“The Remnant Chosen by Grace” (Romans 11:1–10)

“The Remnant Chosen by Grace” (Romans 11:1–10)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, September 9, 2018

Romans 11:1–10 (NIV)

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”  5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that could not see

and ears that could not hear,

to this very day.” 

9 And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,

and their backs be bent forever.” 

 

1. The Question: Has God Rejected His People Israel? (1a)

a. Why would Paul Ask this Question?

1. Israel pursued a righteousness (justification) of works through the law and did not pursue it by faith.
2. Israel rejected the gospel and did not believe in Jesus, their Savior and Messiah.
3. Israel has persisted in stubborn unbelief, even though the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to them.

b. So, because of their persistent unbelief and stubborn pursuit of justification through the works of the law, has God finally and ultimately rejected his people, the nation of Israel? Is he through with them?

2. The Response: God has absolutely NOT rejected Israel as his people. He is not through with them (1b-4).

a. What is the proof that God has not rejected his people?

i. Paul, a Jew, is a living example that God has not rejected his people. God’s gracious salvation found Paul (1b).
ii. It is unthinkable that God would reject the people that he himself foreknew (2a).

1 Sam 12:22 For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.

iii. In Elijah’s Day, it appeared that the whole nation was steeped in apostacy and that God was through with them. But God, in addition to faithful Elijah, had reserved 7,000 other men who had not bowed the knee to Baal and fallen into apostacy (2b–4).

3. It is God’s typical pattern to bestow his gracious salvation on a remnant chosen by grace. (5-6)

a. The examples of Paul and the 7,000 in Elijah’s day demonstrate a pattern by which God chooses by grace a remnant out of Israel on whom he bestows salvation.
b. Other examples from Scripture could be pointed out.

i. Noah and his family.
ii. The ones Paul has already referenced in Rom 9:

1. Isaac not Ishmael
2. Jacob not Esau

iii. The exiles who returned from captivity.

c. So, the present situation is no different from the way God had worked in the past.

i. God’s choice of Israel as a nation was never intended to be a guarantee that every ethnic Israelite would be eternally saved.
ii. Rather, God has always operated on the basis of gracious, unconditional election by which he saves a remnant.
iii. The unbelief of many Jews and their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah is not surprising from a biblical-historical point of view. It fully fits with the pattern of Israelite unbelief throughout their history.
iv. So too does the gracious salvation of God of an elect remnant. This pattern is visible throughout Israel’s history as well.
v. Although there appear to be almost no unbelieving Jews, God has preserved a relatively small but definite, number.

d. Grace in order to be grace has to exclude every other human consideration.

 e. So, God’s election of a remnant of Israelites by grace is sufficient demonstration that God has not completely abandoned Israel and his eternal purposes for her.

4. The rest of Israel has been judicially hardened by God so as not to see and believe the gospel.

a. Why judgment?

i. They pursued righteousness/justification by works of the law not by faith.
ii. They rejected Jesus as their Messiah. They stumbled over the stumbling stone instead of being built on the cornerstone.

b. Israel has been judicially hardened in the past because of their rebellion:

i. Verse 8: From Isaiah 29:4, 10 and echoes of Isaiah 6:9.

Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper. (Isa. 29:4 NIV)

The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers). (Isa. 29:10 NIV)

He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' (Isa. 6:9 NIV)

ii. Verses 9–10: From Psalm 69.

Psa 69:22 May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap.
Psa 69:23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.

c. Why was Israel judicially hardened?

i. They deserved it because of their rebellion and stubborn unbelief.
ii. Their hardening opened up the door of grace to the Gentiles (11:11ff.)