Kept by God 121014

Romans 11:1-10, 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. 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? “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 him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, 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.” (Deut 29:4) 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.” (Ps 69:22-23)

Throughout Romans 9, 10 and 11, the question of Israel keeps coming up in Paul's mind. In chapter nine Paul was so bold as to say that he would be willing, if possible, to be cut off from Christ for the sake of the people of Israel. He begins chapter ten expressing his heart's desire, and his prayer to God, that Israel may be saved. Now, he asks the question, "has God rejected his people?" Immediately, he answers, "By no means!". God's choosing of a people for himself goes back to Abraham. You see, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. In every generation he has had a people who "believed God"and are thereby righteous.

We must remember, God is faithful even when we are faithless! Nothing we can do will ever make us right with God. Being made right with God is God's work not ours. The nation of Israel is a problem for any thinking person. There never was a time that all the people of Israel worshiped and honored God. In every generation there were those who fell away and rejected God.

The nation of Israel was chosen by God to be the vessel for bringing Christ into the world. They were not chosen because they were faithful or, because they were better than other people. They were chosen because God chose them. That statement might sound confusing but it's the truth. True Israel has always been the people of faith. They were not saved, or, called by God, because of their goodness but they became good because they were chosen. We need to be very clear on the subject of who is in charge of our salvation. God is — and always has been. And certainly he has not ever rejected his people.

God has not rejected his people.

God does not reject his people for his own name's sake not because they are of a particular race. There has always been, and will remain, a remnant saved by grace.

For the sake of his name. Listen while I read… 1st Samuel 12:22, For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. This passage comes from Samuel's farewell address to Israel. They have asked for a King and God has given them Saul. Samuel is very unhappy that the people have chosen not to be ruled directly by God. The people became frightened that God might leave them to their own devices since they had committed this sin. Samuel assures them that they are not to be afraid nor are they to turn away from serving God. He told them they can trust God, not because they're good people, but because God chose to make them a people of his own, and therefore he will not forsake them because of his own honor. It would be a reproach upon God if he forsook his people that he had called out of Egypt to become a nation.

Negatively, they were not to be sure of their position because they were born physical sons and daughters of Abraham. Remember, God has no grandchildren! Every generation has to come to faith on their own and God does not choose people because they are of a certain race or family.

Not because they are Israel. Listen while I read… Psalm 106:7-8, Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.

This is an amazing statement made by the psalmist! The people of Israel had been in slavery in Egypt for generations. Moses and Aaron came, confronted Pharaoh, and demonstrated the power of God through a series of ten miracles. Yet, guided by the Holy Spirit, the psalmist could say, "Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea." If I had been in charge, that would've been the time to dump them and find somebody else to make a great nation of. Instead, God saved them for his own name's sake. Part of what he was doing in the Exodus was to let the world know about his power. Over 40 years later, in the city of Jericho, Rahab took in the spies and protected them because, as she said, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us,… For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt." A generation after the Exodus, hundreds of miles away, people were still talking about the miracles that God performed to bring his people out of Egypt. He did not bring them out because they were Israel he brought them out to make a name for himself that the world may know him and recognize that he is capable of delivering a people.

Later, Peter stood before the early church in Jerusalem to affirm that there is a remnant according to grace.

There is a remnant according to grace. Listen as I read Acts 15:11, "… but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

Peter had been chosen by God to take the gospel to the first all-Gentile group. It wasn't something he was eager to do. He was in Joppa on the roof of the house waiting for his meal and was spending some time in prayer. He had a vision of a cloth being let down from heaven with all kinds of unclean food items on it. He heard a voice from heaven tell him to eat. And he said no! Actually he said, "No, Lord". Somewhere I read, many years ago, an author who was commenting on this story and he said that one can say, "No" or, one can say, "Lord", but, one cannot say in good conscience, "No, Lord". If you can say "No" then you can't say, "Lord".

When Peter had this scene repeated for him three times he was awakened by the noise of people downstairs. He was called down to be introduced to some Romans had been sent by God to bring Peter to the house of their master, a Roman Centurion named Cornelius.

Peter knew this was from God and he went with them. The result was that many Romans were saved by Peter's preaching. So he came to believe, as result of these events, that Israel would be saved through grace just as the Gentiles were.

In every generation…

God always has kept a people for himself. Throughout history there have always been men and women saved by the grace of God. We can look at two examples, one of which is referred to by Paul in our text today. We will look at the remnant…

In the days of Noah. Listen as I read from the account of the flood. God had placed Noah and his family, along with the genetic base all land animals in a massive ark. Genesis 7:23, He (God) blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

Talk about a remnant! Of all the people on earth there were only eight people who survived the flood. God had promised, in the garden of Eden, that the head of the serpent would be crushed under the heel of the seed of the woman. Then generation after generation mankind became more and more rebellious. Until there literally was only one man who honored God, Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with his wife, three sons, and their wives. They were the remnant out of which the entire human race comes. And then…

In the days of Elijah. Listen while I read about the account of Elijah when he ran away from Jezebel. It's an amazing story. Elijah had demonstrated the power of God on Mt. Carmel. He had defeated the prophets of Baal and shown the people that Jehovah is God. Then the Queen threatened to take his life and he ran away. As he ran he sunk into a deep depression and that's where we pick up the story line in, 1st Kings 19:9-18, There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He 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.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He 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.” And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Amazing, this man had seen so much and had been so close to God yet he ran away when threatened. I don't think he ran so much from the fear of the Queen as he ran away from the people who had not rallied round him. Oh yes, they had said, "Yahweh is God", but they turned around, went home and the revival was over. Elijah was alone and became so depressed that he asked God to let him die! Well… God sure wasn't through with him! There was still much work to be done and God had a plan for Elijah.

God's words of encouragement swept over Elijah like a warm breeze on a cold day. "I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” I can imagine Elijah's amazement at the words of the Lord. God was not through with him! In fact, no matter what Elijah's feelings told him, he was not God's last hope on earth. He felt all alone and rejected. Not only was he not rejected, he was not alone! A large number of people continued to serve God and had not bowed the knee to the pagan Idols worshiped by their king and queen.

Yes, God had a remnant chosen by grace out of all mankind. All of us, equally, inherit a fallen nature from Adam and Eve and, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The consequence of our sin is severe. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Though we all deserve death and hell, God, in his wisdom and kindness, chooses a remnant of the human race for salvation. In some generations the remnant is small, in other generations the remnant is quite large. And it is…

Still true today. Matthew 28:20b, And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” These closing words of the gospel of Matthew should be very encouraging to us. If Jesus is going to be "with you always" then there's going to be a "you" for him to be with! Today, God is in the process of gathering a remnant from all the earth. Someday, there will be a huge crowd gathered before the throne of God worshiping him. That crowd will come from every nation, tribe and family.

As we see a great falling away in Europe and North America we can be very discouraged. It is easy to assume that Christianity is getting smaller and evil forces are growing larger. But when we do that, we are leaving out Africa, Asia and South America where the gospel is spreading in some cases like wildfire. Today, the church is slowly moving away from a European orientation. And that is a good thing because the population growth of the world is in the non-European countries.

We need to take the attitude of the apostle Paul and say that our prayer to God and our earnest desire is that our people be saved. I believe there will be a great revival that will sweep Europe and America in the future.

You see…

God chooses according to grace not of works.

We have no right to salvation. Listen while I read, Titus 3:3-7, For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

One lesson we should learn from Israel is that God does not choose people based on their ethnic heritage. We can see that God's "chosen people" have largely turned away from him. Scripturally, we can see that God's true chosen people are really the people of faith! The Israel of God are spiritual descendents of Abraham the man of faith.

He saved us, Paul said to Titus, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. God continues to choose people, as he always has, by grace through faith which is the gift of God. His choosing is not because of our good works but because of his love and compassion.

In fact…

God gives some up. Listen while I read, Romans 1:21-28, For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Three times in this passage the words appear, "God gave them up", as men and women in rebellion against God descended deeper and deeper into sin. They willfully turn away from God and God gives them up to the lusts of their heart, to dishonorable passions and to a debased mind. Perhaps if they go far enough they will wake up and realize their danger and, like the prodigal son, come running to God the Father. If they do, the Father will welcome them with open arms. God chooses according to grace. We do not deserve salvation nor can we earn it. And, when people continue in rebellion God sometimes gives them up to the consequences of their own sin. We certainly see evidence of that all around us today in North America and Europe. Yet in the midst of all this…

He chooses others for his own purposes. Listen while I read, Romans 11:7, What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

Israel did not obtain what it was seeking because it was seeking it by the works of the law. They would not understand that the law was simply given to prove that we could not save ourselves. The law is a schoolmaster designed to bring us to Christ. But the elect obtained what Israel was seeking. People who were not seeking God often find him in the strangest circumstances. Our prayer should be, "Lord soften their hearts and bring them to yourself." We cannot know who he has chosen and quite frankly, I am sometimes surprised at who he calls.

God has a people today of his own choosing. Not based on human decision. Instead, he called them out by grace. No one deserves salvation and no one has ever earned salvation. In some generations the chosen people have been few and far between as in the days of Noah when there were only eight. In other generations there are the thousands as in the days of Elijah. Be grateful to God that he has stirred in you a desire to know him. Respond to him today. Remember, we have no right to salvation and cannot earn it! Remember also, that many people, having rejected God, are given up by him. Oh Lord, never give me up to what I would be without you. Listen to the words of Isaiah, "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near…". Come to Jesus!

All Scripture quotes are from The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.