bit

of a transition here.

Just as part

of this transition,

many of you know

that one of the problems

that's going on

in Canada

and throughout

the Western world

right now

is rising antisemitism.

And those of you

who are still

university students,

you know that one

of the centers

of rising antisemitism

is university campuses.

In fact,

it's the intelligentsia

which is part

of the source

of growing antisemitism

in our country

and in Europe.

And as well as that,

we have to realize

that Christians

have a terrible past

and history

of antisemitism.

Hopefully,

this text

will help us

to realize

that not just

antisemitism

but all prejudice,

all hatred

of people groups

just because

of who they are

is deeply unbiblical

and deeply unchristian.

All of it.

I mean,

it's very interesting

how the text was put

because it says

that the Jewish

rejection

of the gospel

has led

that Christians,

that pagans

become Christians

and that every people group

is to hear about Jesus.

Every people group.

There's to be no prejudice.

Like,

just because we're prejudiced

doesn't mean

we're not a Christian,

okay?

But every one of us

who has some prejudice

against another people group,

that is deeply offensive

to the Bible.

And the Bible

is going to now

move the image

to root this,

this complete rejection

of antisemitism

and complete rejection

of all prejudice

in yet more

of the miracle

of God's grace.

But before we do that,

could you put up

Romans 11 again?

Because I want us

to keep remembering

that we're all talking

about God

and how he's not like us.

Could you read this text

with me again, please?

Oh, the depths

of the riches

and wisdom

and knowledge

of God.

How unsearchable

are his judgments

and how inscrutable

his ways.

For who has known

the mind of the Lord

or who has been

his counselor

or who has given

a gift to him

that he might

be repaid?

For from him

and through him

and to him

are all things.

To him be glory

forever.

Amen.

So let's keep reading

from verse 17

and we'll see here

how the Bible

is going to give

this profound image

that even deeply,

more deeply rejects

all antisemitism

and indirectly then

all prejudice.

Verse 17.

But if some of the branches

were broken off,

he's talking about

the olive tree, right?

We'll see in a moment

it's an olive tree.

But if some of the branches

were broken off

and you,

although a wild olive shoot,

were grafted in

among the others

and now share

in the nourishing root

of the olive tree,

do not be arrogant

toward the branches.

If you are,

remember it is not you

who support the root,

but the root

that supports you.

Then you will say,

branches were broken off

so that I may be grafted in.

That is true.

They were broken off

because of their unbelief,

but you stand fast

through faith.

So do not become proud,

but fear.

For if God did not spare

the natural branches,

neither will he spare you.

Note then the kindness

and the severity of God,

severity towards those

who have fallen,

but God's kindness to you,

provided you continue

in his kindness.

Otherwise,

you too will be cut off.

And even they,

if they do not continue

in their unbelief,

will be grafted in.

For God has the power

to graft them in a game.

For if you were cut

from what is by nature

a wild olive tree

and grafted contrary to nature

into a cultivated olive tree,

how much more will these,

the natural branches,

be grafted back

into their own olive tree?

That's a lot of different things

in there.

It was a long reading,

but here's the,

could you put up the point,

Andrew,

the second point?

God has only one olive tree

and we can only be grafted

into that by a miracle

of his powerful grace.

That's what he's trying

to communicate here.

One of the,

you know,

one of the,

when I said that

beginning of the service

that some people get,

hear Romans 11,

get bored,

others in the room,

a minority,

they get all excited

about Romans 11.

Why?

Because they can fight over it.

In fact,

that's one of the things

that non-Christians

don't like about Christians.

It seems it either goes

from being,

they either go from talking

about unbelievably boring things

to wanting to fight

about boring things.

And so for some Christians,

they love going to Romans 11

because it gets them

to talk about different things

about Jewish and Israel

and the place of Israel.

And what we're going to see

in this text

is that the Bible,

on one hand,

condemns fully anti-Semitism,

but it also completely

and utterly rejects

any attempt

to make Israel

or Jewish people

into an idol.

This Bible completely

and utterly rejects

the idea

that Jewish people

don't have to come

to faith in Jesus,

that just by being Jewish,

they will be reconciled to God.

This Bible text rejects it.

Olive tree is an original image

of Israel

and it's extended by Paul

to mean all who come

to be part of God's people.

And God doesn't have

two olive trees,

one for pagans

and one for Jews.

There's only one olive tree.

Only one olive tree.

And the other thing

that this text does

is it tells us

that Christians,

not only evangelicals

and charismatics,

some of them

who believe that Jewish people

don't have to come

to faith in Jewish

because they have their own way

of being made right with God,

it also says

that the Anglican Church

of Canada,

when they say

that we should not pray

for the salvation

of Jewish people,

is an error.

And it says

that when the Roman Catholic Church

has just recently

made a statement

that we aren't to pray

and work for the conversion

of Jewish people,

the Roman Catholic Church

is an error.

There is one olive tree.

Could you put up

the second point here?

Oh yeah,

it's up already.

So here it is.

God has only one olive tree

and we can only be grafted

into that

by a miracle

of his powerful grace.

I'm terrible with gardening.

There's been a couple of times

my wife has been gone

for a couple of weeks

and I forget

to water the plants.

Like I completely forget

to water the plants.

When I was single,

my plants suffered

one of two fates.

They would either die

of dehydration

or they would die

of root rot

because I would water them

so constantly.

And very early on

in our marriage,

my wife learned

that you never send George

out to weed the garden

because George

hasn't the vaguest idea

between the difference

between a carrot growing

and a weed growing

or anything else.

I'm completely hopeless.

So for those of us,

I didn't know this

until I read

the commentaries on it.

If you take Paul's example

and you take

a good healthy olive tree

and you graft

a wild olive branch

into it,

if you try to follow that

to have lots of olives,

you'll fail

because grafting

wild olive branches

into a healthy olive tree

creates less fruitfulness.

So what's Paul saying here?

Paul is saying

that he's not,

Paul,

this is,

you see,

it's not about natural processes.

It's never about natural processes.

Grace on one level

is never natural.

It isn't that somehow

or another

that these natural,

these pagan branches

are coming in

and that's going to just

sort of naturally

make the whole tree

of all the people

who are God's better.

It's grace.

It's a miracle.

It's not natural.

It's not some natural process.

Nothing's a natural process.

We keep thinking

there's natural processes.

We look at the world

and we say

that person could very naturally

and easily become a Christian

and that person could naturally

and not become a Christian

and not go God's grace.

You know,

look at them.

Look at those earrings

or look at those tattoos

or look at the way they,

you know,

look at that.

They drive gas guzzlers

or look at that.

They eat at McDonald's

or look at that.

They vote for Trump

or look at that.

They vote for Sanders

or, you know,

whatever it is.

We all have our different prejudices

about what is natural

and the Bible wants to keep reminding us

that it's never natural.

Never.

It's always a miracle of grace.

And if we go around

thinking,

you know,

the Jewish people,

they'll never come to a faith.

You know,

that my Jewish dentist

or my Jewish doctor,

I actually happen to have

a dentist who's Jewish

and the doctor who's Jewish

just by,

well,

maybe not coincidence,

by providence.

But I,

you know,

you maybe think,

oh,

you can't share the gospel with them.

You know what I mean?

It's just,

it's very natural.

This whole image

is that God's church

is never natural.

It's always supernatural

and it's always by grace.

It's always by grace.

It's always a miracle.

Only a miracle.

That's how he works.

That's how he works.

If you could put up

Romans 1 for us,

Andrew.

You have to be careful

here at the time.

This is the verse

for all of Romans.

Can you guys read it

with me, please?

For I am not ashamed

of the gospel.

For it is the power of God

for salvation

to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first

and also to the Greek.

For in the gospel,

the righteousness of God

is revealed

from faith to faith.

As it is written,

the righteous

shall live by faith.

And I've explained before

how everything

in the book of Romans

is sort of just trying

to fill that in

and help us

to understand it.

And the heart of this text

is that the heart

of this text

is that the gospel

telling you about

what Jesus did

for us on the cross,

that that is a power

that comes from God.

It's God's power

that makes us right

with him

and we receive it

by believing,

by putting our faith

and trust in him.

And that God works

in a way that is right

to make us right

with him

and it's all God.

All God.

Completely God.

Nothing of us.

All we do

is receive it.

We are beggars.

We are a chosen people

not choice people.

Chosen people

not choice people.

Andrew,

could you put up

the Romans 11 text

for me right now,

please?

I don't know

if that's in the right order.

Let's just read this

together again as well.

Oh, the depth

of the riches

and wisdom

and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable

are his judgments

and how inscrutable

his ways.

For who has known

the mind of the Lord

or who has been

his counselor

or who has given

a gift to him

that he might be repaid?

For from him

and through him

and to him

are all things.

To him be glory forever.

Amen.

So,

God is just really,

really different than us

and that's really,

really, really good.

and nothing can stop him

from showing grace.

He never regrets

or wants to change

his mind

about calling

any one of you

to be his child.

I don't have any authority

to say that myself

but it's what the Bible says.

Just if you look

at verse 25,

lest you be wise

in your own sight,

I do not want you

to be unaware

of this mystery,

brothers and sisters.

A partial hardening

has come upon Israel

until the fullness

of the Gentiles

has come in

and in this way

all Israel will be saved

and all Israel,

by the way,

doesn't mean every

Jewish person,

like when we think

of the last time

Canada was in the

World Cup of Hockey

or the Olympics

for the gold medal,

you could say

all of Canada

watched the game.

We don't mean

every Canadian

watched the game,

right?

But you know

what you mean by that

and that's what

you're saying

that there's

potentially a time

when many Jewish people

will come to a faith

in Jesus.

Verse 26 again,

in this way

all Israel will be saved

as it is written,

the deliverer

will come from Zion

and he will banish

ungodliness from Jacob

and this will be

my covenant with them

when I take away

their sins.

As regards the gospel

they are enemies

for your sake,

that's temporarily,

but as regards election

they are beloved

for the sake

of their forefathers

for the gifts

and calling of God

are irrevocable.

Could you put up

the next point,

Andrew, please?

God's call

God's call

is irrevocable

but it is not

unconditional.

God's call

is irrevocable

but it is not

unconditional.

What Paul is saying

here is this

and this word

irrevocable

is a very, very,

very good word

but underneath it

there's a deeper

type of image

that makes it

even more wonderful

because one of the things

that we regularly

have as people

is maybe we offer

to, I don't know,

maybe we offer

to lend somebody money

or we lend somebody

clothes

and then afterwards

we regret it

and then we want

to renege on our deal

we want it back

and what Paul

is saying here

is that God

never regrets

calling a person

to be his own

and he never

takes it back.

It's irrevocable.

It's irrevocable.

Some of you

might say

George

that all sounds

very good

but wasn't there

earlier this part

about if you don't

stay and you don't

stay in faith

you're going to

lose your faith.

Wasn't that somewhere

earlier

and I just noticed

that you kept

reading and reading

and reading

but that jumped

out at me

George.

That jumped out

at me

at this idea

that isn't that

really more

the experience

that you can

have a faith

in Jesus

and all that

but then later

on you just

get over it

and then it's

all over

and it doesn't

seem as if

it's irrevocable.

Isn't that what

the Bible

just said

a few minutes

ago?

Let's look at

it in closing.

It was earlier

on in verses

19 to 23.

It goes like this

then you will say

branches were broken

off so that I

might be grafted

in.

That is true

they were broken

off because of

their unbelief

but you stand

fast through

faith.

So do not

become proud

but fear

for if God

did not spare

the natural

branches

neither will he

spare you.

Note then

the kindness

and the severity

of God

severity towards

those who have

fallen

but God's

kindness to you

provided you

continue in his

kindness

otherwise you too

will be cut off

and even if they

even if

and even they

if they do not

continue in their

unbelief

will be grafted in

for God has the

power to graft

them in a game.

Here's the thing

this text

is not talking

about people

being

who come to

faith in Jesus

being cut off

by God.

Andrew if you

could put up

the next point

true faith in

Jesus has

several counterfeits

one of which

is presumption.

This text

isn't talking

about how God

is going to

cut people off

who don't

perform well

this text

is talking

about how

God eventually

reveals

counterfeit

faith.

Counterfeit

faith.

And there's

different types

of counterfeit

faith but the

one which Paul

is talking

about here

is presumption.

Andrew if you

could put up

the next point

please.

God wants me

to die to

presumption

and deepen

in gospel

faith.

He wants me

to die to

arrogance

and deepen

in gospel

assurance.

God wants me

to die to

presumption

and deepen

in gospel

faith.

He wants me

to die to

arrogance

and deepen

in gospel

assurance.

See the

fundamental human

problem is that

we want to be

like God.

And so for

some of us

when we hear

this offer

of the gospel

that God

will make us

right with

himself and

that nothing

can then

separate us

from the love

of God

that we are

guaranteed

that we will

be with God

forever.

For some

people all

they do is

just take that

that they've

got.

It's not a

conscious thing

but that they've

got God

by the

shortened

Harry's

that they

figured out

a way

around God

and they

hear that

and they

say wow

that's

fantastic

I don't

have

God's

going to

make me

go to

heaven

no matter

what I

do.

I've got

to get

out of jail

free card

and it

just leads

to a type

of laziness

and complete

and utter

indifference

and it

leads to a

type of

pride

and arrogance

and at

the very

very center

of it

we start

to think

that we're

not

it's not

that God

chose

us

but that

there's

something

choice

about

us

but

true

faith

has

come

to the

point

in time

when they

recognize

that

all of

my life

maybe

those of

you who've

been

growing up

in

Muslim

backgrounds

or Orthodox

Jewish

backgrounds

or just

households

where there's

lots of

a type

of moralism

and lots

of rules

and where

the parents

love

seems to

be

conditional

upon

performance

and it

just seems

as if

our whole

life is

trying to

be about

performance

and about

performance

and about

performance

and God

wants us

to come

to the

point

in time

where we

realize

that it's

not about

our

performance

it's never

about our

performance

we can

never

perform

enough

that's

the bad

news

but the

good

news

is that

God

because

he loves

you

he sent

his son

to die

upon the

cross

and he

will do

everything

to make

you right

and that

when God

takes you

when he

takes your

hand in

his

when he

takes you

into his

life

when he

enters into

your life

your hand

is weak

your performance

will falter

there will

come times

you can't

perform at

all

you will

do the

opposite

of performance

you will

do terrible

things

but God

will never

let you

go

and he

wants us

to have

an assurance

that he

will never

let you

go

if I do

a terrible

job in

this church

and in

two years

there's only

three people

left in the

congregation

he will

never let

me go

if all

of a sudden

something

happens

and we're

doing five

services a

day and the

place is packed

out and there's

two thousand

on a Sunday

it doesn't make

any difference

to whether God

loves me or not

not about my

performance

God will never

let me go

and when we've

been gripped

when we've been

broken

if you notice

in all of those

images of the

olive tree

the only way

you get on

the olive tree

is if you're

broken

and grafted in

and for some

of us

when we realize

that it's all

about what God

does for us

it frees us

up to no

longer have to

be all about

our performance

it frees us up

to look at why

we aren't talking

to our parents

or what there is

in our past

or our hardness

of heart

or how we

project on God

it frees us up

to say

you know what

maybe I'm going

to share the

gospel with my

Jewish friend

because you know

what God says

Jewish people are

going to keep

becoming Christians

or you know what

maybe that person

that's really

really really

different from me

I don't know

they go to

McDonald's

or they have

you know

things that look

like they're about

you know

this big

in their ears

or they have

lots of tattoos

or they have

no tattoos

whatever it is

your culture

crossing your

culture

maybe I'll share

the gospel

with them

why

because I don't

know who God

I can try it

that grace

frees us up

that our lives

start to be

changed out of

gratitude

not out of

any sense of

accomplishment

and that our

gratitude we can

look within

we can give up

self-defensiveness

we can give up

trying to justify

ourselves

we can give up

trying to make

ourselves righteous

we can live

in gratitude

and be

live and ground

in gratitude

and live out of

promise

and we can try

and we can fail

and we can know

that nothing

will take us out

of God's hands

God wants us to

have assurance

not arrogance

he wants us to

have faith

not presumption

and God

even when he

starts to reveal

the depth

of our

presumption

and arrogance

it's only

so we can

call out to him

and receive his

grace

even if we

have lived

a life

of profound

presumption

religious

arrogant

presumption

he wants you

to stumble

over it

so you know

grace

please stand

you know

our big text

is

oh the depth

of the riches

and wisdom

and knowledge

of God

how unsearchable

are his judgment

and how inscrutable

his ways

for who has

known the mind

of the Lord