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.
4. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
*In these verses, the devil was trying to crush the newborn church in Jerusalem. And Satan would have murdered all the Christians if he had his way. But instead, it was kind of like blowing on a dandelion when we were kids. The wind of God's Holy Spirit used that persecution to scatter the seed of the Gospel all over Judea and Samaria. And thank God, eventually, that seed was planted in our hearts!
*God brings good things out of bad things all the time. He cares for us so much that He wants to bring blessings out of our burdens. He wants to bring good things out of our griefs. And He wants to bring hope out of our hardship.
*But don't get me wrong. I am not saying that bad things are good. If I have a wreck tomorrow, that will be bad, and that's that. But God brings good out of bad things every day. The best place to see this truth is on the cross of Jesus Christ. It was the cruelest death of all and the darkest day in history. But Jesus rose again! And God turned the cross into something wonderful for everyone who will believe in the Lord.
*God wants to bring good things out of the bad. It's true for the cross, and it can be true for the troubles in our own lives. But it won't necessarily happen. God's Word gives us the key back in Romans 8:28. There Paul said, "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
*God doesn't say that all things are good. He says that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called by God to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. When we are in the middle of troubled times in life, it can be hard for us to see, but God is working every moment in every situation we face.
*In August 2016, there was a terrible flood in south Louisiana. Over 20 inches of rain poured down in multiple parishes. And though it was an unnamed storm, it dropped 3 times as much rain as Hurricane Katrina. There was so much water, it was tagged as a 1,000-year event.
*Almost 150,000 homes and thousands of businesses were damaged by the flood waters. But "The Baptist Message" reported on some good things that came out of that terrible flood in South Louisiana.
*The story centered on Bethlehem Baptist Church in Albany, and their student minister Jase Shawley. First, there was a wonderful answer to prayer. On Friday, August 12th, floodwaters were rapidly rising in the church parking lot, until Jase asked God to intervene. After those prayers, the water came up to less than two feet from the back door where evacuees were staying. But there it stopped, and it went no farther.
*Then that Sunday morning, Jase had just finished a sermon to 350 flood evacuees, when a church member passed on a request from an older woman named Cindy. She was nearly blind and had been a firmly committed atheist. But the church member told Jase, "She really wants to speak with you about her salvation."
*Later that afternoon, Jase shared the plan of salvation with Cindy, and she got saved! Cindy had a double reason to celebrate: Being rescued from the storm, and being rescued forever by Jesus Christ! Jase said, "Cindy told me she didn't know what had happened, but it was something like she had never felt before. She told me she had grown up being taught God didn't exist. But now her heart was telling her He was real. Watching somebody who literally had nothing to do with any form of church or praying until that morning. And then watching her say 'Lord I need you' just hours later was beautiful."
*And that's not the end of the story. For the next several days, the church continued to feed the evacuees and share the love of Jesus with them. It was also a community hub for volunteer crews like the high school football team.
*The shelter was closed by the next Sunday, but a good number of evacuees returned for morning worship. And 11 more people went forward to give their lives to Christ! Praise the Lord! (3)
*All of those people could tell us that God brings good things out of bad. And no matter what troubles we face, God can bring us through. He is great because He brings good things out of bad things.
2. BUT GOD IS ALSO GREAT BECAUSE HE SEEKS TO SAVE ALL PEOPLE.
*The hard truth is that all people are not going to be saved. But God certainly wants all people to be saved, and that includes the Jews. Yes, the unbelieving Jews stumbled, but as Paul wrote in vs. 11, "Have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles."
*"Have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!" God wants the Jews to be saved too, so in vs. 12-14 Paul said:
12. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
13. For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
14. if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.
*These verses echo something that Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22. There Paul said:
19. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;
20. and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;
21. to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;
22. to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
*Paul was willing to do any good thing he could do to help other people be saved, both Jews and Gentiles. And why was Paul like that? -- Because God is like that! That's why Paul wrote these words in 1 Timothy 2:1-4:
1. Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
2. for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
*Our God is great because He "desires all men to be saved!" He seeks to save all people. And we see more evidence of this truth in vs. 15-16. Here Paul said this about the Jews:
15. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16. For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
*"If the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy. . ." What in the world is that talking about? Some of the Gentile Christians in Rome probably wondered the same thing, but most Jews would have understood what Paul was talking about. And this fact tells us that Paul was also speaking to the Jews when he wrote this letter. God's Spirit was also speaking to the Jews when Paul wrote this letter. And it's more proof that God seeks to save all people.
*But what was Paul talking about when he said, "If the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy? Bible scholars point us back to Numbers chapter 15. There God spoke to Moses about some of the sacrificial offerings His people were commanded to make. And in Numbers 15:18-21, the LORD said:
18. "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land to which I bring you,
19. then it will be, when you eat of the bread of the land, that you shall offer up a heave offering to the LORD.
20. You shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal as a heave offering; as a heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you offer it up.
21. Of the first of your ground meal you shall give to the LORD a heave offering throughout your generations.'"
*Albert Barnes explained that a "small portion of dough was offered to God as an expression of gratitude for the harvest and their sense of dependence on the LORD. Until that was done, it was not lawful to eat the harvest. So, the offering of that little portion made the rest of the harvest holy and lawful to eat."
*That's the background in vs. 16 when Paul said, "If the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy. . ." But what does the firstfruit symbolize? There are at least 3 different possibilities. The firstfruit may symbolize the Old Testament Patriarchs, especially Abraham, and that makes sense.
*Some think firstfruit pictures the small number of Jews who first trusted in Jesus when the church began. Paul spoke this same way in Romans 16:5 when he said this about a Gentile Christian: "Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ."
*The firstfruits were the first Jewish Christians. That makes sense. But other Bible scholars think the firstfruits is Jesus, and that makes sense too, because 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." (4)
*In 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter said that some of the things Paul wrote are hard to understand, and this is one of those things. But one sure thing is that Paul is talking about MORE. Again in vs. 16 Paul wrote, "For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches."
*Paul is talking about more: More "fruit," more "branches," more people being saved, more Gentiles and Jews being saved! Before the end of this chapter, the Bible will tell us about a future time in the last days when a whole generation of Jews will be saved. And our God is great because He seeks to save all people!
3. BUT GOD IS ALSO GREAT BECAUSE HE FOCUSES ON OUR FAITH IN HIM.
*Verses 17-21 show us God's consistent focus on the essential role of faith in our salvation. As Paul tells Christians in Ephesians 2:8-9, "By grace you have been saved THROUGH FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
*Why does God focus so strongly on faith? One reason why is to protect us from pride. That was part of the message in Ephesians 2, and it is part of God's message for us here in vs. 17-20. God wants us to have humble hearts.
*But before I read these verses, we must understand that the cultivated olive tree represents the Jews, and the wild olive tree represents the Gentiles. That's us, and all other people in the world who are not Jews.
*Starting in vs. 17, Paul said:
17. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
18. do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19. You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.''
20. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
*Verse 20 reminds us that we can only stand by faith. And why does God focus so strongly on faith? Well, He wants to protect us from pride. But the main reason why God focuses on faith is to help us rely on the only source of our salvation, and that is Jesus Christ! He is the only possible root for everlasting life.
*Paul talked about this in vs. 18, where again he said, "Do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the ROOT, but the ROOT supports you." Jesus Christ is the Root in this verse. He is our only source of eternal life. That's why in Romans 15:12, Paul will quote from Isaiah 11 and say, "There shall be a root of Jesse; and He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope.''
*Church: We can only stand by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can surely stand by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!
*Again, in vs. 19-21 Paul wrote:
19. You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.''
20. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
*Some people use vs. 19-21 to teach that Christians can lose our salvation. But William MacDonald explained that "It must be constantly borne in mind that here Paul is not speaking of the church or of individual believers. He is speaking about the Gentiles as such. Nothing can ever separate the Body of Christ from the Head, and nothing can separate a believer from the love of God, but the Gentile peoples can be removed from their present position of special privilege." (5)
*And Gentile peoples are losing the privilege of access to God's Good News of salvation. Why? -- Because they have turned away from God and refuse to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. This tragic process has been going on in Europe and the United States for decades.
*But in vs. 19-21, Paul was not speaking about Christians losing our salvation. The only way to embrace this false teaching is to ignore a big part of the New Testament. I'm talking about Scriptures like John 3:18, where Jesus said this about Himself: "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:36 also says, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.''
*Christians: We can only stand by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can surely stand by faith in Jesus Christ! We are like the elderly lady who received Jesus as her Savior very late in life. She was always praising God and talking about Jesus.
*But one day a so-called friend said to her, "You seem pretty confident about this Savior of yours! I wouldn't be too sure about it if I were you. Suppose the Lord should let you slip through His fingers?"
*That old Christian joyfully replied, "But I am one of His fingers." And she may have been exactly right, because as Christians we are now and forever a part of the Spiritual Body of Christ. (6)
CONCLUSION:
*Our hope is secure God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! He is our great God! We see this in tonight's Scripture because He brings good things out of bad things, He seeks to save all people, and He focuses on our faith in Him: Not faith in ourselves, but faith in our ever-faithful God!
*Please think about the greatness of our God as we go back to Him in prayer.
(1) Adapted from "Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament" by - Warren W. Wiersbe - Published by David C. Cook - Colorado Springs, CO - Romans 9:1-33
(2) Sources:
-You Tube: The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D
-http://www.universetoday.com/24325/how-many-stars-are-in-galaxies/
-Houston Chronicle, 10/17/2016, p. A2 - Source: "In Other Words" - November 2016 #2 produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net
-We Were Very Wrong About the Number of Galaxies in the Universe by George Dvorsky - 10/13/16 12:30PM - https://gizmodo.com/we-were-very-wrong-about-the-number-of-galaxies-in-the-1787750693#_ga=2.186129578.267493449.1531754467-3674648492.1521482270
(3) Sources:
-2016 Louisiana floods - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Louisiana_floods
-"Atheist flood survivor rescued by Jesus Christ" by Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer September 2, 2016 - http://baptistmessage.com/atheist-flood-survivor-rescued-jesus-christ/
(4) Sources:
-ALBERT BARNES' NOTES ON THE BIBLE by Albert Barnes - Published in 1847-85 - Romans 11:16 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
-THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - Romans 11:16 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Romans 11:16 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
(5) Adapted from BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "Israel's Future" - Romans 11:1-36 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2000-2019
(6) An Unknown Christian, HOW TO LIVE THE VICTORIOUS LIFE - Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986 - p. 38 - Source: Sermons.com Dynamic Illustrations - Christmas 2001
