God Won’t Mind (Leviticus 9-10)
Romans 11:33–36 (ESV) — 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Paul asks at the end of this chapter, “Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” Does anyone here think that they know what God is thinking? There has been a movement in our day where people claim to know God’s plans for them. This movement is largely based upon Jeremiah 29:11.
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) — 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
This is a passage where God states that He has plans for the remnant of Israel, plans to bring them a good life in Babylon. People want that to be true of them in our day, but has God made the same promise to you and I? Perhaps God has different plans for us? Maybe he intends for us to suffer for Christ’s name to be promoted.
In Romans 11, Paul is explaining God’s plans for the Jews and Gentiles in the first century. People like to take the words of Paul in Romans 11 to be prophetic. They assume that he’s talking about God bringing all the Jews into the church at the end of time. But this is really about the spread of the gospel in the first 30+ years of the church’s existence. God had a plan in place to bring the Gentiles into Israel, and Paul talks about that here as a great mystery that has been revealed for them to understand.
Temporary Hardening Saves Gentiles (11-15)
In verses 11-15, Paul helps everyone understand that God has not rejected the Jews. He has simply allowed them to stumble and be hardened so that the Gentiles can become a part of the remnant who are saved.
Romans 11:11–15 (ESV) — 11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow 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?
Notice here that the impact of the Jews hardening helps mankind in two ways. First, it brings in the Gentiles. Second, it helps bring the Jews down a notch. You see the Gentiles are going to receive all the promises that the Jews were promised and that will make the Jews jealous. Notice in verse 14, he says “and thus save some of them.” The Israelites who have chosen not to believe will be faced with another decision. Do I enjoy what the Gentiles have accepted and humble myself to say I was wrong, or do I harden myself further? Paul points out that some will humble themselves and their reconciliation will bring glory to Christ.
Connecting To Christ (16-24)
The next section takes this explanation further by providing an analogy of an olive tree.
Romans 11:16–24 (ESV) — 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 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, 18 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. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 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.
In this analogy, we see what God is doing further explained. God has created an olive tree with a holy root. This root is known throughout Isaiah and other prophets to be the Messiah, Jesus. He’s called the shoot of Jesse. Those who are attached to Him by faith are made holy. This analogy is simple. Gentiles are a “wild olive shoot” that can be grafted into the tree and made holy. So, he tells them not to be arrogant toward the “natural branches,” the Jews.
In this analogy, we have a picture of God’s kindness. He is willing to add anyone who humbly believes into the olive tree. We also see His severity. He will cut off those who disbelieve and not spare those who become arrogant. The choice to believe is still available for the disobedient Jews, and the choice to become arrogant is still possible for the Gentiles.
Now, I want you to consider what this means because this has direct application to us today. If Paul is saying that a Gentile can become arrogant and be cut off after they were made holy, he is teaching that it is possible to fall away. He is teaching that those who stop believing in Christ and start putting stock in themselves, thinking they are better than others, will be cut off from the Olive Tree’s Root. Branches will not live without the nourishment that comes from the root. This illustration is, to me, the most clear picture of the falsehood of “once saved always saved.”
The kindness of God says that you can be grafted back in if you repent and humble yourself. So, I don’t want us to miss that either. God is kind and severe. He is willing to forgive and willing to hold accountable. But He bases what He will do on our decision. The Jews chose to disbelieve (23). The Gentiles chose to believe (9:30).
The Mystery Revealed (25-32)
All of this talk about the olive tree is pointing to the fact that God has a strong desire to save all of mankind through Jesus.
Romans 11:25–32 (ESV) — 25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
In this section, Paul repeats what he has said earlier in this chapter and in this letter. God has partially hardened Israel so that he could do three things. 1. Bring the Gentiles in 2. Make some Jews jealous enough to believe 3. Thus save all who are truly Israel. Paul’s words in verse 26, “In this way all Israel will be saved” cannot contradict his previous statement, “Not all Israel is Israel.” (9:6, 8) If you see people claiming that the physical nation of Israel is God’s chosen people, don’t listen to them. The remnant of Israel is every Jew and Gentile who connects themselves to Jesus. God wanted to save the Jews in 30-69 AD, but then He destroyed their city and destroyed their temple with no promises to bring them back.
This is a confusing text to a lot of people, but I hope you can see that this is the mind of God. He made plans in the first century to harden the Jews for the purpose of bringing in the Gentiles. He made plans to make the Jews jealous to bring some of them in after they were hardened. But most of all, verse 32 says, He made plans to “consign all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” This is the mystery Paul wants Christians in Rome to understand. It’s the same mystery God reveals in Ephesians 3.God made plans to save all mankind. Everyone who would believe the gospel Paul preaches and submit their lives to Christ can be saved.
Will We Believe?
As we read this text, two things should become obvious.
1. Christ is the only root we can attach to in order to be made holy. We have to make the choice to believe in the gospel to be saved, and we must not become arrogant in our salvation. The only reason why we have hope of being made holy and righteous is because God was willing to send His son to sacrifice Himself for us.
We must recognize our own insufficiency and need for God’s mercy and grace. If I become proud and arrogant, I’m like those Jews who disbelieve and I, like Paul says in Galatians, nullify the grace of God by thinking I am good enough without Christ. Remember, Christ is the root. Don’t become arrogant or fail to see the purpose of His sacrifice to save the lost.
2. We have no clue what God’s plan is for us here in Saraland church of Christ. His plan in Jeremiah’s time was for the remnant to set up long term living in Babylon. They were going to be there for 70 years. They didn’t think that would happen. In the first century, everyone believed that the Messiah would gather all the Jews to himself, but Paul reveals that God also wanted to gather the nations to himself. He wanted to use the Jewish rejection of the Messiah to bring the Gentiles in. No one saw that coming.
We don’t know what God is doing here. I’ve heard that this congregation was at one time around 150 people. Why did it have that many? Why does it now have 60 on Sunday morning and 30 who show up on Wednesday night for Bible class? Why have so many people moved away? We don’t know why we are going through what we are going through. God may intend for us to rise up out of this with the greatest evangelistic effort this congregation has ever seen. What we do know from this text is that God’s plan is all always about saving the lost. He saved the remnant in Babylon because He wanted to bring the Messiah through their descendants. He hardened the Jews to save the Gentiles. He made the Jews jealous to save some of them who He had previously hardened.
Paul is telling the Gentiles this because he wants them to be open minded and loving toward the rebellious Jews. God is always working to bring about the salvation of men, and we have to choose to be a part of that plan. Do we want to be a part of His plan to save disobedient people, or do we want to be one of the disobedient who need saving?