The Infinite Greatness Of God - Part 5 Series

The Infinite Greatness of God - Part 5

The Book of Romans

Romans 11:22-36

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Prepared July 1, 2021

BACKGROUND:

*Today, we get to the end of Romans 11, and in the last three chapters Paul was led by God's Holy Spirit to discuss the Jews. The big question was: If salvation is by grace through faith in the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ, then, what about the Jews? What about the Jewish nation? And what about the promises that God made to them as a nation?

*These were crucial questions, and the bottom line is that God is going to keep every single one of His promises. Nobody loves the Jews more than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Nobody loves all lost people more than Jesus, and He proved this forever when He died on the cross for our sins. (1)

*That is the big picture in this part of Romans, but another thing that stands out is the infinite greatness of our God. From Romans 9 on, we have already seen many reasons why God is so great, and we will see more reasons today in Romans 11:22-36. Please stand in honor of God's Word as we read this Scripture.

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 goodness. We can also see it in the wonders of the universe He created. And we can see it in His Word.

*Think about the wonders of God's creation. Take our planet for example: The Earth rotates, tilts and orbits to control seasons, days and years. It spins at a thousand miles per hour all day long. At the same time our planet is traveling through space at a thousand miles a minute! We travel 580 million miles around the sun every year, without missing a beat. And we don't even notice it because the Lord's design is so perfect.

*Also think about your heart. It's the size of a fist and weighs about 12 ounces. But in 12 hours your heart does enough work to raise 65 tons an inch off the ground, and it does that all day long every day. (2)

*God wants us to know about His greatness, and creation was just the beginning! Think about all of His other great acts in the Old Testament. For example, Psalm 78 talks about the wonders the Lord showed to Moses and the Children of Israel.

*Verses 12-15 speak of the "marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through; And He made the waters stand up like a heap. In the daytime also He led them with the cloud, And all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths." Verses 24-25 tell us that God rained down manna, the bread of Heaven for them to eat. Men ate angels' food! He gave them all they could hold.

*Then we get to the New Testament where we see the wondrous miracles of Jesus Christ. He healed the sick and raised the dead. He walked on water and calmed the storms. Jesus even died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead! All of these things reveal the greatness of God. And today's Scripture highlights 4 more ways our God is so great.

1. SO FIRST: WE MUST RECOGNIZE THE GREATNESS OF GOD'S STRICT JUSTICE.

*We can see God's strictness in vs. 22-23. But remember that here the Bible is speaking about two bloodlines of people: The Jews and the Gentiles. The Jewish race basically includes everyone descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Everyone else in the world is a Gentile.

*God's Son Jesus Christ came into the world 2,000 years ago as the long promised Messiah of the Jews. Jesus was born in the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David. Jesus came as the eternal Redeemer, Savior, Prophet, Priest, and King of the Jews. But though many of the Jews received Jesus as their Messiah, the majority of them strongly rejected the Lord. God then turned to the Gentiles in part to provoke His Old Testament people to jealousy.

*Paul talked about this plan back up in vs. 11, where he wrote, "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."

*Then starting in vs. 16, Paul used the symbol of an olive tree to explain what happened after the Jews rejected their Messiah Jesus Christ. In vs. 16-23, Paul wrote: