The Infinite Greatness Of God - Part 4 Series

The Infinite Greatness of God - Part 4

The Book of Romans

Romans 11:11-21

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - September 25, 2016

(Revised June 2, 2021)

BACKGROUND:

*In Romans 9-11, the Holy Spirit led Paul to discuss the Jewish nation, and the big question was: If salvation is by God's grace through faith in our crucified and risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, what about the Jews? What about the Jewish nation? And what about the promises that God made to them as a nation?

*Paul gave a full answer to these crucial questions in these chapters. And the bottom line is that God is going to keep every single one of His promises. And though all people are not going to be saved, nobody loves the Jews more than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Nobody loves all lost people more than Jesus, and the Lord proved this forever when He died on the cross for our sins! (1)

*That's the big picture here in Romans 9-11, but another thing that stands out in this Scripture is the infinite greatness of our God. Last week in vs. 1-10, we saw that God is great because of His grace, and tonight we will see more reasons why our God is so great. Let's get started by reading Romans 11:11-21.

MESSAGE:

*Our God is infinitely great! As Christians, we know this for sure, and there are countless ways to see the greatness of God. We can see it in His perfect righteousness. We can also see it in the wonders of the universe He created. And we can see it in His Word.

*Psalm 33:4-9 proclaims:

4. . . The word of the LORD is right, And all His work is done in truth.

5. He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

6. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

7. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.

8. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

9. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

*In 2004, scientists pointed the Hubble telescope at a blank looking patch of sky near the Orion Constellation. The Hubble stayed focused on that spot for 400 orbits over 11 days. The tiny area of sky was only as big as a grain of sand held out at arm's length. And in that tiny patch of sky, they discovered over 10,000 galaxies!

*A few years ago, astronomers thought that there were 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Then the number jumped to 200 billion galaxies. In 2012, scientists thought our universe might have as many as 500 billion galaxies. Then in 2016, Astrophysical Journal reported a new study that estimates 2 trillion galaxies in the universe! Each of those galaxies has hundreds of millions of stars. And God made them all! (2)

*That's a small part of the greatness of God! And tonight's Scripture gives us 3 more reasons why our God is so great.

1. FIRST: GOD IS GREAT BECAUSE HE BRINGS GOOD THINGS OUT OF BAD THINGS.

*God brings good things out of bad things. He does it all the time. And this is one of God's lessons for us in vs. 11-12. Here Paul wrote this about his fellow Jews: "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!"

*God brings good things out of bad things. And He will continue to do this until the bad things are gone forever! Verse 11 tells us that through the Jews initial rejection of Jesus, "salvation is come unto the Gentiles. . ."

*How did this wonderful thing come out of something so bad? One of the best places to see is in Acts 8:1-4. There the Bible tells us what happened after Stephen the deacon was stoned to death for his faith in Christ. And there, God's Word says:

1. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

2. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.