God Always Does His Part, Will You? Series

God Always does HIS part, Will you

RESTORATION

A few years ago, an angry man rushed through the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam until he reached Rembrandt’s famous painting "Nightwatch." Then he took out a knife and slashed it repeatedly before he could be stopped. A short time later, a distraught, hostile man slipped into St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome with a hammer and began to smash Michelangelo’s beautiful sculpture The Pieta. Two cherished works of art were severely damaged. But what did officials do? Throw them out and forget about them? Absolutely not! Using the best experts, who worked with the utmost care and precision, they made every effort to restore the treasures.

By His sovereign grace, God can bring good out of our failures, and even out of our sins. J. Stuart Holden tells of an old Scottish mansion close to where he had his little summer home. The walls of one room were filled with sketches made by distinguished artists. The practice began after a pitcher of soda water accidentally spilled on a freshly decorated wall and left an unsightly stain. At the time, a noted artist, Lord Landseer, was a guest in the house. One day when the family went out to the moors, he stayed behind. With a few masterful strokes of a piece of charcoal, that ugly spot became the outline of a beautiful waterfall, bordered by trees and wildlife. He turned that disfigured wall into one of his most successful depictions of Highland life. Swindoll, The Quest For Character, Multnomah, p. 49.

Blessed to be a part of God’s will

[23]And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. [24] For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? Romans 11:23-24

Do you know and believe that Israel’s restoration will happen.

If God has said it HE will bring it about.

The restoration is conditional and depends on our doing what God calls us to do.

Note the word “if”—“if they abide not still in unbelief.” Genuine belief in Jesus Christ is the condition for salvation.

How will they know if we do not go...

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

“Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God” (Jeremiah 3:22).

God will graft them back, because of His enormous love.

God loves everyone and will forgive any person, any thing if they turn from their life of sin and unbelief.

God accepts all who come through HIS Son Jesus Christ.

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy” (Micah 7:18).

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

God is able because of HIS great knowledge and power.

God is God; HE knows all and is all powerful.

HE knows when a man’s heart is submitted to HIM and moving toward HIM.

God knows just when to move upon a person’s heart, and knows the circumstances that will cause a person to turn to HIM.

So at the proper time, God has the power to stir Jewish hearts to return to HIM in large numbers. The valley of dry bones can be resurrected by the power of God (Ezekiel 37:1f).

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began” (Romans 16:25).

“For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

“That ye may know....what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephes. 1:18-20).