SCRIPTURE: Romans 11:1-10 (ESV)
DATE: 1-5-25
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And if this happens to be your first time to worship with us — or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
SERIES INTRO
After a short break for Christmas — we’re returning to our series in the book of Romans. We returned to Paul’s letter back in September of last year and — we did so — after taking a two year break from the letter. So — if you’re new to Gateway — I’d encourage you to go to our website — gatewayepc.org — and check out the previous sermons from Romans to get caught up.
When we were last in Romans — we’d just finished the tenth chapter where Paul ends on a high note of excitement about the gospel. The gospel — or the Good News as it’s called — is the news of what Jesus accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection on behalf of those who turn to him in faith.
- He lived the perfect life we were commanded to live — yet failed to do so.
- He obeyed every one of God’s commands given to us — commands we’ve disobeyed.
- He didn’t rebel against his Father’s will — like we all have — but fulfilled God’s will and did so even when it cost him his life.
- And Jesus did so in love for his Father and for those who would turn to him in faith — and repent of their sin — who trust in his work on their behalf — and give up trusting that they can earn God’s love — and who believe that he alone is Savior — as they give up being their own savior.
Those who do this are — who Paul calls — the children of the promise. Those who experience freedom from the bondage we’re all born into — a bondage to sin, to rebelling against God, and to Satan — God’s and our enemy. For no one is innocent — none are neutral — either God is your Father because you believe in Jesus and are living accordingly — or — Satan is your father because — no matter what you say you believe about Jesus — you’re living in a way that pleases the one who finds great delight in your eternal destruction.
Thus the reason for Paul to end on such a high note: The children of the promise — all who believe in Jesus — have been set free. They’ve been made alive and are awakened to God’s immeasurable love for them. Good News indeed.
And — since it’s been a few weeks — it’d be good for me to remind you that Paul is answering a question that’s on the minds of his original audience. You see — the wonderful news I just shared with you — was originally a promise given to the Jewish people. In fact God’s Messiah — a word that means Savior — was prophesied — or promised — to be a Jew. And Jesus was a Jew and he came to fulfill the promise of God’s Messiah.
Yet many Jews didn’t accept Jesus as God’s Messiah. They didn’t believe in him — they rejected him. They knew what he was claiming — it wasn’t that they misunderstood Jesus or didn’t catch that he was saying that he was God’s Messiah — they understood him clearly and said, “Not on our watch” — and they had him murdered. And Paul’s readers — many who had Jewish backgrounds — were trying to figure out why so many of their family members and friends had failed to believe in Jesus.
That’s the heart of the chapters we’ve been in and will continue in today and in the coming weeks: why did so many Jews not believe in Jesus? And Paul’s shown us that their rejection of Jesus was not because God’s Word had failed. For the promises to the Jewish people — according to Paul — had been promises given to the true Israelites — not to all who were ethnically Jews — but were promises given to a chosen remnant among the Jews.
Paul then goes on to defend God’s sovereignty in choosing some to be part of this remnant — what he calls — the children of the promise. For God chose Isaac — not Ishmael. He chose Jacob — not Esau. He chose the enslaved Israelites — not Pharaoh. God — in his sovereignty — chooses those whom he will save to be his people.
Which leads Paul to address the question of fairness. Does the fact that God chooses some to be the children of his promise of salvation — and not all — does God’s choosing some make him out to be unfair? Absolutely not — according to Paul.
To which Paul — knowing what our response will be — makes it clear that — though God chooses those who will be children of the promise — those not chosen are still responsible for their sin and rebellion. Paul’s pushing against an idea that’s quite common — the idea where we think that God — if he’s going to be merciful towards some people — is required to be merciful towards all people. And Paul makes it clear that God isn’t required to be merciful towards any of us — for we’ve all sinned and fallen short of his glory — therefore we all deserve his judgment. Thus — if we want to talk about fairness — us all experiencing God’s judgment would be the only thing that’s fair.
Thus what should astound us isn’t that some are judged by God because of their sin — instead — we should be amazed that God is merciful towards anyone. Yet this often appalls us — even those of us who have a high regard for Scripture. Yet our being appalled is due more to secular thinking than what we read in God’s Word. For secular thinking tells us that we’re the final judge on how things should be. So we switch roles and play judge of God — questioning him for being merciful only towards some — as if his mercy is something we all deserve.
And — yet — and please don’t miss this — his mercy is something that many do experience. Can we marvel at how amazing it is that any of us experience God’s mercy? And the reason any of us do is because God — though sinned against by us who he created to honor him by living in obedience to his Word — and though it would be right for him to only dispense his judgment upon all of us — instead — God has said to many, “You are my beloved. Yes — you — though you don’t deserve it — you will be called my people — my child — my son or my daughter.” And if God did not keep for himself a remnant — none of us would be saved.
Yet we’ve also seen that we really do believe — we do respond. Even though faith — or belief in Jesus — is a gift given to us by God — it is our faith. This is why we’re to share the gospel with others — because God uses our sharing of the gospel to be the means by which others are given new life — a spiritually awakened and resurrected life — where they respond to the news about Jesus by believing in him.
And Paul’s been making the case as to why — now — the remnant — God’s chosen people — the children of the promise — includes both Jew and Gentile. Though we find hints of this in the Old Testament — through the stories of Rahab, Ruth, and others — now it’s clear that God’s plan has always been a salvation for people from all nations. Which leads us back to the original question Paul’s addressing: But what about the Jewish people? Is God done with them? Which leads us to our text for today.
If you have your Bible — please turn with me to Romans chapter eleven. We’ll be in Romans chapter eleven — beginning in verse one. There Paul writes…
Romans 11:1–10 (ESV)
1 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. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your 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 Baal.” 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. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 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.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”
So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to answer three questions. One — has God rejected Israel? Two — who are the chosen? And — three — who are the hardened? Has God rejected Israel? Who are the chosen? And who are the hardened?
HAS GOD REJECTED ISRAEL?
Let’s begin with our first question: Has God rejected Israel? Let’s return to verse one.
Romans 11:1–2a (ESV)
1 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. 2a God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
So Paul makes this easy for us. He gives a clear answer to our question: has God rejected his people? His answer is no! And people — here — refers to the Israelites. We know this because this is who Paul refers to at the end of chapter ten where he writes…
Romans 10:18–21 (ESV)
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” 19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” 20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” 21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Now — many of you know this — but maybe someone listening doesn’t: chapter and verse numbers aren’t original to the Bible. Meaning Paul didn’t include chapter and verse numbers in his letters — none of the writers of the Bible did. That’d be weird, right? Do you write a letter — or an email or a text — with a bunch of numbers in it? Of course not! Neither did Paul. Chapter and verse numbers were later added to make it easy for us to all find the same place in the Bible. And — most of the time — chapter and verse numbers are very helpful. But there are times when it’s easy to miss a connection because of a chapter break — like that the word “people” refers to the “Israelites”.
Alright — back to our regularly scheduled sermon: So Paul answers our question succinctly and leaves no room for debate. God hasn’t rejected the Jewish people because — Paul says — “I’m a Jew. I’m a physical descendant of Abraham. I come from the tribe of Benjamin.” Paul’s saying, “If God had rejected all Israelites then I wouldn’t believe in Jesus. But I do. So I’m proof that God hasn’t rejected his people.”
So Paul is clearly speaking about the ethnic people of Israel here — not the church which is made up of Jews and non-Jews — but of ethnic Israel. We know this because Paul’s point is that he’s an ethnic Israelite. So there’s no replacement theology going on here. For those who don’t know what that means it’s a theological view that believes the church has replaced the Jewish people. Paul doesn’t leave room for that here as the case he’s been making is about ethnic Jews being rejected by God. And — Paul says — Israel hasn’t been rejected.
THE CHOSEN
Which leads us to our next question — an extremely important question: Who then are the chosen? Who are the chosen? We’re now in verse three
Romans 11:2b–6 (ESV)
2b Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your 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 Baal.” 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.
Who are the remnant — the people chosen by God’s grace to be the children of the promise. And the promise here — the hope — is that God guarantees that he’ll always keep a people for himself.
And to illustrate this promise — Paul takes us back to the time of the prophet Elijah. He quotes from the book of First Kings but leaves out a bit of what Elijah said. Here’s what we read back in First Kings.
1 Kings 19:14 (ESV)
14 He (Elijah) said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
- Another Bible translation says, “I’ve been absolutely loyal to the Lord.”
- Another says, “I’ve been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.”
- Another says, “I’ve been working my heart out for God.”
So there’s no doubt — in Elijah’s mind — that he’s been committed — maybe even super-committed — to God. It’s like he’s saying, “God, I’m the last faithful person to you left on planet earth — and now my enemy is about to kill me. Is this really how you’re going to let things end? Because — if I die — no one will be left who worships you!”
Now — if you don’t know Elijah’s story — first — he’s repeated this statement to God twice before this moment. So this is really on his mind — that he’s the last faithful person on planet earth. So God teaches Elijah a lesson on faithfulness. And it’s this lesson that Paul uses to show his readers — and us — who the chosen are and why they’re the chosen.
Paul quotes God telling Elijah, “I’ve kept for myself seven thousand men who’ve not bowed the knee to Baal” — Baal was a false god in Elijah’s day. And — to be clear — what God is saying is, “I’ve made sure that these seven thousand people have remained faithful to me.” God ensured that they remained faithful — they were a remnant — chosen by grace.
So if like Elijah — if you feel like you’re all alone — remember — our God does not change. He who was faithful in Elijah’s day — who kept for himself a remnant — is the God who kept a remnant in Paul’s day — and is the God who keeps a remnant of faithful followers today. You’re not alone — but it’s easy to think you’re all alone if you’ve isolated yourself from other Christians.
Remember — Elijah had run away — he was hiding in a cave in isolation. Your cave may be physical, relational, or emotional — but if you’re hiding and keeping others out — and you can come to church and still be hiding in a metaphorical cave — if this is you — your feeling of being all alone may be due to you having isolated yourself from God’s people. And — if you’ve been around Gateway for any number of weeks — you’ve probably heard how we desire to be a family around here. But you’ll never feel like you’re part of our family if you stay hidden in whatever cave you’re hiding in.
But I hope your heart rejoices with the news of God’s faithfulness to keep for himself a remnant — a chosen people — a people chosen by grace. That he’s determined to keep for himself a faithful people and has the power and authority to ensure it happens. Though pastors may come and go — though churches may rise and fall — though the spiritual condition of our nation may be one or revival or revulsion — how assuring it is to know that God will always keep for himself a faithful people.
THE HARDENED
And now we turn to the hardened — who are the hardened? This is our final question. Let’s look in verse seven.
Romans 11:7–10 (ESV)
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 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.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”
Who are the hardened? The rest — Paul says — those who are not the elect — or the children of the promise. Ethnicity isn’t what matters when it comes to being right with God — though the Jews in Paul’s day thought that’s what mattered. What matters is whether or not God has called you to be part of his chosen people and your response to his call.
And I know how this leads us right back into the thick of the theological messiness once again. We want it to be where either God is sovereign — where he chooses those who are the elect — or we’re responsible — where we choose to believe in Jesus or not. But the Bible doesn’t give us the option to choose between the two. God is sovereign — he chooses those who are his elect people — and — all will be held accountable for their response to the gospel.
Here Paul quotes from Isaiah where the prophet writes…
Isaiah 29:10 (ESV)
10 For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).
This was said as a warning to the people of Judah who were living in rebellion to God. It was a prophetic call to repent of their sin and rebellion or face the consequences of God’s just judgment — part of which would include — and this should cause all of us to pause — God pouring out on them a spirit of deep sleep — a spiritual deadness. Prophets not prophesying — seers not receiving visions. And I say that this should cause all of us to pause because this is a gracious warning of what God will do to those who refuse to repent — who are comfortable going about life rebelling against him. It’s a very spiritually dangerous thing for God to give us what we want — when what we want isn’t him. And this warning was given to people who thought they were the chosen.
Then — in verse nine — Paul quotes from Psalm sixty-nine. In fact — he’ll quote from this psalm nine times in this chapter of Romans. When we take communion later — the psalm will be read so you see how it connects to the life of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross.
Retribution means “to get what one deserves” — and it can refer to reward or punishment. So here — Paul — in quoting from Psalm sixty-nine — indicates that the Jewish people who rejected Jesus will be punished accordingly. This means they are guilty — and God will hold them accountable for their unbelief — just as he will hold all people accountable for their unbelief.
The quote continues with “and bend their backs forever.” The idea — here — is carrying a heavy load. Doing hard, impossible, kind of work. This counters the earlier idea of the table — where there’s feasting. For that table of feasting was actually a trap. The table represents the good things of life. Gifts from God that we allow to become traps and stumbling blocks as we allow his gifts to become more valuable to us than him.
But this is what happens to those whose hearts are hardened towards God. There’s this going back and forth between feasting and delighting in the things the world sets before us — sex, money, fame, toys — and this burdensome task of works-based salvation — of trying to please God by obeying a set of rules. Where — instead of responding to God’s grace — his unearned favor offered to us in Jesus Christ — we either live indulgently — finding fulfillment in the things of this world — or live under the burden of trying to hike our way up to heaven — believing we can earn God’s love. This is the picture of the hard heart. I wonder if any of this resonates with someone listening? If the people of Israel could be hardened — we’d be foolish to think that we can’t be hardened too.
CONCLUSION
So what are we to do in response to all that we’ve learned today? First, if we want to know God and have an intimate relationship with him — we have to take him at his Word — on his own terms. We’re not in the driver’s seat — we don’t get to dictate to him how he should be, how he should act, or how he should relate to us — especially when it comes to repentance, faith, and living accordingly. Either we take God at his Word or we’re nothing more than idolaters who’ve created our own false religion. How seriously are you taking God and his Word?
Second, we’ve learned a magnificent promise — a promise we’ve been reminded of again and again while in Romans. The promise is this: If God failed to keep his promise to Israel — then he’s untrustworthy. If God failed to keep his promise to Israel — then we have no reason to believe that his promises to us can be trusted. If God failed to keep his promise to Israel — our hope that he’ll keep his promises to us all falls to the wayside.
But here’s the good news: God’s promises to Israel did not fail. That’s the point Paul’s been making.
- When the Jewish people rejected Jesus — God was faithful — he kept his promise. For Paul — a Jew — believed in Jesus.
- When Elijah thought he was all alone — God was faithful and kept his promise — seven thousand others were kept by God — they remained faithful because he had chosen them.
- And — today — no matter what the news headlines or your social media feeds may say — no matter if 2025 is a year of promotions and engagements and pregnancies or layoffs, divorces, and deaths — God will be faithful. And he’ll keep for himself a remnant — a people chosen by his grace — who will be faithful to him.
Which means — third — if you believe in Jesus — be joyful! For the God of grace has saved you. And let grace be grace — stop trying to earn it. When you wake up in the morning — remember — I’m saved by grace! When you go to work — remember — I’m saved by grace! When you drive your kids to school — remember — I’m saved by grace! When you’re at home — remember — I’m saved by grace! When you come to church — remember — I’m saved by grace! Whatever the day, week, month, or year may bring — remember — I’m saved by grace! And live accordingly. Praise God. Find joy in him. And respond to his love by loving him in return. For — if you believe in Jesus — you are the chosen — and you have been saved by grace! Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, what wonderful, glorious news: We’re saved by your grace! Thank you for your grace today. Thank you for your grace tomorrow. Thank you for your grace all the days of our lives.
Jesus, your life, death, and resurrection are the reason why we experience grace. May we never forget — but always remember and live accordingly — that your work is what has secured us in the grace of God.
And — Holy Spirit — may you — by your grace — awaken hearts among us. Your good news has been heard and may you lead many in response to it. A response of faith — believing in Jesus — and repentance — turning away from their sin. May you soften hard hearts — giving them a love for Jesus. And we pray all of this in his name. Amen.